Title: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Tank on March 27, 2011, 02:00:52 PM
Post by: Tank on March 27, 2011, 02:00:52 PM
Shane by Jack Schaefer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Schaefer)
I read this book when I was in my middle teens in English class. It was the first book I recall that caused me to cry. The scene where Shane is bullied out of the bar because he won't kill was one of the most powerful I had ever read up to that point. The book is an excellent morality tale.
I read this book when I was in my middle teens in English class. It was the first book I recall that caused me to cry. The scene where Shane is bullied out of the bar because he won't kill was one of the most powerful I had ever read up to that point. The book is an excellent morality tale.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: KDbeads on March 27, 2011, 06:16:01 PM
Post by: KDbeads on March 27, 2011, 06:16:01 PM
Kaffir Boy, Mark Mathabane
http://www.amazon.com/Kaffir-Boy-Autobi ... 0684848287 (http://www.amazon.com/Kaffir-Boy-Autobiography-Youths-Apartheid/dp/0684848287)
It's a banned book in many places in the south but a damned good one. I think I was 15 when I read it first. There are a ton of people who think it's 100% propaganda against 'whites' but it's told by a kid who lived in hell.
http://www.amazon.com/Kaffir-Boy-Autobi ... 0684848287 (http://www.amazon.com/Kaffir-Boy-Autobiography-Youths-Apartheid/dp/0684848287)
It's a banned book in many places in the south but a damned good one. I think I was 15 when I read it first. There are a ton of people who think it's 100% propaganda against 'whites' but it's told by a kid who lived in hell.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Sireal on March 27, 2011, 06:39:21 PM
Post by: Sireal on March 27, 2011, 06:39:21 PM
As a former bookshop owner I love this sort of thing.
Politics: Glen Tinder-Political Thinking: If you want to say anything about politics read this first!
Economics: Human Action-Ludwig von Mises A read that ties all the thread of human action together, very worthwhile read.
Ancient Egypt-Light of the World-Gerald Massey: Massey's works remain unrefuted yet conspicuously absent from academic reading lists. A well thought out academic history of the origins of Christianity/Islam, exposing them for the thieves they are. Kessinger puts oout an iexpensive reproduction of this work. A collection of his essays can be found here: http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/Gerald_Masseys_Lectures.pdf
R.A. Schwaller deLubicz-The Temple of Man: Again an author left out the mainstream loop and unrefuted. This is a heavy/Thick read. If this Work were considered seriously Egyptology would need to be re-written in its entirety which is suspected to be the reason it is negatively viewed by most Egyptologists.
The two later works above basically re-write the history of western Religion and should be on every thinking persons book shelf IMHO. I will ad more to this list as time permits, enjoy.
Politics: Glen Tinder-Political Thinking: If you want to say anything about politics read this first!
Economics: Human Action-Ludwig von Mises A read that ties all the thread of human action together, very worthwhile read.
Ancient Egypt-Light of the World-Gerald Massey: Massey's works remain unrefuted yet conspicuously absent from academic reading lists. A well thought out academic history of the origins of Christianity/Islam, exposing them for the thieves they are. Kessinger puts oout an iexpensive reproduction of this work. A collection of his essays can be found here: http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/Gerald_Masseys_Lectures.pdf
R.A. Schwaller deLubicz-The Temple of Man: Again an author left out the mainstream loop and unrefuted. This is a heavy/Thick read. If this Work were considered seriously Egyptology would need to be re-written in its entirety which is suspected to be the reason it is negatively viewed by most Egyptologists.
The two later works above basically re-write the history of western Religion and should be on every thinking persons book shelf IMHO. I will ad more to this list as time permits, enjoy.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Tank on March 27, 2011, 08:55:23 PM
Post by: Tank on March 27, 2011, 08:55:23 PM
Universe by Freedman and Kaufmann (http://bcs.whfreeman.com/universe8e/default.asp?s=&n=&i=&v=&o=&ns=0&t=&uid=0&rau=0)
Don't be put off by the fact that this book is an educational text, it is incredibly well written. It can be read at three very different levels, it explains everything in plain language, then there are specific mathematical descriptions that expand and refine the text and finally there are self test elements for the determined or masochistic reader.
