An Engineer Reads a Novel Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/pbseries/an-engineer-reads-a-novel/ a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship Sat, 17 Jan 2026 02:20:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.publicbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-favicon-2-300x300.png An Engineer Reads a Novel Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/pbseries/an-engineer-reads-a-novel/ 32 32 The Pinsetter’s Lament https://www.publicbooks.org/the-pinsetters-lament/ Wed, 30 Jan 2019 16:00:14 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=26106 What makes humans human? What distinguishes us from the machines we design to perform our tasks, machines we admire for their elegant mimicry, then resent and fear? If a compelling case ...

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]]> In the Desert You Can’t Remember Your Name https://www.publicbooks.org/in-the-desert-you-cant-remember-your-name/ Tue, 13 Nov 2018 16:00:59 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=24775 “If I didn’t bomb some place, how would she save that place? … If I didn’t obliterate cities, who would build refugee camps?” War’s futility, absurd bureaucracy, and ...

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]]> Turning History Inside Out https://www.publicbooks.org/turning-history-inside-out/ Thu, 13 Sep 2018 15:00:35 +0000 http://www.publicbooks.org/?p=23560 It’s not hard to imagine the Hollywood pitch meeting for an adaptation of Esi Edugyan’s new novel, Washington Black. “It’s 12 Years a Slave meets Jules Verne ...

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]]> Unsex the Lab https://www.publicbooks.org/unsex-the-lab/ Tue, 17 Jul 2018 15:00:47 +0000 http://www.publicbooks.org/?p=22406 Kit Owens, the protagonist of Megan Abbott’s Give Me Your Hand, is a postdoc in the research lab of academic rock star Dr. Lena Severin; Severin has just received a prestigious research grant when Kit’s ...

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]]> Famous and Unfamous Feminists https://www.publicbooks.org/famous-and-unfamous-feminists/ Tue, 01 May 2018 15:00:44 +0000 http://www.publicbooks.org/?p=20447 Meg Wolitzer’s new novel is enjoyably, inescapably “timely,” with its focus on modern feminism and its attention to collegiate rape culture, skirmishes in ...

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]]> “The Shape of Power Is Always the Same” https://www.publicbooks.org/the-shape-of-power-is-always-the-same/ Tue, 13 Feb 2018 16:00:37 +0000 http://www.publicbooks.org/?p=18383 What does your dream of female empowerment look like? You may have wistfully imagined that such a situation would result in more empathetic politics ...

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]]> Robot and Juliet https://www.publicbooks.org/robot-and-juliet/ Mon, 27 Nov 2017 15:59:32 +0000 http://www.publicbooks.org/?p=17256 What makes us fall in love with technology? In those enchanting early days, new tech can seduce with expanded horizons, allowing us to travel faster and farther, or connect across longer distances; and we appreciate this ...

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]]> Good with Her Hands https://www.publicbooks.org/good-with-her-hands/ Mon, 02 Oct 2017 15:00:12 +0000 http://www.publicbooks.org/?p=15666 Jennifer Egan’s new novel, her first since 2010’s prismatic, prescient Pulitzer winner, A Visit from the Goon Squad, may surprise you. In Manhattan Beach, Egan’s virtuosic skills are devoted to verisimilitude …

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]]> Even Broken History Is History https://www.publicbooks.org/even-broken-history-is-history/ Mon, 17 Jul 2017 15:00:14 +0000 http://www.publicbooks.org/?p=13964 Last month the mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu, spoke movingly about the removal of Confederate monuments and “the cult of the lost cause” they celebrate. The “Free Southerners” in Omar El Akkad’s debut novel, which opens in 2074, are also a cult of the lost cause: …

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]]> Science and the Wolf https://www.publicbooks.org/science-and-the-wolf/ Wed, 19 Apr 2017 15:00:36 +0000 http://www.publicbooks.org/?p=11931 Once upon a time there was Science. Pure of heart, untainted by the kingdom’s societal structures or geopolitical context, Science was simply Science: an apolitical quest for objective truth and beauty. ...

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