Book recomendations.

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  • Reply 21 of 32
    johnrpjohnrp Posts: 357member
    Microsurfs
  • Reply 22 of 32
    Neuromancer by William Gibson..



    I really enjoyed this book in first year English.. Very Matrix style theme, but way more intense, not to mention about 15 years ahead of the movie..
  • Reply 23 of 32
    The 4 books I can't stop recommending (or reading):

    \t1) _Finite & Infinite Games_ by James P. Carse

    \t2) _100 Years of Solitude_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

    \t3) _On the Road_ by Jack Kerouac

    \t4) _The Fountainhead_ by Ayn Rand



    1 is about 100 some-odd pages and only a few hours of reading for an avid reader, but reaffirmed my life (and possibly changed it in the process.)



    2 is just glorious, beautiful and the day you begin it will be a lucky day.



    3 is, well.. 3.



    4 changed my life but took about 12 times longer than 1.



    -PEte



    PS - not really a PS -- my best friend Tony is a HUGE sci-fi fan and he tells me that he often finds himself reading _Ender's Game_ every single night for 4 or 5 weeks in a row. Yes, Tony is a little nutty, but isn't that sentiment worth something? He's been wanting me to read it for years and it just hasn't ever been the right time.



    PPS - could you let me know what you think if you read any of the above? I'd be curious --
  • Reply 24 of 32
    If I were not just sticking with the sci fi you asked for, I'd have to say Moby Dick which is the perfect go- anywhere snack, but since we are huddling on sci fi, I'll say UBIK by PKD. Sarcastic, dark, REALLY funny and a good thinker to boot. Chock full of ironic meaty goodness.
  • Reply 25 of 32
    trowatrowa Posts: 176member
    aside form what's been mentioned already...



    anything from philip k. dick

    forget the hollywood movies, the novels/short stories are far better



    Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars

    by Kim Stanley Robinson

    terraforming Mars



    Chung Kuo series

    by David Wingrove

    A "What if" China was the dominating nation, set in the future.



    for non-fiction science related books:



    Hyperspace

    by Michio Kaku

    worm holes, the tenth dimension, faster than light travel



    The Demon-Haunted World

    by Carl Sagan

    science used as reasoning. Forging forward past our "dark age" beliefs.



    a good modern author that is not related to sci-fi:



    Michael Ondaatje

    I recommend all his books.



    - trowa
  • Reply 26 of 32
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Hyperspace

    by Michio Kaku

    worm holes, the tenth dimension, faster than light travel



    The Demon-Haunted World

    by Carl Sagan

    science used as reasoning. Forging forward past our "dark age" beliefs.





    Got them in my library.
  • Reply 27 of 32
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 28 of 32
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    100 years of solitude is great. I'm reading Love in the Time of Cholera right now, just to get a more thorough feel of GarcÃ*a Márquez' work. A little harder to read for some reason. I'll finish it and then move on back to 100 years.



    A non-sci fi recommendation is any novel by Hemingway. All time favorite writer of mine. Powerful writing style. I love it. I would like to get into more recent authors, but it's hard to separate the fluff from the good stuff, you know?
  • Reply 29 of 32
    [quote]Originally posted by Outsider:

    <strong>I'm presently finishing up a book on superstring theory and I'd like to keep up the momentum by going right to some piece of reading. I'm in the mood for some recent SciFi but something with substance and quality. Looks like the next Dark Tower book by Stephen King won't be out for several more decades (what's up with that? I read all the previous books and now I'm left hanging for what goes on 3 years? Finish the next book already!). I would also consider more books on physics (quantum, astro, GUT, etc) after. I usually ingest a book with-in a week. Thanks in advance! A short review would also be appreciated but not necessary (since i can look up the user reviews on amazon) </strong><hr></blockquote>



    On that note, can you recommend me some good intro books to (super) string theory? something that can be understood by a "stupid guy who hated his core quantum class in college?" (actually, the class just went too fast) If I have to learn Tensor (sp?) stuff, throw in a few of those books as well...dunno...i know enough calc/complex analysis/number theory/diff eq to get by college ^_^; (it's a good school too bad I didn't learn enough from it though...I blame the professor's lack of teaching abilities )
  • Reply 30 of 32
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    If you are looking for good Sci-fi, then I would reccommend "Valis" by Philip K Dick. No, I am not going to explain what it is about because that is near impossible.
  • Reply 31 of 32
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    [quote]Originally posted by evangellydonut:

    <strong>



    On that note, can you recommend me some good intro books to (super) string theory? something that can be understood by a "stupid guy who hated his core quantum class in college?" (actually, the class just went too fast) If I have to learn Tensor (sp?) stuff, throw in a few of those books as well...dunno...i know enough calc/complex analysis/number theory/diff eq to get by college ^_^; (it's a good school too bad I didn't learn enough from it though...I blame the professor's lack of teaching abilities )</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Gladly!



    Beyond Einstein by Michio Kaku

    Superstrings and the Search for the Theory of Everything by F. David Peat

    The whole Shebang by Timothy Ferris touches on Superstring theory (among others)



    Those are the ones I have read that deal with it (in my library at home). I have many other books I can recommend and you should actually read up on some elementary books before trying to tackle and understand string theory. Stephen Hawkjings is a good author to start out with, as is Michio Kaku and Paul Davies. Good luck!
  • Reply 32 of 32
    [quote]Originally posted by Outsider:

    <strong>you should actually read up on some elementary books before trying to tackle and understand string theory. Stephen Hawkjings is a good author to start out with, as is Michio Kaku and Paul Davies. Good luck!</strong><hr></blockquote>



    My thoughts exactly...i'm having enough trouble with 4 dimensions,let alone 19 or so used in super-string-theory ^_^; Hawking's Brief History of Time was a fast/fun read, haven't gotten around to his latest one yet...but I'd like something that goes quite a bit deeper...maybe involving some basic math concepts necessary...(I can pick up new stuff fast enough to get me into Caltech...though not doing all that well, but that's mostly my fault ^_^
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