1. Technology and Leisure

How technology affects our lives, work, and leisure:

• The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Struggle for Humanity's Future at the New Frontier of Power, Shoshana Zuboff, (2022, Argo), translated by Sylva Ficová
  Why read it: Reveals how technology has become a tool of control and how it affects individual freedom
• The Loop: How Technology Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back, Jacob Ward, (2022, Hachette Book)
  Why read it: Shows how technology is influencing our decision-making and how to take back control.
• Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, Cal Newport, (2019, Portfolio/Penguin)
  Why read it: Inspires you to find balance between the digital world and a meaningful life.
• How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy,Jenny Odell, (2019, Melville House)
  Why read it: Provokes thought on how to resist the pressures of the modern attention economy.
• After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time, Nick Srnicek & Helen Hester, (2023, Verso), translated to Czech by Tereza Stejskalová
  Why read it: Shows what freedom from endless productivity through technology could look like.

2. Forest and Nature

Let yourself be enchanted by nature, forest wisdom, and forest stories:

• Finding the Mother Tree - A Journey to the Wisdom of the Forest, Suzanne Simard, (2022, Kazda), translated by Vojtěch Ettler
  Why read it: Offers a scientific and emotional perspective on the interconnection of trees in ecosystems.
• This Is Wildfire, Nick Mott & Justin Angle, (2023, Bloomsbury Publishing)
  Why read it: Shares stories of the wilderness and the fight against wildfires in a world shaped by climate change.
• Barkskins, Annie Proulx, (2016, Scribner)
  Why read it: Tells an epic story about humans’ relationship with forests and their devastation across the centuries.

3. mmunity and Long-Term Illness

How to take care of your body, planet and diseases

• The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness, Meghan O’Rourke, (2022, Riverhead Books)
  Why read it: Provides insight into living with chronic illness and its impact on society.
• Hell, Timothy Morton, (2021, Verso Books)
  Why read it: Offers a philosophical and spiritual perspective on the climate crisis, connecting Christian ideas, ecology, and a critique of current power structures.
• The Long Covid Self-Help Guide: Practical Ways to Manage Symptoms, Emily Fraser, (2022, Oxford University Press)
  Why read it: Provides practical tips for managing Long Covid, especially where medical care fails.
• Small Rain, Garth Greenwell, (2024, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  Why read it: An intimate story about coping with illness and human resilience.

4. War and Its Consequences

On global conflicts and conflict stories:

• New and Old Wars: Organised Violence in a Global Era, Mary Kaldor, (2021, Polity Press)
  Why read it: Describes the transformation of armed conflicts in the era of globalisation, analysing the shift from traditional interstate wars to new forms of violence involving non-state actors and identity politics.
• Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War, Hito Steyerl, (2017, Verso Books)
  Why read it: Explores the relationship between contemporary art and global power structures, and how technology, financial markets, and war influence artistic creation. Shows how art can serve as a tool for reflection and resistance. 
• Jestli mám zemřít, ať je to příběh: Palestina v českých perspektivách, (translated: If I Must Die, Let it Be a Story: Palestine from Czech Perspectives), Tereza Langrová (ed.), (2024, Utopia Libri)
  Why read it: Offers a unique perspective on Palestinian issues through Czech voices. It is also the winner of the 2024 Ji.hlava IDFF documentary book award.

What is the IF Team Going to Read?

• Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune 2052–2072, M. E. O'Brien & Eman Abdelhadi, (2023, Common Notions)
  Why we want to read it: To get in tune with the post-capitalist world and explore new ways of living together.
• The Crisis of Narration, Byung-Chul Han, (2023, Polity Press)
  Why we want to read it: To better understand how technology is changing our stories and why we’re losing the capacity for deeper connection and empathy.
• Prophet Song, Paul Lynch, (2023, Oneworld Publications)
  Why we want to read it: To remind us that even in the darkest times in a world on the brink of collapse, hope can survive and inspire perseverance.
• Pathogenesis: How Germs Made History, Jonathan Kennedy, (2023, Basic Books)
  Why we want to read it: To discover how small microbes shaped major historical events—and because fascinating details never tire us.
• Our Share of Night, Mariana Enriquez, (2023, Granta Books)
  Why we want to read it: To take a break from spooky non-fiction and return to the traditional genre of fear—horror that blends dark family secrets, occult practices, and supernatural forces (Argentine style).