The Books/Reading Thread

[Base Delta Zero]

Not sure what you mean by 'hard' sci-fi, but Asimov is one of the best. The Foundation trilogy alone is amazing. Niven's also very good and Chalker has some exceptional material as well, although you should avoid his early books.

Hard sci-fi is science fiction with an emphasis on science, scientific detail and accuracy. It is sometimes used as a vehicle to explain certain ideas in theoretical physics. Niven's 'Ringworld' is a good example of hard sci-fi. In fact, Niven wrote the sequel to 'Ringworld' largely as a means of explaining some of the scientific fallacies/questions of the original.

I've read the Foundation series and some Niven. Where's a good place to start with Chalker?

 

[Einherjar86]

Check out The New York Trilogy or Moon Palace...those are my two favorite books of his.

The New York Trilogy sounds really interesting. Eventually I'll get to it; I have such a huge reading list right now, and Atlas Shrugged will probably take a while.

 

[unknown]

yeah The New York Trilogy is awesome stuff...as long as you don't mind uh "loose endings"

 

[MasterOLightning]

Really into Updike's Rabbit Redux right now. It's grabbing me a lot more than Rabbit, Run did, and I wasn't even going to go on with the series until I got to the ending of Rabbit, Run. Probably shook a lot of people up at the time.

 

[optionthree]

Hard sci-fi is science fiction with an emphasis on science, scientific detail and accuracy. It is sometimes used as a vehicle to explain certain ideas in theoretical physics. Niven's 'Ringworld' is a good example of hard sci-fi. In fact, Niven wrote the sequel to 'Ringworld' largely as a means of explaining some of the scientific fallacies/questions of the original.

I've read the Foundation series and some Niven. Where's a good place to start with Chalker?

The initial Well World series is quite good, and I remember the Four Lords of the Diamond also being well worth the read. It's been some time since I last perused his work, so I can't exactly recall the quality of his other material, but those two series alone give you a good ten or so books to start with.

EDIT: If you haven't already read it, Niven's The Integral Trees is another very interesting piece of hard sci-fi.

 

[Einherjar86]

Is Arthur C. Clarke considered hard sci-fi? If he is, or if some of his works are, definitely check him out. He's one of the sci-fi greats.

 

[metal_wrath]

Just finished

'Devastation of the Indies' - Bartholome de Las Casas

'The Life and Times of Gregorii Efimovich Rasputin'

'Njal's Saga' - Magnus Magnusson translation
Great saga from the grim fjords of medieval Iceland. Seriously, this is an excellent read as far as medieval literature goes. Next I will read 'The Saga of the Volsungs'

 

[Episteme]

Reading about cryptography and codes. It's called The Code Book by Simon Singh, not as dry as I thought it would be.

 

[unknown]

^^ I have that book. Really interesting book. Simon Singh is a really great author. Check out his book on the number Zero

 

[Skepticism]

What would be a good place to start with Søren Kierkegaard?

 

[Einherjar86]

In a philosophy class I took we read portions of The Sickness Unto Death. It was very good. I'm not sure how it stacks up next to his other works, but it's definitely worth your time.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I'm back on the Russian lit train... just finished One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; We Never Make Mistakes; Heart of a Dog and just started The First Circle.

 

[Zephyrus]

I've got some Aristophanes on the way, including Clouds and Lysistrata.

 

[unknown]

Lysistrata is pretty damn funny...and dirty

 

[meeseface]

i just read the first dark tower book, the gunslinger. it was pretty cool, weird though, but the most stephen king books are. I just started reading the iliad by homer, translated by robert fagels.

 

[XSASweet]

i just read the first dark tower book, the gunslinger. it was pretty cool, weird though, but the most stephen king books are. I just started reading the iliad by homer, translated by robert fagels.

it gets weirder, trust me.

 

[Soa]

I'm rereading a short piece called Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey. It's short and easy to carry; convenient for beach reading.

 

[unknown]

hm. what's it about?

 

[Soa]

It's simply an autobiographical account of De Quincey's experience with opium; the pleasures and the pains of using the substance. I thought it was mildly entertaining, plus I enjoy his writing style. Quincey was heavily influenced by 16th and 17th century English literature, and for some reason I just enjoy his interpretation of that style.

 

[Einherjar86]

It was a pretty influential piece about opium's impact on users and the artistic community. I had to read it in my Romanticism and Victorianism class.