(Part 2) Best science fiction books according to redditors
We found 11,564 Reddit comments discussing the best science fiction books. We ranked the 3,361 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
![Into the Black [Remastered Edition] (Odyssey One Book 1)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41kcyUuABhL.jpg)
I'm currently reading a series where a galactic federation of pacifist herbivores gets attacked by a massive army and just has no fucking idea what to do so they make first contact with earth (something they'd been pointedly avoiding, because we're terrifying) in hopes of arming us up with scifi tech and sending us to war against them.
EDIT: Legacy of the Aldenata by John Ringo (freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)
Use of Weapons and, everything else by Iain M. Banks. Amazing stuff. Trust me.
The Blade Itself and the rest of that series by Joe Abercrombie.
Altered Carbon and the rest of that series as well as Thirteen and The Steel Remains, and it's sequel (still waiting on book 3) by Richard K. Morgan. He's pretty amazing.
That would keep you busy for a long time and are all pretty amazing. Seconding Dune, which is amazing, and the Name of the Wind which is great but very popcorn.
But really, if you were to read everything by Iain M. Banks you would be a better person.
Edit: The Sparrow
Explored in "1632" by Eric Flint.
https://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/
In the year 2000, the small town of Grantville (a small mining town in West Virgina) is transported by a mysterious "ring of fire" to Germany in 1632, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War.
I thought it was a very enjoyable read.
A couple of Meta posts: List of good fantasy hfy stories and Request for 'thrown into fantasy' subgenre and Fantasy is welcome, but where is it?
ones listed therein:
Published books, try: (Lol, all of these are "Novel Length")
More general fantasy:
For the lazy:
http://www.amazon.ca/Wheres-Doctor-LEANNE-GI-Bbc/dp/1405908173/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319716986&sr=8-1
Possibly of interest, an older book by James Halperin, The First Immortal.
It's somewhere between speculative fiction and an ad for Alcor, but it does touch on a number of interesting ideas around cryo, both around the logistics of maintenance in perpetuity and what revival might be like.
He supposedly wrote it while considering the option himself, so it's pretty well-researched albeit now probably a little quaint as pre-smartphone futurism tends to be.
Sci-Fi Starters:
Starship Troopers by Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
The Foundation series by Asimov: Foundation -> Foundation and Empire -> Second Foundation
The Robot series by Asimov: I, Robot...
Let's say people started using minor cybernetic implants. Better sight, hearing, physical strength. Then someone figures out how to make brain augmentation implants that interface directly with the cerebral cortex. These could greatly enhance every aspect of mental function. And they might also be able to give an individual direct access to global information networks and even direct mental access to the brains of others. An optimistic version of this is described in John C. Wrights' Golden Age Trilogy.
Later, groups of enhanced individuals find that they can greatly enhance their processing power if they temporarily join their consciousnesses into a vast network. Individual identity could be temporarily subsumed into the whole for the purpose of a particular project.
At some point, one of the group consciousnesses might decide that it is better off never releasing its constituents. Maybe the rest of the world is horrified by this and tries to destroy the network, but it fights back and wins. Then it's free to assimilate the whole planet.
It's a real book.
Wil Wheaton, for those who don’t know. The audiobook ranks among the highest critically- and user-acclaimed audiobooks for a reason, as Wheaton gives an iconic performance.
Free with trial on Audible.
Completely free from your local library — if in the U.S., a library near you should have it as an e-audiobook on OverDrive/Libby. Click “in libraries nearby” to see closest one
If you didn't notice that, you probably didn't notice you can buy the ebook!!
IIRC, they released it for free for a short while. I had it before I had to reinstall Windows, but I never got around to reading it. I use my nook for my school textbooks: maybe I'll sit down to it between classes tomorrow now. =D
Edit: There is also a Paperback/Ebook entitled "Doctor Who: Summer Falls and Other Stories" that includes that story plus a few more, all with tie-ins to specific Doctor Who episodes. The Whovians on Amazon highly recommend it, but I haven't read that one either.
MHI is part of Baen's free library. There's a large number of book 1's for various Baen series that remain free permanently on Amazon and other places.
----
The last time this was brought up here's what I said:
So Baen is heavier on SciFi than Fantasy/Urban Fantasy...and their authors tend to display their Conservative/Libertarian philosophies a bit more. But they do tell some fun stories if you lean towards their politics or can roll your eyes at that.
There's some others out there that I can't think of, but these are favorites of mine other than MHI...
John Ringo has a fantasy series I haven't gotten to yet and the weakest of his SciFi series up for free. I wish they had Live Free or Die or Through the Looking Glass, which are much much better series, but alas:
http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE
http://www.amazon.com/There-Will-Dragons-Council-Wars-ebook/dp/B00BER04VI/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-2&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE
David Weber does great space navy battles in his Honor Harrington series.
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=la_B000APBAFE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879923&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APBAFE
Williamsons Freehold is a Libertarian's utopian heaven, but it's a favorite popcorn read of mine - the latter half is heavy military SF.
http://www.amazon.com/Freehold-Book-Michael-Z-Williamson-ebook/dp/B00BEQLTZY/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456879862&sr=8-1&keywords=freehold
The Ring of Fire series is about a 1990's era West Virginia coal mining town that gets thrown back into the year 1632 in Europe.
http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Eric-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=sr_1_4_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456882709&sr=8-4&keywords=1632
Lord of Light is often referred to as "fantasy guised as scifi". Its also incredible. http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Light-Roger-Zelazny/dp/0060567236
This is essentially the scenario that takes place in one of my favorite sci-fi novels ever, Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. Would definitely recommend people check it out, it's considered a classic.
Here's the synopsis from Amazon:
"The gods are a starship crew who subdued a colony world; developed godlike--though often machine-enhanced--powers during successive lifetimes of mind transfer to new, cloned bodies; and now lord it over descendants of the ship's mere passengers. Their tyranny is opposed by retired god Sam, who mocks the Celestial City, introduces Buddhism to subvert Hindu dogma, allies himself with the planet's native "demons" against Heaven, fights pyrotechnic battles with bizarre troops and weapons, plays dirty with politics and poison, and dies horribly but won't stay dead. It's a huge, lumbering, magical story, told largely in flashback, full of wonderfully ornate language (and one unforgivable pun) that builds up the luminous myth of trickster Sam, Lord of Light. Essential SF reading."
You should check out Eric Flint's 1632 series. Basically a West Virginia coal town gets transplanted to 1632.
1632 (Ring of Fire Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Xv0DAbX15Z157
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
A fun mix of far-future SF with what I can only call Buddhist fantasy. Set on a world where technology has been implemented that makes real Hindu philosophy, where surveillance, mind-uploading, and biotechnology mean that everyone is reincarnated after death to a body due from the Karma of their past life, where the rich take the on the identities of Hindu gods, one man has been reincarnated from the past to wage war on the status quo and build a utopian, Buddhist society.
Winner of the Hugo award for best Novel in 1968.
Use of Weapons by Iain Banks.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.
Tigerman by Nick Harkaway.
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.
Wool by Hugh Howey.
Robert Heinlein's Friday
Definitely my all-time favorite anime. Here's a guide for getting into the series.
Note that the image is out of date; there's a remake coming out next year, the original series is being brought over to the west some time soon, and the first English release of the novels comes out next week.
Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson:
Red Mars (Mars Trilogy Book 1) by Kim Stanley Robinson http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QCS914/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_4Re8tb1W5S90X
Go read the first chapter of this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Diaspora-Greg-Egan/dp/0061057983/
It does a pretty good job of explaining it, in spite of being fiction. It's also an excellent novel about the difference between being human and thinking you're human, as is most of Greg Egan's work.
> What other explanation could there be?
In summary: Your brain is a computer, processing data and experience. Your brain is sufficiently complex enough to model the universe, providing you with things like memory and expectations.
That is, there's a set of patterns in your nerves that are approximately mapped to things in reality outside of you. When you see the apple on the table, and then you turn around, you know the apple is still there because in your brain are some patterns in some nerves that represent the table and some others that represent the apple. Those patterns are your knowledge of the apple, and those patterns behave in ways equivalent to a real apple. (Sort of like how the text in a word processor, which is nothing but patterns of electricity, can behave thru the "miracle" of computer programming in much the same way that ink on paper behaves, with cut&paste, scrolling, and so on.) OK so far?
Now, in that model of the universe and how it works you have a model of yourself. That's the difference between a conscious creature and a non-conscious creature. This model of yourself starts out being not very clear when you're a baby. Infants reach for things and learn what their limits are. They don't understand that dolls represent people, because they have no model of what a person is. A sufficiently young child will bang a doll against a toy car. A bit older and they'll pose the doll and sit it up on the car seat: their model of the world now understands people and cars and can relate dolls to people in the model. "Peek a boo" teaches children that objects persist even when they can't see those objects, "programming" that part of the model of the universe.
But the thing that differentiates self-aware creatures (like humans, apes, elephants, etc) from those that aren't (like wasps, earthworms, etc) is that the self-aware creatures have a model in their brain of themselves. This is what lets you plan ahead. You can take that model of yourself, make it do things and interact with the model of the universe, and figure out what will result. You can figure out what would happen if you (say) went to your office on a saturday at midnight and turned left getting off the elevator. You know there would be few if any other people there because you have models of your coworkers in your head. You know there would be the boss' office in front of you if you turned left and the restroom if you turned right because you have a model of the office in your head and you can put the model of yourself outside the elevator and simulate it turning and looking, and calculate what you'd find.
A being who doesn't understand peek-a-boo (say, an ant) isn't going to manage to figure out what the office looks like at night. A bird that flies at its reflection in the mirror and never realizes it's behaving the same as it is will not be able to think "what if I was on the other side of the park?" Scientists test this sort of thing by (for example) putting a blob of catsup on an animal's forehead and seeing if they wipe it off when they see themselves in a reflection. If the animal can recognise that the thing in the mirror is the same as themself, then they probably have a mental structure representing themself that they can map to also be behind the glass of the mirror.
And that, my friend, is consciousness. When the model of the universe you keep in your head also holds a model of you, then you know that you exist and how you behave.
The stuff that makes up your consciousness is patterns of information. Microsoft Word isn't material in nature, but that doesn't mean it isn't clear where it came from. The thing that makes your "cells" self-aware is the patterns they take on when you're a baby and the training that every (normal) child goes through.
