This summer I was away for a long stretch. San Francisco first, then Los Angeles, all of it with the family and a lot of it with nothing scheduled.
Upto36, one week later
Last week I shared Upto36, a small game I built in three days. I did not expect it to get this much attention, and the feedback has not stopped.
A leaderboard formed, and people play it in ways I did not know it could be played.
This weekend I made a round of improvements based on what you sent. Thank you to everyone who played. If you looked last week, it is worth another look: upto36.com
This summer I did not plan a reading list. I did not plan much of anything. But coming back, I noticed what had actually stayed with me, and it turned out to be a fairly specific pile. Books, films, a couple of series.
Here is the whole summer, in order.
Books
Apple in China by Patrick McGee (4.5 on Goodreads, about 9,000 ratings). I read this because supply chain dependency is something almost every hardware founder underestimates. It is a sobering look at how Apple's manufacturing became so intertwined with China that the dependency now runs both ways, a reminder of how quietly the biggest strategic decisions compound over decades.
The Infinity Machine by Sebastian Mallaby (audiobook). I have followed Demis Hassabis for years, so I am going through this one on audio: how DeepMind grew from a London startup into the center of the race toward superintelligence, and where AI is actually heading. The clearest account I have found yet.
The New Map by Daniel Yergin (audiobook, narrated by Robert Petkoff and the author). I picked this up because energy sits underneath almost every business we back and almost nobody in venture prices it properly. Yergin walks through how oil, gas, renewables and geopolitics actually interlock, and it changed how I read country risk.
Kendime Düşünceler by Marcus Aurelius (Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, the Turkish edition of Meditations). The private notebook of a Roman emperor, written to himself and never meant for publication. I keep coming back to it because it is the rare leadership book with no audience and no agenda, just a man reminding himself to stay calm, useful and honest.
Hayat İmkânsız by Matt Haig (the Turkish edition of The Life Impossible). A retired maths teacher inherits a house on Ibiza from a friend she barely knew, and starts pulling on the thread of what actually happened to her. Lighter than it sounds, and a good reminder that a life can restart much later than you think.
Series and films
For All Mankind (IMDb 8.1). The alternate history where the Soviets land first and the space race never stops. Five seasons in, still the best argument I know that competition, not comfort, is what moves technology forward.
Star City (IMDb 7.6). The For All Mankind spin-off, telling the same alternate space race from inside the Soviet program. Same universe, completely different pressure, and better than most spin-offs have any right to be.
Project Hail Mary (IMDb 8.3, one of the few 2026 films in the Top 250). The adaptation of Andy Weir's novel about a lone astronaut on a last-ditch mission to save Earth. I loved The Martian, and this scratches the same itch: science, optimism, and relentless problem solving against impossible odds.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (IMDb 8.0). A forgotten Peter Parker living alone as a full-time Spider-Man, until the pressure changes him and a new enemy arrives. The best of the three by some distance.
Pressure (IMDb 7.3). The 72 hours before D-Day, told through the weather forecast the whole invasion depended on. Andrew Scott as the meteorologist who has to tell a general no. A film about one decision made with incomplete data, which is a familiar feeling.
Remarkably Bright Creatures (IMDb 7.6). Sally Field as an elderly widow working night shifts at an aquarium, and the unlikely friendship that pulls her back into life. Quiet, and much better than the premise sounds.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (IMDb 7.2). Spike is pulled into Jimmy Crystal's gang on the mainland while Dr. Kelson finds something that changes everything. Bleaker than the first one, and it earns it.
The Drama (new release, April 2026). Kristoffer Borgli's offbeat comedy drama with Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. I watched it for Borgli, his earlier films stuck with me.
Backrooms (IMDb 6.8). Kane Parsons turned his own internet horror shorts into an A24 feature while still in his early twenties. Worth watching for that fact alone: he built the audience on YouTube first and the studio came to him.
The Amateur (IMDb 6.5). Rami Malek as a CIA cryptographer who blackmails the agency into training him to hunt down the people behind his wife's death. A quieter, brainier spin on the revenge thriller.
Minions & Monsters (IMDb 6.3). The Minions in 1920s Hollywood, hunting creatures for their monster movie and unleashing them instead. Not deep, exactly right for a tired evening.
One line I kept thinking about this summer, from Seneca:
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Letters to Lucilius
A summer of input, and the only part that changed anything was the part I dared to make badly first.
Now tell me what I missed. Reply with one book or one film I should have read or watched this summer. I read every reply.
The book titles link to Amazon and the films and series link to IMDb. The Amazon ones are affiliate links.