As I was putting together my list of suggested reading for the summer, I realized that the topics they cover sound pretty heavy for vacation reading. There are books here about gender equality, political polarization, climate change, and the hard truth that life never goes the way young people think it will. It does not exactly sound like the stuff of beach reads.

　　當(dāng)我列出今年夏季的推薦書單時，我意識到對于假期閱讀來說，這些書的主題聽起來相當(dāng)沉重。它們關(guān)于性別平等、政治兩極分化、氣候變化以及殘酷的事實——生活從來不會像年輕人想象的那樣一帆風(fēng)順。這聽起來不太像適合在海灘上閱讀的東西。

　　But none of the five books below feel heavy (even though, at nearly 600 pages, The Lincoln Highway is literally weighty). Each of the writers—three novelists, a journalist, and a scientist—was able to take a meaty subject and make it compelling without sacrificing any complexity.

　　但是下面的五本書都沒有讓人感覺沉重（盡管《林肯公路》有近600頁，確實不輕）。每位作者——三名小說家、一名記者和一名科學(xué)家——都能夠挑選一個內(nèi)涵豐富的主題，并且在不犧牲復(fù)雜性的條件下使其引人入勝。

　　I loved all five of these books and hope you find something here you’ll enjoy too. And feel free to share some of your favorite recent reads in the comments section below.

　　我喜歡這五本書，希望你也能從中找到一些自己喜歡的內(nèi)容。歡迎在下方的評論區(qū)里分享你近期讀過的好書。

　　01

　　The Power

　　《力量》

　　By Naomi Alderman | 娜奧米·阿爾德曼 著

　　The Power, by Naomi Alderman. I’m glad that I followed my older daughter’s recommendation and read this novel. It cleverly uses a single idea—what if all the women in the world suddenly gained the power to produce deadly electric shocks from their bodies?—to explore gender roles and gender equality. Reading The Power, I gained a stronger and more visceral sense of the abuse and injustice many women experience today. And I expanded my appreciation for the people who work on these issues in the U.S. and around the world.

　　《力量》

　　作者：娜奧米·阿爾德曼

　　我很高興自己聽從了大女兒的推薦而讀了這本小說。它巧妙地利用了一個想法——如果世界上所有的女性突然有了能產(chǎn)生致命電擊的能力會怎么樣？——來探索性別角色和性別平等。讀《力量》時，我對今天許多女性所經(jīng)歷的虐待和不公正有了更強(qiáng)烈、更深刻的感受。我也向在美國和世界各地致力于解決這些問題的人們表示感謝。

　　02

　　Why We’re Polarized

　　《為什么我們會兩極分化》（中文名暫譯）

　　By Ezra Klein | 埃茲拉·克萊因 著

　　Why We’re Polarized, by Ezra Klein. I’m generally optimistic about the future, but one thing that dampens my outlook a bit is the increasing polarization in America, especially when it comes to politics. In this insightful book, Klein argues persuasively that the cause of this split is identity—the human instinct to let our group identities guide our decision making. The book is fundamentally about American politics, but it’s also a fascinating look at human psychology.

　　《為什么我們會兩極分化》（中文名暫譯）

　　作者：埃茲拉·克萊因

　　我總體上對未來持樂觀態(tài)度，但令我有些擔(dān)憂的一件事是美國不斷加劇的兩極分化，尤其是在政治方面。在這本富有洞察力的書中，克萊因令人信服地論證了這種分裂的產(chǎn)生原因是身份——讓我們的群體身份指導(dǎo)我們決策的人類本能。這本書從根本上講的是美國政治，但它對人類心理學(xué)的觀察也很吸引人。

　　03

　　The Lincoln Highway

　　《林肯公路》（中文名暫譯）

　　By Amor Towles | 埃默·托爾斯 著

　　The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles. I put Towles’s A Gentleman in Moscow on my summer books list back in 2019, but I liked this follow-up novel even more. Set in 1954, it’s about two brothers who are trying to drive from Nebraska to California to find their mother; their trip is thrown way off-course by a volatile teenager from the older brother’s past. Towles takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys and seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.

　　《林肯公路》（中文名暫譯）

　　作者：埃默·托爾斯

　　早在2019年，我就將托爾斯的《莫斯科紳士》列入了我的夏季書單，但我更喜歡這本后續(xù)發(fā)布的小說。故事發(fā)生在1954年，講的是兩兄弟試圖從內(nèi)布拉斯加開車到加利福尼亞尋找母親。他們的旅行被哥哥認(rèn)識的一個脾氣暴躁的少年打亂了。托爾斯從著名的英雄旅程中汲取靈感，似乎在說我們的個人旅程從來不像我們可能希望的那樣平順或可以預(yù)測。

　　04

　　The Ministry for the Future

　　《未來部》（中文名暫譯）

　　By Kim Stanley Robinson | 金·斯坦利·羅賓遜 著

　　The Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson. When I was promoting my book on climate change last year, a number of people told me I should read this novel, because it dramatized many of the issues I had written about. I’m glad I picked it up, because it’s terrific. It’s so complex that it’s hard to summarize, but Robinson presents a stimulating and engaging story, spanning decades and continents, packed with fascinating ideas and people.

　　《未來部》（中文名暫譯）

　　作者：金·斯坦利·羅賓遜

　　去年我在宣傳我的氣候變化新書時，不少人告訴我應(yīng)該讀讀這本小說，因為它生動地表達(dá)了我寫過的許多問題。我很高興自己讀了這本書，因為它太棒了。它是如此復(fù)雜以至于難以對其進(jìn)行總結(jié)，但羅賓遜呈現(xiàn)了一個激動人心且引人入勝的故事，跨越數(shù)十年和各大洲，充滿了迷人的想法和人物。

　　05

　　How the World Really Works

　　《世界怎樣運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)》（中文名暫譯）

　　By Vaclav Smil | 瓦茨拉夫·斯米爾著

　　How the World Really Works, by Vaclav Smil. Another masterpiece from one of my favorite authors. Unlike most of Vaclav’s books, which read like textbooks and go super-deep on one topic, this one is written for a general audience and gives an overview of the main areas of his expertise. If you want a brief but thorough education in numeric thinking about many of the fundamental forces that shape human life, this is the book to read. It’s a tour de force.

　　《世界怎樣運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)》（中文名暫譯）

　　作者：瓦茨拉夫·斯米爾

　　這是我喜歡作家的另一部杰作。瓦茨拉夫的大多數(shù)書都讀起來像教科書，并就一個話題進(jìn)行很深入的探討。但這本書不一樣，它是為普通讀者寫的，是對他主要專業(yè)領(lǐng)域的一個概述。如果你想從數(shù)字思維的角度，對各種塑造人類生活的根本性力量做一個簡短但全面的學(xué)習(xí)，那這就是你要讀的書。這本書堪稱力作。

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