The reason it might feel like "something out there" is that your model does not effectively model the model. You are often aware when you're planning things that you're manipulating a model of yourself. You envision going to the various places you need to go, see the road you'll drive to stop at the three stores where you need to shop, remember that traffic is bad on a particular stretch and need to go around it.
But you're not often aware of thinking about this model. You rarely catch yourself saying "I know I'm planning this, and I intended to plan it." No, you just plan. It's built in. Basically, the "you" in the model generally does not have a very good model of the model inside the model. There's a little "you" inside your brain that you use for planning, but that "you" in your head does not in turn do any planning itself. It's run from the outside, from the real brain that holds the model.
There's also a little "him" and a little "her" for each person in your head. That's how you can say things like "the boss would really get mad if he heard me say that" or "the wife will be pleased I remembered her birthday." You know your wife will be pleased because the model of your wife would - basically, you run the program of your wife that you have in your head and evaluate that program's reaction. When many peoples' models of Jim don't align with what Jim actually does in real life, people start to say things like "He's not himself this week." Think about what this is actually saying. Of course he's himself. The saying is "he's not behaving like my mental model predicts he should behave."
Some people have very poor models of others (or themselves), and this makes them socially awkward. They don't easily calculate what the reaction of others in their models may be, even if they understand themselves very well. Other people do a very good job of modeling others in their little universes, but do not sympathize. They do not map those other people onto the same sort of "thing" as they map the model of themselves. They can predict their behavior, but not their emotions. These people are cold and manipulative, not understanding why others are hurt by their behavior even though they're behaving as predicted.
Becoming Alien by Rebecca Ore
The Skinner by Neil Asher. Don't know if that's "obscure", but I have not seen reference to it here before.
The First Immortal by James Halperin
Count Geiger's Blues by Michael Bishop. Again, don't know if this is "obscure", but it's really fantastic, as is everything by Mr Bishop.
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde. Hilarious fantasy kind-of like Wicked in genre.
DragonWorld By Byron Preiss and Michael Reeves. Like The Hobbit, but a larger scaled world, more characters, a bit more complex story-line. 12-15 year olds would love it. I've never met anyone who has read this book.
Will post, then add links later...
I don't know if it still is, but for the longest time it was Free on Amazon.
EDIT: Still is free on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Eric-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
Download the kindle app somewhere and get reading if you don't have a kindle.
Threads like these make me thankful that I started using goodreads to keep track of my books.
My top 5 most recent 5 star SF books (not including Fantasy) are:
It seems I'm quite liberal with my 5 star ratings (or maybe I've just been lucky over the last 8 months) but I believe each one of the books deserved it.
My recommendations from books I read in the last year or so (yes, these are all VERY STRONG recommends curated from ~100 books in the last year) -
​
Science fiction-
Derek Kunsken's The Quantum Magician (I would describe it as a cross between Oceans Eleven with some not-too-Hard Science Fiction. Apparently will be a series, but is perfectly fine as a standalone novel).
Cixin Lu's very popular Three Body Problem series (Mixes cleverly politics, sociology, psychology and science fiction)
James A Corey's The Expanse Series (which has been made into the best sci fi tv series ever!)
Hannu Rajaniemi's Quantum Thief series (Hard science fiction. WARNING - A lot of the early stuff is intentionally mystifying with endless terminology that’s only slowly explained since the main character himself has lost his memories. Put piecing it all together is part of the charm.)
​
Fantasy-
James Islington's Shadow of What was Lost series (a deep series which makes you think - deep magic, politics, religion all intertwined)
Will Wight's Cradle series (has my vote for one of the best fantasy series ever written)
Brandon Sanderson Legion series (Brandon Sanderson. Nuff said. Creative as always)
​
Manga -
Yukito Kishiro's Alita, Battle Angel series (the manga on what the movie was based)
​
Non-Fiction-
Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind - Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (and how we are not as rational as we believe we are, and how passion works in tandem with rationality in decision making and is actually required for good decisionmaking)
Rothery's Geology - A Complete Introduction (as per title)
Joseph Krauskopf's A Rabbi's Impressions of the Oberammergau Passion Play, available to read online for free, including a fabulous supplementary of Talmud Parallels to the NT (a Rabbi in 1901 explains why he is not a Christian)
​
Audiobooks -
Bob Brier's The History of Ancient Egypt (as per title - 25 hrs of the best audiobook lectures. Incredible)
​
Academic biblical studies-
Richard Elliot Friedman's Who Wrote The Bible and The Exodus (best academic biblical introductory books into the Documentary Hypothesis and Qenite/Midian hypothesis)
Israel Finkelstein's The Bible Unearthed (how archaelogy relates to the bible)
E.P. Sander's Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63BCE-66CE (most detailed book of what Judaism is and their beliefs, and one can see from this balanced [Christian] scholar how Christianity has colored our perspectives of what Jews and Pharisees were really like)
Avigdor Shinan's From gods to God (how Israel transitioned from polytheism to monotheism)
Mark S Smith's The Early History of God (early history of Israel, Canaanites, and YHWH)
James D Tabor's Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity (as per title)
Tom Dykstra's Mark Canonizer of Paul (engrossing - will make you view the gospel of Mark with new eyes)
Jacob L Wright's King David and His Reign Revisited (enhanced ibook - most readable book ever on King David)
Jacob Dunn's thesis on the Midianite/Kenite hypothesis (free pdf download - warning - highly technical but also extremely well referenced)
The Quantum Thief (Jean le Flambeur) by Hannu Rajaniemi
Followed up by The Fractal Prince and the Casual Angel.
If you have the time, I TOTALLY recommend listening to this book in Audio. The narrator's voice is great and the flow of the book is mesmerizing.
I seriously enjoyed the entire The Golden Age trilogy (John C. Wright).
>Its rather easy to market and sell novels these days with online distribution of written works
>There seems to be an increase lately in novel type works related to manga and anime being translated into english. For example, the first Record of Lodoss War novel is finally officially being translated into english.
That sounds very optimistic, given Dark Horse's track record with Berserk. They don't even sell Berserk in a digital format yet, despite the license holder doing so (because of the license holder apparently, but my point remains). You're putting your bets on the adaptation of Lodoss War (and LoGH too, recently). But those are different publishers with different priorities.
> I imagine that if they are going really dee into Grunbeld's backstory via novel that it has little relevance towards the plot of the main storyline and that it is going to be so in depth that to incorporate it into the manga would be burdonsome.
This is backwards. The novel is likely being written to flesh out ideas Miura had about Grunbeld's story into a novel-length format. That story's incorporation in the manga was never going to be a 200-page monster. The apostle origin stories are never even close to that long, so there's no reason to assume Grunbeld's would be different.
Redshirts
Ready Player One
Fuzzy Nation
Those are three that come to mind right off the bat.
He did a great job with Ready Player One.
Diaspora by Greg Egan
The Culture books by Iain M Banks.
Many books, various points in time in the "history" of The Culture.
Warning: sci-fi
Some of the best writing ever.
Here ya go!
I'd suggest Evan Currie's Odyssey One series.
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005ML0EZS/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?qid=1452103955&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=evan+currie+odyssey+series&dpPl=1&dpID=41kcyUuABhL&ref=plSrch
Here are the links:
A Hymn Before Battle (Book 1 of the Legacy of the Aldenata)
Gust Front (Book 2 of the Legacy of the Aldenata
Readable on Kindles and any device with the Kindle app
Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games, and Use of Weapons
These three were written by Iain M. Banks and they're all sci-fi novels set in a far off future Earth where we live in a post-scarcity, stateless, classless, communist paradise. Banks uses the alien societies we encounter in the future as a means of criticing our actual, modern society today.
I absolutely love those novels. The Culture (what we now call the united humans of earth + their colonies) is fascinating. I won't spoil it for you. But go for it. Read until your eyes bleed.
Also, if you're looking for something fun and innocent. You can't go wrong with The Smurfs. I shit you not, I grew up on these so don't any of you dare insult them >.>
You'll want the comics, of course, not the cartoons.
What's not to love?
Friday
I read this a number of years ago, but it has stuck with me a long time. The author posits the creation of a universal lie detector that can also eliminate those who are not capable of telling truth from fiction and proceeds to examine the effects on society. He also has a quasi-sequel called The First Immortal set in the same universe. Unfortunately it is only available in paperback.
Try the book series of Doom, Knee-Deep in the Dead
Give The Golden Age trilogy a try. Link. I really enjoyed it. Another similar one is The Quantum Thief but you have to be patient with it because it does not hold your hand when it comes to introducing you to the world. Some people like that though, including me.
You might like This Alien Shore as well.
I agree, everyone seems to suggest the same series of books by the same authors. But that's the echo chamber effect.
My favorite series that I never see represented is by Peter F. Hamiltion. The Commonwealth saga of books:
The entire series of books is very fast paced, but it's a space opera. He often spends 50 or so pages introducing a character not to be seen again until the next book. It's worth it though, Hamilton is great at tying up all those loose ends in ways you wouldn't think possible.
Hamilton is often recommended for his other trilogy - Night's Dawn. Personally, I felt that was very poorly done. For instance, the 2nd book has no outcome on the end events whatsoever. Plus, it's very much more typical for a space opera zombie book series. Not my cup of tea, so to speak.
Almost all of Peter F. Hamilton's books are like this. Huge plots that intermingle. Its not nearly as gory or as ummm unexpected as ASOIAF, but they are my favorite books. He also is one of the best futurists that I can think of to date. He does not get too crazy with future technology and strives to make sure that everything is plausible and makes sense. I highly recommend it
I would start with Pandora's star, its the first of the Commonwealth series. If you want some plot points I'll be happy to summarize.
If you didnt want to hop into a series right away, Fallen Dragon is a decent starter stand-alone so you can get into his work.There are a few less characters since its not as epic, but a really great read.
The Nights Dawn trilogy is pretty massive as well with even more 1st person views. I just finished it (1.2M words!!!) and while I loved it, the concepts were a bit out there. Its a great read tho.
Sample.
