Looking for book recommendations

[Joey D]

First off I hope this is the right place for this, it's not technically a question but I am asking GTP. I'll move it if need be or it can be merged with a thread I some how overlooked (which is entirely possible).

I've pretty much tapped out my book collection by finishing Mass Effect: Ascension last night. Now I'm book-less and it's awful since I read for at least an hour every night before going to sleep. Now I've read just about every classic book that I'm going to bother reading and I don't care for airport book store murder mysteries (James Patterson I'm talking to you).

Things I like are sci-fi books that are believable to some extent and not so far into the future that it makes no sense. That's why I really liked the Mass Effect books (I know it's probably not going to happen). I don't mind books that are in a series, actually I would prefer it because if I like it I can jump into more books.

I don't mind fantasy either but more traditional stories, King Arthur style stories are good.

I love travel writing but I can't really think of a book I haven't read on the subject in the past 4 years. I really wish Bill Bryson would write another book about going somewhere since his always seems to the best. I'll entertain suggestions though since I could have missed something.

As far as non-fiction books go, I'm down for anything sciencey or tech related. Although I would like to keep it on the lighter side since I don't really want to lie awake and have my mind racing a million miles per hour while thinking about Schrödinger's cat.

So GTP, I ask, can you please help me build up my stock pile of books?

 

[Smallhorses]

Not science fiction, but without a doubt the funniest book I've ever read.
As long as you're not devoutly Christian & easily offended it's highly recommended. 👍

Not sure if you've come across this travelogue? Pretty entertaining, a new twist on the travel journal.

 

[Loon]

HHGTTG, not exactly believable, but a great book. Though I have a feeling you may have hit this one already. Especially if you understand the acronym.

 

[wfooshee]

Have you looked at the Ender's Game series? And if you've got the patience for it, Asimov's Robot novels form a nice universe, even though the "science" may be dated. Also the Foundation novels, and the two sets tie together eventually. In all of these, it's not the gadgets and technological speculation that the stories involve themselves with, but it's the characters and situations. In other words, you won't find geeky weirdness just for the sake of geeky weirdness.

Greg Bear's Eon and sequels, and for something a bit different, Frederick Pohl's Gateway and sequels.

I'm also re-reading the Clan of the Cave Bear novels at the moment, set late in the Ice Age, when modern humans and Neanderthals inhabited the world together. The story starts as the main character, Ayla, a modern human girl orphaned by an earthquake, is found and taken in by a Neaderthal band.

The movie sucked raw eggs, it's not possible to overstate my disappointment, but the novel Battlefield Earth is epic!

 

[Sage]

Book Discussion Group

Everybody has to read HHGTTG. No excuses.

 

[Zrow]

Book Discussion Group

Everybody has to read HHGTTG. No excuses.

What he said!

Book Discussion Group

It's funny, I was just thinking about reading Ender's Game again tonight.

 

[axle]

HHGTTG, not exactly believable, but a great book. Though I have a feeling you may have hit this one already. Especially if you understand the acronym.

Excellent book, How about continuing with the Douglas Adams theme and going with 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' and 'The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'. . .

Another way to go is with Roger Zelazny and 'The Chronicles of Amber'. Here is a Wiki link to it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Amber

Hope this helps you out. : )

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I'd recommend anything by Australian author Matthew Reilly, especially Ice Station, Temple and Seven Ancient Wonders (Seven Deadly Wonders in the USA). They're not exactly science fiction - unless you count the author ignoring Newtonian physics - but they're not bad (I would, however, avoid Scarecrow, Hover Car Racer and The Six Sacred Stones by the same author). They're like Hollywood action films written without budget constraints.

Ice Station is set within the confines of a lonely Antactic research station that sends out a distress signal when a diving team is attacked in an underground ice-cave after finding what they think is a spaceship. It's not like John Carpenter's The Thing, though, but it's still a great story and features a forty-page hovercraft chase.

