This week in Summer Reading

Book cover for Solito

Solito
Javier Zamora

In this book, Javier Zamora tells his story as an undocumented child emigrating from El Salvador to the U.S. He captures his view of the world as a 9-year-old and takes you with him as he leaves his grandparents, is led by coyotes, and meets fellow migrants on the journey. I was so immersed in the book and his experiences that by the time he reaches the U.S. border, I was shocked by the starkness and strangeness of this new country and its people. An agua fresca and chilaquiles will never taste the same.

NANCY H. LIU
Director, UC Berkeley Psychology Clinic & Center for Assessment
Associate Clinical Professor
Department of Psychology

 

Book cover for Chip War

Chip War
Chris Miller

What do old graphing calculators, a small island nation, and the fight for global dominance have in common? Semiconductor chips. In Chip War, Chris Miller, history faculty member at Tufts, tells the gripping account of the rise of this technology over the past few decades and the new global arms race. Elegantly weaving the stories of early Silicon Valley personalities with Texas technology (rather than oil) tycoons and ultimately landing in Taiwan, this book will make you understand current geopolitics (like the war in Ukraine) in a new light – I now cannot unsee the importance of these chips.

NANCY H. LIU
Director, UC Berkeley Psychology Clinic & Center for Assessment
Associate Clinical Professor
Department of Psychology