The Course of Empire (Course of Empire Series Book 1) by Eric Flint
1632 (Ring of Fire Series) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake
Star Soldiers by Adre Norton
Oath of Swords (War God Book 1) by David Weber
On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington Book 1) by David Weber
The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington Book 2) by David Weber
The Star Agency (The Star Agency Chronicles Book 1) by R.E. Weber
The Last Praetorian (The Redemption Trilogy Book 1) by Mike Smith
Hard Duty: Merkiaari Wars Book 1 by Mark E. Cooper
The Synchronicity War Part 1 by Dietmar Wehr
Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott
The Tank Lords by David Drake
Redliners by David Drake
A Desert Called Peace (Carrera Series Book 1) by Tom Kratman
Gunship by John Davis
With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary Book 1) by David Drake
Tales of Honor #1 by Matt Hawkins and Jung-Geun Yoon
The Fringe Worlds: (The Human Chronicles Saga Book #1) by T.R. Harris
Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1) by Michael Z. Williamson
The Last Roman (The Praetorian Series Book 1) by Edward Crichton
The Sea Hag by David Drake
Forbidden The Stars (The Interstellar Age Book 1) by Valmore Daniels
FCBD 2015: Tales of Honor by Matt Hawkins and Linda Sejic
The Philosophical Strangler (Joe's World Book 1) by Eric Flint
The Creatures of Man by Howard L. Myers
In the Heart of Darkness (Belisarius Saga Book 2) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake
I am a fan of this style also.
The Novice: Summoner: Book One (The Summoner Trilogy 1)
​
Opening Moves (The Gam3 Book 1) This series takes place in a school like environment.
​
The Hound of Rowan: Book One of The Tapestry Very YA, but Fun.
​
The Emperor's Blades: Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Book I A lot of the book takes place in a "school"
In no particular order:
Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet series is pretty good.
Also, Jack Campbell is a pen name for author John G Hemry, who wrote another, slightly less space opera-y series beginning with Stark's War.
Also, several military SF anthologies are out there, some with annual volumes. They're a great way to get exposed to new material!
Anyone else here read the 4-part Doom book series? One of my favorite book series of all times (although it takes the Hitchhiker's Guide/Ender's Game approach and gets increasingly insane with each sequel). One of the great travesties of my childhood was the fact that they ended the series on a cliffhanger. Still amazing books though.
Found it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Knee-Deep-Dead-Doom-Book-1/dp/0671525557
Seconding this, I loved the trilogy. The first book is The Quantum Thief
Not classic but Peter F. Hamilton spins a good yarn.
Commonwealth Saga - A two parter that starts with Pandora's Star
The Void Trilogy - A trilogy that starts with The Dreaming Void. This is set in the same universe but many centuries after The Commonwealth Saga.
Fiction:
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin is a great start (good critique of anarchist philosophy).
The Red Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson actually cites Mondragon and discusses cooperative economics in detail.
After The Deluge (of Critical Mass fame) by Chris Carlsson is a novel about a post-capitalist San Francisco.
Non-fiction:
After Capitalism by Seymor Melman.
America Beyond Capitalism by Gar Alperovitz.
Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism by Richard Wolff.
Capitalism's Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown by Richard Wolff.
After Capitalism by David Schweickart.
Against Capitalism by David Schweickart.
Capitalism or Worker Control by David Schweickart
Putting Democracy to Work by Frank T Adams.
Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice by Jessica Gordon Nembhard.
Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital by John Restakis.
Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution by Marjorie Kelly.
For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America by John Curl.
I did the opposite (Perth - Melbourne). First up, it's easy. The roads all the way are busy, and there's no "middle of nowhere" where your life might be in any kind of danger if you break down etc.
It takes ages. It's one thing to know Australia is super big, it's another thing to drive across the island. But it's beautiful, too. I was grateful that I wasn't going to have to turn around and come back any time soon when I arrived, though.
If you are in a super hurry, you can do it 4 full days of driving. With two rotating drivers, and a bit of risk (don't drive at night unless you really have to, your odds of hitting something and damaging your car are not insignificant), you can do it in about three days.
If you're in a rush, Drive Melbourne to Adelaide on day one. Ceduna day two. Noresman day three, Arrive in Perth at the end of day 4. I took 5 days, but I stayed a night on the Nullabor and had a leisurely time of it. If you aren't in a hurry, and haven't seen the Great Ocean Road, take that road. So beautiful.
Other than that, the trip is pretty straight-forward. Treat your drive like you would a day at work. Stop for lunch, have a few little breaks. Maybe work back a little. You'll do fine.
Take something to listen to. I had Audiobooks. As a suggestion if you haven't already read it: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. If you're new to Audible, you should be able to download it for free. Read by Wil Wheaton, about a far-too-possible future for Humanity/Internet/Second Life kind of thing. Full of 80's pop culture.
Lord of Light
Has an epic poem quality to it.
Old guy here. I had to think about it too. But yeah, that cover is pretty memorable.
https://www.amazon.com/Friday-Robert-Heinlein/dp/034530988X
Because so many others have already said Ender's Game, I'll put forward The Golden Age! As my dad put it, "There are multiple ideas on every page that you could write a whole book about."
Try online stores? The first five of the ten novels have been translated to English. The sixth will be released later this month!
https://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Summer-Amelia-Williams-ebook/dp/B00BGC6GG8
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny is an excellent example of sci-fi+religion.
I'm gonna stretch the rules and include some comics on this list:
Nerd shit coming your way:
The Foundation, by Isaac Asimov
: De longe o meu favorito, recomenda-se vivamente, e se fores fã de macroeconomia... well a premisa do livro baseia se na certeza da previsibilidade de comportamento humano para populações suficientemente grandes.
"The books tell the story of the Foundation, an institute to preserve the best of human civilization after the millenial long collapse of the galactic empire".
https://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0553293354
Use of Weapons, by Ian M Banks : Livro um pouco sobre as consequencias sociais e politicas de uma sociedade utopica com uma economia pós-escassez.
https://www.amazon.com/Use-Weapons-Culture-Iain-Banks/dp/0316030570
The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
https://www.amazon.com/Eye-World-Wheel-Time-Book/dp/0812511816
I'd add that the article is well structured and consistently provides a non-scientist point of view that seems approachable by the general audience of Time Magazine (e.g. my parents).
While not directly Kurzweil, I'd note that my favorite fiction book on the subject is The First Immortal by James Halperin (link to Amazon)
The First Immortal: cryonics, with a great undercurrent of cultural and psychological changes.
Peter F. Hamilton's The Night's Dawn is a space opera with a well constructed history, but A Second Chance at Eden is the real reason I'm mentioning him in /r/futurology. It felt like a realistic look at the future.
The First Immortal by James Halperein is a novel all about the ramifications of cryonics. It's been years since I read it, but I remember finding it enjoyable and thought-provoking. However, it is not available as an audiobook, or even an ebook.
It's not exactly what you are looking for, but The Dead Zone by Stephen King is about someone who wakes up after several years in a coma. Also quite good.
Best,
Geoff Jones
Author of The Dinosaur Four
The Lost Fleet, by Jack Campbell. The main character is about as apolitical as it gets.
>Captain John “Black Jack” Geary’s legendary exploits are known to every schoolchild. Revered for his heroic “last stand” in the early days of the war, he was presumed dead. But a century later, Geary miraculously returns from survival hibernation and reluctantly takes command of the Alliance Fleet as it faces annihilation by the Syndic.
The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell is really fantastic. It's a little more on the military side. It's about a fleet of ships trapped light years behind enemy lines trying to get home.
The Devil and Daniel Webster is short. Though if you're interested in recommendations for books that are longer that you may like check out these:
The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut's Windlass
On Basilisk Station
The Hobbit
The Dresden Files 1, 2, 3. (The first two books of the series are the weakest, the quality jumps tremendously in Book 3 and each one is better then the last after that.)
The Lost Fleet
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
I've never been more immersed, surprised, and blown away by a book. The whole series is good and Foundation starts it off with a bang. When I read Foundation I literally take breaks to take in the awesomeness of what I just read. It is the bar for sci-fi novels and it is written by one of the smartest men to ever live. Seriously. Read about Isaac Asimov.
I can't praise this book enough.
Maybe check the first two books in this series
I have the answer!
There were novelizations of Doom! Doom Guy was a caring sonuvabitch who struck his superior after being told to kill civilians. On the way to face a court martial their ship is diverted to Mars where the rest of the team gets slaughtered.
But wait! Not his best friend somewhat almost lover who happens to be a woman and a sniper. Together they fight the demons, even putting down her real boyfriend who was now a zombie and thanks to some amazing jury rigging build a shuttle to get back to Earth. Oh also Demnios has been moved to orbit earth for the alien invasion.
Wait. ALIENS??
Yeah fucko, the demons were not demons at all! I mean they were fucking tacky as shit how could you think they were really from hell?
No what REALLY happened is they were all bioengineered by an alien race based on scouting reports taken a millienia ago as a sort of shock and awe campaign to conquer earth. Why? Religion!
Okay so there are all kinds of aliens in the galaxy and they have been divided into two factions who have warred for millions of years over slight disagreements about what the first Progenitor race were all about.
Also FTL travel doesn't exist so yeah at best you travel at the speed of light which is why the war has been going on so long and the evil invading aliens had bad Intel.
Oh also humans are the only mortal race around. Turns out even when aliens bodies get destroyed their spirits or whatever just have to hang around their body going slowly insane forever. So they try not to do any actual fighting. As long as their body is not damaged they won't age or get sick.
Also they evil aliens really fuck up and create a race of super evolving humanish beings who wipe them all out as a show of gratitude.
What does this have to do with fucking ANYTHING?
Well Doom Guy and his gal pal were heading to the alien home world thanks to the not so evil other faction to kick ass. But ass was already kicked. Then they get captured by the sorta-humans. By this point they've infiltrated a real human vessel and use its computer to copy their brains and run a super fast simulation of what happened on Demnios. But wait real Doom Guy and Arlene (fuck finally remembered her name) escape with the few humans left and head back to earth where her new Mormon boyfriend was waiting. Only not really because again space travel is long so he been dead for centuries.
FUCKING FINALLY THE POINT
But in the simiulation still being run by the sorta-humans Doom Guy and Arlene run through their previous adventures except not really. See since it's going off what they remember they can fool themselves into changing things a little. Like they gather a group of friends including her zombie exboyfriend, an eloquent and refined Cacodemon, and an imp even though I forget if it had a personality.
