Book Recommendations
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I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
You could try novels by C.M.Kornbluth and/or Frederik Pohl - I seem to remember 'Wolfbane' (jointly authored by the two of them) as good. Not along the lines of Foundation, but still very good are some of Jeff Noon's books - especially Vurt, Pollen and Nymphomation. Neal Stephenson's books are also worth a read - Zodiac, Snow Crash and The Diaomnd Age are good, as is Cryptonomicon (but you can't really call that SF, I don't think).
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I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
While I really like Ian M. Banks his stories are not in the same style as Foundation. I do like Foundation though so if you want something different but good, give Banks a shot. His other books, written under the name of Ian Banks (no M), are very good too. I wouldn't recommend Hamilton. Very much a space opera writer and his endings are terrible. Nothing like the precision and logic of Asimov or the darkness of Banks. I'd only recommend Hamilton if you want beach reading material or are about 16 years old and want to laugh at sex scenes from the future. regards, Paul Watson Ireland Feed Henry!
eh, stop bugging me about it, give it a couple of days, see what happens.
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I like "The Mote In God's Eye" by Larry Niven. And two fantastic authors are Lem and Philipp K. Dick. - Oh yes and Frank Herbert. Greetings, Ingo ------------------------------ PROST Roleplaying Game War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who's left.
ihoecken wrote:
Lem and Philipp K. Dick.
seconded. Although with Dick you can't go wrong but also can't read everything, with Lem you have to pick carefully what you read.
Some of us walk the memory lane, others plummet into a rabbit hole
Tree in C# || Fold With Us! || sighist -
Thanks! I'll look into them.
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
"Ringworld" is just one of the "Known Space" books. To understand the context, read it and "Ringworld Engineers", then read "Protector". Do it the other way around, and you'll spoil the surprise... "A Gift from Earth" is very good too. Highly recommended. Anna :rose: Currently working mostly on: Visual Lint :cool: Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.
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I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
...are two to watch out for. :cool: In particular I'd recommend Greg Bear's "Strength of Stones" and the "Eon" and "Anvil of Stars" series. Then of course there's "Darwin's Radio" which explores the impact of a major change in human evolution in the context of modern society, and "Psychlone" which is an unlikely and compelling horror. Robinson's work is much closer to present day reality and his Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars) are all too believable. Anna :rose: Currently working mostly on: Visual Lint :cool: Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.
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While I really like Ian M. Banks his stories are not in the same style as Foundation. I do like Foundation though so if you want something different but good, give Banks a shot. His other books, written under the name of Ian Banks (no M), are very good too. I wouldn't recommend Hamilton. Very much a space opera writer and his endings are terrible. Nothing like the precision and logic of Asimov or the darkness of Banks. I'd only recommend Hamilton if you want beach reading material or are about 16 years old and want to laugh at sex scenes from the future. regards, Paul Watson Ireland Feed Henry!
eh, stop bugging me about it, give it a couple of days, see what happens.
Paul Watson wrote:
I'd only recommend Hamilton if you want beach reading material or are about 16 years old and want to laugh at sex scenes from the future.
Wahahahaha! Ok I'll be careful of him. :laugh:
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
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I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
If you haven't done so yet, you should read the Rama trilogy by Arthur C Clarke. Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
The Ultimate Grid - The #1 MFC grid out there! -
If you haven't done so yet, you should read the Rama trilogy by Arthur C Clarke. Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
The Ultimate Grid - The #1 MFC grid out there!I'll second that one too. "Fountains of Paradise" is another favourite. :cool: Anna :rose: Currently working mostly on: Visual Lint :cool: Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.
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I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
Stephen Baxter. Titan and Evolution are superb, and the Space/Time series is good. His near-future and "alternative present" stuff is a really feasible look at how things could have developed if things had gone slightly differently at NASA, post Apollo. Asynes yw brassa ages kwilkynyow. -- modified at 7:07 Wednesday 12th April, 2006
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'Consider Phlebas' and 'Player of Games' are my favourites. Both inhabit the 'Culture' universe. The Culture is a conglomeration of stellar systems in our galaxy (IIRC) that is pretty much a utopian socialist society (follows Banks' political beliefs). Lot of machine intelligence, interestingly named (and vivdly described) sentient ships, plus a pleasantly amoral dark side to the Culture.
I didn't find 'Player of Games' very satisfying because of the lack of actual game detail. I prefer 'Against a Dark Background'. Agree with you about the Culture though, especially the ships! :cool: Asynes yw brassa ages kwilkynyow.
