Books: Sunny Sides - Ten Books That Will Inspire You in the Summer

Vacation time is reading time. These ten books were published in the first half of 2026. They are perfect for escaping everyday life on the beach, in the valley, or on the balcony - and yet discovering new intellectual landscapes.

Martin Andree: The Measurement of the Digital World

Six years after the "Atlas of the Digital World", the Cologne-based scientist, who has established himself as one of the most prominent German-speaking critics of Big Tech, is providing an update. To do this, Martin Andree has once again strengthened the data basis of his explanations. Instead of relying on surveys, the media scientist is using the GfK Crossmedia Link Panel, which records the real media usage of 8,000 people in Germany.

The compact handbook organizes digital attention as a coherent reference framework: who spends how much time where, what role Big Tech platforms play in this, and how independent providers assert themselves against this - Andree works all this out with great love for detail. As is customary for Andree, the book does not stop at mere "measurement".

Andrea Lorenzo Capussela: The Republic of Innovation

Freedom as mere absence of coercion - this is, according to Andrea Lorenzo Capussela, the shortened, ultimately harmful idea that has shaped Western societies for decades. And for this, the competition economist, who teaches in London, develops a counter-draft in this book, which has not yet been published in German: free is not one who can act formally unhindered, but one who is not at the mercy of employers, Big Tech, or a self-appointed elite.

Francis Fukuyama: The Last Man

Few international scholars have been so ridiculed in recent years as Francis Fukuyama. The man who, in 1992, proclaimed the "end of history", i.e., the definitive victory of the liberal West over the autocratic challenge, became the prototype of futile prophecies after the resurgence of autocratic rulers around the world. However, Fukuyama's work encompasses far more than this one analysis.

Mariana Mazzucato: The Common Good Economy

Mariana Mazzucato is, in some parts of the German scene interested in economic issues, a kind of human trigger point. And the fact that former Economics Minister Robert Habeck often referred to her did not improve her reputation there. Nevertheless, from the perspective of the international debate, one can say that one should not ignore her - and therefore not her new book, which has not yet been published in German.

Annette Dittert: Dear Britain

When Brexit finally became a reality on the night of January 31, 2020, Annette Dittert was live in front of the Downing Street gates. The correspondent for the ARD capital city studio had been reporting on the UK's EU referendum and its dramatic consequences for years. In her book, she describes the inner turmoil of her reporting from London.