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Ask Slashdot: What Do You Like To Read?
badeMan writes "I will be traveling a third of the way around the world this Christmas, and that means a lot of time on a plane. I have decided I am not going to do any coding or technical reading during the flight. Outside the realm of technology and all things related to work, what do you find interesting to read? What books, genres, and authors do you enjoy?"
get the new yorker either printed or on iPad. interesting articles of all types. you'll never run out of things to talk about at a party!
I enjoy Science Fiction and Alternate history. Or a combination of both. I tried to get into Reamde, But it just was either too long or tried to explain too much to the reader.
Restore the madness of youth's lechery
I like to read Science Fiction Erotica. Some call it porn. Porn meets Steampunk.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Two books I am reading right now (in a homeopathic doses):
1. Tafsir ibn Kathir - exegesis of Holy Qur'an
2. History of Western Philosophy by Russell
Chapter on romantics is hilarious.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
I've been reading a bunch of Philip K Dick on the iPad through Kindle.
Wind up bird chronicles (and any other of his books)
What books, genres, and authors do you enjoy?
Books with porn, porn, and people who write porn.
Neal Stephenson is a great author for Slashdot readers. Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash are great titles to start with.
Which, sad to say, is ever-rarer nowadays. It seems to me that there are a great many otherwise competent authors (Sanderson, Rothfuss, Egan) who are troublingly mired in notions of female superiority (note: not equality; bona fide superiority). I suspect a lot of this derives from a backlash over previously male-dominated genres. Unfortunately, as humans only exist for a little while and die, backlash like that only ensures ongoing imbalance, rather than any kind of equality.
1.) philosophy. currently reading "existentialism: from dostoevsky to sartre". Very good, if you can commit to it. The Karl Jaspers excerpts really encapsulate my favored view of existentialism.
2.) Hemingway.
3.) Isaac Asimov.
4.) John K. Galbraith
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
. . . cause TV is what happens when you make a book into something interesting.
1984!
It's your guide to the future!^Wpresent!^Wpast!
The Name of the Rose, Baudolino, The Island of the Day Before, Foucault's Pendulum. All good books.
While flying, I find it most enjoyable to practice my jive and maybe read something light, like a leaflet on Famous Jewish Sports Legends,. . . I also like to read books and watch movies about gladiators.
Science related yes, more epistemology - reflections on the human potential into the distant future - this guy is scientifically well versed but has some unconventional ideas - very interesting stuff - David Deutsch - The Fabric of Reality, or his latest, The Beginning of Infinity. If you like the English language, really cutting, ironic wit, Civil War Stories, ghost stories, and tall tales, (and probably if you like Mark Twain too; it's somewhat similar), you must read the short stories of Ambrose Bierce. They're all bite-size (a few pages) and lots of fun. You might have already read "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" in school... that one will stick with you.
either Dresden Files or Codex Alera
Check out the Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, et.all) and some Heinlein - Stranger in a Strang Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers.
I prefer a void in conversation to a vacuous one.
Read god wants you dead you won't regret it!
http://www.whysean.com/god-wants-you-dead/
If you have a penchant for classics, try short stories from Twain, Saki, English translations of Maupassant and Kafka, HG Wells, O Henry and Oscar Wilde. A short story winds up in typically 15-30 mins and provides good reading satisfaction. And all works from these authors are in public domain, so those can be accessed freely online.
Science: Brian Greene (Physics) or Richard Dawkins (Biology) (particularly The Ancestor's Tale)
Sci-fi: The Lost Fleet series by John Hemry (aka Jack Campbell) or, if you never read Ender, you are a Philistine.
Fantasy: Honestly, whatever rocks your boat.
Literature: Does anyone read this outside of Modern English 317? But going back to Sci-fi, "The Time Traveler's Wife" is pretty good.
I'm currently reading 1Q84 and, like all the rest of his books, it is fantastic.
Re-reading for the first time since high school (when I didn't really read it, I just kinda skimmed it to get the grade).
Dickens is amazing. As Roger Ebert would put it, the book succeeds on many levels. And it apparently isn't even one of the more highly regarded of his works.
I do a lot of traveling for business, and am in the fortunate position of being able to read pretty much anything I like. By that I mean I can read what I enjoy, rather than what someone says I have to read (for school, business development, or what have you).
I think you will get a lot of votes for classic science fiction, so I won't go there (mainly because I don't read it. Nothing wrong with it, just not my style.)
My personal favorites:
Russian classics
I love Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc. "Anna Karenina" is a perpetual favorite of mine. If you want a long read, then go for "War and Peace". It really is riveting, and very easy to get into. "Crime and Punishment" is another favorite of mine, even over "The Idiot".
Political histories
By which I mean not only biographies (Thatcher, for instance), but also periods or themes such as "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". That is a classic.
Other
Okay, this one is probably a very geek-friendly vote, but it is a seriously fantastic book. "The History of the Making of the Atomic Bomb", by Richard Rhodes. If memory serves, he won a Pulitzer for it. Lots of high level physics, lots of sociological and political examinations, just a fabulous read all around.
"The Forsyte Saga" is also quite engrossing. John Galsworthy, I think, but you'll find it pretty easily.
For a lighter read, "Yes Minister" and "Yes Prime Minister". Not sure how well those translate to someone who didn't grow up in one of the British Empire countries, but I think they're hilarious (although fairly dated by now).
Quick and easy
I like the "Agent Pendergast" books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. They're quick reads, so don't expect to just pick up one of them and have it sustain you for longer than a few hours. But I do tend to take one of those when I'm traveling and read it depending on my mood - sometimes I just don't feel like reading Dostoevsky.
Total math fanatic here. Run buy a corner bookstore; to hell with amazon and barnes and noble and walden and all those places. Find 'ya a local book re-seller. You can get extremely cool books from all genres, usually have bargain racks with stuff under 25 cents (yes you can really buy stuff for change on a dollar these days).
:) And pay the publisher if they are still around by purchasing a real copy/licensed copy if the book ends up being worth your time and effort!
I am working through Churchill's Operational Mathematics right now, classic from decades ago, picked it up for under 5 dollars. I swear you can get a masters deg. worth of education from pure bookstores alone if you have the dedication.
Also if your a fan of the free and don't have any serious moral qualms, just use google to pick up some free pdf e-books. Use queries like "The Complete Calculus site:mediafire.com" and you can hit jackpots of pdfs on the free.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
'Nuff Said.
On a plane trip, I usually pick up "The Atlantic" at the magazine stand.
If you are specifically asking about books, I am on a current kick of reading anything I heard of in high school but did not read. The single most successful of those recently was "To Kill a Mockingbird," and I only have a couple of Twain's things left (very few disappoint).
I love John McPhee's work. A long time contributor to The New Yorker, McPhee's writing is so concise it's hard to see how he could make a single sentence more informative. His writings cover a broad range of subjects, including geology, oranges, tennis, nuclear energy, Soviet dissident art, the merchant marine and fishing.
I strongly recommend reading "Levels of the Game", as it's one of the finest examples of sports writing you will find. McPhee covers the 1968 U.S. Open semifinal between Arthur Ashe and Lynn Graebner, and he uses the tennis match as a biographical frame of each player. It's extraordinary.
If you like reading about nuclear weapons (i.e., you've read both "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and "Dark Sun" by Richard Rhodes), then "The Curve of Binding Energy" is a must read. McPhee interviews Ted Taylor, who helped develop smaller versions of nuclear weapons for the U.S., and discusses how hard it would be for a terrorist group to create a nuclear weapon. Even this book was written in the early 1990s, it still has a lot of relevance today.
My favorite piece by McPhee is "Coming into the Country", which are three separate stories about Alaska. The first story recounts as Alaskan backcountry canoe trip he took with state and federal park employees, and the second is about the state's efforts in the 1970s to build a city and make it the new state capital. But the best story by far is the last piece about the people of Eagle, Alaska, which is a small trading post along the Yukon River near Canada. The profiles he writes about those who run the city and those who live on the periphery is some of the best storytelling you'll find. It's simply a phenomenal book.
Matthew Reilly is a great author specialising in breakneck-paced action sequences. Generally every paragraph has a cliffhanger at the end of it, and the rule of thumb is when the first shot is fired around chapter 3, you're not going to be able to put it down until you finish it. I even have a thing that when he brings out a new book, I clear a day in my schedule so I can read it in one sitting. But other than that, Oscar Wilde's works are hilariously cruel and witty; H.P. Lovecraft's works of science fiction/horror are terrifying and wonderfully worded and of course F. Scott Fitzgerald writes the very best tragedies.
I write professional videogame reviews! http://www.digitallydownloaded.net/
"The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly" - Touchstone,Shakespeare's "As You Like It"
I have to agree with the person who said go for classics
Honestly, I've read quite a bit across the spectrum of what's available and while it seems snooty to say, "I prefer the classics," it is a fact for me.
This doesn't preclude modern literature as modern classics are good reads as well. If a piece of literature is considered a classic, it is not because of its age, rather because of the quality of writing. Try Hemingway, Victor Hugo, Joyce, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Bradbury, Twain, Ayn Rand...
Those are just the authors I've read most recently, so that's not a definitive list by any means.
I'd happily pay you Tuesday for a biopsy today!
By. Neal Stephenson. Nuff Sed - excellent, and at 1000+ pages, will gobble up a fair bit fo your flight in a very entertaining fashion. http://www.amazon.ca/Reamde-Novel-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0061977969 As well, William Gibson has new non-fiction collection out which I expect will be dandy. http://www.amazon.ca/Distrust-Particular-Flavor-William-Gibson/dp/039915843X
Three Squirrels
Just about anything by either and you can't go wrong. You could also check out Baen's free Library http://www.baen.com/library for some quality Sci-Fi. Personally, there's nothing like a book in my hands, digital is okay, but cracking the spine on a brand new Clive Cussler is something you can't get digitally. William Forstchen is another author I highly recommend, his "Lost Regiment" series was a surprising thrill that sent me one a month long reading binge to finish all 9 he had written and still left me wanting more.
I like a good thriller. That would be earlier Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn. The James Bond books show a little age but are great too.
Dostoevsky, Zola, Hugo, Melville, etc. Just finished McTeague by Frank Norris. It was more compelling than most any
modern-ish novel I've read.
Douglas Adams. HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy...interesting, funny and lightweight reading (if you are a geek, that is)
"The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing
I have recently scored an ereader, and I'm having a lot of pleasure with the epub versions of Mark Twain, ( not tom sawyer - there's heaps of his stuff that should be better known ) Jules Verne ( 20,000 leagues under the sea etc ) and H.G. Wells ( war of the worlds etc ).
There are a number of authors publishing modern novels for free, in order to get known. Some work is excellent, some could use a good edit, some is just rubbish.
You can download all sorts of books, and just ignore or delete the ones you don't like.
Kind of nerdy, I know, but I find it interesting to read about individuals such as Newton, Feynman, or Darwin. It gives a humbling perspective on one's life to read about people who truly have pushed out the boundaries of human knowledge in a major way.
90% sci fi responses
Is that in accordance with Sturgeon's Law?
None of these non-fiction selections will disappoint.
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Legacy of Ashes -- Tom Wiener
Collapse -- Jared Diamond
George Washington -- Ron Chernow
Anything Hemingway, Dickens, etc. Confederacy of Dunces was great. Some sports books/novels like Marathon Man. Not into SciFi or Fantasy.
Gone!
It's an old one and definitely a classic... but I have only just started reading and must admit it's a great one if you haven't read it yet.
I find nonfiction more engaging these days. Zero, The Biography of a Dangerous Idea was outstanding both times I've read it. Not Even Wrong shows promise as does The Trouble with Physics. This is Your Brain on Music has sat unopened on my bookshelf for far too long. If you prefer fiction look at Twain and Dickens. They're widely available and you can get the Cliff's notes. If you want something unusual get Canterbury Tales by Chaucer (Cliff's Notes are required for most anything this old to help understand the context of the writing. Google "Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog." There's an online glossary.)
1. Lee Child - Jack Reacher series
2. John Sandford - Lucas Davenport series
3. William Kent Krueger - Cork O'Connor series
---
There are others but I really like those three, particularly the first two. However #2 and #3 are both Minnesota based, where I currently reside, and thus have some local appeal as well.
Read "The Last of the Mohicans" by James Fenimore Cooper. If you read it as a kid, you probably got the edited cleaned-up version. The real thing is a great read.
I've taken to the Star Wars series of novels recently. They're written by various authors over the past 25 years and alot of them are quite good. There are many, many novels in the series and range across reading levels. Heres a list of the the adult books: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_adult_novels
Topic says it all.
Liqueur bottles
Because when traveling, reading Twain about traveling: Innocents Abroad, Roughing It, etc. It is just amusing, and since he basically writes as a series of stories, you can pick it up and put it down.
Dorothy Sayers, because they're classic mystery novels. One of each basic type. Nine Tailors is, I think, my favorite.
Michael Dibdin, the Aurelio Zen mysteries are clever, and set in modern day Italy with classic bureacracy, etc.
H. Rider Haggard for adventure fiction. Richard Henry Dana, "Two Years Before the Mast" is a good read, and an excellent description of the life of a sailing man in the early-mid 19th century. Jack London "The Voyage of the Snark" is also good (and quite funny, in the Mark Twain sense), but I'd read Dana first for just sheer interestingness. Sebastian Junger, Jon Krakauer, Willliam Langwiesche have some good stuff (and some not so good)
Anything by Steinbeck is good reading, but often quite depressing. He's an awesome story teller, so make sure the story you read is a happy one. "Logs from the Sea of Cortez" and "Travels with Charlie" are both good, and not horribly depressing.
