The National has an interview with Egyptian doctor and science fiction / horror novelist Ahmed Khaled Towfik, saying Arabs don’t like science or technology books. "The Arab reader likes books that provide social commentary, or romance or drama, or a mild form of philosophy,” Towfik says. Politics is high up there in the region’s reading lists, and of course, you can’t go wrong when you combine political drama and romance, he says. Towfik will be part of a panel discussion on sci-fi today and will hold a talk about his latest book Like Icarus tomorrow at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.