Oh also they FUCKING FINALLY hook up because shit they are the only two real beings they know about. And they are a happy family.
Oh also they somehow pull the sorta-human consciousness into the simulation and since it's running at superspeed and all the sort-humans are psychically linked they hyper evolve even faster than before and wink out of existence altogether possibly to become some sort of godlike entities that have beat the real Doom Guy to earth because when they get there it is super advanced but without signs of life. Also they never made any more books because HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT EVEN WAS THIS STORY?
So to answer your question Doom Guy is pretty chill, and a great guy to be around.
Also in case anyone thinks I'm clever enough to create such a yarn myself
http://www.amazon.com/Knee-Deep-Dead-Doom-Book-1/dp/0671525557
Anyone ever read the book?
Brings back some good memories.
The Quantum Thief?
>Jean le Flambeur gets up in the morning and has to kill himself before his other self can kill him first. Just another day in the Dilemma Prison. Rescued by the mysterious Mieli and her flirtatious spacecraft, Jean is taken to the Oubliette, the Moving City of Mars, where time is a currency, memories are treasures, and a moon-turned-singularity lights the night. Meanwhile, investigator Isidore Beautrelet, called in to investigate the murder of a chocolatier, finds himself on the trail of an arch-criminal, a man named le Flambeur....
The Golden Age trilogy by John Wright.
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Age-Book/dp/0812579844
Thousands of years in the future, sorry. But, hard sci fi it is.
If you want a future in which time is currency, try the Golden Age series by John C. Wright.
here is the amazon link. My husband said he got it from one of the suppliers from england. It'll be cheaper if you go that rout.
like this?
from here
You always have the option of the
justreading the novels.Edit: Grammar fix.
Also from the FAQ:
Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton.
Wormholes, immortality, brain downloading, lots of space opera. 5/5 stars from me, 4 stars from Amazon customers.
The Expanse Series: Definitely military. Very well done.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+expanse+series
Pandora Star: Well done. Far forward mainstream Sci-Fi. Book One of the Commonwealth Series. Possibly Hamilton's best. http://www.amazon.com/Pandoras-Star-Commonwealth-Peter-Hamilton-ebook/dp/B000FC1AFC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421719806&sr=8-1&keywords=pandora+star
Relayor isn't military - it's SWAT. Lots of action. Strong character development, interesting plot. Lots of surprises. A couple of new concepts that will blow you away.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HI4PA8S
[The Commonwealth Saga]
Makes sense. I have lost any hope that our species will be capable of restraining ourselves from destroying our own biosphere.
On a related note, for the last couple of nights I've been playing a cool new boardgame called Terraforming Mars. It is partly based on the hard science fiction series about same, written by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Ready Player One is a story about the future of VR [Oasis] and the struggle over who will run it. I hope all the VR Enthusiast read or listen to the book. It's a great story. I don't want to put out spoilers if you haven't checked the book out. The significance of this video becomes apparent after you've reached a little ways into the story. Also the audio book is narrated by Wil Wheaton.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One/dp/B005HG7BWC/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1395951167
Adrian Tarn Series is definitely one of my favorites and isn't very well known. Definitely check this series out.
Odyssey One Series is pretty good.
Confluence Series is interesting.
Aurora Rhapsody Series is a good series too.
Dark Space Series is pretty decent as well.
The Frozen Sky Series is certainly entertaining too.
These are a few series I've read recently and enjoyed. Figured they would be good suggestions. They also aren't the most commonly suggested or well known books like the others that were suggested.
Although the other recommendations are definitely ones you want to read. Especially the Ender's Game sequels and the Old Man's War series.
Trying here to suggest ones that others haven't already!
The "Odyssey One" Series by Evan Currie.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005ML0EZS
The "Frontiers Saga" by Ryk Brown
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frontiers-Saga-Episodes-1-3-ebook/dp/B00AVBNBHM
The "Blood on the Stars" Series by Jay Allen
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01MCZZTPS
The "Exodus: Empires at War" series by Doug Dandridge has both space battles and planetary invasions.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exodus-Empires-Book-Doug-Dandridge-ebook/dp/B009TZSBJO
The "Black fleet saga" by Joshua Dalzelle
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Warship-Black-Fleet-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B00RS8FT2G
That should keep you busy for a few nights anyway.
I like the 1632 series - first book available free for Kindle http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Series-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE (and other formats elsewhere for free)
A West Virginia mining town gets sent back in time to, you guessed it, 1632, and they jump start the industrial revolution during the 30 years war.
Maybe it's John Ringo's A Hymn Before Battle?
Yep.
It's a book, supposedly written by Amy, published by the BBC, that's available for sale as an eBook. There is a character very much like the Doctor in it. It's a decent read, and only a couple of bucks.
And They Shall Reap The Whirlwind is a self insert into the life of bomber harris. It's long and well done.
Set in Stone A rational/ist Stonepunk story set in the future on planet controlled by an AI in an agrarian society. A very interesting and enjoyable story. /u/farmerbob1 's other story Symbiote was also pretty good.
Savage Divinity I remember the start being a little slow, but seriously awesome world-building. Has a fair amount of romance
> A modern man finds himself reincarnated in the body of a young slave with no skills and quickly fading memories. Follow his journey to find normalcy while living in a savage world, filled with myth and legends, monsters and Demons. In a land where the strong rule, the weak serve, and bloodshed is a way of life, peace is a luxury few can afford... Less action, more character and world driven is my aim. Mature language and themes, but no raunchy sex.
Updates 3 times a week usually, currently I get more excited by updates from this than from MOL.
The Last Angel is a story where humanity lost a war and was conquered, but humanities most powerful weapon, an AI Battleship, continues the war 1500 years later. It's been 4 years since I've read it and from what I remember it switches genres to a survival horror novel about halfway in for 20 chapters or so. Really good and apparently there is a sequel that I am going now going to have to check out.
The Gam3 is an extremely well done Litrpg. If its something you like the author has published an edited version of the first book Opening Moves with some extra content. Its the best LitRPG I've read, feels smooth and not clunky.
I'm about to try to go full time. I just finished my last semester of college and am hoping that this is a career that's viable for me. My recent web serial turned novel was a hit on amazon and I hope I can write a good deal more doing it full time. I have noticed however that I've already started slacking off a bit which is bad :(.
I doubt that writing will pay better than say a coding job (my degree is in CS/math) but seeing as I have no obligations other than a few student loans I'm going to try it out \^.^
I’ve recently been enjoying “The Gam3” series by Cosimo Yap : it was recommended to me after I finished RP1 and I was looking for something new.
While it’s not the same as RP1 I’ve found it to be an amazing read - loads of depth to the world(s) in it and just really draws you in.
Description from Amazon
> The Earth is changing. The alien invasion brought social upheaval, advanced technology, and an armada of peacekeeping robots. But Alan, a college student pursuing a now-useless degree, cares little about all of this. He has only one thing on his mind: the Game.
>
> A fully immersive virtual reality, the Game appears to be a major part of the invading civilization. Alan can't wait to play, recklessly diving into the digital universe. Soon though, Alan realizes the Game is anything but simple, and the stakes are higher than he ever imagined.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opening-Moves-Gam3-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01DFCNAPG
You can always write a web novel in the style of light novels.
The Gam3 sold here started off as a series on Royalroad and went to publish in amazon. It's a more western novel, but still has some of that light novel characterization feel to it.
Mother of Learning is another fantastic english web novel though I don't believe it has any commercial releases.
Ohh. I see.
Cradle Series
Overgeared
Red Mage
The Gam3
Limitless Lands
Divine Dungeon
Mirror World
The Good guys
War Aeternus
Dest March
Bushido Online
Dark Elf Chronicles
Djinn Tamer
Hero of Thera
Morning Wood
The Two Week Curse
Party Hard
Axe Druid
Ryan DeBruyn
Equalize: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 1)
The way of the shaman
Galactagon
The Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
From the review: "Lord of Light stands with Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War and Frank Herbert’s Dune as one of the seminal novels that changed the way readers looked at science fiction."
Damn, just one?!? I don't think I can cut it down to less than three, and even that list would change year by year.
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
Orphans of Chaos, John C. Wright
(And sorry for the Amazon links, I really freakin' hate Amazon but don't know of a better/more convenient link to offer people.)(Um, if anyone has a better kind of link to provide, I'd love to hear it, thanks.)
Funny you should mention that. The only place I've ever seen this used is in Diaspora by Greg Egan. I thought he made it up. TIL.
See, I don't think the name is bad, but only because I associate it with the book by Greg Egan
I really enjoyed Diaspora because it was such a different sort of story. It also may me terrified of gamma ray bursters. Forget asteroids, that's what will get us!
If you like history, try the following.
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Utterly fascinating and extremely well written. It reads almost like a novel.
Peter the Great and Dreadnought by Robert Massie. Both excellent.
Citizens is a jaw-dropping revisionist history of the French Revolution by Simon Schama.
Night Soldiers is a superb "historical spy" novel set in Europe before and during WWII. This novel by Furst is credited with reinventing and reinvigorating the espionage genre. Think Graham Greene crossed with John le Carré.
If you like science fiction, try Hyperion by Dan Simmons. A mind-bending book that, at its core and rather incongruously, is a retelling of Canterbury Tales.
Sticking with science fiction, try anything by Iain M Banks; especially his Culture novels. You could start with Consider Phlebas, or Use of Weapons.
I have many many more suggestions if you want.
You may also like LibraryThing, a great social networking site for those who love books and like to catalogue and discuss their personal libraries. Look me up if you want. I'm "omaca" there too.
Great series of books. You do not need to read them in order; I read book 4 first, and it spoils nothing.
Supposedly, Amazon Prime wants to do a miniseries of this, or at least the first book, to the level of quality of Game of Thrones. I'll... believe it when I see it.
Anyway here are Amazon/Audible links! (Or hit up your local library, etc.)
I really like this stuff as space opera type stuff. It's usually not "hard" sci-fi like Asimov or even Philip K. Dick or anything, but I rather hope humanity heads in the direction of the Federation, and then ultimately to The Culture.
Fun fact!! Elon Musk named the autonomous drone barge ships (the ones that SpaceX rockets land on) after some Culture ships. Namely the Of Course I Still Love You, and the Just Read The Instructions. I also rather like the full name of the ship Mistake Not… (Don't Google it! It's a spoiler!!!)