I second the recommendation for Richard Rhodes Making of the Atomic Bomb (and the sequel, Dark Sun, more about Soviet efforts and our H-bomb development, is also fairly good, but not as good as the first. John McPhee, "the curve of binding energy" is a good read on the possibilities of homebuilt atomic bombs and the like. Most everything by McPhee is interesting, you might find "The Control of Nature" also interesting.
Longitude by Dava Sobel is good, but a quick read. "The Great Arc" by John Keay is about the Trigonometric Survey of India and interesting.
For lighter entertainment, Dick Francis's older books are good. Fairly formulaic, but interesting side stuff about the racing business in England (and elsewhere).
1. Go for books with strong imagery over dense plot (e.g. Stross's Jennifer Morgue, Gaiman's Neverwhere, Lewis's Blind Side.) You get interrupted so much on planes that a 40 page idea is hard to enjoy: go for simple ideas done vividly.
2. Pack three unstarted paperbacks in carry-on. Don't be afraid to switch books if the current one isn't gripping you.
3. If all else fails, drink and then sleep.
4. Be in the first-class cabin.
If you haven't already read Lolita, Pnin, or Pale Fire from Nabokov, I would highly reccomend them. Pnin is my personal favorite; it puts a nice twist on a rather tragic story. I'm sure you are acquainted with Lolita. And if you want to read something confusing and highly original: Pale Fire. Pozdravlyayu s nastupayushchimi proznikami brat!
...for the articles.
I do like all sorts. I have the Zombie books (World War Z, Feed, and the Trilogy of short stories from Eden Studios; All Flesh Must Be Eaten). I have Harry Turtledove and his Alternate History series. I have most of Terry Pratchett's books and especially like the Wee Free Men books; Crivens! HP Lovecraft's complete works although I have to pick through a little to get to the ones I like best (not a fan of the more other-worldly stuff). I have the Tom Clancy books for something thicker and in lots of detail. The classics are great; Issac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. Ann McCaffery's Pern books are a fun read.
Is there a Pandora for books somewhere?
[John]
Shit better not happen!
Bring along a nice fat copy of Illumanatus! By Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. If you finish that one, you can also pick up the... sequel? Schrodinger's Cat. Pretty much anything by Timothy Leary would probably be pretty amusing too. I remember this one time when Leary or Wilson (I forget which one now) wrote, in an article in Magical Blend, that Bush Sr. was probably the way he was because he had a dirty asshole. He then went on at length about how he'd just had a bidet installed at his house, and that most Americans wander around pissed off most of the time because their assholes aren't properly clean. He puts it better than I do, though, I'm sure.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I just got done with Don Quixote which I found highly amusing and funny, if difficult to follow at times. Very verbose, but extremely interesting. Unlike many story-telling media these days where we wind up with repetitive stories (Dan Brown's novels all share very similar plotlines/main characters/rising action/falling action/plot twist; other better examples exist), Don Quixote never seemed repetitive. I enjoyed it greatly.
My next is Dante's Divine Comedy, Inferno. I don't care much for poetry but I'm giving it a shot.
After that I'm tackling the Federalist Papers, Anti-Federalist papers, and some Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Paine, Mark Twain, Machiavelli, and The Social Contract (I have minor political ambitions, mostly just want to be able to affect lawmaking)
I'd recommend grabbing something you normally don't read, that's what I did with Don Quixote; I grabbed it because it's the first "modern novel" and I wanted to see what that was all about.
If you want something else fun, might I recommend Lolita. It's interesting. I've had several friends that have read Atlas Shrugged with mixed reviews. Battlefield Earth is one of my favorites, despite the movie and author's religions nutcrackery (that should totally be a word!).
I've had my share of fantasy, from "Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan, to "Sword of Truth" by Terry Goodkind, and Elantris and "Mistborn" trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Of those my favorite were everything AFTER "Wheel of Time" (mostly because they have been finished).
Band of Brothers and Generation Kill were also very good books. If you want any kind of insight into what Marines faced in Iraq, definitely read Generation Kill, it's the best I've found that captures the experience of being an infantry Marine in a combat zone.
I also read Neil Strauss' Emergency and based on his writing style picked up and read The Game. Those were interesting in themselves...
The Gunslinger series by Stephen King is also fantastic. Definitely THE best series I've read, though I disliked the part where he brought himself into the books, I felt he overdid that a bit. The ending will piss you off, though.
by Tucker Max.
I found Haruki Murakami always enjoyable. Start with short stories in "The elephant vanishes".
"Crime and Punishment" was very interesting, same with "House of the dead", "The brothers Karamazov" is magnificent. As for Nietzsche, I can not live without Zarathustra. Also, "Beyond good and evil" and "The antichrist" are in my library and I constantly check them.....
I like the Frank Herbert Dune Chronicles, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and Tolkien's Hobbit and LOTR. I also read the Agony and the Ecstasy almost exclusively on a plane and loved it.
Stephenson's Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon are good reads too...
If you're into Scifi or Fantasy check out this link:
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books
Having trouble choosing a book from the list? Try this:
http://www.box.com/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3o8m.jpg
I love 19th century literature. And the litrature sparked my interest in the Victorian Age in England. What makes that extra fun is that there were people back then who just described the common things in London especially, such as the police force, the work houses, the prisons you went to when you couldn't pay your debts anymore, etc. There's a lot to be found on Gutenberg.
-- Cheers!
need i say more?
I really enjoyed Daemon and FreedomTM by Daniel Suarez. They're kind of a present-day sci-fi thriller, in case you haven't heard of them. William Gibson's three trilogies are good too. The Sprawl trilogy is especially fun, now that you can see all the things it has influenced since it was first published.
I'm thinking he should read "War and Peace", or perhaps the Old Testament.
I like sci-fi in general but I really love books based on video games. A prime example and my personal favorite being The Fall of Reach and First strike by Eric Nylund.
Airframe by Crichton, Snakes on a Plane: printed edition, Airport'77 paperback, :D.
I recently read Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. I particularly enjoy the section at the end where she explains her reasoning behind much of the 'fill in the gap' speculation, or why she chose one historian's version over another where they contradict, and even explains her outright embellishments. I can always respect a work where the author put in an immense amount of research.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
The art of war ~Zun Tsu
The art of deception ~ simon mitnick
Emotions revealed ~ paul eckman
Besides that,
Terry pratchet and the discworld series!
Have fun on your travels! :)
WoT is a short little series you should be able to finish on the flight.
This topic has of course come up before. One list that was compiled is: http://www.deaddrop.com/ReadingList.html
The world's best author. Her words flow like video for me, they're so descriptive.
C. J. Cherryh's website
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
I like easy but slightly thought provoking reads. Things that take a time and place in history, start with known facts and spin off into a what if this happened. There are many books about what could have happened if Hitler had found certain religious artifacts he was looking for and if they really did what he thought they did. Spy novels and ocean exploratory books (Clive Cussler, etc) where you take the same basic premise - a ship sank, it had X on it, what happens if it is found... Here's some fun authors - Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, Matthew Reilly, James Rollins, Brad Metzler. Depending on reading speed these could be finished on a very long flight. Check the New York Times lists and skip the chick flicks and biographys.
I enjoy classical mystery novels, namely Agatha Christie's work, you can't beat it.
Terry Pratchett (today's Chaucer, the greatest living satirist), Philip Roth, Ian McEwan (brilliant), William Gibson, Lee Child (entertaining), David Mamet, Daniel Silva (wonderful spy novelist), Don DeLillo, Brad Thor, Connie Willis, Samuel Clemens, Olen Steinhauer, Joe Haldeman, Alan Furst (historical spy novels of the highest order), Vince Flynn (another one-a-year thriller/spy writer), and many others (writers who have passed on have been left from the list, but their works remain as monuments to human being).
I feel it a duty to read all of any person's work I begin to read. That is why I have Sony, Nook, two Kindles, and a house that is slowly sinking toward the hot core of the planet, in reaction to our library. Many, here, have been honored here by others.
Griftopia (2011) by Matt Taibbi.
You have enough time to finish (first part of) the Dragonlance Chronicles:
Dragons of Autumn Twilight (April 1984), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-88038-173-6)
Dragons of Winter Night (April 1985), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-394-73975-2)
Dragons of Spring Dawning (September 1985), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-88038-175-2)
Also, the most famous Legend of the series:
Time of the Twins (February 1986), by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-7869-1804-7)
War of the Twins (May 1986), by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-7869-1805-5)
Test of the Twins (August 1986), by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-7869-1806-3)
Must read for leisure and pleasure, if you like LoTR style fictions.
I really enjoy sci-fi. My favorite books in the genre that I would recommend to anyone are 'Use of Weapons' by Iain M. Banks, and 'House of Suns' by Alastair Reynolds. Other works by both authors are also worth checking out.
A nice long airplane book!
I write science fiction novels, but haven't had any published. You can read them for free at www.davidmurraybooks.com
I suggest a book. Books are generally a good choice to read. I read them a lot. Some don't even have pictures!
is mostly Sci-fi and Mystery novels. Anne MacCaffrey, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Larry Niven are a few of my favorite authors. If you have a Kindle or a device that can run the Kindle app, why not grab a selection of the free and low cost stuff from Amazon?
... tea leaves.
Vonnegut's fun, and any random Mark Twain is great (especially Huck Finn), but man do I love me some Umberto Eco. His novels establish themselves in the period of their setting and just drill down deep into the minutiae, so his books are great if that's your bag. The first I read was The Name Of The Rose, largely as a way to hate-fuck that awful, awful movie adaptation (don't watch it by the way, it's awful. And by "it" I mean Christian Slater.) I have no qualms recommending it, nor Foucault's Pendulum, which is like The Da Vinci Code for people not confused by fractions. The Island Of The Day Before is also a cracking read. I cannot speak to the merits of Baudolino, but it sits on my shelf, taunting me. He also has collected essays, which are fine for what they are. But the novels have the advantage that they are so damn long and dense you'll only need one book for the whole break.
As for me, I'm spending the holidays plowing through the Lemony Snicket cycle.
"I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
I just traveled from North to South America and I had the same predicament. I read World War Z, and despite it being fiction, I loved the narrative. I love it, and as many of the worth while Zombie stories it has something to say beyond the brain eating ghouls.
Since Ender's Game didnt come up in a quick search.. well there ya go, Ender's game is perhaps the best fiction you can read.
I have read more books in the last 3 years than I read in the previous 30 years. You can find quality books on various topics all for free. This is how knowledge should be disseminated. Long live the internet ...
When you finish the first couple on that 12 hour flight, you can trade with the cabin crew. You might get something interesting, and you're all constrained by limited mass.
The Sprawl trilogy is "classic cyberpunk", and if you haven't read it yet, it is dated but still fun.
The Bridge trilogy kind of carries the Sprawl a bit farther forward, but I found the "spirituality" aspects less interesting than the first trilogy. YMMV.
The Blue Ant trilogy has almost nothing to do with cyberpunk or his other books, and is set about 10 minutes in the future (or 30 minutes in the past, depending on what kinds of toys you play with.) I really enjoyed it.
While he's often cited as a visionary writer, the thing I like best about Gibson is his writing by analogy style. He spares words by making an association of a setting, activity, or thing with a concept I'm already familiar with, but doesn't go into great detail. Future references around that thing will bring it up only obliquely with a simple associated word, and I find it enjoyable making these connections. Kind of an English Lit version of "Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra", or "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" or "All nerds watched Star Trek TNG."
John
You know, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, occasional Fantasy. I just ordered the middle volume of a Walter Jon Williams trilogy I somehow previously missed called Dread Empire's Fall because I somehow came up with the outer two volumes, he's one of my favorite authors. Just finished a Vernor Vinge title I hadn't seen called Katja Grimm's World, not of the same caliber as some of his other stuff IMO but still worth two average books on the shelf.
Speaking of Sci-Fi, are any of the Star Trek books any good? I read one by some wonder banana or something and it was awful.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I'm a huuuuuuuuge fan of Terry Pratchett's work... you could really start anywhere in his Discworld series and be smiling in minutes. Vonnegut is another favorite of mine, as well as Douglas Adams. Oh, and Dave Barry has some incredible collections of laugh-inducing work, too... I'm a big fan of humorous works, if it isn't obvious. :) I also like Neil Gaiman (though I enjoyed his work in the Sandman comics the most), and I'm now starting in on Game of Thrones, which is looking like it will occupy a welcome spot on my kindle. Hope my list inspires someone to pick up a good book, whatever the format!
"Name of the Wind" series, first book is excellent, second book is good. Very well written fantasy.
Start with Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion. Go from there.
I was thinking about having a number of people over tomorrow, and I realized that it overlaps with dinner. What do you like to eat when you have food?
I am making my way through Human Action right now.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
William Gibson anything he writes, Iain M Banks Culture series, Larry Niven Ringworld series. David Brin, Greg Bear. Peter F Hamilton Void series.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Confederacy of Dunces
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
The real economy is based on natural resource extraction and industrial production. As such, I find it important to read about commodities (petrol, natural gas, bananas, cereals, coal, iron ore, etc.) and how they've shaped civilizations through the ages. To this I add books about effective management of water, topsoil, rangeland, and forest resources.