Temple revolves around a professor of linguistics fro New York University who is asked by DARPA and the US Army to translate a manuscript dating from the Spanish colonisation of Peru written by a rogue monk that supposedly reveals the location of an artifact that could form the basis of a devastating new weapon. The best thing about it is that the book tells the stories of both the professor and the monk, with the events of one directly affecting the other.

Finally, Seven Ancient Wonders is very Indiana Jones-esque. It revolves around the efforts of a small team of commndos-turned-adverturers looking to find the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, each of which has a piece of the Golden Capstone of the Pyramid at Giza. It's a race against time because the Capstone is the only way to avoid the earth being baked by an incredibly rare solar event, but other forces want the Capstone for themselves as it also offers the prospect of invincibility for the nation that assembles it.

 

[YSSMAN]

This may be a silly question, but you finished Harry Potter, right? I'd put that at the top of my list, but I seem to recall you buying it when you were in England a while ago...

I think part of the problem for me is that once school starts, I end up reading nothing but political science or history books. I'll give a few of my recommendations here, but I'll get the embarrassing one out of the way first.

Twilight Series
The girlies love it. I haven't started reading it yet, but I bought the books for my Mom on her Birthday, and when shes done with the first one, I'll likely pick it up on the behest of my grilfriends.

Srsly. I'm not kidding.

======

Some of the more-recent books I've enjoyed:

America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It - Mark Steyn

Its a bit of a conservative look at population growth and decline and the implications that it will have on the positioning of America in the world in the coming years. With more recent events I'm inclined to think he had it a bit "wrong" (it was written in 2005), but the data alone makes it very interesting indeed.

The Ugly American - Lederer and Burdick

Its an interesting look at foreign policy in a fictional sense. Considering it was written in 1958, the foreshadowing it had on the eventual Vietnam conflict makes a worthwhile read.

Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography

This is probably one of the best autobiographies I've ever read, simply put Roosevelt is an amazing man, and quite certainly one of my most-favorite Presidents. Its a good look at how things used to be, how he believes America should be, and it just paints a wonderful picture of his character.

Democracy in America - Alexis de Tocqueville

Its one of the classic books that I've referenced heavily in both my history and political science classes. Although I haven't given the book a good crack in at least two years, I occasionally peruse it for reference or an inspirational thought. Or, well, opinion. Its a big book with tiny text, but its a favorite of mine.

 

[Joey D]

Thanks for the recommendations guys 👍. Looks like I'll be occupied while at work looking up some of these.

I have read some of the ones being suggest such as "the Guide", Ender's Game series, Clan of the Cave Bear, Battlefield Earth and pretty much anything by Greg Bear. I worked at an audio book store for a while and was always listening to something while I worked so I got through a ton of books.

I bought Harry Potter but never read it, I've actually never read any of the books aside from a little bit of the first one. I never could get into them. I just felt that since I was at the release party I had to buy the book, Kate has it now.

So far the books Do you race? are looking promising, I hope the local bookstore has some of them. They sort of sound like something Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child would write. Also Smallhorses actually suggested a travel book I have not read, which surprised me for a second, so I'll defiantly have to see about getting that one too.

Anyways thanks again for everyone suggesting books. I'll be sure to read up on all of them.

 

[Duke]

For science fiction with highly believable science, anything Larry Niven wrote before about 1995 would be high on my recommendation list. Ringworld (there are 2 or 3 sequels; start with the original), any of the Known Space story collections, The Mote In God's Eye, Lucifer's Hammer, or Footfall - all are excellent books. Other than the last three titles I listed, avoid his collaborations until you've read some of his solo work.

Read Ken Follett's Pillars Of The Earth if you have not already. If you told me it was a fascinating page turner set in the Middle Ages with a central plot theme that moves at the speed of glacial drift, I'd never have believed you, but that's exactly what it is.

Not science fiction in any way shape or form, but a long series of classics that is slipping into obscurity - C S Forrester's Hornblower series is absolutely great.