Try out the Culture books by Iain M. Banks. Use of Weapons is my personal favorite and more militaristic than the others (which are still amazing scifi!).
the Diamond Age
Friday
the Sparrow
the Blind Assasin
Parable of the Sower
I've enjoyed both of those authors, so I guess I'll recommend some books I've liked.
In no particular order (links to the first book in the series, on amazon):
The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell
Spinward Fringe by Randolph Lalonde
Star Force by B.V. Larson
Honor Harrington series by David Weber
Valor series by Tanya Huff
I'm slowly reading my way though. I'm about 170~ books deep so far. Right now I've taken a break and I'm reading "The Lost Fleet" which is just an absolutely amazing series that have totally different concepts of space battles compared to Star*.
Yea the lore they are building\built in the halo universe is awesome. If you have finished the books try looking for the spartan ops season 1 on youtube. Runs for almost an hour and is a pretty fun watch.
Also The Lost Fleet is a nice easy read.
Dauntless, by jack Campbell (Dauntless is the first book out of six)
Lots of fun action...not sure how it rates in regards to staying power or intelligence. It'll probably be forgotten in 10 years. But as far as a military action/drama goes, it's pretty awesome
Asimov - Foundation
I've fallen on a deep sci-fi binge, so I'm going to recommend what I've read so far (lately) and loved:
Ender Series: The sequels to "Ender's Game" are not on par with the first, but they're compelling nonetheless (except maybe Childrens of the Mind), and the Bean series (Ender's Shadow and the sequels) is GREAT. I would recommend reading the sequels, and if not, to stay with the same Ender's Game vibe, then at least read Ender's Shadow, as it opens up the story a lot more.
Foundation (Isaac Asimov): One of the groundbreaking sci-fi series. I've currently read only the first one (Foundation) and absolutely loved it. It takes up several character's point of view over the course of a lot of years. But don't worry, each character get their spot lights and they shine in it. And the universe he creates is one I'm anxious to get back once I finish with...
Leviathan Wakes (James S.A. Corey): This one I'm still reading, so I won't jump up and say: READ IT, IT'S AMAZING! But I will say this, it's long and full of twists, but it's two central characters are fun and interesting. Someone said it's like reading the best sci-fi movie there is. And it kind of is. It's full of action, suspense, some horror and fun writing. I would check it out if I were you.
Spin: I enjoyed this one. Not fanatical about it, but still enjoyable. It's a little bit too long, but the mystery around the event that occurs in the book is interesting and compelling enough to continue. The characters feel real, and the drama around it is fun.
A while ago I also read: The Forever War which I liked a lot. I like seeing humanity evolve, so this book was awesome. I hear it's a lot like Old Man's War, but I've heard better things from Forever War than Old Man's. Might be worth checking out.
Hope I was helpful!
Essential Asimov to get into the right mentality.
Burnout dawg.
Pretty much all correct, but you should really read the official novels, the first 2 are awesome!
http://www.amazon.com/Knee-Deep-Dead-Doom-Book-1/dp/0671525557
there were 4 doom books.. none official tho
https://www.amazon.com/Knee-Deep-Dead-Doom-Book-1/dp/0671525557/ref=pd_sim_14_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0671525557&pd_rd_r=VSP8FPZY0HJVW510GS8G&pd_rd_w=obJGM&pd_rd_wg=QATcC&psc=1&refRID=VSP8FPZY0HJVW510GS8G
http://www.amazon.com/Knee-Deep-Dead-Doom-Book-1/dp/0671525557
It's about as deep as you'd expect fanfiction to be.
If you like the concept, but want something a little more hard sci-fi, read The Quantum Thief
Classic:
The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
Modern:
The Purge by Sofi Oksanen or maybe The Quantum thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
Try The Quantum Thief a hit-tech, high-energy adventure.
Also,
> .. books aren't sexist or racist but not about those issues ...
Ancillary Justice which folks might not suggest because of its well-known take on gender, but it's not about that at all. It's pace is pretty moderate, though.
I have heard "The Quantum Thief" books are quite similar, but I have not had a chance to pick them up myself.
Amazon Link
Doctor Who themed Where's Waldo! It's debatable whether or not I need it.
The books have just recently been translated. You can buy it here on Amazon.
Readaptation coming in 2017, as well as the first few novels getting translated into English, and even more the original series is getting an official western release.
The best responses to your points to me are found in, Peter Hamilton's Commonweath Series, and the brand new Bobiverse Series by Dennis Taylor and Ghost in the Shell. If you for some reason hate books, reading, and anime here is a quick TLDR: Just because the new you is a copy doesn't make it worthless, or makes death any less horrifying. Furthermore, the potential options are more than simply copying a brain before/during death. There's the whole nanite brain replacement Ship of Theseus issue starting from simple neural augmentation all the way to full on cybernetic replacement.
You'd really like the Bobiverse, it literally has entire genealogies of copies of one nerd, each with slightly different slowly diverging viewpoints which I found captivating and engaging.
If you don't mind a little science fiction, I'd say the Commonwealth Saga by Peter Hamilton.
Pandora's Star is excellent if you have not read it. It's what happens if we discover life on a planet when we are a space-faring society.
If you like hard sci-fi and haven't read the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson - I can't recommend it strongly enough. It's actually what got me into KSP, because after reading it I was just desperate to explore space.
I was originally going to go for the Mars Trilogy's first book Red Mars, but that just has to wait for a Reddit free gift from my new favourite SciFi author :D
It looks like we have a lot in common in terms of what we like to read! I absolutely love Heinlein and have read all of his books. We also have Ready Player One in common on our lists.
I think you would enjoy this book for sure. I think it has a similar feel to Heinlein but a little more modern.
Oh, also check out the Odyssey series by Evan Curie. The first book is Into The Black and follows the first FTL ship mankind produces as they take their maiden voyage into the greater galaxy. Aliens are met, things go awry, much adventure and interesting political & philosophical issues are generated by the interaction with alien species.
Random Sci-Fi book from great author that uses them in book 2? or 3? I forget : https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Wings-Evan-Currie-ebook/dp/B005QOX3ZY
Lots of weapons in his universe that use kinetics instead of explosives to do the damage.
Actually his other universe uses tons of kinetic kill weapons : https://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-Remastered-Odyssey-Book-ebook/dp/B005ML0EZS/
Evan Currie, Marko Kloos, Craig Alanson, Josh Dalzelle; these are all writers I know for certain started as self-published authors. Also, probably H Paul Honsinger and Nick Webb.
If you want to sell self published MilSF, read and study the first books in all those series, and then emulate them.
The Odyssey One series (book 1 by Evan Currie comes to mind.
It's pulp, but fun.
*****
The Culture Series (book 1) by Iain Banks also comes to mind.
This one is a bit more serious than Odyssey One, and I've only read the first book so far... It might turn out to be very different.
I just finished the 5th book in Evan Currie's Odyssey One series. I've enjoyed every one!
1632 by Eric Flint (Author released to to be free on Kindle)
Very well researched historical fiction about an American town from W. Virginia that gets dropped into the middle of Thuringia, Germany in the middle of the 30-years war.
While all the anime/manga relations I can think of have already been mentioned, I can think of a number of Novels.
1) 1632 (aka The Ring Of Fire) Series.
Consists of roughly 40 books, with branching timelines. All the Timelines start with 1632 and 1633.
TLDR: The small american town of grantzvile and everything in a 2 mile circle is dumped in Germany during the middle of the cluster fuck that was the 30 years war.
[Summary of the first Novel.](/s "First thing they do is intervene in the pillaging of a nearby farm, second thing they do is rofl stomp a formation of ~600 french cavalry thanks to a nam vet and his M60 he had taken home with him , along about half the town arming themselves with bolt action hunting rifles and a few AR's. They then go on to form an alliance with Sweden, teaching them how to build and manufacture weapons that Sweden is realistically capable of mass producing like early 1800's era muzzle loading rifled muskets and breach loading cannons")
And they don't just go rofl stomping everything like the JSDF does, (Remember while gunpowder in the 15th century was still in it's early stages and melee combat was still the norm, it is still perfectly capable of killing someone) Such as when [Spoilers for 1633 & 1634: The Bavarian Crisis](/s "the spanish armada shows up, they manage to repel them with rocket artillery and napalm put together in the high school science lab, but they lose one of the 2 Fighter bombers they had built (Imagine a hellcat built with the Wood & Canvas materials of a WW1 Bi-plane and a Toyota Camry engine) and The only water craft that had come through with them, a speed boat with a jury-rigged knock off Katyusha launcher bolted to the deck. (Crew was almost all killed by 4 frigits broadsiding the speedboat with grape shot until they got lucky, then the only survivor Kamikazed the sinking boat into one of said frigits")
2) The Axis Of Time Trilogy
Consists of 3 books (In order); Weapon of choice, Designated Targets, and Final Impact. The first two books are available online in PDF format (Just ask and you'll get some dank links fam), the third book is paperback only as far as I can tell.
(W.I.P)
John Ringo goes over some of the reasons in his first Legacy of the Aldenata book: A Hymn Before Battle
Free kindle e-book version: Amazon Link
Here are two great zero cost books:
A Hymn Before Battle: http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/
Gust Front: http://www.amazon.com/Gust-Front-Legacy-Aldenata-Book-ebook/dp/B00BEQP2R0/
Then get the audiobooks for only $1.99 each with Matchmaker: https://www.amazon.com/gp/audible/matchmaker
I rather like David Weber's Honor Harrington series, but they get VERY VERY talky at times. Weber is good in the deep court intrigue, background plotting and scheming, but he's not that good when it comes to hard combat.
Start from the very beginning would probably be best: ["On Basilisk Station"](http://amzn.to/22sovVx
), which is a FREE download. Cmdr Honor Harrington was exiled with her light cruiser to the backwaters for embarrassing the fleet commander in an exercise maneuver (by "killing" the flagship in a surprise move). There, she was under the command of the upperclassman who tried to rape her back in the academy, and who forever held a grudge. The crew hates her, the system is corrupt and shipping companies hated her for enforcing the law. Then they found a wormhole...