A short list of books related to these subjects:
1) Nature's Metropolis by William Cronin
Cronin tells the story of Chicago's development during the 19th century by tracking the flows of various commodities to and from the city, its hinterlands, and other urban centers. The chapters on how improvements in transportation networks and grain storage facilities led to futures trading are a must-read.
2) The Economic Growth Engine: How Energy and Work Drive Material Prosperity by Robert Ayres and Ben Warr
Ayres (a physicist and economist) has argued for decades that the real growth of the economy is strongly based on how effective civilizations can convert energy resources (especially from fossil fuels) into useful work. In this slightly esoteric work, Ayres and colleague Warr flesh out this idea (the "useful work growth theory") and challenge the Solow model of economic growth and its exogenous variable representing "technological progress" favored by many neoclassical economists. They also discuss topics such as how best to measure energy quality (net energy vs. exergy) and the interplay between thermodynamics and economics.
3) The Rice Economies: Technology and Development in Asian Societies by Francesca Bray
Rice is one of the most important cereals in the world; this book explains how its cultivation has shaped Asian societies. If you're interested in how Asian societies have managed soil fertility and high crop yields over the ages, I also recommend Farmers of Forty Centuries by American agronomist F.H. King.
4) Merchants of Grain by Dan Morgan
About the global grain trade and the titans who control it.
5) Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed The World by Dan Koeppel
Covers banana republics, banana cultivation methods, and the virtual extinction of the Big Mike varietal in the mid-twentieth century. The Big Mike was superior to today's Cavendish banana in taste and durability.
6) A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization by John Perlin
Seriously, his biographies, his autobiographies, his letters, and his lectures. There is almost nothing disappointing to read about this man.
For recreational reading, anything by Timothy Zahn. I particularly like the Quadrail series as of recently... A scifi Sherlock Holmes type of railroad series. I enjoyed them. Another good book I read recently was The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith, a libertarian themed alternate reality scifi book. There is a series expanding on the original book though not quite as good as the first.
My wife had a copy of this book on our bookshelf. One day I just randomly picked it up and started reading it. It's not the genre I tend to gravitate towards, but I couldn't put it down, and it stayed with me long after I finished it.
As a card-carrying don't-know-which-religion-if-any-is-true member, I'm always eager for time to do some reading that might help me make up my mind on the matter.
Planes are a great time to work through my pile of books on the subject.
Currently, I'm reading Dumas' Musketeer Romances* on my Nook.
There are a lot of great books out there in the public domain, and available in electronic form on the Net. Reading them on a desktop or laptop computer is a chore, but these little Ereaders are great for them. Classics of literature, classics that aren't really literature (There are something like 30 of Percy Keese Fitzhugh's Boy Scout novels - Tom Slade, Pee Wee Harris, Roy Blakely - in the public domain and available online.)
I've had mine for nearly a year, and I don't think I've bought more than a handful of books. And most of them from Baen's web subscriptions, rather than from B&N.
*"The Three Musketeers", "Twenty Years After", "The Vicomte de Bragellone", "Ten Years Later", "Louise de la Valliere", and "The Man in the Iron Mask" - as epubs from Project Gutenberg.
When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/09/flowchart-for-navigating-nprs-top-100-sff-books/
A collection of essays by Joan Didion. Brilliant writing. Extremely good reading and very engrossing.
How about trying one of these books?
* Christopher Hitchens -- God is not Great
* Richard Dawkins -- The God Delusion
* Daniel C. Dennett -- Breaking the Spell
* Sam Harris -- The End of Faith
These guys, sometimes collectively referred to as "The Four Horsemen," write even better than they sound in their many interviews, lectures and debates that can be found on YouTube and elsewhere. Whether you've already made up your mind about religion or not, these books don't just offer food for thought: they represent a banquet!
I like very long (40+ hours in unabridged audio) fantasy novels that are based in England in the 1400s. I like Science Fiction that is at least within the realm of possibility so that I can "willingly suspend my disbelief." One of my current favorite authors is Neil Gaiman (might not have spelled his name correctly.) I love the articles in these magazines: Wired, Popular Science, and Discover. Finally, I like to read a book in a field outside of my own (psychology). A recent example was a 400+ page book on String Theory for non-physicists. Enjoy your trip and enjoy your reading. Something we know from the world of neuro-psychology and functional neuroanatomy is that our brain is a use-it-or-lose-it proposition. People that do as few as two puzzles a week are far less likely to develop a dementia in old age than those who don't. People with graduate degrees, compared to the general population, rarely get dementia unless they had many first degree relatives who had an age-related dementia. Reading is a fantastic way to use your brain. So is surfing the web. Watching TV is a very passive activity and does little for brain health.
http://www.busyweather.com/
I haven't been reading a whole lot since college, and I've been setting up my wishlist to try and organize for next year's resolution to make time to read more. For starters, I'm trying to catch up on my Terry Pratchett.
Aside from that, I just finished Murukami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and loved it, so I've picked up 1Q84 for this Christmas flight (and ensuing "family time"), and have the Wind-up Bird Chronicles in my wishlist.
Aside from that I have Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next book in my wishlist (along with Shades of Grey).
Aside from that I recently realized that while I've seen so many movies based on Philip K Dick works I've never actually read any of them. That is to be remedied, starting with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, A Scanner Darkly, and so on.
Finally the rest is miscellaneous stuff. It seems that Harry Harrison has written some new Stainless Steel Rat books since I last looked, there's also some Ursula K. LeGuin, John Scalzi, Larry Niven, various other scifi authors on my list.
What? You expected me to rattle off a bunch of high-brow classics like everyone else? (In a terrible fake british accent whilst smoking a pipe and/or having a spot of tea, I presume?) At least I didn't mention Spice & Wolf or Book Girl (oh wait, I just did).
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
I suggest Elizabeth Moon's books. Try the Serrano Legacy (series of 7 books) for hard science SF. Vatta's War (series of five books) for more (not quite so good). The Deed of Paksennarion (three books, but available as a single large volume) for fantasy (the person who hated heroine + tall dark stranger, there is no such stranger in this one). Most of these already available for e-readers.
For a complete change of pace, try Fred Saberhagen's Dracula series, particularly "An Old Friend of the Family".
If I'm looking for something very different from SF I tend to read Dick Francis mysteries - usually interesting to see how he weaves yet another character/profession into his horse-racing background. Some of his I've read recently included master chef, architect cum renovator, merchant banker, painter (oils), wine merchant, and pilot.
Frank Herbert's Dune and its sequels is fun but shouldn't be considered light reading. Best sci-fi ever, imho. Just don't buy any of the books his son wrote.
Michael Ende's The Neverending Story is a great book, which shouldn't be judged by that horrible 80s movie...
I also read Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge a while back (as a result of a Slashdot comment!) and very much recommend it. It's an interesting depiction of a world where the Internet is omnipresent through augmented reality.
.: Max Romantschuk
echargeable batterie
Permutation city and diaspora are good ones for computer programmers, They are about "virtual" people. Schilds ladder and others are about universes with alternate physics Distress is a more accessible book if you don't like physics.
How about Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming?
Road and Track *
Car and Driver
Motor Trend (a poor third choice)
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
Hugo Award Short Stories
Nebula Award Short Stories
Bring one of each in case your flight is delayed.
*Note: this list is for use as replacement for Omni Magazine.
Then watch the movie.
This christmas I plan on buying a new car. What color should I get?
So I've seen at least three Neal Stephenson threads, a Will Gibson, a Phil Dick, and Ender's Game. Some more recommendations on books I think most geeks should read:
Vernor Vinge - Rainbows End. Seriously, every geek should read this book. It's the best fiction on near future augmented reality that I've seen myself. Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep is also outstanding, but much more "out there"; it's more entertaining than eye-opening. It does have one of the best alien perspectives I've read. Not just humans with bumpy foreheads, really *alien* aliens.
Charles Stross - Just about anything, really. His "Laundry Files" fantasy read like a cross-between H.P. Lovecraft, Douglas Adams, and Ian Fleming ("James Bond"). I know that sounds really weird, but it works. They're a riot. More serious and sciency are the "Eschaton" books -- Singularity Sky and sequels. Some of his works are available online for free, legally. Scratch Monkey for example.
John Scalzi - Old Man's War. I just finished this myself. The finish was weak but the ideas are a blast. As one reviewer put it, it's like Starship Troopers without the lectures.
Here's a few others I'm suspect will won't appeal as broadly, but I'll throw in 'cause I want to. It's my post.
C.S. Friedman - This Alien Shore. Space SF. Protagonist is a girl with cooperative multiple personalities; this is fascinatingly portrayed. Very good speculation on how direct brain interfaces might be realized. Lots of diverse human cultures. The real winner, though, is a human culture that values emotional differences and has social customs to let people interact across such boundaries. Introverted geeks (INTJ) will love this. Friedman packs a very high density of ideas into her books.
Corey Doctorow - Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom . Free content. An interesting take on a post-scarcity meritocracy. I think it's kind of nutty, but interesting. For the price, it's decent.
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" is so far fairly entertaining for a book I've never seen nor heard a recommendation for. I'm on book two, and while some of the characters in book one were a bit painful to read I still enjoyed it enough to finish, and the second seems even better.
Imagine for a moment both semi original high fantasy (no dragons here, so far anyway) and political intrigue intertwining together and you'll get a fair idea. But the real strength lies in the author's characterizations. Both books have done a fascinating job of getting into its characters heads, as well as differentiating them a good deal. I think that more than anything is what's keeping me reading.
As we are entering the era of novelty I find the following interesting and relevant:
The Trends Journal: http://www.trendsresearch.com/index.php
Content from http://deoxy.org/
The Evolutionary Mind - by Rupert Sheldrake, Terrence Mckenna and Ralph Abrams
If you want fiction then read something from Daniel Quinn such as Ishmael
It's not for everyone though, not yet anyway. Things will change in the future though. You might as well get a "leg up" as Terrence might say.
I love them.
- Hours and hours of cool information.
- Wildly different topics and "storylines" throughout the book. If you have no interest in a specific section, you can skip to the next section.
- You don't have to read it in an order
- Small and easy to carry around.
No really, a World Almanac!
http://www.worldalmanac.com/world-almanac.aspx
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
surely iain (m) banks? pretty much everything he's written is splendid, both the sci-fi and the normal fiction. the man has a staggering imagination and the most readable style of any author i've read. simply brilliant.
otherwise as has been mentioned, anathem and a few others by neal stephenson (diamond age springs to mind) but reamde is too long winded and boring.
If you do, and you haven't discovered Elizabeth George, you have a treat in store. Her stories are intelligent, complex, and engrossing. You can jump in at any point in the series, but as each builds on the prior ones, I really recommend you start with the first, "A Great Deliverance". Have fun on your travels!
What can I say...I like picture books
I always make a point to include "books, magazines, websites, blogs, manuals, nutritional food labels, directions for building Ikea furniture, etc"
I've found it better then asking what their hobbies are and if they say they don't read anything then it's an immediate fail. Overall I've found it tends to allow people to open up a bit more about what floats their boat then trying to be all PC about things. Some people give really bland answers (especially if they don't read much), but I've found that the A players tend (but not always) to get really excited about this question and can talk about it at length. YMMV.
I found "HMS Ulysees", the first by Alistair MacLean (before he got seriously edited) is a wonderful read. Picke dit up for 50c at "Vinnies Boutique".
I would heartily recommend "The Count of Monte Christo" by Alexander Dumas, and "Mysterious Island" by Jules Verne. Both freely available in text and audio books, and hard to put down.
I guess Donald Normand's "The Design of Everyday Things" is on the border of "technical", but I'd say it's on the "non-technical" side of the border. It's a fascinating book that goes into detain on how we perceive information, store things in our memory, and interact with the world. I'm enjoying it a lot.
---- I'll take you in a Hunt deathmatch any day.
Go with something light and humorous, something that has a series but has each novel readable as a standalone unit. These kind of books are good for when there are a lot of interruptions because they are easy enough to follow along yet have enough - at least basic - plot to keep you occupied.
Suggestions: Terry Pratchett - the Discworld series, Piers Anthony - the xanth series ( quite humorous if you like puns ) or even Michelle Sagara - the cast series.
To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password!
Via: http://www.eylerwerve.com/2011/reading/ (CC/by)
At a recent event featuring a great many people smarter than me (the Transparency and Accountability Initiative’s wonderful #TAbridge workshop), I asked for recommendations on amazing books to read in the upcoming winter. This is what I got back, based on the following prompts:
On networks, sharing, democracy...
The Leviathan and the Penguin: The Promise of Cooperation, Yochai Benkler
Weath of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Yochai Benkler
Africa, Richard Dowden
The Corruption Notebooks: Volume 7, ed. Hazel Feigenblatt and Global Integrity
Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency, Archon Fung, Mary Graham and David Weil – @arfung
The Myth of Digital Democracy, Matthew Hindman
“The Quiet Coup”, The Atlantic, Simon Johnson
The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom, Evgeny Morezov
Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become, Peter Morville
Thrivability, Jean Russell, editor
Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, James C. Scott
The Cognitive Surplus, Clay Shirky
Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky
Republic.com, Cass Sunstein
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised : Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything, Joe Trippi
On work...
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity, David Allen
Rework, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hannson
Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is, Donald C. Gause; Gerald M. Weinberg
The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande
Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure, Tim Harford
The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story, Michael Lewis
Moneyball, Michael Lewis
Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton
Envisioning Information, Edward Tufte
On lean startups...
