BOOKS - What are you reading? (1 Viewer)

[Eloe2000]

Some sci-fi that I found enlightening as well as entertaining:

Arthur C Clarke - Childhood's End (1953)
Dan Simmons - Hyperion (1989) & The Fall of Hyperion (1990)

I had just finished Rendezvous With Rama after hearing that Denis Villeneuve was going to turn that into a film after the next Dune. Now I just finished Childhood's End and loved it. Absolutely incredible.

I am not sure if Hyperion is exactly my cup of tea but that may be next on my list.

 

[Darson]

I had just finished Rendezvous With Rama after hearing that Denis Villeneuve was going to turn that into a film after the next Dune. Now I just finished Childhood's End and loved it. Absolutely incredible.

I am not sure if Hyperion is exactly my cup of tea but that may be next on my list.

If you haven't read Left Hand of Darkness, I would recommend that over Hyperion. Not so hard sci fi but very thought provoking.

 

[Eloe2000]

If you haven't read Left Hand of Darkness, I would recommend that over Hyperion. Not so hard sci fi but very thought provoking.

Thanks. I will look into this. It is actually the harder scifi that I like.

 

[Coyote]

Down to the basics: Winston Churchill's "WW II".
A cultivated intellectual (not just a brave man) who acknowledges in the preface that his testimony can only be biased, and is just an historical source for the future historian; not History.

 

[Darson]

Thanks. I will look into this. It is actually the harder scifi that I like.

Both are quite character driven - Le Guin's books are light on the technology aspect and Hyperion definitely has elements of fantasy.

For hard sci-fi, these are classics that you've probably already read;
- Isaac Asimov; Foundation
- Orson Scott Card; Ender's Game
- Robert Heinlein; Starship Troopers
- William Gibson; Neuromancer
- Michael Crichton; The Andromeda Strain (this is the only book that I couldn't put down and read from cover to cover in one sitting)
- Aldus Huxley; Brave New World

Books that are better than the films but the films were pretty amazing:
- Andy Weir; The Martian
- Ernest Cline; Ready Player One
- Carl Sagan; Contact

I've heard good things about Iain M Banks and Larry Niven but have yet to give them a go.

 

[FestiveKnight]

I read a ton, for work, business related, for pleasure, for “book groups” with friends.

If you’re into sci fi, foundation is a must.

The Many Colored Land by Julian May is also an absolutely incredible book that is under acknowledged.

Lastly, not sci fi related but I think everyone can learn something from Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. It’s so impactful I cant even describe it. Just read it.

 

[sharik224]

If you like Andy Weir's Math heavy style in The Martian , Artemis is pretty good. Not The Martian level but i enjoyed it.

As for Fantasy i can not recommend " Kings of the Wyld" enough. I even got the old man hooked on it and he's mostly a cussler/clancy type reader.

 

[Darson]

The Many Colored Land by Julian May is also an absolutely incredible book that is under acknowledged.

I'm surprised to hear someone mention Julian May! She's brilliant. I read Intervention in college and then went through the Galactic Milieu trilogy followed by the Saga of the Pliocene Exiles. Highly recommended - I still have my copies on the book shelf.

 

[FlushBlack]

Good read, shows the games n shenanigans perpetrated by a regime for their next move.

 

[ekricket]

I would recommend any of these

 

[allforcharity]

I would recommend any of these

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I enjoyed Lord of Light way back when.
Mote in God's eye was great. Gripping Hand sequel was good, too.

 

[ChipJunkie]

My go-to these days is John Sandford's "Prey" series. Discovered Sandford through the Kidd series of novels, and then found the Prey series (currently working through Neon Prey) and the Virgil Flowers series (Bloody Genius is next to read). The books tend to be formulaic, but entertaining.

Lucas Davenport! Lol. That's a good series. I haven't read one in a long time but I think you just motivated me to pick one up. Thanks.

 

[ChipJunkie]

I just wanted to say thanks to this thread. I typed Dunes in the search box for info on Dunes poker chips and didn't realize the title of the thread, Books What are you reading?
Well, just by hearing everyone talking about books got me motivated to start reading again. I just started The Chamber by John Grisham.

Thanks again

 

[v1pe]

Just finished Asimov's Robot Trilogy. Enjoyed it. Sci Fi detective novels essentially.

Next up, Mistborn 5/6!

 

[Machine]

I was recently in a situation where a book I just got done reading came in really handy.

Subsequently it was a poker game, and the guy explained that he was going to give a speech, call when he could only make a hand IF he went runner runner on both boards. Proceeded to give a speech (again), and then talk about how he only had like 10 bucks in the pot but was going to cold call 80 to try to win 1/2 the pot.