David Weber has a lot of different series, one written with Johnny Ringo, the Empire of Man series, is pretty cool. Now available in combo books, this is Volume 1 and 2 in a single package. Prince of the Empire was sabotaged and his ship and his marine escorts are stranded on a planet held by the Empire's enemy. Can they fight their way to the space port and a way home? Will the prince stay a spoiled brat or will he grow up... or die trying?
Johnny Ringo is good at the hard combat, on the scale of David "Hammer's Slammers" Drake. What put Ringo on the map was his first book A Hymn Before Battle Posleen is coming to Earth, and their numbers are so overwhelming Earth is doomed... but the Galactic Federation has sent help in forms of advanced technology... but basically they need humans to be the grunts. As humans adapt to the new technology, and frantically construct defenses around the world, from shelter cities and redoubts to ground-based orbital defense and space ships, long range scouts attempt to gather intel on alien worlds. But are the friendlies really telling us everything?
It's also a real book:
http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Summer-Amelia-Williams-ebook/dp/B00BGC6GG8
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
You might want to check out Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light.
I'd highly recommend Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
It's one of the greatest works of science fiction in my opinion. Other great ones to read are Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (the end left me completely amazed) and The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Greg Egan is a good one that no-one else has mentioned.
Amazon link to one of his best
Diaspora by Greg Egan is an interesting read, albeit slightly less realistic than some of those listed in this thread. That is, it may become more or less far-fetched depending on how technology advances.
Diaspora
> In the 30th century, few humans remain on Earth. Most have downloaded themselves into robot bodies or solar-system-spanning virtual realities, escaping death--or so they believe, until the collision of nearby neutron stars threatens life in every form.
Want to become the Matrix? It's your chance.
http://www.amazon.com/Diaspora-Greg-Egan/dp/0061057983
Use of Weapons, by Iain M Banks.
E: Dunno how to recommend it and its plot twist without spoiling said twist, but I'll try. It's two stories, told simultaneously and in reverse chronological order; in the one, mercenary Cheradenine Zakalwe is pulled out of retirement by the Culture to do one more job for them, and demands/is offered as payment a chance to see his sister one more time before she dies, while in the other we see his past and what made him the man he is today, including a civil war in which (medium-small and gorey twist) [spoiler:](#s "his adopted brother butchered his sister and turned her into a chair"). Really good, super shocking, strongly recommend.
E2: That spoiler, BTW, is not The Twist, that comes a bit later.
you should read the culture series of novels by Ian Banks ...
If I understand correctly, you're implying there won't be fantastic new MMO games? And implying that in /r/futurology? ;)
I'm not saying I'll be an MMORPG either, hence the MMO (short for Massively Multiplayer Online).
Let me share a vision of an extremely immersive mmo game, from the book Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks:
> The first night away, he linked into one of their direct-link sensory entertainments, lying on the bed with some sort of device activated under the pillow.
>He did not actually sleep that night; instead he was a bold pirate prince who’d renounced his nobility to lead a brave crew against the slaver ships of a terrible empire amongst the spice and treasure isles; their quick little ships darted amongst the lumbering galleons, picking away the rigging with chain shot. They came ashore on moonless nights, attacking the great prison castles, releasing joyous captives; he personally fought the wicked governor’s chief torturer, sword against sword; the man finally fell from a high tower. An alliance with a beautiful lady pirate begot a more personal liaison, and a daring rescue from a mountain monastery when she was captured . . .
>He pulled away from it, after what had been weeks of compressed time. He knew (somewhere at the back of his mind) even as it happened that none of it was real, but that seemed like the least important property of the adventure. When he came out of it — surprised to discover that he had not actually ejaculated during some of the profoundly convincing erotic episodes — he discovered that only a night had passed, and it was morning, and he had somehow shared the strange story with others; it had been a match, apparently. People had left messages for him to get in touch, they had enjoyed playing the match with him so much. He felt oddly ashamed and did not reply.
Friday - Robert Heinlein
She's a totally kick-ass character, but very, very human.
Edit to fix a sucky link.
Read: http://www.amazon.com/Friday-Robert-A-Heinlein/dp/034530988X
Heinlein, always the visionary :-)).
Does it have to be well-told? :P
Grimspace series - Ann Aguire
Friday - Robert A. Heinlein
Stardoc - S.L. Viehl
Blade Dancer - S. L. Viehl
Califia's Daughters - Leigh Richards (post-apocalypse)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/034530988X/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
This was the cover.
Just don't tell them about Friday.
Try out Heinlein's Book Friday. Depending on the age of your niece, I'd suggest reading it first before recommending it to her.
The Truth Machine by James L. Halperin.
(I'd suggest The First Immortal by the same author, but it doesn't look like there is a Kindle version.)
The First Immortal by James Halperin changed my beliefs on "the afterlife" and cryogenic freezing. Really fucking awesome book.
http://www.amazon.com/First-Immortal-Novel-Future/dp/0345421825/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346266183&sr=1-1&keywords=the+first+immortal
I searched for books like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and found this.
http://www.amazon.com/The-First-Immortal-Novel-Future/dp/0345421825
Probably also written too late, but I figured I would drop it here anyways in case you were off about the date.
You should read The First Immortal. The timeline is off, but the science is pretty sound, especially in the corrected edition.
You might enjoy checking out The First Immortal, by James L. Halperin [https://www.amazon.com/First-Immortal-Novel-Future/dp/0345421825] - he does an incredible job of exploring this kind of thing while telling an engaging story. His other major book, The Truth Machine, runs in the same universe and interweaves well.
Series of books by Jack Campbell. They are excellent and you should read them!
https://www.amazon.com/Dauntless-Lost-Fleet-Book-1/dp/0441014186
The Lost Fleet series had pretty good fleet battles. Viewed through the eyes of the main commander, and slowly building up in complexity of description/execution because of plot points.
Randomly picked it up cause I liked the title for whatever reason.
Golden Age of the Solar Clipper - Nathan Lowell
The Lost Fleet - Jack Campbell
Both were enjoyable reads. The Golden Age series follows an average guy as he gets a job on a space freighter and slowly rises through the ranks. The main character isn't some long-lost cousin to a space prince, or the only person that can save the universe, he's just a guy trying to make a living for himself. There aren't any space battles, so it might be a good change of pace for you, depending on what you read. The main character is a bit of a Mary Sue, though, so be warned if that sort of thing turns you off. There are about 6 books in this series.
The Lost Fleet series does include space battles. It's a story about a long-lost hero returning from cryosleep to a government and a war so unlike what he left behind. It's a story of how Geary, the protagonist, handles his new setting (fighting off politicians, lovers, and assassins) all while trying to return his fleet (which, through dumb luck, he commands) back home from deep in enemy territory. It's pretty good, and the space battles are well thought out. There are bout 10 books in this series.
Just finished The Myriad on the recommendation of r/scifi and while it was good i wish it had more fleet combat. I guess i have just been spoiled by Honor Harrington.
The next book i am gonna read is The Dauntless and we will see how it goes
http://www.amazon.com/Dauntless-The-Lost-Fleet-Book/dp/0441014186
Yeah I read a lot of Fantasy and Sci-fi. Umm, if he likes more Military Scifi I would recommend:
If he likes "high fantasy" (elves, wizards, knights, etc) then let me know and I throw out a few of those too.
EDIT: Also I'll plug Audbile.com here because these all also have great Audiobooks with GREAT narrators and I love listening to my books on my Android phone all the time. And of course Amazon owns Audible! discounts for buying the audiobook and the kindle book (often cheaper than outright buying the audiobook!)
Don't feel lame. I went on a really long kick where I was reading a lot of franchise books - Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, Stargate, etc etc. Sometimes they're terribly written, but sometimes there are really good stories with some great character development.
I'm not really familiar with the other two books but from what I looked up of them (especially considering the Halo + Ben Bova) I think you'd like Ender's Game.
It's technically YA fiction, but it's good enough that you'll often find it in with the regular science fiction. It's also a series so if you like the first one that'll give you a few more to read.
In the classic Science fiction category The Foundation Series is worth looking into as well.
Let's see. Maybe The Sky People too. It's not exactly classic literature, but it's a fun romp in space - a what if there was life on Venus & Mars and it was dinosaurs and prehistoric humans sort of thing. Although not classic science fiction it has that same feel because it takes a stab at what type of life might exist on our neighboring planets.
I haven't read Edgar Rice Burroughs, but he might be up your alley too.
Robin Mckinley - anything by her though specifically Sunshine. If you haven't read Mercades Lackey than you would probably like her since you like Tamora Pierce. Start with Arrows for the Queen or Magic's Pawn. Raymond E Feist writes another good fantasy series that has tons of books in it. You might even like the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time books since you like the Game of Thrones. If you haven't read the Ender's Game books by Orson Scott Card they are very good. Some classical sci-fi - Foundation series by Issac Asimov.
edit: also because it looks like you like some historical romance The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and Peony in Love.
Here is a list of some of my favorites so far:
For the love of what ever deity you worship, do NOT read any product descriptions for second foundation since some publishers(http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Novels-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0553382578/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345604106&sr=8-3&keywords=Foundation as in this publisher of this version) put a major spoiler for Foundation and Empire in it.
Ha that's random, I'm reading that book right now
If you're at all interested in Science Fiction, I'd try picking up "Foundation" by Issac Asimov. It's a series, but the first book is a good stand-alone as well. I find Asimov is easy to read and really sucks you into the story - probably due to the fact that almost all of his narrative occurs through dialogue.
Read 1984 for the dystopian aspect, for sci-fi pick up Isaac Asimov as mentioned by the_thinker.. And if you want a good, fun and captivating read, pick up Chuck Palahniuk's works, I'm a big fan of those. Try Survivor, Lullaby, Choke, any of those are amazing
http://www.amazon.com/Knee-Deep-Dead-Doom-Book-1/dp/0671525557
The Doom series!
The first two are pretty great and dovetail quite nicely with the games. I like the last two as well, but they get...rather odd.
There is a book about the game.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0671525557?pc_redir=1397581943&robot_redir=1
I really enjoyed Daffyd ab Hugh's doom books. They are pretty old and maybe for a young adult audience but they are the best video game books I've read.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0671525557
Try The Quantum Thief
Here’s some stuff from new authors……
Check out The Six Gun Tarot by Belcher.
Amazon link.
I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and really enjoyed it. It’s kind of a mashup of a Western and something from the Cthulhu mythos.
If you want really good new SciFi, I’d recommend The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.
