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Thetom
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Inspired by the "Movies for hardcore sci-fi geeks" thread I thought I'd make one for books in the hope of finding some new gems.
So list any great Sci-fi books you know of for others to check out.
I'll start with...
Dune (all of them) - Frank Herbert
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (all of them) - Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (both of them) - Douglas Adams
Then onto...
Neuromancer (The Sprawl Trilogy) - William Gibson
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
The Reality Dysfunction (The Nights Dawn Trilogy) - Peter F. Hamilton
Now their out the way, I'd like to mention...
Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith
Mobius Dick - Andrew Crumey
The End of Mr.Y - Scarlett Thomas
The last three are fairly recent and are very good in my opinion. I like really weird sci-fi and tend to find just plain 'normal' weird abit mundane. That said: I found The End of Mr.Y to be pretty weird suggesting that it is, in fact, exceptionally weird. But it's about Quantum Mechanics so was to be expected.
Only Forward is a mystery comedy set in the future. It's well done and is actually funny. Reminded me abit of Douglas Adams. But its real strength is the gradual decent (or ascent depending on your views) into something that turns out to be quite serious and emotional. The writing is quirky. The main protagonist says things like (to the reader) "You can't trust everything I tell you, and I may not tell you everything, so watch yourself" which makes for an entertaining and engaging read.
Mobius Dick is a tale of love and quantum mechanics (more QM than love, I'm afraid) and is excellently written. It was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2004 and was written by Andrew Crumey, himself with a PhD in theoretical physics. It definitely has a fantastical element to it. As the plot thickens the story starts to get very, very, very mildly weird. Though, I have to stress this, it's not a weird book. I can only think that being written by a theoretical physicist makes it naturally and inherently a little bit weird. But only a little bit. IMO it really should be read by anyone who frequents PF.
So anyone else know any good books?
P.S one more thing... Here is a free to listen short audio story from up-and-coming writer Ted Chiang titled Exhalation.
http://podcast.starshipsofa.com/podcast/StarShipSofa_BSFA_Nominee_Ted_Chiang.mp3
It was featured on Star Ship Sofa, an online sci-fi audio magazine. This is a particularly good short sci-fi story, well written and well read. Its about 40mins long, maybe 40meg to download and is WELL worth a listen. I have also heard another of Ted Chiang's audio books: 'understand'. Which was even better than this one. You'll have to find a copy of that yourself though ;)
So list any great Sci-fi books you know of for others to check out.
I'll start with...
Dune (all of them) - Frank Herbert
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (all of them) - Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (both of them) - Douglas Adams
Then onto...
Neuromancer (The Sprawl Trilogy) - William Gibson
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
The Reality Dysfunction (The Nights Dawn Trilogy) - Peter F. Hamilton
Now their out the way, I'd like to mention...
Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith
Mobius Dick - Andrew Crumey
The End of Mr.Y - Scarlett Thomas
The last three are fairly recent and are very good in my opinion. I like really weird sci-fi and tend to find just plain 'normal' weird abit mundane. That said: I found The End of Mr.Y to be pretty weird suggesting that it is, in fact, exceptionally weird. But it's about Quantum Mechanics so was to be expected.
Only Forward is a mystery comedy set in the future. It's well done and is actually funny. Reminded me abit of Douglas Adams. But its real strength is the gradual decent (or ascent depending on your views) into something that turns out to be quite serious and emotional. The writing is quirky. The main protagonist says things like (to the reader) "You can't trust everything I tell you, and I may not tell you everything, so watch yourself" which makes for an entertaining and engaging read.
Mobius Dick is a tale of love and quantum mechanics (more QM than love, I'm afraid) and is excellently written. It was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2004 and was written by Andrew Crumey, himself with a PhD in theoretical physics. It definitely has a fantastical element to it. As the plot thickens the story starts to get very, very, very mildly weird. Though, I have to stress this, it's not a weird book. I can only think that being written by a theoretical physicist makes it naturally and inherently a little bit weird. But only a little bit. IMO it really should be read by anyone who frequents PF.
So anyone else know any good books?
P.S one more thing... Here is a free to listen short audio story from up-and-coming writer Ted Chiang titled Exhalation.
http://podcast.starshipsofa.com/podcast/StarShipSofa_BSFA_Nominee_Ted_Chiang.mp3
It was featured on Star Ship Sofa, an online sci-fi audio magazine. This is a particularly good short sci-fi story, well written and well read. Its about 40mins long, maybe 40meg to download and is WELL worth a listen. I have also heard another of Ted Chiang's audio books: 'understand'. Which was even better than this one. You'll have to find a copy of that yourself though ;)
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