The Institute by Stephen King

Genre: Horror

About a boy, Luke, who’s kidnapped from his home and sent off to some Institute that houses other kids who have also been kidnapped. What adds to the intrigue is that the other kids have special talents, such as telekinesis and telepathy. How were these kids chosen, and for what purpose? Those behind the Institute must have known these details about the kids; what makes the plot even more unsettling is that the room into which Luke is placed is a near-perfect replication of his room at home (there’s just no window). If anyone has played Zero Escape: 999 (which I recently finished, finally), this book reminds me of a fair bit. 

King’s novel releases on the 10th this month; I know I’ll be putting in a reservation at the library for a copy. 

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A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

Genre: Fantasy

I’m not one who reads Fantasy much at all and I haven’t read past works by this author, but between the cover art and description – alluding to a society that finds itself in a transitionary period on account of the technological advances, and one that seems to have strong political structure overtones – this is one I’ll keep on my radar.

Abercombie’s novel releases on the 17th. 

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The Case Against Reality: why evolution hid the truth from our eyes by Donald Hoffman

Genre: Science (Cognitive Science; Evolution; Perception)

I stumbled across this through a Quanta Magazine article on it that featured an interview with the author. It released a month ago, but worth mentioning here for how intriguing its claim is. According to the article at least, Hoffman’s claims are perhaps not as strong or radical as they first seem. At any rate, I obtained a copy of this recently and plan on starting it today.