Business Model Generation, multiple authors
The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Success Strategies for Products That Win, Steven Gary Blank
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Eric Ries
Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works, Ash Maurya
A few quick reactions.
I’ve read several of these already, and this does a nice job of validating the set — all of the books I’ve read were quite good.
Nearly all of the books I’ve read were handed to me by @innokate — so much for crowdsourcing; maybe you should just marry an expert.
Of the authors with strongly gendered names, 100% of them are male. No ladies. [update: this changed with revisions] Which goes a long way toward invalidating the set: besides some 50% of the population, how many other viewpoints are not represented here? Hard to tell.
Just started on Terry Pratchet - good mindless stuff..
The Richard Castle books (ie. Heat Wave, Naked Heat..) are surprisingly good, despite being written by a ghost author for a writer, who is pretending to be a cop... on a TV show. Got the books from amazon and am so far impressed with them.
World War Z - Favourite book for the last 5 years. Excellent reading, great if you want something to get engrossed in.
is what other people like to read. That's why I'm here.
Comments?
Have a look at David Weber's works. I quite enjoyed the Honorverse, and there's enough of a back catalog (20 books so far (12 main novels, 4 side novels written with Eric Flint (of 1632 fame, among others), and 4 short story anthologies)), all of which are freely (no cost and drm-free in several formats) available from the Baen Free Library) to keep you busy for some time.
Also on the subject of Eric Flint, 1632 is next on my reading list.
Another series I've read recently is the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, which is urban fantasy.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
Intelectual fun: Jared Diamon Guns, Germs and Steel - why Eurasians conquered others and not the other way around Peter Heather The Fall of the Roman Empire - title says it all - but this one has great explanation of Roman-Barbarians relations - something like Rich West - poor immigrants now - parallels to current situation are obvious. Lederman, Teresi God particle - my favourite popular science book about modern particle physics - what is the search for Higgs boson about ? Just fun (assuming you've read Tolkien :) ):
Andrzej Sapkowski - Last Wish, Blood of Elves
Orson Scott Card - short stories, Ender's Game
Philip Dick - short stories like We Can Remember It for You Wholesale
Stanislaw Lem Cyberiad, Solaris
I'm partial to science fiction and some fantasy. My favorite books are mostly "hard" SF, where the tech stuff is believable or at least self-consistent.
Luckily, a whole lot of the stuff I like is available as ebooks. Baen sells many of my favorite authors, and some of the stuff I like is public domain.
I'll give a very strong recommendation to Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy mystery stories. These are actually hard SF stories, despite featuring sorcerers casting spells; the spells follow certain rules, and the solution to a mystery is never something stupid like "an evil sorcerer cast the 'locked room mystery' spell". Randall Garrett had figured out many details of an alternate history for Earth; the stories were always set in the year he wrote them, but in a world of low technology and advanced magic. Every Lord Darcy story ever written is available in a single volume, and you can get it as a Baen ebook or as a paper book at your choice. Mostly it is short stories, but there is a novel called Too Many Magicians which I have re-read at least a dozen times, perhaps 20 times or more. You can get the flavor from the first Lord Darcy story, which has lapsed into the public domain and you can find it here: The Eyes Have It
I'll also give a very strong recommendation to the whole Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Some of the novels in the series won the Hugo or the Nebula, so I'm not the only one. She very convincingly sells the idea that Miles Vorkosigan is a genius; some books just tell you "So-and-so is a genius" but the character doesn't ever do anything smart. Not here! (My theory is that Bujold is really smart, and spends a lot of time thinking about how Miles should do things; and the "genius" part is that Miles comes up with his solutions quickly.) If you tackle this, I recommend you start with the book Shards of Honor and then read the series in chronological order (not the order in which they were written). Miles is born at the end of the second book; the first two are more about his mother Cordelia.
If you want to go really old-school you could read the classic Lensmen series by E. E. "Doc" Smith. These books really set the bar for space opera; in the first books you might only see a few dozen ships fighting a battle, but by the end of the series the battles become truly epic. My favorite part was where they turned the Solar System into an epic-sized vacuum tube to focus energy from the Sun to fry invading space fleets; this weapon was called "The Sunbeam". The heroes are heroic, the bad guys are despicable, and you will never wonder which is which in this series; look elsewhere for philosophical ruminations on the shades of grey between good and evil.
I will also give a strong recommendation to certain stories by Keith Laumer featuring a protagonist named Jame Retief. Unfortunately, toward the end of his life Laumer wrote some really bad Retief stories, or took good ones and padded them out to novel length (with bad new material). So, I can't just recommend any Retief story. The ones written in the 60's are pretty much all good. Baen has a collection simply called Retief! and every story in that one is good; it includes my all-time favorite story, "Cultural Exchange". Retief is a very competent man, with a very junior rank in the Corps Diplomatique Terrestine (the diplomatic corps of Terra, or the CDT). Pretty much every senior person in the CDT is incompetent, and Retief scurries about behind the scenes salvaging situations that the ambassadors were screwing up. Laumer in his early years was a master of lean, fast-moving prose; he packed a lot of action into a few short pages, and he crammed a whole lot of ideas into some of his stories. The entire Retief! book is offered for free on the Baen "Free Library" page; check it out! (This link is from Google; I can't seem to access baen.com right now, so perhaps their server is down for some reason? If this link
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Playboy. It makes my dick feel good.
Tom Clancy (anything in the Ryanverse series, avoid the latest 2, they are barely actual Clancy).
Larry Bond is also good.
What are those? [grin]
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
mostly
I prefer science fiction & fantasy, which probably puts me in the same group as a significant percentage of the rest of the people on Slashdot. But here are some of my favorites.
Lois McMaster Bujold: Multiple Hugo and Nebula award winner. Her "Vorkosigan series" is outstanding. Some of the books are military space opera. Some of the books are detective stories. Some of the books have romance. Most of them combine more than one of the above. All of them are very funny in spots, at least if you have a rather dry sense of humor.
Jams Alan Gardner: Not especially well known, but his "League of Peoples" is a great SF series for those who have a darker sense of humor. The protagonist of the first book is a member of the "Explorer Corps", a bunch of officially designated Red Shirts who know that they're Red Shirts.
David Weber: He writes doorstoppers. And after reading enough of his books he's got an occasional turn of phrase that might start to get a little outworn. However if you want a _lot_ of military in your SF but also want some politics and character development then he's the one to go with. The Honor Harrington series starts out as "Horatio Hornblower" in space, but then recapitulates the development of naval warfare from the age of sail to modern battleships. It has lots of technical detail about imaginary futuristic weapon systems. The "Safehold" series is set on a future colony where a malignant theocracy has been holding back technology for centuries. It has lots of technical detail about real historical innovations, mostly relating to the age of sail and gunpowder weapons. The "Empire of Man"/"Prince Roger" series (co-written with John Ringo, and are the only John Ringo books i've liked so far) is about a bunch of space marines who get stranded on a primitive planet and have to fight their way across two continents to get to the only space port. It has a lots of technical detail about blowing people up.
Jack Campbell/John G Hemry: His "Lost Fleet" series starts out as "the March of the Ten Thousand" with a bit of Arthurian mythology thrown in, in space, but develops from there. It has a lot of focus on the actual scale of things in "realistic" space combat.
Naomi Novik: If you want to read about the Napoleonic Wars being fought using dragons, this is the place to go.
Robert J Sawyer: He has several good series. I think my favorite is probably his recent "WWW" or "Wake/Watch/Wonder" series about a naturally emergent AI in the internet.
Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant: The "October Daye" series is gritty urban fantasy featuring faeries that actually follow "real" folklore to a reasonable degree. The "Newsflesh" series (of which the first book, "Feed" was recently nominated for a Hugo) does a pretty good job of presenting a "post-apocalyptic" world after a "realistic" zombie outbreak. As in her explanation for how the zombies came about and how they still remain a threat is definitely within the realm of reasonable suspension of disbelief.
Vernor Vinge: He's often credited with the first story about cyberspace ("True Names") and has continued to evolve the cyberpunk genre past the point where Gibson and Stephenson pulled off the road ("Rainbows End") and he's also got some great space opera books ("A Fire Upon the Deep" and sequels) and if you can find it "The Peace War"/"Marooned in Realtime" aka "Across Realtime" are a good action story and a great post-apocalypse/singularity detective story.
John Scalzi: He's rebooted "Little Fuzzy" with "Fuzzy Nation" and completely reinvented "Starship Troopers" with the "Old Man's War" series, and he's got a number of other eclectic but good books, all with a good sense of humor.
Glen Cook: If you want dark, gritty fantasy, his "Black Company" series is it.
Now if you want to go old school i'd personally suggest the following:
Heinlein: All his "juveniles" are pretty good, plus a lot of the "middle period" stu
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
See title.
I had high expectations for the Ringworld series; bought two of them, and it just wasn't keeping my interest).
Yah, the first book was definitely the clear best there. Great concept, but it only got you so far.
Larry Niven is a Favorite Author(TM) of mine. I like his shorter fiction best. Niven's an idea guy, when he works in full-length novels sometimes things drag a bit. He's got several short-story collections. N-Space is good for that.
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/
Any of the available series by David Weber, David Drake, John Ringo, Eric Flint, Mercedes Lackey and probably a bunch of others I forgot to mention. Mostly Sci-Fi, adventure/fantasy and military leaning stuff.
As for other stuff...
Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep are good harder sci-fi novels.
Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule series is excellent fantasy adventure.
Brad Thor's Lions of Lucerne starts a good military series.
Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series is also a good one.
Ever since I discovered his writings, Thomas Pynchon has rocked my world!
Most of his books are quite, uh, demanding, but I kind of like it that way, and they are extremely funny, too.
For starters, I would recommend his latest book, "Inherent Vice", but if you like a challenge, "Gravity's Rainbow" is just breathtakingly awesome!
The Father Brown short stories are cleverly-written detective fiction, and the humility of the main character offsets what comes off to some as the pretentiousness of unexplained insight. Or try "The Man Who Was Thursday." It's one of those books you can immediately read over again once you've read the ending and realized what was going on. The detective story frames something completely different.
Hornung's Raffles books were a sort of flattery of Sherlock Holmes' brand of detection, only involving burglars instead of detectives.
Freeman's John Thorndyke books are almost studies. The character is more or less about careful method where Holmes was about quick observation and pattern recognition. Doesn't make them any less interesting to read, although some of the short stories can plod.
Morrison's Martin Hewitt is a little more run-of-the-mill.
John Varley and Stanislaw Lem
I know they take up more space, but talks can also be good, eg:
+ Shai Agassi's short talk at TED.com & the hour-something-long expansion (w/ audience comments & Q&A) on BetterPlace.com's ideas on how to bring 100% Electric Cars to market (at least in Denmark, Israel &, maybe someday, in Australia, etc.)
+ Amory Lovins' talk(s) on making changes to homes & office buildings, that make them carbon neutral, zero energy, & capable of yielding 2 crops of bananas / year, even in Bolder CO! :-)
PS Oh, I guess you may not have wanted tech articles/talks... Nevermind... ;-/
If your into sci-fi.
Childhood's End was an amazing book. On of very few that I had a hard time figuring out where to set it down.
I just recently started to read David Brin's Uplift saga, which is really nice so far. It's about Humans and alien species uplifting intelligent life on their planets, much like our current efforts to train chimps to perform human tasks.
Prey was pretty good, read it during a power outage a month ago. First couple chapters were kinda boring, but it really picks up after that.
Outside of sci-fi. Kevin Mitnick's Ghost in the Wires. It reads more like a spy thriller than a retelling of the events that lead up to and followed his imprisonment.
I like to read my wife's novels. She has participated in National Novel Writing Month for the last few years, besides writing all her life before that, and amazes me with her fiction. I am the luckiest man alive.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
If you have the stomach for it, he's absolutely a must read. Any and all of his books. Read the wikipedia article on the man if you haven't heard of him for some reason,
If we forget our mistakes we are doomed to repeat them.
I recommend Elements of Style by Strunk Jr. and White. This short book (not even 100 pages) is a great read and contains many tips to help you write concisely and clearly.
I really like "The Deed of Paksennarrion" by Elizabeth Moon. It's about a paladin, and is easily the best fantasy book on a holy warrior. "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" series by Steven Erikson is fantastic. And the main series is finished, so there's no worry about it not getting done like certain other major fantasy series.
The Steve Jobs biography. Even if you don't like the guy, at least know how he got shit done that other co's couldn't.
And, How to Win Friends and Influence People is a good read for any geek who needs help with people skills. (Although ironically S. Jobs fails half the advice.)
Table-ized A.I.
I've recently been devouring: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language - Second Edition, by David Crystal.
http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Encyclopedia-English-Language/dp/0521596556
Quoting Amazon's book description: "..Author Crystal systematically covers the structural features of English, and includes a complete description of grammar, a summary of pronunciation and writing systems, and a thorough treatment of the size and complexity of vocabulary. He explains technical aspects in simple and accessible terms and includes a glossary to assist the reader with unclear language terminology. Highly visual with striking color illustrations, panels and boxed features throughout, this book is fascinating reading for the widest possible audience. "
It's endlessly fascinating.