This book really is a work of scientific and literary art.
Don't be put off by the fact that this book is an educational text, it is incredibly well written. It can be read at three very different levels, it explains everything in plain language, then there are specific mathematical descriptions that expand and refine the text and finally there are self test elements for the determined or masochistic reader.
This book really is a work of scientific and literary art.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Melmoth on March 27, 2011, 09:01:53 PM
Post by: Melmoth on March 27, 2011, 09:01:53 PM
I'm not sure what I'd recommend for you... I'm not big on Westerns, but for moral complexity I'd go for any of the earlier stuff by Ian McEwan, especially The Cement Garden. His later books get a little bourgeois for me, rather like the Guardian newspaper. They're good but slightly sycophantic - he panders a lot to the middle class, intellectual vanity of his readers. I swear, if I come across another oh-aren't-I-clever reference to Schrodinger's bloody cat in another book, I'm going to kick right off. That fucking animal seems to be everywhere at the same time!
The Dumb House, Glister and The Devil's Footprints by John Burnside are also favs of mine, especially the first one. Beautiful and macabre. He's not for the feint hearted but he asks some very profound and interesting questions.
If you want American writers, you'd probably like anything by Cormac McCarthy, because everyone likes anything by him.
American Psycho, if you can see past the violence, is much smarter than you might expect (and better than the film, obviously).
Moby-Dick is a bloody slog to get through, largely thanks to Melville's strangely erratic, undecided writing style, and it can bore you senseless in places, but trust me when I say it moves you just as much in others, and more than anything else it haunts you. It's a book that leaves a mark on the mind.
If you want water works, then I'd recommend The Things they Carried by Tim O'Brien. It's a series of loosely connected, semi-autobiographical short stories about O'Brien's experience of Vietnam. He was a liberal college student when he got drafted, and there's a particularly heart-wrenching scene in one of the stories, as he's trying to escape across the Canadian border, but I don't want to give away too much. I read this one recently and it tops any other Vietnam-related book or film that I know of.
I don't like Raymond Chandler or his smart-arsed narrator Philip Marlowe, particularly... I find them both annoyingly glib, with too much conservative, moralising sub-text; but some people can appreciate them for the genre. There's a certain appeal to the whole private detective thing, I guess.
Er... I've given you a slightly random jumble there but I could narrow it down for you, if you like. I'm literally just glancing at the book shelf next to my computer and picking the first things that catch my eye.
The Dumb House, Glister and The Devil's Footprints by John Burnside are also favs of mine, especially the first one. Beautiful and macabre. He's not for the feint hearted but he asks some very profound and interesting questions.
If you want American writers, you'd probably like anything by Cormac McCarthy, because everyone likes anything by him.
American Psycho, if you can see past the violence, is much smarter than you might expect (and better than the film, obviously).
Moby-Dick is a bloody slog to get through, largely thanks to Melville's strangely erratic, undecided writing style, and it can bore you senseless in places, but trust me when I say it moves you just as much in others, and more than anything else it haunts you. It's a book that leaves a mark on the mind.
If you want water works, then I'd recommend The Things they Carried by Tim O'Brien. It's a series of loosely connected, semi-autobiographical short stories about O'Brien's experience of Vietnam. He was a liberal college student when he got drafted, and there's a particularly heart-wrenching scene in one of the stories, as he's trying to escape across the Canadian border, but I don't want to give away too much. I read this one recently and it tops any other Vietnam-related book or film that I know of.
I don't like Raymond Chandler or his smart-arsed narrator Philip Marlowe, particularly... I find them both annoyingly glib, with too much conservative, moralising sub-text; but some people can appreciate them for the genre. There's a certain appeal to the whole private detective thing, I guess.
Er... I've given you a slightly random jumble there but I could narrow it down for you, if you like. I'm literally just glancing at the book shelf next to my computer and picking the first things that catch my eye.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Tank on March 27, 2011, 09:30:35 PM
Post by: Tank on March 27, 2011, 09:30:35 PM
American Psycho is probably the one I'll read next as one of my daughters has a copy 
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Whitney on March 27, 2011, 09:54:58 PM
Post by: Whitney on March 27, 2011, 09:54:58 PM
Ishmael (then read The Story of B and My Ishmael)
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Byronazriel on March 27, 2011, 10:12:47 PM
Post by: Byronazriel on March 27, 2011, 10:12:47 PM
Neverwhere, and the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman... Or anythinng by him for that matter.