Amazon link.
I highly recommend this one. It’s awesome.
The Golden Age series by John C. Wright.
Mick Farren - The DNA Cowboys
Its got is all, fellowship, drugs, adventure, sex and buckets of general weirdness. Kind of DarkTowerish.
Allan Weisbecker - Cosmic Banditos
I had lots of awkward moments in public, trying (and failing) to stifle laughs. Great stuff. Worth it for the intro alone.
M. John Harrison - Light
This novel is unlike anything else I have read. That Harrison squeezes three stories in to this slim volume is a work of wonder.
John C. Wright - The Golden Age
If you like the Culture Novels, you will probably really like this.
Jeff VanderMeer - Veniss Underground
Disturbing and dark. Still haunts me.
My favorite science fiction book... well, series: The Golden Age:
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Age-Book/dp/0812579844
The first half is fun to read, but the effort it takes to get past the second half is hard. I did it on my third try.
And for a sci-fi recommendation...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Age-Book/dp/0812579844
I've been wanting to write something up about this because I love to pick up lesser-known works
The Golden Age trilogy by John C. Wright (amazon, goodreads)
The book follows a rich man in 10K years in the future. One night, he finds out he has vast gaps in his memory and those memories are locked away by the government. Should he unlock them, he could risk losing everything in his life. But if he doesn't, he can't be sure he is who he is. It's an amazing book series.
One concept it explores that I find relevant today was the distinction between government laws and "moral laws". Basically in the world of this book, the gov't secures basic rights while a coalition of large corps and businesses dictate "moral laws". Transgression of the "moral law" is judged by AIs and the punishment is refusal to do business. That might sound weird but imagine if no ISP would be willing to provide you with internet and no car company wanted to exchange a vehicle for your money.
Tip: Wright wrote two more series worth noting. Orphans of Chaos which is like a present-day fantasy mixed with sci-fi following greek gods, and it's fucking amazing. There is also the "Count to the Eschaton Sequence" series which is hard to digest but it basically follows a Texan hundreds of years in the future and the discovery of an alien object that propels humanity forward and away from its dystopian "present".
Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams (amazon, goodreads)
Again, set in the very far future, the book follows a very wealthy man. The best thing about this book is really the worldbuilding. It's set in a place where the "hyper rich" own entire planet systems and means of production for products. The story shows you some interesting tech ideas like merging virtual reality with reality (not augmented but experiencing both).
The really cool part (tech-wise) was the idea of controlling one's body and mind. One aspect of that was figuring out one's personality facets called "daemons" (think of it as your "creative self", your "fighting self", etc.), personifying them, and building an AI out of those personality facets to help guide one's actions or even letting one of the AIs take over your body and then share/merge memories with every other daemon as well as you.
pretty much anything by Jack McDevitt (amazon, goodreads)
I'm totally in love with Jack McDevitt's books. If you like series, and sci-fi that explores morality, puzzles, and humans that are exposed to those elements, this is the best you can get.
There are two main series that I read by McDevitt: Alex Benedict and Academy series.
The former (Alex Benedict) follows an antiques merchant thousands of years in the future that solves weird events, uncovers the truth, etc. while on the hunt for the most prized artifacts from the "past" (our future). Like a less-actiony Indiana Jones told from the point of view of his partner-in-crime, set in a sci-fi world.
The latter (Academy) follows Priscilla Hutchins in the near future. It's hard to describe what the series is about without spoiling much but the series follows Hutchins' career and the weird space anomaly stuff people encounter as they start to explore the stars.
Perhaps "Where's the Doctor?"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1405908173/
There's also a "When's the Doctor?"
http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Whens-Jorge-Santillan/dp/1405908491/
Welcome!! It's nice to meet you!
I think this is pretty awesome... http://www.amazon.ca/Wheres-The-Doctor-Leanne-Bbc/dp/1405908173/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=8U3KZKXXJTNY&coliid=I2QFWS2V47PHFP It's like "Where's Waldo?" but with the Doctor! Two awesome things in one.
On a completely unrelated note, my cat is snoring and man is she loud!
This Where's the Doctor book is out of this world amazing. It is like where's waldo but with the DOCTOR!!
Where's the Doctor? (a Doctor Who Where's Wally/Waldo) and the latest Corb Lund album.
Ummmmmmm uhh uhh. Well, I'm just too happy that 'Where's the Doctor' exists, as long as Corb still knows the songs and plays them live, I can survive without the CD. I once almost got him to go out drinking with us after a show in Halifax!
There are so many!
I could really use this for work.
Or this, maybe this :)
Only the first novel has been translated as of now. The second one is going to come this month that too extremely soon.
Here's the Amazon link.
Here's the goodreads review link
Here's a video review link. (See this whole review first and no, it's not a light novel )
Japanese light novel series, Legend of the Galactic Heroes sounds like a perfect match for that.
The Lost Fleet series, by Jack Campbell is interesting to me, as the main character is somewhat chronologically displaced, and politics are a large factor for character interactions.
I'd recommend watching the anime first as there is no other translation or fan translation for the novel series.
Novels
Try legend of the galactic heroes
https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Galactic-Heroes-Vol-Dawn/dp/1421584948
I've never read it, but here you go.
https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Galactic-Heroes-Vol-Dawn/dp/1421584948
Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained (sequel) are excellent
Hah, well there's a loaded tag.
I have no idea what happened to him/her, but I'm happy to have lent some input.
For the record I'm no expert, just a space nerd that reads a lot :-p
If you're curious to read more I'd recommend either Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments for nonfiction, or Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy for really well-researched and realistic science fiction.
Windmills for energy? Lots of wind on Mars.
I thought they recently discovered frozen water was abundant on Mars' surface?
Everything else I agree with though. Also, read Red Mars if you haven't!
Awesome post! Love reading these.
For anyone who wants to read realistic science fiction focused on Mars in the same vein (but much deeper) as The Martian check out Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars
>That said I feel like it would be a hell of a lot easier to live on a hot earth than it would be to live on mars.
Maybe; a rise in temperature means a rise in the prevalence of disease and superstorms. Combine those two and it doesn't look very promising for human civilization on earth.
On the other hand, developing a colonized mars with domed cities that have been acclimated to human climate would be quite easy to live in due to the lack of superstorms and disease. We need the tech (no small feat, though possibly achievable in the next half century I think) and the management to manage that tech. Even so, access to these domed cities would be limited so the point is moot if we're talking about moving the majority of human life over there.
If you want a good piece of hard sci-fi, check out Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. The focus of the utopic novel is colonizing and terraforming Mars and includes a great deal of political ideology and quasi-scientific ideas about how we would make it on Mars.
Here's his description:
> Watch Nat Geo's MARS Monday 11/14 at 9/8c: http://makemarshome.com/
>
> Watch Kevin and Jake's videos! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_MhErD-EA0&index=2&list=PLiyjwVB09t5xDxwO8KpwJA2HTA13xarpf
>
> Thanks to Nat Geo for sponsoring this video
>
> Earth and Mars size comparison: http://www.space.com/16871-how-big-is-mars.html
>
> calculate how much you’d weigh on Mars: http://www.exploratorium.edu/mars/yourweight.php
>
> Martian ‘sun dial’:
>
> http://www.universetoday.com/96930/curiositys-sundial-carries-a-message-of-hope/
>
> http://mars.nasa.gov/multimedia/interactives/revealing-mars-before-after-image-comparison-slider/rover-opportunity/
>
> Touching Mars images (walnut regolith): http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/images/2005/dust_devils.html
>
> Pascal Lee:
>
> http://www.pascallee.net
>
> https://www.facebook.com/PascalLeeOfficial/photos/a.533740600028877.1073741831.518292958240308/951932401543026/?type=3&theater
>
> Other flag ideas:
>
> http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151214-what-would-the-flag-of-mars-look-like
>
> https://astrosociety.org/edu/publications/tnl/66/flag.html
>
> Kim Stanley Robinson’s excellent trilogy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QCS914/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
>
> terraforming of Mars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars
>
> Outer Space Treaty: http://www.state.gov/t/isn/5181.htm#treaty
>
> Extraterrestrial Liberty: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-18063-2_3
>
> Time on Mars:
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timekeeping_on_Mars
>
> http://jtauber.github.io/mars-clock/
>
> Mars orbit: http://www.windows2universe.org/mars/mars_orbit.html
>
> Mars orbit proximity chart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_mission_to_Mars#/media/File:Mars_close_appr.png
>
> NASA Mars time program: http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/
>
> Mars Watches:
>
> http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/spotlight/spirit/a3_20040108.html
>
> http://web.archive.org/web/20120525133718/http://executivejewelers.com/jewelscart2000/store/jewelscart2000_listCategoriesAndProducts.asp?idCategory=10
>
> Darian calendar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darian_calendar
>
> Ask a Mathematician physicist article: http://www.askamathematician.com/2012/09/q-is-it-likely-that-there-are-atoms-in-my-body-that-have-traveled-from-the-other-side-of-the-planet-solar-system-galaxy-or-universe/
>
> Apollo quarantine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Quarantine_Facility
>
> space dust: http://www.universetoday.com/92807/rocks-from-mars/
>
> Blood and skin cells changing: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1q16hw/im_32_is_there_a_single_cell_or_even_molecule/
>
> Planetary protection:
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection
>
> https://planetaryprotection.nasa.gov/
>
> Mars sample return [PDF]: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/pss/presentations/200803/04-Atlas-PPSonMSR.pdf
>
> glow worms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnocampa_luminosa
>
> ANSMET: http://caslabs.case.edu/ansmet/
>
> AH84001: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Hills_84001
>
> Bill Clinton speech on Mars rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHhZQWAtWyQ
>
> All music by http://www.youtube.com/JakeChudnow
Fulfilled: Kim Stanley Robinson (plus two or three more). And, to be more directly Marxist, his thesis advisor Fredric Jameson.
Here you go:
Red Mars
Green Mars
Blue Mars
Ready Player One is the freaking best. I had a 13 year old recommend it to me (I'm 31) and I was GLUED.
Give this a try. It is excellent if you are remotely into video games or you grew up in the 80's.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One/dp/B005HG7BWC
This won't help your LD but audio books are a way to get into "reading" if that is a goal you are aiming for.