One of the potentially great scifi movies of 2012. Read the book by David Mitchell before the movie is out.
if your pants fit well, it's not only because of the pants
The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin is one of my favorites. It shows history through discovery and how all is inter-related. Most of my other non-fiction is computer, finance or math related. As to fiction, when I'm the mood for entertainment, I've been reading Neil Gaiman. He reminds of Zelazny, though Gaiman targets a younger audience. Of the few I've read, I recommend Anansi Boys most. For other light reading, I enjoy the Sherlock Holmes stories, Kipling, William Gibson, and occasionally some Bradbury.
My all time favorite books are Heart of Darkness and Moby Dick... The former is short enough to read on a flight. I've read Moby Dick a few times, and despite the volumes of analysis about it, the story itself is pretty riveting. I think people forget that and get lost in all the symbolism. Oh, and don't forget Lewis Carroll. :)
I agree with the New Yorker suggestion, ditto McPhee. Perhaps novels or short stories about or from the places you are going.
In addition, you might consider:
1. Scruton, Roger. Modern Philosophy. Short chapters, thought provoking. paperback.
2. Shakespeare. Plays in general make good travel reading. Available for Kindle.
3. Grayling, A.C. The Good Book. A secular bible. Models the structure the Christian bible but a humanist creation. Available for Kindle.
4. Carse, James. Finite and Infinite Games. No math, One plays finite games to win, infinite games to continue playing. Available for Kindle.
Safe trip.
It is most enjoyable book I've read for a long time, and it fits the bill perferctly for you. It's short (240 pages); is broken into 12 easily digestible chapters; is stimulating, but you can doze off between chapters. Then, when you've finished you'll know a lot of eye-opening stuff about something you probably know nothing about now, but have many preconceptions. If you have any interest in history, it's a must.
It will take you mind off computers, completely!
I'm a software visionary. I don't code.
The Voynich manuscript
Its not for the uninitiated (if I told you what it was about I would have to kill you)
Politeia - Plato
The origin of species - Charles Darwin
So that's like from London to Bangkok, or are you from the USA where it's like from New York to Chicago?
The moon is a harsh mistress and stranger in a strange land.
Correlation is not causation. People who get graduate degrees may simply have brains which are less susceptible to dementia, or were subjected to some environmental condition, eg relative wealth, which makes it less common in their socio-economic group. You'd know that if you worked in a proper scientific field. I kid.
This whole topic is akin to asking. "Hi! I'm going to be working with cats, old newspapers and a bunch of kites at the weekend. How much string will I need?"
There are some interesting books being discussed but a lot of people seem to be taking the opportunity to trot out how intellectual they are. I actually own a lot of those high-brow books. I own them, I just haven't read them. Not when I have this stack of Star Wars novels to get through.
The Strain - Guillermo Del Torro
secondary prediction: in second place after the sci-fi, pretentious shite
"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman.
Or, "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
Hell, anything by Neil Gaiman.
"Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin
Some countries still have bans on some books, and it would be best to not be caught with them in your possession if you travel to one of them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_banned_by_governments ; for example, it would be a grave mistake to take Mein Kampf to Germany, or Zhuan Falun to China or Suicide mode d'emploi to France or Rangila Rasul to India. At best, you will be PNG'ed (Personna Non Gratta) and expelled from the country and asked to not come back. At worst, you get a free trip to a foreign prison.
Assuming you mean real, as in paper, books, take something that a bookstore at your destination(s) my be interested in exchanging for a good book from where you are going (assuming you can read the language or they yours), or just bring a book that interests you, preferrably in the destination countries primary language, and donate it to a library there when you are done with it.
If you mean pretend/electronic books, you could do worse than to simply download a wide selection of books from Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Category:Bookshelf, which could include most of the classics of Western literature, since Thomas Hardy, Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, Joseph Conrad, Edith Wharton, Daniel Defoe, Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, etc., etc. are basically all off copyright at this point, and available for download from that site.
--Terry
Outside the realm of technology and all things related to work, i am interesting in History.
I found that the actual history facts can be far more interesting immersive than any other novel or science fiction.
Cause of my Greek origin im enjoying reading ancient greek history but also the newest history in 18-19 century.There are some much about this world that actually happened once but no one cares to take it to the world! Why?
//LIFE WOULD BE EASIER IF I HAD THE SOURCE CODE!
We're coming up on Harrison Bergeron.
Aka people can't be people anymore, brilliant but volatile, solid and steady, mercurial with no patience for the mundane. Nah, those words are too hard to understand! Let's just label them Hyperactive and sedate them so they sit quietly in class like good little lumps of playdoh.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
The Stand by Stephen King - I avoided it for a long time as I wouldn't be too fussed with his other works, but I found this book genuinely excellent. Long though!
Here we go. I'll join this sentiment and elaborate.
"Old School High Fantasy" (and yes the Camel Caps are indicative!) makes me go berserk. Why? Because the Magicians are MORONS!
The good ones are supposed to be both well read in obscure lore and able to do nifty things. But maybe the Dark Lord cast some spell over their minds to make them feeble or something. Magic! Doesn't need a reason to do anything! Yet they can't invent a wristwatch. "The hour grows late, m'lord." "No silly, it's only Four O'Clock." "How do you know that?" "Poof! Look! Here's a 12 foot Sundial in the sand accurate to within ten minutes. Okay, while we have been talking, it is now about ten past four."
(Later)
"M'Lord, how will we get all those supplies over to Grandmother's house?" "Hmm. We could take twenty of our finest horses and carts." "Or you could magically put wheels under the barn and magically roll it all in one shot." (Primitive Uhaul).
And so on. That's why the only fantasy I read is Modern, where the magic works in with real learning.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
The complete collection of King Arthur legends. 1300 pages. Despite the title in French, it's in English, mostly.
no, I don't have a sig
Anything.
Having an Iain (M) Banks binge atm. They hold your attention but aren't particularly heard to pick up again when you get distracted. Good 'plane fodder.
A third of the way around the world is 10 hours at most. You said you were flying right?
You hardly have time to finish a huge pile of books. Check out the airport book store like everyone else.
Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis is a fantastic read. One of the most clever, intellectually and spiritually engaging stories you're ever likely to read. It covers the nature of morality and temptation from the perspective of demons. Best Christian book ever written. Everyone should read it (I'm an atheist if that matters).
I'd actually also add Jane Austen to the list. Her books are funny, satirical, and insightful; the fact that she still has a cult following nearly 200 years after her death, and one big enough to make a movie aimed at her fans, should be evidence that she's worth a try. One of the things that makes them so good is that each of the books follows the general form of a romance novel of her time, but subtly deconstructs it. I'd recommend starting with Pride and Prejudice as the most accessible. Her books are easy to download from the internet, but if you can get a copy with good notes, that helps a lot.
TCP: Why the Internet is full of SYN.
If you haven't already read it.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
While every is suggesting their favorite fiction authors, I personally don't read much fiction at all. What I do read a lot is scientific literature outside my own field. Broadening ones horizon is never a bad thing to do. And the stuff going on in other fields is no less fascinating than whatever yours is.
Then there's philosophy, politics, the whole social and psychological areas if you don't include them above (I didn't say natural sciences, but many of us geeks read it as that automatically). Just make sure the source is reliable, there's a lot of quacks in all areas that are hard to falsify. A good indicator is starting to read at the back and giving the bibliography a glance before buying the book. I've made it a habbit to not buy books without a bibliography unless it's fiction. So far, it's been a good heuristic. Eliminates all the idiots who think they discovered the secret to the universe in the laundry in their mothers basement (i.e. 90% of the self-help literature, 80% of pop-psychology, 70% of modern philosophy, etc.)
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Dear Ask Slashdot,
I've just purchased an e-reader and downloaded all the books I could find on TPB.
Which one should I read first?
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
The problem with Night's Dawn and Peter Hamilton's other trilogy is that he seems to get lost about halfway through after an excellent start, can't work out how to end the story (ie there is no way for his characters to 'win'), and so he resorts to a Deus Ex Machina to save them and the story.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
NPR has this most excellent (IMHO) flowchart of the 100 best science fiction books:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/09/flowchart-for-navigating-nprs-top-100-sff-books/
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
Books of these authors will take you travelling through space and parallel worlds as well as a third of the way around the globe.
I absolutely love GM Fraser's Flashman series. They are a great romp through history and the author has gone to great care to portray the events that took place in all their details good and bad, rather than the whitewashed version that we usually get from the official histories.
If you like historical fiction mind you, you should read the Aubrey & Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien, which the NY Times Book review called "The finest historical fiction ever written". 22 books in the series and a great, stylish read
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein provides an insightful history and sadly predicts the future (i.e. our present) quite well.
The late Anne McCaffery has written or co-authored many wonderful trilogies and the many "Dragonriders of Pern" novels. Fabulous stuff.
I like the Dresden books, like the stories, like his characters. But it is very much pulp fiction. The writing is not great -it's ok but not great- it's the stories and the characters that do it for me.
Harry Potter for grown ups. (Ducks and runs).
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
I'm biased, but I think "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" deserves some space on the
Kindles and Nooks of Slashdotters:
http://www.amazon.com/SolderSmoke-Adventures-Wireless-Electronics-ebook/dp/B004V9FIVW
SolderSmoke is the story of a secret, after-hours life in electronics. Bill Meara started out as a normal kid, from a normal American town. But around the age of 12 he got interested in electronics, and he has never been the same.
To make matters worse, when he got older he became a diplomat. His work has taken him to Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, the Spanish Basque Country, the Dominican Republic, the Azores islands of Portugal, London, and, most recently, Rome. In almost all of these places his addiction to electronics caused him to seek out like-minded radio fiends, to stay up late into the night working on strange projects, and to build embarrassingly large antennas above innocent foreign neighborhoods. SolderSmoke takes you into the basement workshops and electronics parts stores of these exotic foreign places, and lets you experience the life of an expatriate geek. If you are looking for restaurant or hotel recommendations, look elsewhere. But if you need to know where to get an RF choke re-wound in Santo Domingo, SolderSmoke is the book for you.
SolderSmoke is no ordinary memoir. It is a technical memoir. Each chapter contains descriptions of Bill’s struggles to understand (really understand) radio-electronic theory. Why does P=IE? Do holes really flow through transistors? What is a radio wave? How does a frequency mixer produce sum and difference frequencies? If these are the kinds of questions that keep you up at night, this book is for you.
Finally, SolderSmoke is about brotherhood. International, cross-border brotherhood. Through the SolderSmoke podcast we have discovered that all around the world, in countries as different as Sudan and Switzerland, there are geeks just like us, guys with essentially the same story, guys who got interested in radio and electronics as teenagers, and who have stuck with it ever since. Our technical addiction gives us something in common, something that transcends national differences. And our electronics gives us the means to communicate. United by a common interest in radio, and drawn closer together by means of the internet, we form an “International Brotherhood of Electronic Wizards.”
You know of course that the TSA will take note of what you're reading on a plane, don't you?
The Periodic Table
My favorite book of all. I've re-read so may times I've had to buy 2 copies because I wore my copy out. Also always have a copy on the bookshelf to lend - so have had to buy a replacement a few times when it doesn't find its way home.
I like to read something light and funny. Douglas Coupland and David Sedaris are a couple of my favorite authors. Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker" series is always a home-run (even if it's the 10th time you've read it).
I am a rather picky reader, mainly of fantasy, but also of sci-fi.
/. you have most likely read the first two):
Top suggestions (since you read
Enders Game series (can be read in any order, each book also acts like a stand-alone)
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (the movie hardly does this book justice)
Kale Chronicles (By James Galloway, Amazing fantasy book, and it is free online)
The whole New Sun, Long Sun, Short Sun series. Very rewarding and much of it only makes sense when you've read all of it. Then you'll want to read it again to pick up all the clues and references you missed the first time around :-)
Take the easy way out. Get a Kindle (Nook, whatever) and load everything from the Baen Free Library (http://www.baen.com/library/). Then choose what you like. For light reading, I recommend the Lt. Leary series (With The Lightnings is first). For something a little more thought provoking, try the Belisarius series (An Oblique Approach is first). If you don't like those, there are plenty more to try.
If you want to keep the tech theme but mixed with fantasy, try the Rick Cook Wizardry series. Only a programmer will get all the jokes. A Unix (BSD) programmer. ;-)
JC
As a 61 year old science fiction [and 'reading' actually] fan, I'm usually delighted to show the kids I'm throwing off my lawn, some older S-F books, so:
1. For Sladek: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Sladek Roderick, Roderick at Random, The Reproductive System and Tik-Tok the sociopathic robot
2. For Bester, in my opinion, the first cyberpunk author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Bester the Demolished Man and The Stars my Destination
3. For Disch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disch Camp Concentration [there's a glancing reference to the hero in Sladek's Reproductive System] Echo Round His Bones and On the Wings of Song
Once every few years I find i need to re-read one or more of these. Enjoy!
On y va, qui mal y pense!
'nuff said.
âoeAny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
I like novels with some philosophy in them, for instance I really like the books by Jostein Gaarder. His book "Maya" is one of my all-time favourites.
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
For a flight where you may get interrupted quite a few times some specific books may be more suitable than others.
Self-contained chapters of interesting non-fiction, for instance, might be of interest.
If so try What the dog saw by Malcolm Gladwell. Entertaining light reading on a variety of topics so you can skip over the ones
of that you have little interest in.
If you have read you could that try Damn interesting. Either buy the book or just download the free articles from the web page for offline reading.
For a very fun book without too much complexity try Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman.