Good Omens is one of my personal favourites, it is by Neil and Terry Prachett author of the Discworld books... Which I also heartily reccomend.
Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium, and its equels are good too. I also liked Fell Cargo, and the Malus Darkblade series.
Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw was a good read, as was The Cicada by Inge Meldgaard. (I may be biased on this one because helped the author with its sequel...)
Good Omens is one of my personal favourites, it is by Neil and Terry Prachett author of the Discworld books... Which I also heartily reccomend.
Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium, and its equels are good too. I also liked Fell Cargo, and the Malus Darkblade series.
Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw was a good read, as was The Cicada by Inge Meldgaard. (I may be biased on this one because helped the author with its sequel...)
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: The Magic Pudding on March 28, 2011, 01:39:30 AM
Post by: The Magic Pudding on March 28, 2011, 01:39:30 AM
I enjoyed Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Anatoly Rybakov, Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Aldous Huxley, Hermann Hess, Mailer, Tolkien, Patrick Obrien, Fank Herbert, Orwell, Durrell and Douglas Adams.
Solzhenitsyn, Kafka and Camus weren't as much fun, I'm less likely to persevere with tedious stuff these days.
If I have to find authors that still breath, Alistair Reynolds does sensible sci fi. Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is good for a laugh, Tim Winton's Dirt Music and Cloud Street are just very good.
Solzhenitsyn, Kafka and Camus weren't as much fun, I'm less likely to persevere with tedious stuff these days.
If I have to find authors that still breath, Alistair Reynolds does sensible sci fi. Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is good for a laugh, Tim Winton's Dirt Music and Cloud Street are just very good.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Melmoth on March 28, 2011, 07:00:42 AM
Post by: Melmoth on March 28, 2011, 07:00:42 AM
Quote from: "The Magic Pudding"Solzhenitsyn, Kafka and Camus weren't as much fun, I'm less likely to persevere with tedious stuff these days.
dems fightin words!
You might like The Third Policeman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Policeman), if you don't know it already, which is very probable. It has a queesy, surreal, alice-in-wonderlandesque edge to it that's similar to Kafka's writing, only it's much more fast-paced and fun.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Twentythree on April 11, 2011, 09:52:46 PM
Post by: Twentythree on April 11, 2011, 09:52:46 PM
I rarely read fiction but I would like to offer a suggestion: “House of Leaves†by Mark Danielewski.
I stumbled across this book in a box of free books that someone just left in the hallway of my apartment building a few years ago. It is one of the most impossible books to describe. Finding it at random and reading it without any prior knowledge of the book probably enhanced my experience with it somewhat, but I have little doubt that anyone with a rational mind propensity toward logic will not find this book enthralling.
As for a recommended nonfiction, “The Red Queen†by Matt Ridley
This was the first book that I read that truly cemented the ideas of non liner evolution. Or the idea that evolution is not a means to an end but rather a constantly changing system of sustainability. This book focuses on gene recombination (sex) as an evolutionary tool, to keep organisms competitive in an ever changing environment filled with parasitic threat.
I stumbled across this book in a box of free books that someone just left in the hallway of my apartment building a few years ago. It is one of the most impossible books to describe. Finding it at random and reading it without any prior knowledge of the book probably enhanced my experience with it somewhat, but I have little doubt that anyone with a rational mind propensity toward logic will not find this book enthralling.
As for a recommended nonfiction, “The Red Queen†by Matt Ridley
This was the first book that I read that truly cemented the ideas of non liner evolution. Or the idea that evolution is not a means to an end but rather a constantly changing system of sustainability. This book focuses on gene recombination (sex) as an evolutionary tool, to keep organisms competitive in an ever changing environment filled with parasitic threat.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Tank on April 11, 2011, 10:14:44 PM
Post by: Tank on April 11, 2011, 10:14:44 PM
Quote from: "Twentythree"I rarely read fiction but I would like to offer a suggestion: “House of Leaves†by Mark Danielewski.My wife is actually anonymously quoted in The Red Queen but didn't know it until she read the book as part of her PhD research!
