library
books
1984
George Orwell
The original warning, reminding us why we must fight for privacy, plain language, and the objective truth.
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham
A ‘cozy catastrophe’ that exposes the fragility of our civilisation and how quickly nature returns to reclaim the space.
The Long Walk
Stephen King
A brutal study in endurance that asks what keeps us moving forward when every logical part of the brain says stop.
Neuromancer
William Gibson
The cyberpunk prophecy that predicted the internet’s corporate dystopia long before we logged on.
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
Ancient strategy that applies just as much to modern activism and surviving late-stage capitalism as it does to the battlefield.
Fatherland
Robert Harris
A chilling reminder of how quickly the unthinkable becomes normal, and how hard the truth must be fought for when history is rewritten.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke
A reminder that our tools might evolve faster than our morality, and that out there in the dark, we are very small.
The God Delusion
Richard Dawkins
A rigorous defence of reason and evidence in a world that often prefers comfortable myths.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
The only “trilogy in four parts” that matters. It teaches the ultimate Stoic lesson: the universe is absurd, bureaucracy is universal, and the most important thing is not to panic.
films
Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino
A masterclass in dialogue and consequence. It proved that the most interesting part of a story isn’t the explosion, but the conversation on the way there.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Joel & Ethan Coen
The Odyssey reimagined through bluegrass and chain gangs. A mythic reminder that the journey home is never a straight line.
The Blues Brothers
John Landis
Anarchic, destructive, and deeply musical. A ‘mission from God’ that treats authority with the exact level of respect it deserves.
Children of Men
Alfonso Cuarón
A terrifyingly plausible vision of a broken world that insists hope is a discipline worth practicing, even when the lights are going out.
Trainspotting
Danny Boyle
Choose life. A brutal, kinetic, and darkly funny look at addiction that defined a generation. It manages to be uniquely Scottish and universally understood at the same time.