Top Books This Summer (2019)
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
- The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson
- The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Series) by Patrick Ness
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Today, over seven and a half billion people inhabit Earth, yet two thousand years ago, only around 200 million people called our planet home. Out of the six known types of humans that have ever existed, Homo Sapiens are the only ones still alive. Although not particularly fast nor strong, humans are at the top of the food chain. Once an insignificant species, humans have changed Earth more than anything else. Why has our population boomed in recent centuries? Why are we the only humans alive? How have we become masters of other animals? What caused us to be able to affect the history of our planet so greatly?
Sapiens explores the history of humans and our cognitive advancement. It traverses and ponders our evolution in ways that so rarely have been done before. By reading Sapiens, we are given an insightful and breathtaking look at human history. We learn of our ancestors’ ways of life and how they have changed over millennia. What caused Homo Sapiens to stop our natural way of hunting and gathering in order to settle down and farm? What caused our recent advances in technology, cognitive ability and much more? What will happen in the future as humans and other species’ evolution continues? How will we adapt to the modern world?
AGE RATING: 12+
TEEN RATING: 5/5
TEEN OVERVIEW: Sapiens gives a ‘brief’, yet incredible, insightful look into the lives of our ancestors and how evolution has woven the course of history. A thought-provoking book, Sapiens opens our eyes to a hidden level of meaning and reason in the things we see all around us. Sapiens will make you wonder about life.
The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson
President Duncan faces questioning and backlash after it came out that he ordered a military operation to intercept and stop a group of Ukrainian operatives from killing Suliman Cindoruk, the leader of a cyberterrorist organisation known as the Sons of Jihad. During the event, a young, proud, hopeful American CIA operative was killed and Suliman escaped. Why did President Duncan allow an American to die while protecting the life of a terrorist, who ultimately absconded?
If that wasn’t enough reason for the American people to recoil against President Duncan, it was also revealed that he rang Suliman. Was the President negotiating with terrorists? On the verge of possible impeachment and battling a recent severe blast of health difficulties, the President is struggling. Yet, somehow, there is something much worse on his mind…
A virus, given the covert name “Dark Ages” has broken into the Pentagon’s software and it seems unstoppable. Although the virus has only presented itself, and not activated itself, it is believed to have the power to destroy the infrastructure of United States. Thought to have been created by the Sons of Jihad, it could plunge America into “Dark Ages”.
President Duncan is given a message referring to the “Dark Ages” by an unknown individual, who he believes works for the Sons of Jihad. This seems impossible considering that only eight other high ranking officials know about the codename and the virus…
The President of The United States has gone missing in the eye of the public. Is he in severe danger? Or is POTUS making a run for it, trying to save himself with the possibility of impeachment facing him?
AGE RATING: 12+
TEEN RATING: 4.8/5
TEEN OVERVIEW: Bill Clinton’s insight to the secrets of being the sitting President of the United States of America and James Patterson’s incredible story telling ability have combined to create a wonderfully gripping, engaging, and breathtaking political thriller. The President is Missing is the perfect novel to transcend into a believable and fully immersive reality. Bound to make readers grip the pages of their book in anticipation of the next chapter, The President is Missing is a must read for fans of thrillers, crime, action and spy novels.
The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Series) by Patrick Ness
Todd Hewitt is on the verge of becoming a man. In about a month, a ceremony will take place in which he will officially become a man and take on the duties that reside with men. In the New World, there is only on society that Todd Hewitt has ever known: Prentisstown. It’s an unusual place.. For starters, its the only known civilisation on the planet. Secondly, the village is ruled by President Prentiss who named it after himself. Also, only around one hundred and fifty people live there and the weirest thing is… Each and every single one of them are male…
During the war the ravage war between humans and Spacks, a ‘germ’ was released by the Spacks that killed every last woman. Though the humans won the war, with no women left, they are doomed to die out…
Oh and one of the biggest parts of life in the New World is that everyone can hear everyone’s thoughts… The residents of Prenisstown are for the most part, miserable. They’ve lost their wives, daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts and grandmothers. That means their thoughts are miserable and weigh you down, almost drive you insane…
When Todd find a spot where he can’t hear anybody’s thoughts, everything changes for him… Some weird intuition tells Todd to try to hide this silence from everyone else in town (which is hard to do when everyone can read your thoughts). Soon he’s about to learn a lot more than he could have ever imagined…
AGE RATING: 12+
TEEN RATING: 4.2/5
TEEN OVERVIEW: From the wonderful imagination of Patrick Ness comes the first book in the Choas Walking Series. Gripping and incredibly unpredictable, The Knife of Never Letting Go is the perfect read for fans of Sci-Fi.