I stumbled across this book in a box of free books that someone just left in the hallway of my apartment building a few years ago. It is one of the most impossible books to describe. Finding it at random and reading it without any prior knowledge of the book probably enhanced my experience with it somewhat, but I have little doubt that anyone with a rational mind propensity toward logic will not find this book enthralling.
As for a recommended nonfiction, “The Red Queen†by Matt Ridley
This was the first book that I read that truly cemented the ideas of non liner evolution. Or the idea that evolution is not a means to an end but rather a constantly changing system of sustainability. This book focuses on gene recombination (sex) as an evolutionary tool, to keep organisms competitive in an ever changing environment filled with parasitic threat.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Twentythree on April 11, 2011, 10:53:57 PM
Post by: Twentythree on April 11, 2011, 10:53:57 PM
Wow really? Do you know which passage?
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Tank on April 11, 2011, 11:02:26 PM
Post by: Tank on April 11, 2011, 11:02:26 PM
Quote from: "Twentythree"Wow really? Do you know which passage?No. She showed me when she found it but that was years ago.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: proudfootz on April 15, 2011, 09:22:29 PM
Post by: proudfootz on April 15, 2011, 09:22:29 PM
If you're looking for a good defense of Naturalism I'd recommend Richard Carrier's 'Sense and Goodness Without God'.
I don't read much fiction nowadays, so I'm not up on newer stuff.
I don't read much fiction nowadays, so I'm not up on newer stuff.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: PrometheusRumiHuxley on April 16, 2011, 02:09:58 AM
Post by: PrometheusRumiHuxley on April 16, 2011, 02:09:58 AM
Carl Sagan's Billions & Billions is one of my absolute favorite books. It assisted me greatly letting go of religion. A friend of mine who had helped me let go in many ways lent me the book. The ending will be rather difficult to ever replicate, and it is this which makes it so unbelievably good. I'm sad that, since so much is focused on the science as he was writing, the book becomes more sort of outdated every year, because, oh the ending, so lovely, so unreproducible. The book provides an overall view of life, which I found to thoroughly satisfactorily replace the Christian view. I highly recommend it as a transition from Christianity book, though the reader needs to be pretty liberal to begin with.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Tom62 on April 16, 2011, 08:36:38 AM
Post by: Tom62 on April 16, 2011, 08:36:38 AM
I always liked books that give me a "sense or wonder" and surprises me with unpredictable plot twists. One of the greatest "plot-twist" and "sense of wonder" master, was Roger Zelazny. Roger Zelazny's books have three things in common: a flawed hero who sometimes fails, endlessly surprising plot twists, and a blend of lyricism, literary allusions, and sly puns that makes the pages fly. If your up to an amazing ride than get "The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (Chronicles of Amber)" at Amazon.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: oscarstrok on April 17, 2011, 08:43:18 PM
Post by: oscarstrok on April 17, 2011, 08:43:18 PM
if you like dark science-fantasy, then any of the warhammer 40k books would be good, though i would recommend any of Dan abnett's books
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Crow on April 18, 2011, 10:26:53 AM
Post by: Crow on April 18, 2011, 10:26:53 AM
After so many of the authors I normally read reference the works below I thought it was time to read them. Turns out there brilliant and is no wonder that they have inspired so many other creations.
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights (penguin classics edition in three volumes),
Journey to the West by Cheng'en Wu (W. J. F. Jenner translation).
Both of these translations air more to the side of enjoyment of the read without getting stuck in the trappings of direct translations, but if your a stickler for translations then I would avoid.
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights (penguin classics edition in three volumes),
Journey to the West by Cheng'en Wu (W. J. F. Jenner translation).
