Summer has a way of creating something that’s often missing throughout the rest of the year: space.
Space to slow down. To think without constant interruptions. To challenge old ideas. And perhaps most importantly, to pick up a book that changes the way you see your work, your leadership or even yourself.
This summer, the QED organizing team has put together the Summer Reading List, featuring five books we genuinely enjoy and recommend. These are not sponsored picks or titles chosen simply because they are currently trending. They are personal favorites that stayed with us long after we finished the last page.
Together, they also offer a great introduction to the theme of the next QED Conference: Mastery.
Why Mastery?
Technology has never evolved faster.
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of almost every profession, automation is reshaping industries, and information has never been more accessible. Ironically, this abundance of technology does not automatically create better professionals, better leaders, or better decisions.
It simply gives us more opportunities to operate on autopilot.
Mastery is about choosing not to.
For us, Mastery is not synonymous with perfection. It is about agency. It is about consciously taking the wheel instead of letting circumstances, habits, or even technology decide for us.
As AI becomes deeply embedded in everyday work, the question is no longer whether we should use it. The real challenge is knowing when to trust it, when to question it, and when human judgment should lead the way.
Mastery is the ability to intentionally shape decisions, outcomes, and impact. It combines technical excellence with curiosity, business understanding, experience, and the confidence to think independently.
That is exactly the conversation we want to have at the next QED.
Until then, summer offers the perfect opportunity to begin that journey, one page at a time.
📚 Book #1
Klara and the Sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro
A profound novel that uses artificial intelligence to explore empathy, love, consciousness, and what it truly means to be human.
📚 Book #2
The Right Kind of Wrong
by Amy Edmondson
How we learn, how mastery develops through experimentation, and why intelligent failure is an essential part of excellence.
📚 Book #3
Life 3.0
by Max Tegmark
One of the most influential books on the long-term implications of artificial intelligence and humanity’s role in a world of increasingly capable machines.
📚 Book #4
Nexus
by Yuval Noah Harari
An exploration of how information networks, artificial intelligence, and institutions shape power, cooperation, and the future of humanity.
📚 Book #5
What We Can Know
by Ian McEwan
A thoughtful exploration of science, technology, and human nature, asking what remains uniquely human in the age of AI.
Until Next May
If any of the books above ends up in your beach bag this summer, no one will be happier than us.
We’ll continue the conversation next May at QED, where we’ll explore what it truly means to drive with intention, lead through uncertainty and turn technology into something we actively shape rather than simply follow.
Until then, happy reading. ☀️📚