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wolf89 wrote:Fucking hell this thread's really taken off now. Didn't expect so much. haha

we're all current/ex geeks

parson wrote:martian chronicles is really one of the best books ever ever

it really is isnt it?

Another to mention, is Kindred by Octavia Butler.

This book was written in 1979!! So fucking good... a female named Dana goes through time travel with no real cause, except she knows it has to to with her lineage of her family tree to uncover her ancestry and where she came from, it really exploits a vivid description of the south (In the US) and slavery taking a perspective of a black woman of modernity going back in time to an extremely racist and oppressive society in Maryland. Absolutely brilliant, and argumentatively considered a great scifi work.

^^^ I read the first Dune book before starting this thread. It's what made me start the thread in fact.

I'll pip for Brain Aldiss. 'Hothouse' is fascinating and spooky.

And Ray Bradbury already mentioned is gold, 'The Illustrated Man' and 'Golden Apples Of The Sun' are classics, notwithstanding the 'Martian Chronicles'.

seriously, start with Iain M. Banks. i've read every book he's written, his stuff has it all The Algebraist (standalone) and Excession (a Culture novel) are imo the best of his sci-fi

William Gibson's Neuromancer is obviously the dog's bollocks

Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos is mind-blowing. the Shrike!

Adam Roberts is a superb writer - New Model Army, Stone and Land Of The Headless are especially good reads. very literary SF, this guys is set for big things. am about to read Yellow Blue Tibia

Neal Stephenson is just fucking amazing, especially Cryptonomicon, not really SF I suppose but a lot of his work is on the genre borderline

someone mentioned Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon. great book, heavy on the violence, tech and sex

Alastair Reynolds, Neal Asher and Ken Macleod are all well worth checking out too

then there are the classics like Brave New World (Huxley), 1984 (Orwell) and Day Of The Triffids/The Crysalids (Wyndham) all of which are fantastic but do feel old-fashioned now in comparison to some of the more contemporary stuff

oh shit and i recently read the Windup Girl by Paulo Bacigalupi... that was utterly brilliant

Philip K. Dick is a visionary but his writing depresses me

Stanislaw Lem

Just finished reading Inverted World by Christopher Priest, highly recommended for a substantial but accessible and fairly quick read.

Pretty funny and well written, very cleverly written in places.

Calculating God is a 2000 science fiction novel by Robert J. Sawyer. It takes place in the present day and describes the arrival on Earth of sentient aliens. The bulk of the novel covers the many discussions and arguments on this topic, as well as about the nature of belief, religion, and science. Calculating God received nominations for both the Hugo and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards in 2001. (wiki)

Been on a Iain Banks binge recently.

Finished Consider Phlebas and Against a Dark Background, both really good reads. About 1/4 of the way through The Player of Games that my lass got me.

I really don't like Ian Banks. I read around a book or two a week and can read any old guff but I really struggle with Banks.

Stephen Baxter lives up from my parents

I'd find it so hard to go through a book or two a week, I usually spend about 2-3 months per book.

Got other stuff I wanna do.

Two 12 hour night shifts a week gives me plenty of time to read!

Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle
Olaf Stapledon - Last & First Men

firky wrote:Two 12 hour night shifts a week gives me plenty of time to read!

Aha. Makes sense, I do most of my reading when I am on trains...which I am on for about 5 hours or so a week.

Motorway to Roswell wrote:Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle
Olaf Stapledon - Last & First Men

Papa Monzano, badman

I've been on a Clifford D Simak run lately.

Motorway to Roswell wrote:Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle
Olaf Stapledon - Last & First Men

didn't enjoy Last & First Men at all... visionary ideas but a tedious read imo

Cat's Cradle is brilliant tho

made my way through quite a lot of Neal Asher of late. The covers are embarrassing but the content is wonderful, esp. Gridlinked and The Skinner

just started China Mieville - Kracken