When Einstein Walked with Godel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought

By Jim Holt

Collection of essays by science writer Jim Holt covering myriad topics in math, physics, computer science and philosophy.

Covering a variety of topics with nice, accessible introductions to a lot of concepts in math and physics in particular.

To The Mountains: My Life in Jihad from Algeria to Afghanistan

By Abdullah Anas with Tam Hussein

Memoir of Abdullah Anas, an Algerian islamist and mujahideen during the Afghan jihad against Soviet occupation.

By Anas’ account, he was a key lieutenant for Sheikh Abdullah Azzam who ran the Arab Service Bureau (MAK in Arabic) out of Peshawar, Pakistan during the Afghan jihad. This was a group which directed support (money, weapons, fighter, etc.) from the Arab world to the Afghan fighters.

Follows the arc of Arab involvement in the Afghanistan from an original role as a sort of impartial honest broker to the many factions among Afghan mujahideen, to the rise of takfiri ideology within the mujahideen (especially among one Osama bin Laden) and the subsequent shift in focus from a Jihad against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan to a global terror operation.

In many ways, this reads like am attempted rehabilitation of certain individuals, Ahmed Shah Massoud and Sheikh Abdullah Azzam chief among them, who have been portrayed as part of al Qaeda after 9/11. I don’t really have enough background to weigh on his claims but he strikes me as too personally invested in the matter to give an objective view.