 

[wfooshee]

I can't believe I forgot Pillars of the Earth!!!!

I am ashamed beyond all comprehension. That is an epic tale of political and religious corruption and conspiracy, class differentiation, prejudice, love stories across those boundaries, and then throw in a little architecture and cultural mixing as well.

Ken Follett has some other goodies as well, including a sequel to Pillars which I haven't read yet. I didn't care for Night over Water, but anything else would be highly recommended.

 

[G.T]

The single best trilogy I've ever read - His Dark Materials.

In Northern Lights (released in the United States and Canada as The Golden Compass), the heroine, Lyra Belacqua, a young girl brought up in the cloistered world of Jordan College, Oxford, and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, learn of the existence of Dust, a strange elementary particle believed by the Magisterium to provide evidence for Original Sin. Dust appears less attracted to the innocence of children, and this gives rise to grisly experiments being carried out...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials

 

[daan]

I'm really enjoying this at the minute.

Informative and funny.

Did you know that the first Russian to do a space walk carried a gun with him to fight off bears?

 

[Gil]

Have you read any of Terry Brooks Shannara books.
They are quite old now, and more fantasy than sci-fi. Sort of like The LOTR books, though Brooks is not as bad as Tolkien at stuffing a 1000 page book into a mere 1500 pages.

 

[Touring Mars]

Also Smallhorses actually suggested a travel book I have not read, which surprised me for a second, so I'll defiantly have to see about getting that one too.

I wouldn't go as far to say it was a "travel book", but it's a great read nevertheless! I really enjoyed the book, light-hearted humour and easy going - although my Irish ex-girlfriend hated it... (although I suspect that she didn't actually read it, and merely objected to it in principle )

 

[Only_in_f1]

Something different that I have read and liked very much.

And the follow up

 

[daan]

I can recommend 'round Ireland with a fridge too, and it's follow-up, "Playing the Moldovans at tennis".

I would just say that if you're going to get a Tony Hawks book, make sure you don't get a Tony Hawk book. They're not as good...

 

[Famine]

James Patterson

James "One page, one chapter" Patterson blows. Totally blows. Like a hairdryer caught in a leafblower.

I don't mind books that are in a series, actually I would prefer it because if I like it I can jump into more books.

I don't mind fantasy either but more traditional stories, King Arthur style stories are good.

"The Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula Le Guin. A book so good that JK Rowling "based" an entire career on it. Can't go wrong.

Also try the Armageddon Trilogy (Armageddon: The Musical; They Came And Ate Us (Armageddon II: The B-Movie); The Suburban Book of the Dead (Armageddon III: The Remake)) by Robert Rankin - a genre the author refers to as "Far-Fetched Fiction" - and, of course, the entirety of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (I recommend kicking off the series with Mort then Wyrd Sisters rather than the earlier books [The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Sourcery]) or grab one of the standalones from the first 20 (Pyramids, Small Gods).

 

[Danoff]

Some of my favorites:

^They say it was voted the 2nd most influential book behind the Bible.

^Yes, even if you've seen the movie

^ It's non-fiction, but it's very good

^ Last read that one in 4th grade, but I remember it being excellent

 

[91hondawagon]

My personal favorite:

I'm sure Danoff can back me up on this one. It's a fantastic book that taught me a great deal about being who I truly am. It sounds cliché, but it can be a life-changing book. It was the only book I honestly loved reading in English class.

 

[Danoff]

I'm sure Danoff can back me up on this one. It's a fantastic book that taught me a great deal about being who I truly am. It sounds cliché, but it can be a life-changing book. It was the only book I honestly loved reading in English class.

The fountainhead is quite good, however, I still prefer Atlas. Optimally he should read both - but Atlas first.

 

[Sage]

^ Last read that one in 4th grade, but I remember it being excellent

I love that cover – “For the millions who loved The Incredible Journey…” Hahaha!