George R.R Martin has written a few short stories set in the Game of thrones world. Not as advanced as the main books
but well worth a read.These are mainly published in collections containing other accomplished authors so you may find other things you like.
If you can have no problems following a complex even on a plane and want something more substantial try the main Game of thrones books.
You won't finish one in one flight though.
Words, mostly.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Best magazine in the world. It's like National Geographic, but unlike National Geographic, it isn't dumbed down. Novels are the preserve of teenagers and pensioners - if you can afford to read a novel, why do you work in front of a computer?
Jack Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy --- Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, Madouc --- if you love high fantasy, and words which feel as if they are part of an oral tradition, this will resonate.
Steinbeck's _The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights_ --- read this just before Lyonesse if you're not familiar w/ Arthurian stories.
Susan Cooper's _The Dark is Rising_ pentalogy --- a set of books which actually would merit the sort of attention which was paid to the Harry Potter books and which makes the reader a better person.
Terri Windling's ``Fairy Tales'' series --- an amazing collection of books where contemporary authors re-write / tell a fairy tale. Jane Yolen's _Briar Rose is amazing and moving.
Agree w/ Cherryh's Alliance-Union books --- the most realistic space combat descriptions I've found yet and her fantasy works, the Morgaine trilogy (and sequel) and _The Tree of Sword and Jewels_ and _The Dreamstone_ are amazing.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) - a truly great American novel ...there are others, but these are the ones that spring to mind
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium trilogy) (Larsson) - great beach reading - cannot be put down once started
Scoop (Waugh) - witty English novel lampooning journalism and the media
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig) - a deeply engaging book; one of the few books I go back and reread every few years
Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman - an excellent collection of anecdotes from the life of Richard Feynman. Again, very re-readable
Crow Road (Iain Banks) - definitely his best book
A Perfect Storm - a gripping book about a terrible storm and the impact on those caught in its rage
Seabiscuit - the great story of a brilliant racehorse and those involved in him
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - a wonderful book; the author, paralysed by a stroke, dictated the book by blinking his eye.
Two books I really enjoyed in the last year were about what led up to the War for Southern Independence: William Lee Miller's "Arguing About Slavery," and William H. Freehling's "The Road to Disunion," volume 1. Both books give a good idea why the war had to happen: a union of free and slave states is impossible. Also: "Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase" by Roger G. Kennedy. Kennedy explains why the plantation system had to expand or die: it was devastating to the land. "The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861" by Stephen B. Oates is entertaining and informative. "Slave Nation" By Alfred W. Blumrosen and Ruth G. Blumrosen provides background on why the South felt it had enough at stake to support the North in it's secession from England.
For an understanding of how the modern "left vs. right" political classification came about, there's the best book I ever read: Klaus Epstein's "The Genesis of German Conservatism." The chapter on conspiracy theories alone is worth the trouble it takes to find this out of print book. Epstein's explanation of the Enlightenment in Europe and the reaction against it in Germany applies as well in the United States of the 1850's.
Thaddeus Russell's "A Renegade History of the United States" is a fun read, especially if you're African American, Irish, Italian or Jewish. And of course, Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present."
Newton's Law series by Greg Greene
from Amazon.com Avail as E Book also.
My sister studied biology at university ten years ago, and I recently borrowed a couple of her books. I've so far read one on zoology, one on evolution and I'm now reading about plant physiology.
Basically these kinds of books tell you how animals and plant actually work in detail; e.g. so what does a muscle consist of, and how do the various cells in it work, how does energy get to it, in what form, or what kinds of animal are there (mammals are only a tiny part of the animal kingdom) and why do they look the way they do; how do plants grow and take up nutrients, how did they evolve.
It's a whole new world to discover! I don't think I've learned so much about the world around me in such a short time span before. Highly recommended.
I'm glad I didn't actually study biology, though, there's lots of complicated mundane chemistry in there, which I believe would be a lot of work to go through if I didn't just do it for fun.
If you have a Kindle ( or some other ereader), download some of those classics (for free) that you never took the time to read in your previous life.
Treat yourself to Asimov's back catalog. Visit the stars with Heinlen. Tribute the recently deceased grand master Anne McCaffrey with some Pern. Dig in deep with Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. Play with viral memes in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
I try to mix it up. I used to just read "what I felt like". But, I almost always wanted to read SF, sometimes fantasy. Now, I make sure to alternate between SF/fantasy and "other stuff". I also try to balance out "light" and "heavy".
"Other stuff" includes history, philosophy, religion(mostly eastern), classics of literature, and generally things that have a strange point of view
History: Just finished the second in a trilogy about the Third Reich by Richard Evans.
Philosophy/(religion?): Currently reading a novel by Hermann Hesse. He usually writes a sort of Western view of Eastern philosophy/religion. This novel(Narcisuss and Goldmund) discusses a philosophy of duality, though maybe like Steppenwolf the main character may change his viewpoint.
Classics of literature: most recent was Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.
"strange point of view stuff": while my taste in SF/fantasy tends toward this, the best example of it I can think of is Freakonomics. I like to get my mind blown.
Science Fiction/Fantasy: I either like to laugh or get my mind blown. Books don't often do both. Currently reading Old Man's War by Scalzi. The main characters are all the same, otherwise ok. Last great one I read was Olympos by Simmons.
My "light" tastes might be something like Pratchett. Some old school SF fits this, but a lot of old school SF writers can't do characterization. Some are too linear in plot development, too. My "light" is almost always SF/fantasy.
My "heavy" might be something like Dostoyevsky/Frank Herbert.
George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire is fantastic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_ice_and_fire
You may be familiar with the first novel A Game of Thrones, made into an HBO mini-series.
Praying for the end of your wide-awake nightmare.
Go find what best suits your tastes.
http://www.box.com/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3o8m.jpg
Michael Connelly knows how to write a police procedural that you can't put down. His main line of novels feature a hard boiled LA detective named Hieronymus 'Harry' Bosch. Bosch has his own code and is forever finding crooked cops. He has, literally, a love-hate relationship with the Feds - he has bedded at least two FBI agents, one of whom he married. Get the whole Connelly opus and you won't stop reading until you've been through them all.
(This sig intentionally left blank)
Just finished the Steve Jobs biog and starting on "The age of wonder" by Richard Holmes. Nothing beats reading about cutting edge steam technology right after reading about iphones, ipods, and Mac IIs.
Leonard's been publishing for almost 60 years and both his old stuff and his latest stuff is wonderful. _Djibouti_ (2010) is about Somali pirates (and Americans) and shows detailed research. _Pagan Babies_ (2000) is set in Rwanda and Detroit. _Escape from Five Shadows_(1956) is a pulp western, where Leonard got started.
You've probably watched several movie adaptation of Leonard's work. Here's his stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmore_Leonard#Work
"If you're not passionate about your operating system, you're married to the wrong one."
I like SF older and well as current authors, the last couple of years I have ventured into some of the magic/witch/vampire/werewolf stuff that is popular now. Pick up a couple of books in different genres and different authors, if the first one you start does not work for you you will have others to sample. And like some of the other commenters I like getting books at lower cost. The selections at the discount places are thin, but getting a new hardback for for $3 or $4 is nice, used book stores are good too.
The Devil and the White City and Thunderstruck are particularly entertaining. He takes history and makes it interesting!
...while you're going through Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy. I spent most of a summer off of school reading these. Although, to cut down on weight you might want to carry "e" editions.
Here are some different books from different genres that I have particularly liked and read recently. They're Steam Punk, Cyber Punk, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Space Opera, and Dystopia. If you like this sort of thing I've got more on my Goodreads profile.
Steam Punk: Soulless - Gail Carriger
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
Cyber Punk: The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer - Neal Stephenson
Decades into the future, near the ancient city of Shanghai, a brilliant nanotechnologist named John Percival Hackworth has broken the rigorous moral code of his tribe, the powerful neo-Victorians, by making an illicit copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device called "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer". Seattle Weekly called Stephenson's Snow Crash "The most influential book since ... Neuromancer."
Fantasy: Poison Study - Maria V. Snyder
About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.
And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.
As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear
Urban Fantasy: Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.
Space Opera: Old Man's War - John Scalzi
John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-and aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place. So: we fight
Patrick O'Brian .. The Aubrey / Maturin Series (AKA Master And Commander)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series
Watership Down by Richard Adams, you'll never look at your plate of rabbit stew the same way.
George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. It's good addictive fantasy. It took a bit for me to get into but after that I loved it.
The Ian Fleming James Bond books are good. My favorite so far is Casino Royale.
If you are looking for some SF with more depth, but still fun I'd recommend Lem's Tales of Pirx the Pilot
How many times can someone say "porn" as a response? I used to read 2600 magazine, but I stopped because I couldn't stand the teenage whining, and I'm getting the same feeling here. The repeated porn/playboy jokes here are making me seriously consider dropping slashdot from my regular reading.
I recently read "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. It was captivating from the start to the end. If you have nostalgia for the 80s, and the early computer games, you might find this book interesting.
Since you're asking, I may as well plug the book I have enjoyed the most in the past year. Kesey is of course most famous for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Sometimes a Great Notion is beautifully written -- one of the few books to combine great poetry with an absolutely compelling and fulfilling plot. It's also quite long, which will make it last on those long plane rides.
http://www.thomasjstanley.com/
Just read this after putting it off for years, an incredible book. Another poster said Steinbeck was a great storyteller - In my opinion this is about as good as it gets.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein (Must read, one of the best books ever written IMHO)
Time for the Stars, Robert A. Heinlein (short novella, one of his best IMHO, excellent read and keeps you dreaming)
Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams (Lord of the Rings meets cats, and one of only three books I've read five times)
1632 series by Eric Flint (history and fun all in one read)
I can recommend any book from Cormak McCarthy, and Fyodor Dostoevski, and I totally loved George Orwell's 1984.
Currently I am reading Bulgakov's Master and Margarita.
Try "The Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins. It will probably take more than one flight, but it's a hell-uv-a-read!
Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga is an interesting space opera type show (side note: Star Trek is also considered space opera, so that kind of thing).
The books in Chronological order. If they are part of an Omnibus, the Omnibus title is in parentheses after the book title.
I recommend the Omnibus Editions, as they insert the side stories originally published in the book Borders of Infinity in their correct places in the timeline.
Note: The books Ethan of Athos and Falling Free are in the Omnibus editions, but don't star Miles.
Ethan of Athos takes place simultaneously with Cetaganda and features Miles' lover, Elli Quinn, as a major character. It's in the same Omnibus edition.
Falling Free sets up a lot of backstory for Diplomatic Immunity. It's in the same Omnibus edition.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Read it. It is truly shit. Quick summary: Don't do this, Don't do that, ..... ad nauseum. Each text clip is 6 lines long. What the fuck cna you learn from a fsckn illiterate that is Mohammed
Cave ab homine unius libri
I really enjoyed The Monkey Wrench Gang, and the sequel Hayduke Lives! Can't say I recommend bringing the sequel through airport security though...
http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/101801/news.godfrey.shtml
Probably can finish the whole thing.
I also enjoy reading Ted Dekker.
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.
http://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human-Strength/dp/1594203075
This book is so good that I already want to start over from the beginning and read it again after I finish it. It's been out for a while but I was on the waiting list from our library, It's chock full of studies about willpower mixed with analysis and anecdotes (Amanda Palmer and Drew Cary so far). It's quite easy to read and equal parts fascinating and applicable to real life.
From a summary: "In what became one of the most cited papers in social science literature, Baumeister discovered that willpower actually operates like a muscle: it can be strengthened with practice and fatigued by overuse. Willpower is fueled by glucose, and it can be bolstered simply by replenishing the brain's store of fuel. That's why eating and sleeping- and especially failing to do either of those-have such dramatic effects on self-control (and why dieters have such a hard time resisting temptation)."
I did not read a book until I was 23 or 24 , First book was Lord of the Rings. I then proceeded to read all kinds of fiction, Stephen King, LeCarre, Clancy, Phol, Piers Anthony, Asimov .. And I did this for about 6 years reading 2 or 3 books a week.
I have not read a book since and I'm 47
Gibbon is enjoyable on the level of the sentence, the paragraph, the chapter, and the entire work. You don't even really have to pay attention, because even the smallest chunks of information are interesting and entertaining. And it will take you a long, long time to finish.
The last book I finished was A Game of Thrones (fantasy) about 3 weeks ago. The book I am currently reading is Games that Changed the Game (non-fiction football book).
Pilot Error: The Anatomy of a Plane Crash
Aircraft Accident Analysis: Final Reports
Air Disaster (Vol. 1) (Vol 2) (Vol 3)
NOVA: The Deadliest Plane Crash
and/or Mayday: Air Disasters
If those are not to your liking, Branden Sanderson and Jim Butcher are my favorite "new" authors.
Don't read, don't compute, don't photo - just looking, as tho' you're a natural born ... which you are.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ Pick up a wide variety of classic literature for free. Or visit your local public library and ask the librarians there to help you find the section which fits your interests. Historical non-fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, or technology/military based fiction are prevalent out there. You'd probably get more recommendations if you had said what genres you wanted to read. Things like Terry Pratchett, Tom Clancy, Dale Brown or biographies of famous people are usually my choices for reading on a trip. The one advantage of picking them up in dead-tree format is you can read them while you're sitting for an hour waiting to taxi, when MP3 players and iPad/Kindles aren't allowed to be on. The downside to that is they're heavier to carry around with you.
