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I’m currently watching Timothy Snyder’s Yale class on the history of Ukraine from which I take away two points:

1. Sheer, overbrimming brilliance and charisma go a loooooong way toward outshining teaching methods that, at my most charitable, I can only call lacklustre (Prof. Snyder beats me in erudition and intellectual potential by a factor that isn’t even funny, but when it comes to teaching, hoo boy, do I have notes).
2. More to the point, Plokhy’s book is absolutely and avowedly foundational to this brilliant class.

So, humbly standing in a greater mind’s shadow, I can only say: if you only read one history of Ukraine, make it this one.

Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries is the rare gem: the series that gives on giving. This sixth instalment has all the qualities of its predecessors: it’s short, on point, and keeps us up to date with the evolution of her cyborg protagonist’s unplanned feature upgrade (a personality) with all its quirks (people), all in the guise of an entertaining SF whodunnit.