Both editions:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Ready-Player-One-Audiobook/B005FRGT44
https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Ready-Player-One-Audiobook/B007PR4J4E
are unavailable for me (audible.com from Europe)
also both amazon.com audiobook editions are unavailable:
https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One/dp/B007RJRBNG
https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One/dp/B005HG7BWC
I find that authors reading their own books is usually a good thing. Anthony Bourdain reading Kitchen Confidential and John Hodgeman reading The Areas of My Expertise are my favorite examples.
Old Man's War has an excellent narrator. And I know the opinion on Ready Player One is rather polarized, but if you are interested Wil Wheaton's narration is great.
Ahh shit, I did not really see the part about you wanting longer audio. Book length is pretty short for litrpg so this is really tough.
The best I can do for that criteria is recommend good long audiobooks but they wont be litrpg.
Ready Player One is a self explanatory recommendation. 16 hours
Super Powereds super hero book. Super long at 26hours per book and 4 books total in series
Wool followed by Shift followed by Dust. Its an international bestseller post-apocalyptic drama. I dont really like drama but this one is amazing
Three body problem followed by Dark Forest followed by Deaths end . Its a three part ultra hard core science fiction. There are moments when it gets boring only to turn around and fuck your mind so hard you wont know what hit you. Written by a Chinese author which introduces an interesting perspective on things you dont see with American authors. 14/23/25 hours
Dresden Files is a great long running series with avg 16h per book
If you like stuff like this, I recommend reading Ready Player One! by Earnest Cline (also available in audiobook read by Wil Wheaton).
A couple comments mention this below, but no link...unabridged audio version narrated by Will Wheaton.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One/dp/B005HG7BWC
https://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-Remastered-Odyssey-Book-ebook/dp/B005ML0EZS/ (later in the series, mostly)
Cute!
Don't call me Mad Dog.
A Fist Full of Dollars. Because I love spaghetti!
Cheap item.
Thank you.
https://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-Remastered-Odyssey-Book-ebook/dp/B005ML0EZS/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1482678404&sr=1-3&keywords=into+the+black
about half of this series is pretty good. nothing fancy just hard scifi mixed with space opera. i honestly have no idea why i like these books but i'll buy them when they come out and read most of them
Into the Black (Odyssey One ) by Evan Currie? https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005ML0EZS/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
I haven't read Mistborn, but I have the sample now! The Lost fleet looks interesting too! I have some reading to do tonight! lol.
The first book is Into the Black and his other series Warriors Wings is also really good. Not as hard on the science as Odyssey, but still a fun military sci-fi.
I would like to think this is part of the reason Eric Flint used a coalmining town in his novels (The book is free and awesome and full of coalmining, gun nuts destroying European nobility). http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-of-Fire-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/
For (currently) free Kindle books, David Weber's On Basilisk Station is the first book in the space-opera Honor Harrington series. The second book The Honor of the Queen, is one of my favorites in the entire series. Eric Flint's 1632 turned into a massive and awesome alternate-history series. If you'd like to delve into Alaskan-based murder mysteries, give Dana Stabenow's A Cold Day For Murder a try as the first in the some eighteen book Kate Shugak series.
For paid Kindle books, there's Hugh Howey's Wool Omnibus is the beginning of the dystopian Silo series; the followup Shift Omnibus is actually a prequel trilogy that I haven't gotten yet but is very readable. Naomi Novik's first novel in the alt-history Temeraire series, His Majesty's Dragon, is currently $.99.
In print, Elizabeth Moon's military fantasy The Deed of Paksenarrion is available used for a very affordable price and is an epic series. The Cage was my introduction to a fantasy universe written by SM Stirling, Shirley Meier, and Karen Wehrstein. Diana Gabaldon's Outlander is a sort of alternate history/light romance series set in Scotland that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Brent Weeks' assassin-based (excuse me, wetboy) fantasy Night Angel Trilogy was recently released as an omnibus edition. Empire from the Ashes collects Weber's Dahak sci-fi trilogy into an omnibus edition. Weber and John Ringo co-wrote March Upcountry and the other three novels in the sci-fi Prince Roger quadrilogy. If you haven't tried Harry Turtledove's alt-history sci-fi WW2 'Worldwar' series, In the Balance starts off a little slow plot-wise but picks up good speed. EE Knight's sci-fi/futuristic fantasy Vampire Earth starts off with Way of the Wolf. Mercedes Lackey wrote the modern-fantasy Born to Run with Larry Dixon, and the rest of the SERRAted Edge books with various other authors. Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk and slightly dystopian Snow Crash is hilarious and awesome. Maggie Furey's Aurian is the first of a fantasy quadrilogy that I enjoyed many years ago.
If you're at all familiar with the Warhammer 40k universe, the Eisenhorn Omnibus is Dan Abnett's wonderful look into the life of an Imperial Inquisitor. He's also written a popular series about the Tanith First-and-Only Imperial Guard regiment starting with The Founding Omnibus. He also wrote the first book in the Horus Heresy series, Horus Rising (I highly recommend reading the first three novels together as a trilogy and then cherry-picking the rest).
... and if you've read all that already, I'll be impressed.
Edit: Why yes, I do read a lot. Why do you ask?
OP and others might be interested in John Ringo's series on this very topic. The series is referred to as the "Legacy of the Aldenata" or the "Human Posleen War Series". Whichever you choose to say, it begins with A Hymn Before Battle.
tldr: There is an alien federation with loads more tech than we have. Unfortunately for a lot of assorted reasons (ranging from ultra-pacifism to a brain alteration that kills the person engaging in violence) every single member of the federation is completely incapable of engaging in violent acts. So they come to us for help.
John Ringo does several good series:
http://www.amazon.com/Live-Free-Die-Troy-Rising/dp/1439133972
http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413865048&sr=1-1&keywords=posleen+war
Also, I'd recomend the Lost Fleet series:
http://www.amazon.com/Dauntless-Lost-Fleet-Jack-Campbell-ebook/dp/B000OZ0NXU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413865075&sr=1-1&keywords=lost+fleet
This is also free. The first one in the series.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00BEQP50Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504727541&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=john+ringo&dpPl=1&dpID=61erO6oqYBL&ref=plSrch
Free on kindle for us Englanders.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Summer-Falls-ebook/dp/B00BGC6GG8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372003844&sr=8-1&keywords=summer+falls
wow they even submitted it under the name Amelia Williams
Hope you like them and if I win I'd like this or for the raffle this because I really really want it
https://www.amazon.ca/Doctor-Who-Summer-Amelia-Williams-ebook/dp/B00BGC6GG8
I was wondering if they every got around to doing that. I heard some rumors about it when the episode aired.
Amazon link
I'd like this eBook! It's under Kindle on my list
[BRING OUT THE DANCING LOBSTERS!] (http://imgur.com/gallery/BMcur)
The dancing lobsters were the best ;)
They published an ebook!
https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Moves-Gam3-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01DFCNAPG
Opening Moves is what you're looking for.
Those people didn't do their research. I posted a comment which is currently awaiting moderation. I'll cross post it here:
I disagree. I’ve been a member of the Web fiction community on Webfictionguide since 2014 and have seen many, MANY of my fellow web fiction writers serialize successfully. Wildbow’s serialized novel, Worm, earns him a couple thousand a month from Patreon alone. https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow?ty=h
Personally, I sold 500 books the first month after release thanks to my web fiction following.
There are several others who make a few hundred a month, and again others who launched ebook versions of their serialized novels and earned more than most trad published debut novelists do. Some examples:
https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Moves-Gam3-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01DFCNAPG (was originally posted on Royal Road Legends)
https://www.amazon.com/MageLife-Tale-Punch-Clock-Magelife-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00SPA212W (was originally linked on Webfictionguide)
https://www.amazon.com/End-Online-2nd-D-Wolfin-ebook/dp/B00RJHKH82 (again, Webfictionguide and other places)
I could post many more.
You said you weren't looking for fiction, but other people might come to your thread looking for those kinds of suggestions, so sorry to leave you hanging, but I'll put a few out there, because I've enjoyed this genre.
Opening Moves Aliens have taken over and ostensibly done away with war, but the main character finds out the stakes in the aliens' "Game" may be just as high.
Solarversia We've got a sort of reality show VR game where a hundred million players duke it out over the course of a year to win a big prize. It's easy to get sucked into this one as a gamer, because the author really captures this sens of video game action. There's pseudo-ai personality modeling based on social media, and even a fanatical AI doomsday cult.
Survival Quest Don't let the name turn you off here. In this trilogy the biggest MMO has become so big that prisoners are actually sentenced to server their time in VR capsules mining resources for paying non-prisoner characters. Where standard players get to choose their class and have access to outside materials like guides and wikis, the protagonist here (who's unjustly charged, of course!) gets his class selected for him, and must learn the nuances to this underplayed Shaman class, as well as figure out how to earn respect, while simultaneously earning his way out of prison. The third book just came out on the 10th, and I wouldn't have found out about it if not for writing this, so thanks! And enjoy!
I'VE READ OVER 50 BOOKS IN THIS GENRE OVER THE PAST YEAR. SOME ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS, BUT I DO LIKE THEM. THINK SWORD ART ONLINE, BUT A BOOK, AND NOT WEEB. GIVE THE GAM3 A TRY, IT'S A FREE READ HERE (ALSO AVAILABLE ON AMAZON IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR).
These types of questions get near instant replies from the facebook group link I specified above.
Maybe try The Gam3
Here is the mobile version of your link
Intro To Objectivist Epistemology
Man, Economy, and State
Organization Theory
And possibly surprisingly: Friday
My advice to you is to read a book. The ones I pointed out would be a good start, but if you can't handle actual scholarly works yet, the Bible and Doctor Seuss aren't going to get you terribly far. So try finding a library. Pick up Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke. Then maybe you can graduate on to Jack Diamond and Graeber before tackling Pinker, Sagan and Krauss.
Read a book.
http://www.amazon.com/Knee-Deep-Dead-Doom-Book-1/dp/0671525557
This book series is pretty cool. Until it goes all batshit crazy in books 3 and 4.
Skip anything isekai. Try works by Nomura Mizuki, her works usually got a detective novel-like feel.
If you feel really into scifi/politics, try Legend of Galactic Heroes
The obvious book to read would be Ready Player One. I highly recommend the audio book narrated by Wil Wheaton.