Slashdot Mirror
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 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.
Wind up bird chronicles (and any other of his books)
Neal Stephenson is a great author for Slashdot readers. Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash are great titles to start with.
Definitely Science Fiction. Peter F. Hamilton's "Nights Dawn" Trilogy, Pandoras Star & sequel Judas Unchained. I also like Alastair Reynolds. Right now I'm reading "Century Rain" by him.
The Name of the Rose, Baudolino, The Island of the Day Before, Foucault's Pendulum. All good books.
either Dresden Files or Codex Alera
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.
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.
this seems like a troll, but there really is an obnoxious trend in the fantasy genre. Emotional confused woman plus a superpower and a distant tall dark stranger. She, of course, is smarter and more clever than everybody else, but realizes her feelings for Mr. Dark only after he rescues her. Now empowered by LOVE she defeats the evil. Now repeat over a thousand variations with different titles. You have the fantasy section at Barnes and Nobles. It sucks.
Space Shuttle was a program that strapped humans to an explosion and tried to stab through the sky with fire and math
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.
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
A nice long airplane book!
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.
It isn't just you. Neal Stephenson has gotten VERY long winded. His early works were much better, and very good, in my opinion.
I also really liked Stephen R. Donaldson's "Gap Series". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_R._Donaldson#The_Gap_Cycle
Also a bit long winded but I enjoyed them a great deal.
grape - the GNU free, open source rape
Confederacy of Dunces
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.