Both of these translations air more to the side of enjoyment of the read without getting stuck in the trappings of direct translations, but if your a stickler for translations then I would avoid.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: danny boy on May 08, 2011, 11:33:25 PM
Post by: danny boy on May 08, 2011, 11:33:25 PM
For an intense action story:
"Without Remorse" by Tom Clancy
For an interesting perspective on life:
"Way of a Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman
For a good sci-fi story:
"He, she and it" by Marge Piercy
"Without Remorse" by Tom Clancy
For an interesting perspective on life:
"Way of a Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman
For a good sci-fi story:
"He, she and it" by Marge Piercy
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Cooper20 on May 09, 2011, 12:44:13 AM
Post by: Cooper20 on May 09, 2011, 12:44:13 AM
'Candide' -Voltaire
Rape and Murder and Theft and Disease and fun things like that.
Rape and Murder and Theft and Disease and fun things like that.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: darkcyd on May 31, 2011, 04:21:57 PM
Post by: darkcyd on May 31, 2011, 04:21:57 PM
Science: Sagan is nice but I like Hawking better. The reason for that is Hawking, even though he is horribly afflicted still has a better understanding of society and what people can handle. He is more human than Sagan. Sagan I think is a great visionary but perhaps still is too professoresque (woot new word) for the average layperson interrested in science not as a profession.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Davin on May 31, 2011, 04:53:29 PM
Post by: Davin on May 31, 2011, 04:53:29 PM
Ender's Game
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Too Few Lions on May 31, 2011, 05:09:07 PM
Post by: Too Few Lions on May 31, 2011, 05:09:07 PM
I read 'Seconds' a few weeks ago by David Ely, which is great, though unfortunately out of print and tricky to come by. Thought I'd give it a go as I love the John Frankenheimer film adaptation (also highly recommended...and also out of print!)
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Tank on June 07, 2011, 07:34:23 PM
Post by: Tank on June 07, 2011, 07:34:23 PM
Currently working through The Forever War - Dispatches from the War on Terror by Dexter Filkins
Very interesting so far. Just goes to show how ridiculous having a War of Terror really is and how the nature of Afghanistan has screwed over all the major powers who have attempted to run it.
Very interesting so far. Just goes to show how ridiculous having a War of Terror really is and how the nature of Afghanistan has screwed over all the major powers who have attempted to run it.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Nimzo on June 07, 2011, 10:28:21 PM
Post by: Nimzo on June 07, 2011, 10:28:21 PM
One I read recently: The Doors of the Sea, by Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart, written after the tsunami in December 2004 but particular pertinent given the recent tsunami in Japan. Hart smashes that uncompassionate idol of the philosophical theist - the god of theodicy - and exposes evil as absurd nothingness (Barth's das Nichtige) and the Cross and Resurrection as the ultimate victory of God (that is, the One True God) over death. | (https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg696.imageshack.us%2Fimg696%2F3112%2F72347139xgkclqm.jpg&hash=853c32cd6ec3038abeadf3c1df84b927562adc50) (http://www.amazon.com/Doors-Sea-Where-Was-Tsunami/dp/0802829767/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3) |
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Will37 on June 08, 2011, 04:02:00 PM
Post by: Will37 on June 08, 2011, 04:02:00 PM
My favoriate work of fiction is Death and the Dervish my Mesa Selimovic. The book is almost poetry in many parts. It is dense and ponderous but it's a wonderful book about moral cowardice and the corrupting influence of power. Anything by Dostoevsky after Poor Folks is great. Tolstoy's War and Peace is great.
Gogol is wonderful but you kind of have to learn how to read him.
For non-fiction. Anything by Phillip Bobbitt is great. Hilary Putnam has some great books out there on pragmatism and philosophy in general. I'm currently reading Monk's biography on Wittgenstein and it seems pretty interesting. Eichmann in Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil by Arendt is good. After virtue by MacIntyre is brilliant. The best book on morals I've ever read.
I think Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a good book, if you read Kuhn and not his followers who try to use his work to destroy science. He also wrote a previous book on the Copernican Revolution which is good if a bit tedious. The theoretical structure is also not fully formed. A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide seems good, though I've only read the parts about Bosnia. Main Currents of Marxism by Leszek Kolakowski seems great, although I've only read about 200 pages of it. The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL by Eric Greitens is great. It's a story of war and the fight against terrorism by a thoughtful and intelligent man, not a book of 'look at what a bad ass mother fucker I am'.
