When I was 18, I read Gödel Escher Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid on Minds and Machines in the Spirit of Lewis Carol, by Douglas R Hofstader. It's a book that won a pullitzer prize in the 1970s and is about maths and formal logic, but really gives you a flavour of how consciousness might come about.
Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to reading Solarpunk fiction yet. I've heard Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" is recommended as a proto-Solarpunk novel. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk#Literature for more fiction suggestions.
At that age I can only recommend to you to read fiction as well. Classic literature and philosophy will enrich your mind.
Instead of tech/science books, let me throw something else at you:
Jacque Fresco "The Best That Money Can't Buy" [1].
Robert Steele "Open-Source Everything Manifesto" [2]. Do not be mislead by the title. Open-source here is all-encompassing, software is only a tiny fraction of the spectrum.
David Graeber "Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology" [3]
I'm pretty sure I'll get downvoted, but Ashlee Vance's book on Elon Musk. Hear me out. I'm not recommending it for Elon's story but more to understand how to build companies, understand complex problems, look for great talent and how to build better systems by looking at things from a slightly different perspective. I read it when I was 18 as well and I learnt that Tesla wasn't actually (not entirely) Elon's acheivement. It was actually JB Straubel's passion project. As an engineer, I deeply admire JB and the things he has acheived (by being at the helm of Tesla), and what he will acheive through Redwood Materials, his new recycled batteries project. If his resillence and stint at Tesla/Stanford etc are any indication, we can soon expect some revolutionary things from him (once again).
It also showed me how SpaceX was born when Elon and his team crunched some numbers on a trip back from Russia, only to realize that it would be cheaper to build their own rockets rather than rent Russia's.
That book is filled with stories about complex systems that humans broke down into simpler problems and hacked them together into monolith companies. Contrary to popular beliefs (mostly held by people who haven't read the book), its not entirely about Elon.
Last non-fiction book I read was “A Plague Upon Our House” by dr. Scott Atlas. Good one, can recommend, but it might be too depressing for a birthday, it’s about COVID and modern politics.
Another good non-fiction one is “Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed” by Leo Janos, about cold war and aviation technology. This one is fine for a birthday, assuming you generally like these topics.
Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is always worth having a look at.
Not everyone's cup of tea, but I greatly enjoyed it at around that age.
Ed Thorp's autobiography "A man for all markets" is fun, in particular if you're interested in maths, gambling or finance.
Not a book recommendation, but Star Trek TNG has had a huge influence on my life and was (and still is) one of my biggest inspirations to get into engineering. It’s also filled with philosophy as well as things like leadership advice, etc.
Maybe one day I’ll get round to compiling a TNG greatest hits, like Measure of a Man, The Inner Light (the entire episodes pretty much), as well as scenes like Data demonstrating “calling in” rather than “calling out” bad behavior (https://youtu.be/vMKtKNZw4Bo), and just general Philosopher King speeches from Picard (https://youtu.be/Jph2qWXJ-Tk)
The answer I really want to give, but which isn't very helpful, is: go to a bookstore or to Amazon, find something that looks interesting to you, and buy it.
Don't worry about buying the right book at the right time, or if you'll like it in 50 years, or whatever. You'll have plenty of chances to get this right in the future.
The possibly more helpful, but self-promoting answer: I did a post twelve years ago on my personal blog about ten (plus five) books that were major influences on me. Many of those (11 out of the 15) are non-fiction, and you might get an idea or two from that list.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 128 ms ] threadI've come to realise that it's a bit long winded and winding, but it's pretty nice to go deep into. Like, just read it straight through.
It will change your life, dare I say.
China: A History by Keay is a pretty great overview of the last 5000 years of Chinese history. This was recommended to me on this very site!
Therefore, I would recommend "The simple path to wealth" and "The little book of common sense investing".
Instead of tech/science books, let me throw something else at you:
Jacque Fresco "The Best That Money Can't Buy" [1].
Robert Steele "Open-Source Everything Manifesto" [2]. Do not be mislead by the title. Open-source here is all-encompassing, software is only a tiny fraction of the spectrum.
David Graeber "Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology" [3]
===
[1] https://www.amazon.de/Best-That-Money-Cant-Buy-ebook/dp/B077...
[2] https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Robert-David-Steele/dp/1583944435
[3] https://www.amazon.de/-/en/David-Graeber-ebook/dp/B00MAPBIYA
Steven Pressfield - The War of Art + Turning Pro
Tony Robbins - Awaken the giant within (maybe he's released a better book than that now, but it was impactful personally back in the 90s)
It also showed me how SpaceX was born when Elon and his team crunched some numbers on a trip back from Russia, only to realize that it would be cheaper to build their own rockets rather than rent Russia's.
That book is filled with stories about complex systems that humans broke down into simpler problems and hacked them together into monolith companies. Contrary to popular beliefs (mostly held by people who haven't read the book), its not entirely about Elon.
My two cents.
Another good non-fiction one is “Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed” by Leo Janos, about cold war and aviation technology. This one is fine for a birthday, assuming you generally like these topics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP_Illustrated#Volume_1:_T...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Not_Being_Governed
Or something by Jared Diamond, e.g. The Third Chimpanzee.
Ed Thorp's autobiography "A man for all markets" is fun, in particular if you're interested in maths, gambling or finance.
Maybe one day I’ll get round to compiling a TNG greatest hits, like Measure of a Man, The Inner Light (the entire episodes pretty much), as well as scenes like Data demonstrating “calling in” rather than “calling out” bad behavior (https://youtu.be/vMKtKNZw4Bo), and just general Philosopher King speeches from Picard (https://youtu.be/Jph2qWXJ-Tk)
Don't worry about buying the right book at the right time, or if you'll like it in 50 years, or whatever. You'll have plenty of chances to get this right in the future.
The possibly more helpful, but self-promoting answer: I did a post twelve years ago on my personal blog about ten (plus five) books that were major influences on me. Many of those (11 out of the 15) are non-fiction, and you might get an idea or two from that list.
https://www.sportsfirings.com/?p=1401
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke#Letters_to_...