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I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
Robert Wilson's Spin[^] is starting off well, for me. Only about 50 pages in. edit: if you like more fantastic (a.k.a. surreal and alternate-reality stuff - nmot necessarily dragons and witches), i heartily recommend Jeff VanDerMeer's "City of Saints and Madmen", and China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station". both are great, for different reasons Cleek | Image Toolkits | Thumbnail maker -- modified at 21:57 Wednesday 12th April, 2006
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Isaac Sasson wrote:
Wow....haven't read Sci-fi in a long time.
Me either. That's probably why I felt like it :) I haven't read Ender's game so I'll check it out. Surprisingly I haven't read any of the dune books. I played the pc game about a thousand years ago and I've seen the DVD but I haven't gotten around to reading the books. I must go find them.
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
i'll second the recommendations for both the Dune books and the Ender's Game books - at least the first one or two in each series. Cleek | Image Toolkits | Thumbnail maker
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I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
Just to give you mixed messages, I'd read Hamilton before Banks. Banks is not bad, but I like Hamiltons "space-opera" better. Some of Banks work is (for me) hard to get into, while Hamilton writes thick books that you can read for a long time. I agree with Paul that the ending of Night's Dawn was somewhat thin, but the books are well worth the read. And to give you some more choices, I recommend David Brin's Uplift novels or if you prefer a darker future, Alastair Reynolds. ;) --- "Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest". -- Denis Diderot -- modified at 8:32 Wednesday 12th April, 2006 [Corrected the name of Brin's trilogy]
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I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
You can't go wrong with Heinlein. BW
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
-- Steven Wright -
I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
Nic Rowan wrote:
I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books...
My latest read was "Goliath" by Steve Alten.
"Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed." - Mark Twain
"There is no death, only a change of worlds." - Native American Proverb
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i'll second the recommendations for both the Dune books and the Ender's Game books - at least the first one or two in each series. Cleek | Image Toolkits | Thumbnail maker
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If you haven't done so yet, you should read the Rama trilogy by Arthur C Clarke. Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
The Ultimate Grid - The #1 MFC grid out there! -
I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
I have read Dragon's Egg, Starquake, Rocheworld, and Return to Rocheworld. Dragon's Egg would be the first one to read. Rocheworld is a great reality-check - hard-SF on Interstellar flight rubs-it-in, that such an expedition will require more than a two-minute attention-span . I wonder who is the best candidate to fill the shoes of the late Dr. Forward ? pg--az
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I’m in the mood for some Sci-fi books and I have no idea what’s good. I’m looking for something along the lines of Asimov’s Foundation series. Anybody got any suggestions?
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in a geriatric ward.
Hi Depends a lot on what you like of course. Foundation is in the "space opera" category, and the recommendations made so far ar pretty good. I would add Dan Simmons; the Hyperion series and the fantastic Ilium and Olympus. At the other end of the intellectual scale is the Lensman series from e.e. "Doc" Smith - very light weight and probably out of print by now, but I enjoyed them in my youth. Moving slightly further afield, any self-respecting geek needs to read the early William Gibson stuff: the "Neuromancer" series. His later stuff tails off badly, but the Neuromancer trilogy is very good. The other one for all geeks is Vernor Vinge; try "Across Realtime" for the best visualisation of what the coming Singularity means, or "A Deepness in the Sky" for great space opera. If you like hard science, Greg Egan is the man - he will mess with your head mercilessly. Try Permutation City or Diaspora to see what can be done with current theories on quantum physics or computation. Slightly more adult is Richard Morgan with his Kovacs series, starting with "Altered Carbon". Lots of violence, some sex, lots of good SF with real plots and people. Last but not least, we should not forget the old master, Robert Heinlen. A lot of his later stuff is drivelling nonsense, but "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Moon is a Harsh Mistress" or "Starship Tropers" still bear up. Got plenty of other recommendations, but that lot should keep you busy for a weekend... :-) HTH Regards David Evans InaPlex - Enterprise Data Integration http://www.inaplex.com
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Robert Wilson's Spin[^] is starting off well, for me. Only about 50 pages in. edit: if you like more fantastic (a.k.a. surreal and alternate-reality stuff - nmot necessarily dragons and witches), i heartily recommend Jeff VanDerMeer's "City of Saints and Madmen", and China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station". both are great, for different reasons Cleek | Image Toolkits | Thumbnail maker -- modified at 21:57 Wednesday 12th April, 2006