I;ve also been skimming Jack Miles God: A Biography and Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God and both seem good, if a bit wordy. Christianity: The First Thre Thousand Years also seems good, but not too profound.
Anything by Shabbir Akhtar. He's the most brilliant religious philosopher. It's interesting to read a man who is a pretty Orthodox Muslim who can admit to some troubling features of the Qur'am (the excessive focus on Muhammad's personal life, or example) but also offer a brilliant criticism of Hume. He's really a man who has actually mastered Islamic Theology and Philosophy, secular western philosophy, and Christian Theology. Really illuminating fascinating to read.
Gogol is wonderful but you kind of have to learn how to read him.
For non-fiction. Anything by Phillip Bobbitt is great. Hilary Putnam has some great books out there on pragmatism and philosophy in general. I'm currently reading Monk's biography on Wittgenstein and it seems pretty interesting. Eichmann in Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil by Arendt is good. After virtue by MacIntyre is brilliant. The best book on morals I've ever read.
I think Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a good book, if you read Kuhn and not his followers who try to use his work to destroy science. He also wrote a previous book on the Copernican Revolution which is good if a bit tedious. The theoretical structure is also not fully formed. A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide seems good, though I've only read the parts about Bosnia. Main Currents of Marxism by Leszek Kolakowski seems great, although I've only read about 200 pages of it. The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL by Eric Greitens is great. It's a story of war and the fight against terrorism by a thoughtful and intelligent man, not a book of 'look at what a bad ass mother fucker I am'.
I;ve also been skimming Jack Miles God: A Biography and Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God and both seem good, if a bit wordy. Christianity: The First Thre Thousand Years also seems good, but not too profound.
Anything by Shabbir Akhtar. He's the most brilliant religious philosopher. It's interesting to read a man who is a pretty Orthodox Muslim who can admit to some troubling features of the Qur'am (the excessive focus on Muhammad's personal life, or example) but also offer a brilliant criticism of Hume. He's really a man who has actually mastered Islamic Theology and Philosophy, secular western philosophy, and Christian Theology. Really illuminating fascinating to read.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: McQ on June 08, 2011, 06:49:12 PM
Post by: McQ on June 08, 2011, 06:49:12 PM
Best writer of the past 25 years in all of the genres I like is Dan Simmons. Best novels of his and at the top of my all time favorites:
1. The Terror
2. Hyperion (the entire four volume series is supposed great, but the first two, Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are the only two I've read).
3. Drood
Away from that and to non-fiction, one of my top three best books of all time is the Pulitzer Prize Winning book by Richard Rhodes, The Making of The Atomic Bomb.
1. The Terror
2. Hyperion (the entire four volume series is supposed great, but the first two, Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are the only two I've read).
3. Drood
Away from that and to non-fiction, one of my top three best books of all time is the Pulitzer Prize Winning book by Richard Rhodes, The Making of The Atomic Bomb.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Will37 on June 08, 2011, 10:46:22 PM
Post by: Will37 on June 08, 2011, 10:46:22 PM
Salman Rushdie. Can't believe I forgot him. I just started Shame today. The best anglophone author I've ever read.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: ThinkAnarchy on June 08, 2011, 11:10:52 PM
Post by: ThinkAnarchy on June 08, 2011, 11:10:52 PM
Ender's Game
1984
1776 (non-fiction)
Dune
The Fountainhead
All are great books.
1984
1776 (non-fiction)
Dune
The Fountainhead
All are great books.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Gawen on June 09, 2011, 12:55:56 AM
Post by: Gawen on June 09, 2011, 12:55:56 AM
A Dream of Eagles (Camulod Chronicles) - Jack Whyte
Shannara series - Terry Brooks
Hitler Vol 1 & 2 - Ian Kershaw
"Unsinkable": The Full Story of the RMS Titanic - Daniel Allen Butler
And if anyone is interested in WWII ETO, Third Reich and pirates, I have quite a few titles.