George R R Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series
If you like historical fiction (this is 1500's) you love this series of 7 books about Francis of Lymond (Scottish). She expects her readers to be intellegent and doesn't recap every time you start a new book. You gott to remember what you wrote. The first 3 are very good, then the 4th is sort weak. However she introduces a new character, Sir Graham who is the greatest bad guy ever!! (if he was Darth Varder the republic would have been crushed). I can read a novel in 2 days no problem. These 7 books took me a year because I kept re-reading them as I went to understand the nuances of the story. I'm afraid to pick them up again because I'll be hooked again. I'm addicted. Best stories I have ever read. Scotland, England, France, Italy, Turkey, Russa, Egypt, the stories a wide area.
Her series on Niccolo was good but I prefer Francis Lymond. Black Sheep of Scotland. Protector, Adventurer, World Traveler.
as someone who has bothered to get through most of the EECS courses @ mit, I have mined their official Electrical Engineering Computer Science curriculum here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai10XiNlbhkVdG1MOVQtUDhsbk5KdXBCNmtkazFpY2c
all the materials for the courses there you get from OCW - some of them require textbooks to buy, but most are all included package.
I consider these courses I got on my hdd as the most valuable thing apart my photo collection :)
I stopped my formal education one year into a highly math-centric university program, so I often find that my knowledge of even modern history is woefully inadequate. Histories written for mass audiences (just like pop science books) sometimes get a bad rap, but I've found them to be both enjoyable and stimulating. They generally highlight a specific thread of events (the ascension and rule of emperor Hirohito, Churchill's effect on the middle east) while furnishing plenty of interesting background that should spur your curiosity about the context surrounding the main thread (modern Japanese political development, circumstances and attitudes in Europe before the first world war).
My policy in picking these has generally been, did the NYT / TLS / NYT BR / New Yorker like it? Did it win an award, or appear on editor's choice lists? Does the prose appeal after a couple pages of browsing? Perhaps least important, does the subject sound interesting? If you can answer yes to a few of these, pick up one of these books and give it a read. I'll close with a few recommendations:
A Peace to End All Peace - David Fromkin (the Ottoman Empire, Churchill, the great war)
Hirohito - Herbert P. Bix (the rearing and reign of the titular emperor, and developments in 20th century Japanese politics)
Citizens - Simon Schama (the french revolution, the decline of monarchism)
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn is pretty much history from the point of view of the losers.
Vince Flynn - Mitch Rapp series
Robert B. Parker - Spenser series
Nelson Demille - John Corey series
I have been trying to keep ahead in The Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R.R. Martin. One of my favorite series for the longest time was The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Didn't like the ending much but loved the rest. Easy read for just pure fun mayhem that I loved was Gotrek and Felix series in the Warhammer universe. I am kind of a Dwarf fanboy so Gotrek rocks lol. I am also trying to read the Deathstalker by Simon R. Green my friend said was pretty sweet. In short there are too many good books and not enough time.
... I would definitely recommend any book by Eckhart Tolle.
The Power of Now has changed my world view entirely and let me see the whole life-experience thing in a totally different light. The book talks about the Ego each of us carry and how this affects our lives.
A bit further down the road I would definitely recommend "Stillness Speaks", which is an accumulation of wise sayings meant to "ring some bells" in the inner you.
Happy reading, whatever your choices
I'm no longer fed up with MS Windows: I go rid of them
If you really want to kill some time reading, pick up the Illuminatus! Triology.
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4 months away from home and I've just been reading the entire Discworld series of novels.
I've never been a fantasy reader but these are really, really good books.
I read only books by Michel Houellebecq. I think his view on the world matches that of the average /. reader perfectly.
0x or or snor perron?!
Non-fiction:
Just get "the Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. It's part one of 3 and part 2 has also been released. Both the first and second book, "A Wise Mans Fear", are bestsellers. The series, even though incomplete, ranks 18th on the list of the 100 best SF/ Fantasy books of all time according to NPR.org. In fact just go to their list and if you haven't read any of the top 20 just get one of those.
Any of Banks' sci fi novels are extremely entertaining. His minor plots in many novels would be the basis for a trilogy in some lesser author's work.
"The Once and Future King," by T.H. White
It is a re-telling of the King Arthur story, Disney made the first section of it into "The Sword and the Stone" animated film. It is funny, sincere, poignant, and smart, and it achieves all of this effortlessly. It is one of those books where the notion of putting it down pains you because every next line could be the new wittiest, or sharpest, or saddest line you've ever read.
I have to put in a vote for Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller series, starting with The Name Of The Wind. He describes the fantasy world so well you really don't even need to stretch to see it in your minds eye. The story is excellent and the characters are really interesting.
I'd also like to recommend a series on the more silly side... Jig The Goblin by Jim C Hines. It's classic fantasy style, but told from the point of view of a Goblin, one of the races that most stories treat as cannon fodder. It's interesting and pretty funny at the same time.
Vamped by David Sosnowski was a nice take on the world being run by vampires. It's fairly short... perfect for a flight. It's funny, interesting, and the author turns a good phrase.
For non-fiction I tend to go in bursts. I always love WWII Airborne biographies and autobiographies. Don Burgett is my very favorite autobiographer. I post on his forum, and he has one of the best memories of any of the vets I've read. Further, his first few were written shortly after the war, when it was all still fresh.
Another WWII Airborne author I love is Mark Bando. He has interviewed more WWII Airborne vets than anyone else, ever. Nobody could hope to catch up to him either, since unfortunately most have now passed.
Lately I've been on a North Korea kick. I've recently read Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. It contains accounts from former North Koreans who escaped to South Korea. Very interesting.
Gogol - Dead Souls / Taras Bulba / any collection of his short works
Flann O' Brien - At Swim Two Birds / The Third Policeman / The Hard Life / The Poor Mouth
Jules Verne - The Mysterious Island / A Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Iain M. Banks - Use of Weapons (and tonnes of other stuff)
Josef Conrad - Heart of Darkness / Secret Agent / Nigger of the Narcissus
Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting / Maribou Stork Nightmares / The Acid House
Philip Jose Farmer - The Riverworld Series
Martin Amis - Money
Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim / The Green Man
http://www.acetonestudio.com
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books
The best book that I've read in a long time is William Hertling's techno thriller Avogadro Corp. It's fast-paced, exciting, and chillingly thought-provoking. If you have a block of time, like a plane ride, it's perfect. If you have somewhere to be in a couple hours, you might consider waiting to start it because you won't be able to put it down.
Here's my "official" review of it:
William Hertling sets "Avogadro Corp" in modern day Portland, Oregon. Avogadro Corp is a thinly veiled fictional Google, with AvoMail as key aspect of the story. While "Avogadro Corp" is the first in a series of three (so far), it easily stands alone as a terrific, and stunningly believable, account of how the first sentient artificial intelligence might accidently arise. In a man vs. machine conflict, our protagonist David Ryan, as a contemporary Dr. Frankenstein, battles to destroy the thing he creates. A majority of the characters are well-developed and distinct; the ones that are a bit one-dimensional are minor characters. The pace of the book is quite fast with only a few tangential story arcs to mentally maintain. In fact, I made the "mistake" of starting the book at bedtime; I was finished by lunch the next day. I simply could not put it down.
David Ryan, a software engineer at Avogadro Corp, is working on a recommendation engine for their flagship product, AvoMail. The recommendation engine, Email Language Optimization Program (ELOPe), is designed to provide suggestions for better wording for your outgoing emails so that the recipient is more receptive. When the project is in jeopardy of being cancelled, David inserts a hidden self-preservation directive into ELOPe and allows it to autonomously rewrite outgoing emails related to the project. Once ELOPe begins redirecting corporate funds and arming itself in offshore floating data centers, David and coworker Mike set about trying to take down ELOPe with the help of I-trust-paper-not-computers internal auditor Gene.
One aspect of Hertling's novel that I found intriguing was that by never revealing the internal motivation of ELOPe, you too are brought on this journey of how to destroy the "ghost in the machine." Also, as a resident of Portland, I enjoyed that the book was set here and incorporates its coffee culture.
The Girl With The Dragon Tatto? and the other two of the trilogy.
For SciFi Enders Game is a must read
Rick B.
Didn't think I saw it above...
Tons of gems here.
Anything by Carl Hiaasen, but Sick Puppy was my favorite. Got kids? Get them a copy of Hoot or Flush. Don't like Florida settings? Never mind.
Arthur C. Clarke/Gentry Lee, Cradle. Oh, I think that's Florida again.
I'm sure no one else here would ever read Neal Stephenson...
The other usuals... What the Dormouse Said, Steven Levy stuff, Daemon...
Haven't read Tom Wolfe's Electric Koolaid Acid Test? Do. Interestingly, some of the same peripheral characters show up as in Dormouse and Hackers.
Espionage-related fiction and nonfiction. James Bamford, John LeCarré (most are rather depressing, but nobody alive today is a better novelist),
Frederick Forsyth, Hammer of God. Robert Ludlum, try the Matarese... series.
Robert Baer, real CIA field stories from the 80s/90s and a lot of observations and opinions about the agency and policy.
Science Fiction set in around 2030 about a kid trying to solve a treasure hunt in a virtual world.
A great read, especially if you were a teenager in the 80s and lived the early stages of personal computing. Great references to computers, arcade games and music from that time.
The first is sleep, you won't notice the cramped conditions and it'll help you adjust to the change in time zone; the second is to watch the movies (note to people who only fly within America - long haul flights give you a lot of free entertainment); then if you really must read stick with short stories so that you can stop and start reading depending on where you are in your journey.
A friend bought me the Game of Kings, a book by Dorothy Dunnett. She's Scottish, the hero is Scottish. It's not sci-fi or fantasy, it's slated as historical fiction -- story is fake but it's set against the real backdrop of a child Mary Queen of Scots. The writing is better than anything I've ever read in terms of prose, content (dialogue is amazing), and plot. Characters are all very well defined -- if you've read George RR Martin, who develops strong and varied characters -- it's similar here, though decidedly more subtle. People seem very real, but very distinct. Mostly it's the wit I enjoy -- she's the smartest writer I've ever read: great delivery, very re-readable, and, like Orson Scott Card, actually describes how an intelligent conclusion is reached rather than saying "Poof, he wins!"
It's a series of 6 books, and they're all excellent, but the first can be read alone. It's a tough read -- compare it with Umberto Eco, but way more fun.
I think a portion of Slashdotters would appreciate Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go is a bit like Aldous Huxley with a heart. His other books are great too.
Any Alexandre Dumas novel makes for fine airplane reading. "The Three Musketeers", of course, but don't discount less popular works such as "The Black Tulip".
ChatHaunt's quiet recommendation of Tim Powers needs to be shouted. Powers does a phenomenal job of blending the fantastic into the historic and everyday while spinning gripping, well paced stories.
Highest Recommended Titles: /. audience. It may commit you to the follow-up "3 Days to Never"
"Anubis Gates" in particular is stellar. It's an excellent travel book: complex, but linear plot, fascinating ideas, great action and approachable characters.
"Declare" is more complex, but may be especially suited to the
Really Good Titles: /.
"On Stranger Tides" I found highly entertaining but less sophisticated than most of his work.
"Stress of Her Regard" Much more dense language and story. Great read, but not as much a travel book.
"Drawing of the Dark" excellent adventure. Another good pick for
Entertaining, but not as good entry points into his work:
"Last Call"
"Earthquake Weather"
"Expiration Date"
"Dinner at Deviants Palace" - His most Phillip K Dick-like novel I've read
I've been reading this off-and-on for about the last year, nearly finished now. It's incredibly fucked up how there's people who don't really want to kill anyone, but if how they make money leads to people dying or being tortured, they'd like to make their money thanks very much. (although I guess you could say the same to some extent about anyone who's better off in Western society.) Other than that, I read 'For Richer, For Poorer' by Victoria Coren a few months ago. It's basically about her poker-playing. I'm not particularly interested in poker (I watch it on TV sometimes, but don't really play), but I liked it.
As a meta-comment, I'll offer "Reddit's Favourite Books": http://www.reddit.com/r/raerth/comments/cpxkq/reddits_favourite_books/
It happens to include several of my favourites, and a lot more.
She is one of the most under-appreciated science fiction authors out there. I would opt for Doomsday Book, Blackout and All Clear. I would avoid crap like Passage.
Consider Doomsday Book, you've got the plague, Oxford and time travel. What more do you want?
I've liked the "Lensman" by E.E. Smith series for some time. It did a good job on the space police genre.
Lately I've been reading the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs -- "A Princess of Mars" is the first one, and it's in the public domain. Two days ago, a commercial for March's "John Carter" movie by Disney appeared and the characters are quite recognizable.
This is an Ask Slashdot question - which books do you like? Geez, are people now so dumb that they can't pick a book to read w/o asking someone?
The Mistborn series (Brandon Sanderson) was my intro to Fantasy and one of the best series I have read in a long time. Also, not necessary to read them all to enjoy. An addictive read that takes no time to get interesting.
Also, Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) has been a great introduction to Science Fiction for me. PLUS there will be a movie coming out in 2013 so you should certainly go ahead and read it before hand. Also quickly interesting. Non of that 'takes 100 pages to get interesting" mumbo jumbo.
You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, by Deborah Tannen, Ph.D.
http://www.amazon.com/You-Just-Dont-Understand-Conversation/dp/0060959622/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324496473&sr=8-1
Used for less than US$2. Best money you ever spent. It's like having the other teams' play book.
