Good Sci Fi Books

[Arbuste]

Originally Posted by Kato Danzo

Odd, I found Leto II to be the most entertaining character in the entire series. Did you not like him much?

I haven't read it in a couple years, to be honest. But as I remember it, the Emperor book was longer and going much slower than the others. Leto II is very likeable, but his life was not as action-packed as I'd have hoped. I still really enjoy this book. And the most entertaining character is definitely Duncan Idaho.

I wish I had the courage to try reading his son's books. But from what I heard it might kill me.

[Aulirophile]

Originally Posted by Arbuste

I haven't read it in a couple years, to be honest. But as I remember it, the Emperor book was longer and going much slower than the others. Leto II is very likeable, but his life was not as action-packed as I'd have hoped. I still really enjoy this book. And the most entertaining character is definitely Duncan Idaho.

I wish I had the courage to try reading his son's books. But from what I heard it might kill me.

Might make you want to kill him, if you're being accurate...

How no one has mentioned Heinlein yet is beyond me, unless people are just assuming anyone asking about Sci-Fi has read all of him. Spider Robinson comes to mind to.

[Khorum]

Originally Posted by Aulirophile

How no one has mentioned Heinlein yet is beyond me, unless people are just assuming anyone asking about Sci-Fi has read all of him.

That's a pretty fair assumption. Considering that Stranger in a Strange Land was a handbook for an entire generation.

But I think people were mostly referring to the OP's original list of books that he had.

[Ilex]

Originally Posted by Aulirophile

How no one has mentioned Heinlein yet is beyond me, unless people are just assuming anyone asking about Sci-Fi has read all of him. Spider Robinson comes to mind to.

Starship Troopers is one of his better books. It's vastly different than the garbage that made it into the movies. The book is a lot more about what human culture would be like under a quasi-facist/socialist world government and examines social issues like suffrage. Combine those themes with a decent story and some surprisingly futuristic stuff (considering the book was written in 1959) and it's a great quick read. Interestingly, it's the only Sci Fi book on the Marine Corps. reading list and the tactics and weapons in the book are pretty meticulously detailed. The military is still chasing some of the concepts first outlined in this book (powered exo-skeletons) almost 50 years after it was written.

[Ardo]

"Ender's Game"... arn't they making a movie on this? I read the book and it was fucking awesome, but not sure if a movie can do the book justice.

[Aulirophile]

Originally Posted by Ilex

Starship Troopers is one of his better books. It's vastly different than the garbage that made it into the movies. The book is a lot more about what human culture would be like under a quasi-facist/socialist world government and examines social issues like suffrage. Combine those themes with a decent story and some surprisingly futuristic stuff (considering the book was written in 1959) and it's a great quick read. Interestingly, it's the only Sci Fi book on the Marine Corps. reading list and the tactics and weapons in the book are pretty meticulously detailed. The military is still chasing some of the concepts first outlined in this book (powered exo-skeletons) almost 50 years after it was written.

I know... I own his complete works. ^.^ He was good at predicting technology. He wrote a story in 1939 (was either Blowups Happen or Solution Unsatisfactory, can't remember which) a couple months later the FBI comes to his door and ask him who told him how an atomic reaction works. Apparently one of the guys working on the atom bomb read the story and, other then the amount of mass required to start a chain reaction (Heinlein over-estimated) he was spot on about how such a bomb could be made. His answer, incidentally, was he figured it out from his highschool physics textbook and the periodic table of the elements.

Also, not to be picky, but the government in Starship Troopers was neither Fasicst or Socialist. It was a an elected Republic with a restriction on who was allowed to vote. And, as Heinlein pointed out in the book, every Republic has always restricted who can vote (age/gender/skin color/religion/etc.) the only difference is in ST it was done by whether or not you'd engaged in a minimum of two years military service and then retired. Note the retired part, active military personel don't vote. Explain to me how a democratic Republic ignores personal property (socialism) or is a dictatorship (fasicsm)?

Oh, Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky" and "A Fire Upon the Deep" are both excellent books. "Across Realtime" is good to. I haven't read his short story collection yet.

[Ilex]

Touche, you are essentially correct. The government is technically republican with the voting base restricted heavily. However, there are definite elements of fascism in the world government as presented in the book. The summary execution of one of the minor characters without a real trial would be a prime example.