Shannara series - Terry Brooks
Hitler Vol 1 & 2 - Ian Kershaw
"Unsinkable": The Full Story of the RMS Titanic - Daniel Allen Butler
And if anyone is interested in WWII ETO, Third Reich and pirates, I have quite a few titles.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Will37 on June 09, 2011, 06:37:55 AM
Post by: Will37 on June 09, 2011, 06:37:55 AM
Quote from: ThinkAnarchy on June 08, 2011, 11:10:52 PM
The Fountainhead
All are great books.
liar, liar, pants on fire.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: ThinkAnarchy on June 09, 2011, 09:18:23 AM
Post by: ThinkAnarchy on June 09, 2011, 09:18:23 AM
Quote from: Will37 on June 09, 2011, 06:37:55 AMQuote from: ThinkAnarchy on June 08, 2011, 11:10:52 PM
The Fountainhead
All are great books.
liar, liar, pants on fire.
Not a fan of Ayn Rand? That's the only book I've read by her and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: The Magic Pudding on June 09, 2011, 03:37:13 PM
Post by: The Magic Pudding on June 09, 2011, 03:37:13 PM
Quote from: McQ on June 08, 2011, 06:49:12 PM
Best writer of the past 25 years in all of the genres I like is Dan Simmons. Best novels of his and at the top of my all time favorites:QuoteScott Derrickson is set to direct "Hyperion Cantos" for Warner Bros. and GK Films. Trevor Sands is penning the script which will blend the first two cantos "Hyperion" and "The Fall of Hyperion" into one film.
His novel Drood is set to be adapted into a movie by Guillermo del Toro for Universal Pictures.
[edit] Works
These should be interesting.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: McQ on June 09, 2011, 10:13:44 PM
Post by: McQ on June 09, 2011, 10:13:44 PM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on June 09, 2011, 03:37:13 PM
Best writer of the past 25 years in all of the genres I like is Dan Simmons. Best novels of his and at the top of my all time favorites:QuoteScott Derrickson is set to direct "Hyperion Cantos" for Warner Bros. and GK Films. Trevor Sands is penning the script which will blend the first two cantos "Hyperion" and "The Fall of Hyperion" into one film.
His novel Drood is set to be adapted into a movie by Guillermo del Toro for Universal Pictures.
[edit] Works
These should be interesting.
Yes, I'm hoping that if any of these get filmed that they'll do a decent job and not just use the formulas that so often get recycled in Hollywood.
Bradley Cooper (of The Hangover fame, has actually also expressed interest in Dan Simmons by penning a Hyperion screenplay. I go onto Dan Simmons' forum occasionally and he confirmed a few of the various deals that have gone on in the past and currently regarding his books.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Shy on June 10, 2011, 06:54:33 AM
Post by: Shy on June 10, 2011, 06:54:33 AM
Stephen King started me on reading as a teen. But later in life I found I enjoy historical dramas, and trying to read the classics. Robert McCammon's "Swan Song" is my read, over and over again. I will be writing down some of these suggestions, though I can't read much for pleasure at the moment.
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: palebluedot on July 15, 2011, 02:07:45 PM
Post by: palebluedot on July 15, 2011, 02:07:45 PM
My recommendation os a very old one..... (no not THAT old and I wouldn't recommend THAT book to anyone!)
Its The History of the Conflict between religion and Science by John William Draper from the late 19th Century
It is a fascinating introduction on how Christianity got a foothold during the Roman Empire and how it stifled progress for at least 1500 years.
Its also free on Kindle
Its The History of the Conflict between religion and Science by John William Draper from the late 19th Century
It is a fascinating introduction on how Christianity got a foothold during the Roman Empire and how it stifled progress for at least 1500 years.
Its also free on Kindle
Title: Re: Books you have read and would recommend.
Post by: Hidelight on July 15, 2011, 02:18:09 PM
Post by: Hidelight on July 15, 2011, 02:18:09 PM
God Is Not Great How Religion Poisons Everything by Christpher Hitchens
I some how missed this book when it came out...Just finished it...It should be required reading!
I am reading cookbooks lately try to purge my insane number to a sensible one
I just picked up one of my favorites...The Alice B Toklas Cookbook. LOL makes me want to make a pan of brownies this weekend!
I some how missed this book when it came out...Just finished it...It should be required reading!
I am reading cookbooks lately try to purge my insane number to a sensible one
I just picked up one of my favorites...The Alice B Toklas Cookbook. LOL makes me want to make a pan of brownies this weekend!