The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Satirical fantasy (or fantastic satire) by a wonderful wordsmith with a twisted sense of humor. As with Swift & others, he uses his imaginary world to poke fun at ours. If you haven't discovered the Discworld yet, you're in for a rare treat!
Since Christopher Hitchens passed, I'm reading "god is Not Great. How Religion Poisons Everything"
Fantastic book. He nailed it.
Others have mentioned some of Richard Rhodes' work ("The Making of the Atomic Bomb" (1988 Pulitzer Prize winner) and "Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb"). Both were fantastically well-researched. I can also highly recommend "Deadly Feasts."
RR has a new book, "Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of the Most Beautiful Woman in the World." Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil designed and patented (US patent number 2292387) what is now known as spread spectrum communications to control a torpedo. I haven't read the book yet, but it's on my list. Can anyone comment on it?
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
Sci-fi that's incredibly well written in the style of Dying Earth. A good entry point is the The Book of the New Sun, which is actually four books about the fall and rise of a disgraced torturer / executioner in the Very far future of Earth. One thing that's important to note going in is that Gene Wolfe loves unreliable narrators. If you're paying attention you'll often catch them in lies, or conflicting with their own prior versions of events. Some people find this daunting, some people find this awesome.
If you're not in the mood for sci-fi, Wolfe also has some great stories about a persian soldier named Latro who can see and speak to gods as if they are normal people (Soldier of the Mist) and voyages all over the Mediterranean with various pantheon's in tow.
As a first choice, I recommend getting an anthology of some kind. The problem with getting a novel of some kind is that if it turns out you don't like it, you're stuck with it regardless, whereas an anthology of short stories means that if a particular story is dull, it doesn't matter because you won't be reading it for long. I recommend The Mammoth Book of Best New SF, which is a collection of short stories that gets released each year in around August/September (most recent one is number 24), and is inexpensive, but also a very dense book, and the quality of the stories is consistently good. I also liked The Mammoth Book of Apocalyptic SF from the same publisher (worth it just for Cory Doctorow's "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" and Alastair Reynolds' "Sleepover").
Novel-wise, I'd recommend virtually anything by Ian McDonald, who largely specialises in SF with a third-world setting. His book River of Gods could be described as a kind of Gibson-esque cyberpunk set in India, although that really doesn't give it justice as this makes it sound derivative when it's anything but - he's also produced a great book of short stories in the same future India called Cyberabad Days. Adam Roberts is also an excellent author, and I'm very fond of the sci-fi work of Richard Morgan, particularly his Takeshi Kovacs novels. Charles Stross has also been mentioned elsewhere, and I'd recommend his work. If you're not put off by hard SF, Alastair Reynolds is an excellent author, especially House of Suns and the Revelation Space series.
This bein slashdot, your choices are obvious
Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis by Al Gore
The Assault on Reason by Al Gore
An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It by Al Gore
Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit by Al Gore
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Vintage) by Barack Obama
Why chose any other authors when you can choose one of the Holy Works?
I suggest a course or two on MP3. The subjects vary widely. No background required. Check out www.thegreatcourses.com (I am not affiliated with them.)
'nough said
I've just started rereading Man and the Planets, by Duncan Lunan. It's a speculatory book about the medium-term future of humanity in the solar system, written a few decades ago (when the shuttle was the New Big Thing). When I first encountered it as a child, I didn't understand much of it: I was thinking "Cool, space!" rather than following the more complex arguments. A decade or so later, after a degree in physics (inspired by this book and others like it), I can finally go back and appreciate it in full detail.
So, my suggestion is this: pick a book you read when you were to young to fully understand it. You'll already know whether you'll like it, and you'll connect with your childhood at the same time.
Gene Wolfe and Jack Vance
Gene Wolfe's New Sun tetralogy is one the best ever, and anything by Vance who has one of the most unique voices in all of literature. ;
Social Credit would solve everything...
I tried one of the Orson Scott Card books (Shadow Puppets) recently because he is so often recommended here on /. Terrible.
Shadow Puppets is a several-deep-sequel to Ender's Game.
I highly recommend Ender's Game. I consider it a science fiction masterpiece, a true must-read for any fan of the genre. Please give it a try.
In contrast, I think the Ender sequels are some of Card's weakest work. I think Card writes them mainly in response to fan demand, and/or just to pay the bills. Some of them are just *barely* okay; the rest are garbage.
They also won't make much sense without the context of previous books, so if you started with Puppets you'll have the additional problem of missing critical background material.
The sequels follow two paths in the story-universe: (1) Events in the distant future, on distant planets. These were written and published first. (2) Events on Earth, immediately after Game. These came later.
Speaker for the Dead was the first published sequel. It was okay. It's set a few thousand years after Game. It had some good concepts, like the "speaker for the dead" custom, exploration of how culture can change over time to view history differently, and some interesting aliens. The story is nowhere near as compelling as Game, though, and the plot is less coherent.
Xenocide follows Speaker. It was frankly bizarre. There's almost no plot, the characters are unsympathetic, and what was formerly a fairly well-grounded-in-plausible-science story got really far out there. I really didn't like this one.
Last in this line is Children of the Mind. Not as crazy Xenocide, but still weird. I found it meh. Indeed, I've forgotten so much of it that I can't give a specific review. Xenocide was so bad it stuck in my memory; this was just meh.
After all the above were published, Card jumped back in the story timeline.
Ender's Shadow is a "same events, told from a different point-of-view" rehash of Game. I rarely like these kinds of stories. They generally read like tired retreads, and this was no exception. Further, it felt like Card was just trying to top everything about Ender (main character of the first book) with Bean (another character). Bean is smarter, quicker, smaller, more vulnerable, more precocious, etc., etc., than Ender in every way. He also knew more, saw more, etc. Those sorts of N*2 stories annoy the piss out of me.
Shadow of the Hegemon was the Ender sequel I liked the most. It still wasn't all that good, but it was okay. It had a lot of fun exploring what happens when you return a bunch of child genius military commanders to Earth, where they are still minors, and thus property of adults.
Shadow Puppets, third in this line after Game, was meh at best. Not compelling for the most part. Weak characterization for the most part. Petra had some good moments. But without the other stories as background, it won't make any sense. It kind of deflated at the end.
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
"I never fully understood [the label of 'escapist'] till my friend Professor Tolkien asked me the very simple question, 'What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and most hostile to, the idea of escape?' and gave the obvious answer: Jailers."
(C. S. Lewis, "On Science Fiction")
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
Glen Cook's The Black Company series from start to finish. He really got his shit together for this series and it all comes through. Also one of the more satisying endings for a saga of this length.
Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos , I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Follow it up with the Ilium/Olympos duology.
It's been a while since I finished it, but I really loved David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series. In short, China wins WW3 and it's nanotech grey-goo, Imperial Cyber-China, Finland's Kalevala myth-cycle and gene-tailored water buffalo shock troops.
I'm a big fan of Robert Howard's Conan stories. Not the modified stuff in the movies and L. Sprague de Camp's edits, I mean his original work that never was put into a novel. You can get a collection of them from various places called the Centenial Edition I believe. Very good.
I also like the Dragonlance novels.
For science fiction, I really like some of Brunner's work, A Shockwave Rider being a favorite. I also liked the Neuromancer trilogy from William Gibson, and some of the followup.
A little bit different recommendation for you: I love pen-and-paper RPGs, and some of their source material is also very good and I enjoy reading through that as well. I highly recommend Shadowrun (3rd edition), Ars Magica, and World of Darkness.
I envy you. I started reading at age 11 with LoTR. I read fantasy/scifi books without any considerable gaps until 10 yrs ago, and then I got all 'mature' and started reading non-fiction--whatever I picked up at the airport. I stopped reading anything not work related 6 yrs ago when my son was born. I'm looking forward to reading again when he gets older :)
Jeff Gunn: Go Down Together - The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde. If you've only seen the movies, do read this one. The media exaggerated the Barrow Gang's deeds and Hollywood cared less about reality. Gunn has done his research and his writing makes this a page-turner.
Yaroslav Trofimov: The Siege of Mecca - The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine. This is simply amazing. The book reads like an action movie, and it helps you understand how the radical islamism got its beginnings - including the eventual rise of Al Qaeda.
Robert Whiting: Tokyo Underworld - The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan is a riot. The culture shock and the absurdities that ensue make this perhaps the funniest book I have read in recent years. The first chapter just sets the stage, it's a huge "wait, what?!" from there on.
Philip Zimbardo: The Lucifer Effect - How Good People Turn Evil. You have heard of the Standford Prison Experiment, and it's likely you've seen the awful Das Experiment movie. The reality is - again - far more interesting.
Ready Player One has probably been mentioned but I haven't seen it. Fantastic
Reading obituaries is not being sordid. We read with sadness about all the wonderful people who died, either peacefully or after a horrible illness. These people raised families, contributed to society, and are now being recognized for their contribution to mankind.
I am also saddened when I read about my school classmates who expire.
I am on the list too, being 71 years young. I am not sick, but only sick of greed that I see and read via the net and some business journals.
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
career questions posed on slashdot by it people
Anything by Michael Crichton is gold, but you've probably already read them. If not, definitely pick them up.
If you're into military / black-ops stuff, Tom Clancy is also great.
Name of the Wind, part 1 of the King Killer Chronicles is an unbelievably good read. Not great for airplanes though since you will be forced to read it in a sitting, it is that good. This is a young guy and his first novel. The greatest knock I can give it is that it is a trilogy and the 3rd book has not yet been released. It was 4 years between book 1 and 2 and book two was released this year. Yikes! As a general rule I never read new authors, I let time do the vetting for me. This book has changed my mind. I'm trying not to gush but it replaced Dune as my all time favorite and I'm not even a fan of the fantasy genre!
...any of the Jack Reacher novels.
How about 'SF++ Science Fiction Stories for Linux Geeks'.
Available as a Kindle or Nook e-book.
Many of the stories are reprinted from Analog Magazine.
If you don't already have an e-reader, you should get one. Then you could take of the order of a thousand books with you on your travels.
Anything by Gene Weingarten. As a starter, I'm with Stupid: One Man. One Woman. 10000 Years of Misunderstanding Between the Sexes Cleared Right Up.
'Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning' by Thomas H. Davenport
Next I will be reading Social Media Analytics: Effective Tools for Building, Interpreting, and Using Metrics
Here's my list of recent books, it only covers items not mentioned elsewhere in this discussion.
- "The most human human" by Brian Christian. A great story about the human side of the Turing test, how to ensure judges think you're a human. You think that's easy? Think again! The book tells us interesting things about the brain, about society, about how computers work. A great read.
- "Intimate relationships" by Miller, Perlman, Brehm. I read it after Paul Bloom's recommendation (see the intro course to psychology on academicearth.org). Geeks will love this book, it is useful, it explains how relationships work and how they fail; it is based on research; there are charts and formula too.
- "The humane interface" by Jef Raskin is an excellent book about interfaces that don't suck. Raskin provides several fundamental ideas which describe a humane interface. He provides plenty of examples, the ideas are simple to grasp and they're awesome. A must read, if you are a fan of Donald Norman (I won't write about him, since others mentioned his books in other threads).
- "The evolution of cooperation" by Robert Axelrod is the book that describes the math and the ideas behind Dawkins' "Nice guys finish first". It is a great book about cooperation, why it matters.
- "On intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins provides an interesting point of view about the high level features of the brain, and some ideas about how these features are implemented. The brain is a prediction making device - it makes sense.
- "Drawing on the right side of the brain" by Betty Edwards is an interesting book about developing your drawing skills, with plenty of examples and exercises. The story revolves around the idea that we must learn to rely on our right hemisphere despite the fact that the left hemisphere tends to take over and rationalize things around us.
- "Night" by Elie Wiesel is the story of a Jewish boy who was taken to a concentration camp, along with his family. A touching book that describes how things worked in Auschwitz, how things turned from bad to worse.
- "Predictably irrational" and "Upside of irrationality" by Daniel Ariely - behavioural economics, relationships, very interesting stuff with a lot of experimetal data. Personally, I apply his tips at the university, to minimize the probability that my students are cheating at exams. They like the things I do, the method works. I strongly recommend Ariely's works. Papers published by him can be downloaded for free, look for them.
- "The power of a positive no" and "Getting to yes" and "getting past no" by William Ury are excellent books about negotiation. This applies to business, relationships and everything else. Have a look, they're very useful.
- "Systemantics" is an awesome book, I bet any engineer will love the humour in it.
My book list can be found here: http://goodreads.com/gr8dude, feel free to ask questions about any of them, I'll be glad to provide feedback.
I must confess that I also enjoy reading various papers, scholar.google.com is an awesome resource. All you need to do is make sure that the papers are related to a field you're interested in. I often get in touch with the authors and exchange ideas, the modern world is very interactive. Reading papers is fun!
I also enjoy reading poetry (and writing it too). This is an interesting exercise, because it makes you think in a different way, rely on metaphors... It is very unlikely that a typical Slashdotter is a speaker of Romanian, but if you are, have a look at poems written by Steliana Grama. For speakers of English, have a look at grooks by Piet Hein. Really, I insist, they're very short, here's a free sample
{
THE ROAD TO WISDOM
The road to wisdom?
-- Well, it's plain
and simple to express:
Err and err and err again
but less and less and less.
}
One last bit I wish to mention - I live in Moldova and getting English books over here is
The saddest poem