[Havelock]

Originally Posted by Ilex

Touche, you are essentially correct. The government is technically republican with the voting base restricted heavily. However, there are definite elements of fascism in the world government as presented in the book. The summary execution of one of the minor characters without a real trial would be a prime example.

It was a court martial, so it doesn't reflect as badly on the government (which was pretty fascist) as if it had been some civilian. For those who like Starship Troopers, check out John Scalzi's Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades - they have a very similar vibe, and Scalzi's one of the few worthy successors to Heinlein's legacy.

My favorite Heinlein book is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The world would be a better place if everybody read it.

Those new Dune books are a fucking travesty. Even if you go in knowing they're bad, you read them and think "Holy shit, there's junior high fanfic out there that's more publishable than this."

[Clericnon2boxed]

Originally Posted by Aulirophile

Oh, Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky" and "A Fire Upon the Deep" are both excellent books. "Across Realtime" is good to. I haven't read his short story collection yet.

Can't recommend Vinge highly enough, btw the short stories are awesome too.

[Aulirophile]

Originally Posted by Ilex

Touche, you are essentially correct. The government is technically republican with the voting base restricted heavily. However, there are definite elements of fascism in the world government as presented in the book. The summary execution of one of the minor characters without a real trial would be a prime example.

Not heavily restricted. You just have to do something to earn the right to vote. ANYONE can do so, if they choose, which is not true of any democracy in all of history. Voting priveleges to date have always been restricted purely arbitrarily by conditions of birth.

As I recall there was one person executed in the book. He was in basic, ran away (which was stupid, you can ask for a discharge any time you want to with the caveat that you can't re-enter the service), raped and murdered a little girl, had a trial, was convicted and sentenced to death, they looked him up and found out that he was a run away from basic, meaning he was the M.I.s responsibility, so they sent him back for execution to be carried out by the military. Did you even read the book? Do you guys know what fasicsm is?

If you're referring to the guy who got whipped, which is was a standard punishment in that culture since they didn't have prison, he struck a superior officer in the line of duty, had an official field court martial following established procedures which are carbon copies of what was true when Heinlein was in the real military, received his punishment and got dishonorably discharged. Court Martial = military trial, incidentally. No one, in the entire book, was lawfully punished without benefit of a trial.

[Leid]

I picked up "Neuromancer" this weekend and just finished it today at work. I really enjoyed it. A couple posts on the first page said that Gibson's work greatly declines from there on. Is that true? I hope not =/

[stehle]

Originally Posted by Leid

I picked up "Neuromancer" this weekend and just finished it today at work. I really enjoyed it. A couple posts on the first page said that Gibson's work greatly declines from there on. Is that true? I hope not =/

I found Gibson's other books didn't have that edge which sucked me into "Neuromancer". I am not sure exactly what I didn't like but generally speaking the storylines were not nearly as compelling as "Neuromancer". Normally I really like technology driven sci fi (i.e. hard sci fi), but I often found myself ambivelent about the technology. "Virtual Light" is a good example of this ambivelence. A courier steals a pair of goggles that allows the wearer to see streams of data (or something of the like, it has been awhile...). I can see the value of said object in the context of the book, but a whole plotline focused on this object just didn't strike me as a good read.

[Bazael]

The way the whole Neuromancer trilogy ends... was just lame. I was let down to say the least.

I'm reading Foundation right now, So far it's lightyears better than reading Willian Gibson's stuff. I think Gibson had some really great stories, but his writing style made the books a chore to read.

I'll definitly be picking up more Isaac Asimov though.

[Teger]

A Mote in God's Eye and its sequel The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are amazing. If you like these books definitely look up The Price as a prequel.

I'm a big fan of Vernor Vinge too, but his books can be rather dense for someone who isn't that into scifi, especially A Fire Upon the Deep. I still think his description of 'zones' in space is one of the coolest things ever. I still can't stand the fucking message log transcript bullshit though =/

[Lusiphur]

Richard Morgan is a must (friend of mine goes climbing with him). Also check out Charles Stross and Ken MacLeod for some good stuff too.

TBH its kind of a hard question to answer without knowing what you like, space opera, cyberpunk, near future speculations etc.