Greetings from Read Max HQ, and welcome to our weekly roundup column, in which I pick out some worthwhile and often overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers. For this week’s round-up, I’ve got:

• A really excellent upcoming history of mind-machine interfaces that offers a kaleidescopic tour of some of modernity’s most interesting freaks, geniuses, and conspirators;

• a link roundup featuring pieces on a great (maybe the greatest) baseball novel, Sally Rooney, a celebrity-impersonator cruise, and Silicon Valley’s A.I. freakout;

• a rich, fascinating, and distinctive Iraq War rom-com; and

• four tracks I’ve been listening to a lot.

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I love to hear from readers who want to recommend a cool book or movie (or whatever!) to me, or from readers who are looking for specific kinds of recommendations. Just leave a comment or drop me a line at [email protected].

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Now, the roundup: