Reddit reviews foundation (The Foundation Series)

Foundation.

I kind of find myself wondering what makes you want to write if you don't actually read to begin with. I mean... what's the point?

Anyway.

First off, read Foundation by Isaac Asimov. It's not on Kindle, because someone apparently hates money. Either way, buy the physical book and fucking read it. In fact, read the whole trilogy. All the books are brilliant, and are a really easy read. Written in the 1950s, it's set about 20,000 years in the future, charting key moments in the fall of the Galactic Empire and the rise of the "Foundation", a nation set up to shorten the chaotic interregnum and bring about a Second Empire.

In terms of that kind of price range... there's a metric shit-tonne of absolute wank on the Kindle Store, and all for free. Like, more than you could ever read in a human lifetime. It's incredibly over-saturated. The challenge, then, is cutting through that and finding good stuff. Here's some stuff I found:

The Time Machine. A classic, and a must-read as part of your cultural education, never mind a desire to write. Free.

The War of the Worlds. A classic, and a must-read as part of your cultural education, never mind a desire to write. £0.80

This is a selection of Philip K. Dick's short stories. Free.

Consider Phlebas. The first book of the fantastic Culture series. £1.59 (don't know what that is in US dollars)
Don't start there unless money is a really big issue. It might be the first one in the series, but it's also the worst by a significant margin. Fork out a bit more money and read The Player of Games or Use of Weapons. All the books in the series are standalone stories with no major connection other than the universe. So you're not missing out by starting on one of those. It's set in a civilisation at the absolute peak of technological advancement, where most things are run by machines.

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Now, here are a few other books outside your stated price range, but which are worth reading:

Dune. A classic and a must-read. £7.59

The Martian. A very modern book and different from the others I've posted. Fun and engaging, even when its roots as a web serial stand out jarringly in places. £4.99

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Do you hate laughter? Then you'd better not read this. Seriously though, it's the funniest set of books I've ever read, and that's not hyperbole or exaggeration. £4.99**

I'll try to list one or two things from each of the main genres and hopefully there will be something in there that you'll enjoy. You're lucky that you're going to get a chance to read some of these great books you've been recommended for the first time.

Sci-fi

Neuromancer by William Gibson

The Foundation Series by Issac Asimov

Dystopian

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

1984 by George Orwell

Romance

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Berniers

Satire

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Fantasy

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Magical Realism

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Horror

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Classics

Don Quixote by Cervantes

Madame Bovary by Flaubert

Cult

Choke by Chuck Palahnuik

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis

General Fiction

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell

Weathercock by Glen Duncan

An interesting start, but not enough to warrant £4.45 to read the rest of it as an e-book. It's a bit pricey given that I can pick up a real (as in paper) 280-page book by an established author and have it delivered for the same price. To pick one at random...

Youtube it is - Video will be up tonight now, had a late night at work.

That's fine, but I would split your reading between 50% pleasure, 25% contemporary and 25% classics.

So for sci/fantasy, I'd say the 50% pleasure should be James Smythe's The Testimony, and try to reread an old favourite - First is a storker of a book, second is a practice that many writers feel helps.

Your 25% contemporary is Daniel O'Malley's The Rook. This is the Sci Fi genre of what I like to call an Amazon creeper - Low priced, indie published or self-published, that just gets stellar reviews. Find out why.

Finally for your 25% classics - Isaac Asimov's Foundations I can't stress how awesome this book is. It's to Sci Fi as Tolkien is to Fantasy (very arguably). All sci fi writers would do well to aspire to Asimov.

The first trilogy is £5.59 from Amazon. come up with a total order of £25 and it ships free.

It would cost me around $10 just to ship that one collection from the US.