Posted on 06/07/2009 11:29:27 PM PDT by Jotmo
Maybe I missed it in the responses, but in this age of survival prep, Niven and Pournelle's "Lucifer's Hammer" is one helluva ride!
I highly recommend it!
I liked some of David Brin’s books. “Startide Rising”, its prequel “Sundiver”, and the Uplift series really kept me waiting for more. “The Practice Effect” didn’t really catch on to me. IIRC it was reverse entropy. Something had to be used often to become perfect. A crude tool would become better if used over and over. Poor people could earn a living by “practicing” items (including clothes) for wealthy clients.
I think that’s Oblahblah’s plan for the mints. If he runs them long enough they’ll make the perfect dollar. In his eyes that means one worth nothing.
I have especially enjoyed Orson Scott Card, Greg Bear and Vernor Vinge. I have read a lot of books that were not worth the time, but most of my reading has been very enjoyable.
Oddly enough, when our family was compiling a list of books for a desert island (long, long car trip), I decided that the Orion series of pulp science fiction by Ben Bova as the one series I would take.
I still haven't read Haldeman’s The Forever War, but I generally love science fiction in a positive military setting.
KevinDavis, please add both of us to the sci-fi ping list.
Michael Flynn’s Eifelheim reminds me of A Canticle for Liebowitz. He presents a “First Contact” event in a medieval German village where a budding natural philosopher priest-in-hiding tries to fit the alien knowledge into the “cutting edge” Western science or proto-science. It’s an excellent way to pick up history of science during a good read.
Ping to a new thread/ping list.
We had an exchange about “Starship Troopers” some time ago. Sorry if this is a duplicate ping but I think Johnny Rico would have done the same thing.
Asking me to choose my favorite books is like asking me to choose a favorite child...
However, I will try to list a few of my favorites here:
Anthologies:
Worlds of Maybe - Ed. By Robert Silverberg, the book that got me started on Science Fiction. Years after reading it in a library I was able to track down a couple of used paperbacks, one of which is the pride of my library.
Any other Silverberg anthology, or Asimov/Greenberg/Waugh anthologies.
Galactic Empires - ed. by Brian Aldiss, awesome
Any good collection of time travel or alternate universe stories.
Novels
“The High Crusade” by Poul Anderson, or anything else he wrote. Great writing and not politically correct.
Heinlein, All the juvies, and most of his “adult” stuff
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, most anything
The Foundation Trilogy, by Asimov
Most of Harry Turtledoves shorter alternate universe novels, though I tired of the seemingly endless Worldwar and alternate civil war series.
Tom Clancy (not Scifi, but good)
Too many good titles in my basement office that I have yet to read. I haven’t yet gotten into fantasy or general fiction. Having kids really bites into my book reading time.
I could go on, but we don’t have the space to list the contents of 6+ bookshelves packed with hard cover and paperback books...
Please don’t hurt me...but I’ve read every novel published by Games Workshop for their Warhammer 40k line...and I enjoy Dan Abnett’s books a LOT...especially his Gaunt’s Ghost series.
Also, does the Horseclan Series by Robert Adams count as Sci-Fi since it’s set in Post Apoclyptic Earth...it’s probably more fantasy, I would imagine.
Finally, I remember reading a series of books back in the mid ‘80’s...a slave hid a knife his arm and became an assasin...does this ring a bell for anyone?
I’ve been reading Sci-Fi since I was very young. Started on Heinlein’s “Young Adult” books (actually a series he wrote for Boys Life magazine (Farmer in the Sky, Red Planet, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel). Read E.R Burroughs Mars and Venus series, which were excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed Keith Laumer. His Retief series was always a fun read, his other stuff, was very good sci-fi. Discovered Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven when I bought my Dad (a hardcore Sci-Fi fan) The Legacy of Heorot. I challenge anyone to find a better “lets settle a different planet” book. Also, they wrote the Sparta (Falkenburg’s Legion) series, and “The Mote in Gods Eye”, which Heinlein said was the best science fiction novel he had ever read. S.M. Stirling is incredible, and has a series going “The Change” that may be one of the best post-apocalyptic series I’ve ever read. David Drake is very good. His Hammers Slammers is excellent Military Sci-Fi, and his fantasy series is pretty good, although I’m not a huge fan of fantasy. Drakes space opera series around the RCN is very good. John Ringo & Eric Flint are pretty good, and blend some quirky humor in their books. William C. Dietz is another very good writer, with his Foreign Legion series. I like Harry Turtledove, but his best stuff is his primarily alternate history’s.
I read other stuff, action, drama, non-fiction, but I always have to go back to my sci-fi.
Pleas add me to the Ping List
That would be “Sten”. I read the first one, I didn’t know it was a series. I’ll have to get a hold of those.
Excellent, excellent book. Terrific author, although I thought this was his best work and I have many of his books. There is a sequel which he wrote years later, “Forever Peace,” although it wasn’t quite as good as “The Forever War.”
Well, Acquinas fan, Flynn is a Catholic writer. Someone pointed out once that it's pretty hard to write about believable characters if you don't believe they have souls! The most memorable line from that novel: "Yes, it's a small thing. But faithfulness in small things is a great thing."
A rare gem is Cordwainer Smith. A diplomat's son who grew up in China and Europe (Sun Yet Sun was his godfather), "Smith" was actually Paul Lineberger, a high-church Anglican who literally wrote the book on Psychological Warfare (He gets a respectful nod, along with Paul Galouye's Simulacron III in this blog entry.) The most memorable and poignant short story I ever read was by Cordwainer Smith -- Alpha Ralpha Boulevard. In his day job, Lineberger saved the lives of thousands during the Korean War with a propaganda leaflet dropped on the Chinese armies. He instructed them to approach an American soldier, and declaim a specific sequence of patriotic Chinese words. Do this, and you will be received with honor, and treated well. The Chinese gent saved face. The American ear thought it heard the English phrase "I surrender!"
Finally, as a reproach upon us fundamentalist Protestants, the only top-tier writer who handles Christian themes unapologeticaly is the Mormon novelst O. S. Card. His "Return to Earth" series is a retelling of the Book of Mormon. It begins with a group of pilgrims who have an affectionate and devout relationship with -- a deteriorating man-made deity.
“Lucifer’s Hammer” is one Helluva ride”.
I agree. I re-read it a couple of month ago. Before that, it was over ten years since I’ve read it. I’ve read it at least three times and still enjoy it.
>>> “The High Crusade” by Poul Anderson, or anything else he wrote. Great writing and not politically correct. <<<
Ever read Andersen’s _No Truce with KIngs_? Also definitely NOT PC.
Thanks for the ping! “Starship Troopers” is my favorite, not so much for its Sci Fi gee-whiz, but for its truly excellent view on what it is to serve in the military, how personal responsibility plays into the larger society, and how the mindset develops during the process of going from civilian to soldier. I give a copy to everybody I know who’s entering one of the service academies or headed for basic training or officer training.
Colonel, USAFR
ping for home
I think the Founders would be more comfortable with that society than what Oblahblah is trying to impose on us. At least in “Starship” there was some commitment required by citizens. Today the tyranny of the majority is being imposed by those that don’t contribute to society.
Please add me to your ping list.
Very seldom because rarely buy a SF book without knowing something about the author. Someone gave me a Kim Stanley Robinson book for Christmas a few years ago. I tossed it out without even starting to read it.
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