Dune

One of the great rewards of being a parent is seeing what books your kids pick up and how they become absorbed in different worlds. After reading books such as 1984, Normal People (sic!) and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children over the past year, Eddie is now half-way through Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi classic Dune.

It brings back fond memories of playing the classic strategy game with Gabriel in the early 1990s, as well as watching Dune somewhere above the Atlantic. The Dune universe is one that places less emphasis on technology and more on the politics of humanity, the ways in which institutions evolve over time, and the pivotal role of myth. And, at the centre of it all, lies the desert, with its enduring pull on my imagination.