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  #2653  
Old July 4th, 2015, 11:41 AM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

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I just finished my first read of George Orwell's 1984. It was quite excellent and I really wish it had been assigned reading during high school as I've heard is often the case at other schools. Not sure why it got left out.

I'm currently reading American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips, The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman, and Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

I've been wanting to get into a good science fiction series. I'm planning on reading Asimov's Foundation trilogy. Does anyone have some other good suggestions?
Depends on what kind of sci-fi you want to read.

Also, if you haven't read it yet, I recommend Brave New World as another take on 1984.
I second Brave New World. From a similar time period as Orwell but with (mostly) a cheerier outlook I really like John Wyndham. Day of the Triffids is probably the most famous (killer walking plants terrorise mostly-blind population, but a lot better than that sounds) and The Chrysalids is another one I really like (mind-reading children emerge in oppressive post-apocalyptic community).

The Foundation series is great, I definitely think that's a good choice. I think it declines in quality towards the end but the first three at least are deservedly classics.

Other series I've enjoyed: David Brin's Uplift books (two trilogies, animals being "uplited" to sentience by humans against a backdrop of alien species where this is the norm), Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space books (a trilogy and a few other stand-alone novels and stories in the same universe, covers humans after leaving the solar system to start colonising the galaxy with very cool, and very alien, aliens) and Iain M. Banks's Culture novels (all stand-alone in the same utopian future-human universe).
Thanks for the suggestions Quozl and Ollie! They've been added to my Amazon Wishlist for safe keeping! I like to keep big separate lists of fiction and nonfiction and read them simultaneously so I don't feel non-productive or get too mentally strained.
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  #2654  
Old July 4th, 2015, 01:13 PM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

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Originally Posted by ssnover95 View Post
I just finished my first read of George Orwell's 1984. It was quite excellent and I really wish it had been assigned reading during high school as I've heard is often the case at other schools. Not sure why it got left out.

I'm currently reading American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips, The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman, and Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

I've been wanting to get into a good science fiction series. I'm planning on reading Asimov's Foundation trilogy. Does anyone have some other good suggestions?
Anything by Stephen Baxter.

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  #2655  
Old July 4th, 2015, 11:58 PM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

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Originally Posted by ollie View Post
Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space books (a trilogy and a few other stand-alone novels and stories in the same universe, covers humans after leaving the solar system to start colonising the galaxy with very cool, and very alien, aliens)
Alright I am intrigued...You have mentioned this before and now I am interested. As someone thinking about testing the water what would your recommend. Not sure if I am ready for the big dive but I did notice that there is a lot in the audio book catalog including the short stories and I'm willing to give it a listen. Are there any smaller commitment stories you would recommend that don't spoil any of the larger stories in case I like it or would you just recommend jumping to Revelation Space and an opening?

Would I want it to be everything I love...sure...but that's just not realistic so I'm going to focus on finding things that will make me unhappy and work on fixing those.
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  #2656  
Old July 5th, 2015, 09:58 AM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

Reynolds does a good job of making everything read well in any order, I think. At least I was happy doing that. One of the reasons is that there are always more ideas and subplots thrown out than can be explored. So if one gets explored in a short story, it's either a nice expansion (if you read it afterwards) or good background (if you read it first). Or maybe I just got lucky with the order I read them in? The one exception is the "Inhibitor Trilogy", Revelation Space, Absolution Gap and Redemption Ark, which are probably best read in that order.

The first thing I read was a novella called Diamond Dogs, and this might be ideal for what you want if you can find it. It gives a really good sense of the feel of the universe (quite dark, has a neat alien thingy that is fairly representative of the overall way the series deals with aliens). What this, and the short stories, don't do that the novels do really well is take several long strands of story and build them into a coherent, connected finale. I don't know about audio books, but it came as a physical book with Turquoise Days, which is also good.

Of the short stories, Grafenwelder's Bestiary stood out as one I really enjoyed. It might be worth reading A Spy in Europa first and it is one that ties in with other books a bit more strongly (there's an overlapping character with Diamond Dogs and the worms feature in the novels). Weather is another one I enjoyed. This explains more about the slightly mysterious conjoiner engines that allow near-light-speed travel and are in more-or-less all of the books/stories. This is one I read later and was glad to have more background, but I think it'd also work as making the books more enjoyable if you knew in advance.

While I wait for The Prefect to arrive in the mail (the only Revelation Space book I haven't read) I'm taking my own advice and (re-)reading a John Wyndham book. Trouble with Lichen.

Interesting to contrast it with what I just said about Reynolds. Rather than a bajillion ideas that give a great sense of an overarching universe without stranding you (or blindsiding you with something you couldn't know to save the story), Wyndham at his best takes one idea and plugs it into our world (well, 1950s Britain) and sees how it all plays out. In this case it's an anti-aging drug. At the time it was probably quite daringly feminist: the protaganist is a female scientist and it tracks her attempt to overthrow the existing order to make it fairer for women.

By this point (at least 5 reads, maybe more, over the last 20 years) it's like an old friend and I know what's coming next. But there's still a lot to appreciate.
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  #2657  
Old July 23rd, 2015, 04:43 PM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

I just finished Dune for the first time.


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  #2658  
Old October 6th, 2015, 11:38 AM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

Just went to Barnes & Noble to pick up the newly republished A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin. Actually, it collects for the first time the three canonical novellas set in Westeros, ninety years before Game of Thrones. Follow the adventures of a hedge knight and his lowly squire in three tales published originally in 1998, 2004, and 2010, now with lots of pictures, in the days when Targaeryns still sit on the iron throne, and people still remember live dragons.
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  #2659  
Old October 27th, 2015, 03:59 PM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

Whoa! I did not know this existed! Thanks for the heads up!

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  #2660  
Old October 27th, 2015, 09:08 PM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

I'm in the third book of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
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  #2661  
Old October 27th, 2015, 10:45 PM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

SAME HERE!!! I'm enjoying it so far, what do you think of it @belgarath ?

H E R O S C A P E
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  #2662  
Old October 28th, 2015, 01:50 AM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

I've heard nothing but good things about that series, but the sheer volume of the entire series intimidates me a little.

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  #2663  
Old October 28th, 2015, 08:57 AM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

It isn't for everybody. I wish I would have given up after the first book.
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  #2664  
Old October 28th, 2015, 09:19 AM
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Re: Books: What are you currently reading?

The first three are excellent, the next three are pretty good, then it slogs until the Brandon Sanderson ones. Ultimately... I was happy I read them.

~Aldin, reading _Shadows of Self_ by Sanderson at the moment

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