The summer months are the ideal time to peruse a book from your beach towel, airplane seat, hotel bed, or more likely, the coffee shop you are hiding away from your unconditioned apartment at. From a novel starring an architect-protagonist to one about the Russian Revolution to architectural theory and a biography of the gene, here are some books to dive into this summer.

Recommendations from Kate Wagner, author of McMansion Hell

October: The Story of the Russian Revolution by China Miéville:
This year marks the centenary of the Russian revolution and October is a brilliant retelling of this pivotal moment in history. Known as a left-wing activist and author of fantasy, Miéville's curious nonfiction read for the year examines the failure of the communist experiment in a novel full of wit and fresh insight.  

"To give a new generation of readers a fresh account of the great revolution, incorporating all the post-1989 archival discoveries and scholarly research, is a singularly daunting task. To render it in vivid, oracular prose, moving across the pages with the gathering force of a hurricane, is something that only China Miéville could achieve."-Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz among others.

Architectural Theory: Volume I-An Anthology from Vitruvius to 1870 by Harry Francis Mallgrave:
Volume I of this landmark anthology chronicles the major developments and trends in architecture from its earliest days to the year 1870. Comprised of 229 texts by significant writers of architectural theory, it is an extremely valuable resource for architectural design, history, theory education, aesthetics, art history, visual culture and so forth. 

Recommendations from Katya Tylevich, LA-based writer of art, architecture, and design

Agnes by Peter Stamm, translated into English by Michael Hofmann:
This debut novel, by the Swiss author known for his parables and metafictional narratives, follows the love story of the unnamed narrator and a much younger graduate student, of whom the book is named. Katya recommends "the deceptive clarity with which he writes and the unadorned, unafraid tone in which he investigates ugly realities and banalities. He addresses the failures of the body and of personal ethical metrics. He writes with a distinct precision, leaving no room for a false or unnecessary word."

Seven Years, also by Peter Stamm:
In this book, Stamm offers a powerful portrayal of an architect's struggle with perfection. Set in 1980s Germany, the novel follows an aspiring architect's romantic struggle between his beautiful fellow-architect wife, and Ivona, a Polish woman he had an affair with and remains fixated. Architecture serves, not only as two of the characters professions, but also as a metaphor for relationships throughout the book.

Recommendations from Archinect favorite Steven Holl

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee:
This magnificent biography of the gene from the Pulitizer Prize-winning author was a New York Times Bestseller and received numerous titles of "Best Book of the Year" when released in 2016. 

“Mukherjee is an assured, polished wordsmith . . . who displays a penchant for the odd adroit aphorism and well-placed pun. . . . A well-written, accessible, and entertaining account of one of the most important of all scientific revolutions, one that is destined to have a fundamental impact on the lives of generations to come. The Gene is an important guide to that future" writes Robin McKie, of the Guardian.

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt:
This work by Stephen Greenblatt—literary critic, theorist, Shakespearean scholar, and profressor at Harvard—is a dazzling study of the origins of the Renaissance, told through the story of how a 15th-century papal emissary, and obsessive book hunter, saved the last copy of the Roman poet Lucretius's On the Nature of Things.  

Recommendations from 2017 MoMA PS1 YAP winner, Jenny Sabin

Earth Moves: The Furnishing of Territories (Writing Architecture) by Bernard Cache:
Expanding upon the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, Cache, in his first major work, conceptualizes a series of architectural images as vehicles for two major developments: the image as nonrepresentational and the redefining of architecture as the frame. Jenny Sabin describes it as a "dense and important book" that she is re-reading (it came out in 1995) in preparation for some upcoming presentations.

The Once and Future Turing: Computing the World by S. Barry Cooper and Andrew Hodges: 
One of the twentieth century's deepest thinkers, Alan Turing made seminal contributions to the fields of logic, computation, computer science, artificial intelligence, cryptography and theoretical biology and he is largely considered the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. This volume compiles specially commissioned essays from today's most outstanding scientific thinkers as they look at a range of Turing's contributions as well as how the subject have developed since his time. 

Recommendations from Diana Agrest:

The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund De Waal:
The British ceramicist Edmund De Waal brings us a memoir in which he tells the story of his once wealthy Jewish family. The Ephrussi family was a wealthy European banking dynasty that lost almost everything when the Nazis aryanized their property in 1938. After the war, the only recoverable possession was a collection of 264 Japanese netsuke miniature sculptures that were passed down through five generations and around which, the memoir is told. 

Dance on the Volcano by Marie Vieux-Chauvet:
This recommendation is a recent translation of the Haitian author's canonical 1957 novel La Danse sur le volcan. It follows the story of a free woman of color, Minette, and her rise to becoming a beloved opera star in Haiti at the turn of the 19th century. It is an intimate rendering of the Haitian Revolution and tracks the elaborate hierarchy of skin color and class through Minette's experience and attempt to enter white colonial society through her singing ability.  

"A vivid, heartbreaking epic . . . Vieux-Chauvet is a tremendously gifted storyteller, compared to the likes of Tolstoy. Her work highlights the lasting trauma of racial and class oppression — detailing the ripple effects that spread from one person to the next, and infect one generation after another. But it also shows humanity’s struggle to emerge from the ashes of this hatred, and find love and beauty again ... [a] remarkable work of fiction, which will introduce a new generation of readers to Vieux-Chauvet’s exquisite writing, and its courageous calls for justice."-The Toronto Star

Recommendations from 2017 Wheelwright winner Samuel Bravo

Two essays by K. Michael Hays, "Of Mirrors and Ashes" and "Appearance and Materiality" in Appearance and Materiality:
These two essays, written by the Harvard GSD professor, were published as part of the arqdocs series put out by Ediciones ARQ, the publishing house at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile School of Architecture. They discuss ways of perceiving architecture that are complex, rich and stress the social importance of the medium. As the author describes, "Architecture is a fundamental human postulate. It is something that we need as a society, as a collective group, to understand our place in the world. And was this book does is offer examples and models of how architecture helps us to engage the world."

One River by Wade Davis:
This narrative follows the ethnobotanist Richard Evan Schultes as he journeys through the remote Amazonian jungle to study the regions psychoactive and medicinal plants, while interweaving the authors own stories of travel to the Andean region as one of Schultes' prize students. 

"Mr. Schultes can add to his formidable list of achievements that he taught and guided generations of dedicated ethnobotanists. One of his acolytes has now amply repaid him by writing this great, lyrical book in his honor." –The New York Times Book Review