* "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster" by Bill Gates. I've had strong opinions on climate change for a long time but I never felt like I was educated to the extent I wanted to be.  This book has tons of very specific information on timelines, tradeoffs, and the ramifications of possible solutions. It's still an overview, but it assumes no knowledge and really digs in there. I feel like I finally have some rigor in the topic beyond what I've absorbed from random news articles and internet posts over the years.

* "Abstract Algebra: Theory and Applications" by Thomas W. Judson.  I never went to college and am self taught, but work in fields that often require various types of mathematics. I'd figured out workable amounts of abstract algebra here and there and just wanted to tie everything together. This book is fantastic for that. Like every math book it's dense and requires effort...but it's more approachable than most and it seems to fit right in the niche I needed.

 * "Altered Carbon" by Richard K. Morgan. Just a fun book. Not _too_ far from the Netflix version, but in text form it gets away with _alot_ more suspension of disbelief.