Why should engineers read more fiction?
7 – Escape
Like many engineers, I’m a rationalist. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy escaping to other worlds where different rules apply.
From the glorious daemons of Philip Pullman, the magic realism of Isabel Allende, dream-like poetry-as-prose of Lorraine Wilson and the steam-punk dystopia of T. L. Huchu, I love a book that takes me out of myself.
Sometimes it even brings me back a better person, with my sharp edges rounded.
One writer who never fails to transport, who makes the mundane surreal, is a mesmerising Japanese shadow guide.
My recommendation – The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Toru leaves his house one day to look for his missing cat only to find himself thrown into a series of bizarre adventures.
I was enveloped in numbness, and absence of feeling so deep the bottom was lost from view.
Continue to number eight – Appreciation of Other Religions and Cultures
The full list of 10 recommended books (and a few extras) is available here
Fiona Erskine is a professional engineer and the author of Jaq Silver thrillers The Chemical Detective, The Chemical Reaction, The Chemical Cocktail and genre defying Phosphate Rocks: A death in Ten Objects.
The Chemical Detective 