BTW, I definitely prefer Atlas over Fountainhead. Fountainhead is, of course, excellent, but it’s missing just that extra bit of clarity and explanation that Atlas brings.

 

[Joey D]

Thanks for all the continued suggestions 👍! I'll be hitting up the book store tonight once traffic dies down.

I have read Pillars of the Earth, well rather listened to it. Very good book but also really long.

I'll definatly check out some of Larry Niven's work. I remember picking up one of his books at Boarders not to long ago but for some reason decided to go with something else. Probably wasn't in the sci-fi mood at the time.

I've read The Golden Compass and thought it was ok. Sort of reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia if it had been written buy someone who wasn't Christian.

I've read and listened to many of Terry Brooks' book. Armageddon's Children and the Shannara Series were pretty good.

I can't read Ayn Rand, I don't like her books. I know many people think she's a genius but the style of writing doesn't do it for me. It's much the same as 1984 and Animal Farm. Maybe school ruined them for me though. I know it ruined a lot of books for me.

 

[G.T]

Woah, I wouldn't even compare Narnia and Golden Compass... Narnia is for 5 year olds - Golden Compass is more complex, especially so when you read the next two books (which are quite different to the first one, so I suggest carrying on. The story opens up lots more).

Of course, there's probably many more sophisticed books in here, just I've never read them.

 

[Touring Mars]

1. Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a candle in the dark: Great book discussing why people believe in things like astrology, the paranormal, clairvoyants and conspiracy theories. Also recommend "Cosmos" by the same author...

2. Richard Dawkins: The Ancestor's Tale: Awesome and brilliantly illustrated account of the history of life on Earth. Concept loosely based on Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales", Dawkins describes a journey back to the dawn of life on Earth as if it were a physical pilgrimage, where we meet each of our ancestor's along the way.

3. Normal Mailer - The Naked And The Dead: Classic war novel, not ruined by having a movie version playing in your head while you're reading it...

4. Woody Allen - Complete Prose: Huge collection of Allen's written work, absurdly stupid in places, but original and very funny. His story about Count Dracula coming out during a solar eclipse and having to hide in his neghbour's cupboard when the sun comes out again was great

 

[opelgt1969]

Check out some Dean Koontz (makes Steven King sound like Mary Poppins) John Sanford (Prey books) should start with the first one, Clive Cussler (Sahara) or real fun reading Jimmy Buffett's Books. All of these have web sites you can read their BIO's before you buy anything.

 

[YSSMAN]

Just had a thought...

Go read it, NOW!

 

[bergauk]

During my stay at summerschool this year. I was forced to read books during the morning, and I found some really good reads. Such as :

Very good read. I couldn't stop reading it till I was done.

Also

Stephen Kings, "Four Past Midnight" is an amazing collection of 4 novellas that can be read quite easily.

These may interest you.

 

[Smallhorses]

Also Smallhorses actually suggested a travel book I have not read, which surprised me for a second, so I'll defiantly have to see about getting that one too.

Cool!

I'll take this as a challenge to see if I can come up with a few more then!

Apologies for massive image size!
You've probably read this one, but I had to at the selection of key phrases that the book is listed with at Amazon.com.
Seriously!: pizza toast, sex museum, inner altar, Hot Sushi, Cape Sata, Bridge of Heaven It's honestly a travelogue!
The cover review even mentions Douglas Adams. What more can you ask for? It's got to be good, right?!!!!

I've waxed lyrical about this book elsewhere on GT Planet before, but it combines 3 of my favourite pastimes:
Travelling,
Driving fast/classic cars,
Drinking Scotch Whisky.
Mmmmmmmm
(As a sidenote, most of Iain Banks' fictional novels are pretty good reads too! 👍
He also writes Science Fiction under the highly imaginative pseudonym "Iain M. Banks", though I've never read any of that!)

I'm currently reading this, so I'll reserve judgement until I'm done, but so far so good.