Nerd Pride Radio

Back with that perennial question, this time needing books for kid that would be interesting to adult readers but more appropriate for the middle school set in terms of spicy content.

Context: this reader likes the Tolkien books, but does not like Rick Riordan or those cat books anymore because they are too babyish. As much as I was glad the Riordan books appealed to the grade school readers, I am so glad to be done with them in my own life. The first one was a novelty and by book two it was a hellscape of tedium. And then there were more series!

Anyway, the kid also wants to read nonfiction type of stuff that would be interesting, about geopolitics and global climate change and world history and such. Most of the books we have about this are pretty heavy and dry, even though in a year or two I would imagine they'll be perfect. So I'm open to suggestions both fictional and non.

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I'm halfway through book two and still loving it. Content is PG rated, but it's a series loaded with big ideas.

The premise is that there are infinite parallel earths all stacked together like a deck of cards. Each is slightly different from the ones next to it, but ours is the only one with people. Plans are released online for a simple device that anyone can make at home that allows almost anyone to step from world to world.

The possible repercussions of such a premise are incredibly immense and complicated, and the series is working to explore those possibilities and create a plausible world. It's really good.

This sounds perfect, yesssss!!