Needless to say he hit both boards, swooped it, and then made fun of me, I think I would have lost it had I not grown so much from this book:

All the best

 

[Highli99]

Just finished an excellent book by Henry Orenstien who is a WSOP bracelet winner, inventor of “high stakes poker” show and the technology behind hole cards, and also The Transformers”. Henry sadly passed away from Covid in December.

The book is called “I shall live” and is an incredible story of his survival of the holocaust as a Polish Jew in WWII. He miraculously survived 5 concentration camps and awful pogroms throughout his homeland. A truly incredible read. Highly recommend.

 

[buzzmonkey]

Just started Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker. This one's going to take me a while. 832 pages and I'm not a fast reader.

 

[MatB]

I was recently in a situation where a book I just got done reading came in really handy.

Subsequently it was a poker game, and the guy explained that he was going to give a speech, call when he could only make a hand IF he went runner runner on both boards. Proceeded to give a speech (again), and then talk about how he only had like 10 bucks in the pot but was going to cold call 80 to try to win 1/2 the pot.

Needless to say he hit both boards, swooped it, and then made fun of me, I think I would have lost it had I not grown so much from this book:

View attachment 868023

All the best

In my limited defense. I don’t remember Making fun after the pot was won
And…. I feel like the main body of the speech was centered around it being a donation as you’d been getting kicked in the nuts quite a bit.
Ok. Maybe it was 50/50 donation speech and “I need runner runner” speech

I will be better next time I promise.

 

[ImCrossland]

My great grandfather’s personal account of D-Day and World War II. Highly recommend if you can get your hands on a copy.

 

[Senzrock]

Currently reading an excellent book:

"Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly through a culture that revolves around the self. In each essay, Tolentino writes about a cultural prism: the rise of the nightmare social internet; the advent of scamming as the definitive millennial ethos; the literary heroine’s journey from brave to blank to bitter; the punitive dream of optimization, which insists that everything, including our bodies, should become more efficient and beautiful until we die. Gleaming with Tolentino’s sense of humor and capacity to elucidate the impossibly complex in an instant, and marked by her desire to treat the reader with profound honesty, Trick Mirror is an instant classic of the worst decade yet."

 

[MatB]

Read this series years ago. Back in the 90s

This is Book 2 in the series and goes in completely different direction to Enders Game

Books like this make me enjoy reading again

 

[allforcharity]

Read this series years ago. Back in the 90s

This is Book 2 in the series and goes in completely different direction to Enders Game

Books like this make me enjoy reading again

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I read all the Ender and Bean books a few years ago and enjoyed them. It's too bad the movie adaptation killed any hope of a franchise.

 

[SteveEH]

I don't read much, but here are a few I couldn't out down:

#1 Oryx and Crake, and the other 2 in the trilogy.
#2 Ready Player One
#3 Gorky Park

 

[BNM]

If you like Andy Weir's Math heavy style in The Martian , Artemis is pretty good. Not The Martian level but i enjoyed it.

As for Fantasy i can not recommend " Kings of the Wyld" enough. I even got the old man hooked on it and he's mostly a cussler/clancy type reader.

I just finished “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir. Nowhere near as good as The Martian, but I was diverted.

 

[Eloe2000]

Continuing on with my new found love for hard sci-fi. Different style and approach from pure Clarke’s original, just as I was told, but still very enjoyable. I could also see Denis Vilenevue melding I and II a bit so he has a little more human story to make a more watchable story for mass market big screen.

 

[Jeff]

I have a soft spot for the Lee Child Jack Reacher books. They are all the same story formula, and a bit dumb, but I read one sitting on the beach every time we go on vacation.

Science fiction seems to be a theme here, so If I had to pick one science fiction book that hasn’t been mentioned yet, I think Neil Stephenson’s Seveneves would be it. It was a very interesting and entertaining story/premise. The story could produce a couple more interesting books if he ends up writing the obvious follow up books about the other undeveloped threads in the story line. The timeline of the story is so expansive that it could be a productive franchise. The book is several years old now, so the fact that there’s no sequel yet is disappointing.

I have a couple hundred books in my Kindle book collection on my iPad and almost exclusively read ebooks now. It’s amazing to be able to bring your entire library with you wherever you go.

 

[raynmanas]

If you like Andy Weir's Math heavy style in The Martian , Artemis is pretty good. Not The Martian level but i enjoyed it.

I just finished “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir. Nowhere near as good as The Martian, but I was diverted.

I really enjoyed Project Hail Mary. I agree it wasn't as good as the Martian, but it was much better than Artemis. If you liked PHM, then I highly recommend the Bobiverse series by Dennis Taylor.