I need more books!

get a spellchecker and dictionary too.....

before you go "odering" some more "Sourcery" !!!

Sorry.

Had to.

:D

GG

the original Dracua. A very strange aproach to writing a story, and it was the first time I had ever read it dispite having seen dozens of vampire shows. (some good, many not quite so good).

Will have to go back through the pile and see if there was anything worth mentioning or not. For the most part, I am just going to hop on your coat tails to make my own list.

Carry on my good man, carry on! :D

The story of William Sears. Brilliantly hilarious book.

Or Maybe Just For Fun ...story of the birth of Linux by Linus Torvalds

]:)

try Keith Laumer's Bolo series.
if you like the idea of AI powered super tanks.
and war stories.

a Single Bolo, in the latter series of them [ Mark 25 and higher ], was capable of destroying all life on a planet.
all under the control of an artificial intelligence.

Gordon Dickson's Future History, better known as the Dorsai Novels.

For an examination of how war damages the human spirit, David Drake's books are a good read.

Piers Anthonys ORN, Omnivore and OX trilogy is an odd read. Mute looks at how society treats those that are "different". [ or was Mute by Poul Anderson ]

Poul Anderson's Gateway series is an entertaining read.

The Dream of Eagles Series from Jack Whyte, I think I mentioned it last time. It tries to take the Arthurian legends and make them fit "real history". Its starts at the end of Roman Britain. I'm currently on one of the followup books "Clothar the Frank" which is about the Lancelot story.

James

I need some good fiction covering anything pre- the Revolution up to and just beyond the Civil War as I've not read much fiction covering that era. I prefer current authors, though, as I have problems with styles contemporary to the history.

(I hate Dickens)

There are four in the series. We don't get the future "Internet living" until the last two but you should read them all. The first one was written in 1977 so some of the future projections are a bit off the mark but it won - and correctly so - awards for that year.

Neil :D

.
Global Warming and Global Politics (Environmental Politics), by M. PATERSON

Global Warming and Other Eco Myths: How the Environmental Movement Uses False Science to Scare Us to Death, by Ronald Bailey

Earth Report 2000: Revisiting the True State of the Planet, by Ronald Bailey

Ecoscam: The False Prophets of Ecological Apocalypse, by Ronald Bailey

The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World, by Bjorn Lomborg

Global Crises, Global Solutions, by Bjorn Lomborg

Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists, by Peter Huber

Meltdown : The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media, by Patrick J. Michaels

Hot Talk Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate, by S. Fred Singer

The Satanic Gases, Clearing the Air about Global Warming, by Patrick J. Michaels

Taken By Storm: The Troubled Science, Policy and Politics of Global Warming, by Christopher Essex, Ross McKitrick

Global Warming - Myth or Reality? : The Erring Ways of Climatology, by Marcel Leroux

Global Warming: The Truth Behind the Myth, by Michael L. Parsons

Bad Weather: Misconceptions and Myths Revealed, from Ball Lightning to Global Warming, by Richard M. Todaro

Is the Temperature Rising? The Uncertain Science of Global Warming, by S. George Philander

By Katherine Kurtz. Excellent series but a little hard to find now and then. A modern spirtitualist of many past lives battles evil in modern society. Its enough to make most conservatives wretch in dire pain. Recommended many times to many people.

Now, back to reading some of these other recommendations - which I am enjoying very much! Great thread. Thanks!

- beads

The Sword of truth series: Wizards first rule through Chainfire. Just remember to read them in order. Pillars of Creation isn't bad. It just comes after Faith of the Fallen...

I even got my wife and 20's daughter to read them... Since my wife had already dressed in red leather, she really appreciated it.

Non-Fiction:The soul of the New Machine. For fantasy try the Dragon Prince series. It is actually a different view and political,as well as social commentary. The second three books of the series, have a different, less pleasant flavor.
I would then try a little Space Opera:Midshipman's Hope: the Seafort series, and last but not least,
Springer's book on Tensor Calculus I am not 100% sure this doesn't belong with the other fiction here...

Gore was, is a lying politico. He was poor at his predictions. He also is given a pass by so many people who don't realize he is a nutcase...

Most of what Max has posted here does fall into what I would refer to as 'Modern Fiction'.

Just show me the way to stop sending money to the Middle East in the form of the national gas tank and I'll be happy. Non-fiction only, please. ;)

- beads

by me: poetry, philosophy, politics. Slightly cheaper at B & N than at Amazon.

Greg Bear's Eon and Eternity
For light but enjoyable read
David Weber's Honor Harrington books
David Weber & John Ringo's March Trilogy (March Upcountry

David Feintuch's Hope series (sort of Hornblower in space)

Allen Steele's Coyote trilogy
Tad Williams, Start with The Dragonbone Chair

Eric Frank Russell's Men, Martians and Machines
Walter Jon Williams Ambassador's Progress
A.E. Van Vogt's Null-A books. Old but very good.

Not to everyone's taste Samuel R Delaney's Dhalgren. Warning the 'hero' is a bi-sexual manic depressive amnesiac. So don't read it if the other side of the street gives you the heebies. Queer, but a true master of prose.

Buzz Aldrin's Encounter With Tiber
Yes the Buzz Aldrin, very good hard SF book

Steven Erikson's Malazan Books of the Fallen. (Starts with Gardens of the Moon) This is a guy who Mr Donaldson reads by the way.

Lois McMaster Bujold's Curse Of Challion, Paladin Of Souls. Easily back to her best with these.

Charles Sheffield, start with Proteus, not the member for god.

As much as I enjoyed the Land and the Gap, I still think Mordant's Need is the best thing he's written.

Tell me what you think of the Kushiel trilogy. I've never read anything like it.

I review books on the side, and I am probably the only person who despises Jordan's writing...

I burn through a Goodkind book in three-four hours.I'd try to read them slower to enjoy them, but they all are too good except Pillars of Creation...

I have to remind myself I am getting paid to read Jordan. Perhaps it is that Jordan pulled stuff from Goodkind, or they independently come up with similar ideals.

Neil: try the L.E. Modestit Recluse series...

Tim

If you have not tried www.baen.com/library you should. There are almost 100 SF books you can download free. Got paper? Not to mention TONS
of books you can purchase.

Neil,
Let me give you 3 suggestions for hard fantasy, and I hope for your sake you haven't already read them (I wish I could read them again for the first time):

The "Elric of Melnibone" series by Michael Moorcock,
the "Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser" series by Fritz Leiber, and the "Book of Lost Swords" series by Fred Saberhagen.

Join me on my quest to read the works of C.S. Lewis.

I'm also reading "Leading with the Heart" by Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K).

My 3 favorite authors:

James P. Hogan. A physicist who makes sure his stories don't require much suspension of disbelief. "Code of the Lifemaker" is my all-time favorite, about encountering a world populated by machines who find it easy to create organic matter artificially. They think WE are robots left over from a dead civilization of machines. All his books are intriguing and based on solid science.

Robert L. Forward (r.i.p.). Another scientist, this one specializes in speculating on what kind of life would arise in very un-earthlike environments.

Alan Dean Foster. A good yarn spinner. His sci fi is entertaining and he has the rare knack for crafting a good ending. "Midworld" is a classic that gets grudging respect from the mainstream. His fantasies are more light hearted and full of humor. The "Spellsinger" series about a law student trapped in a parallel universe where animals talk and magic is real is a riot. "Kingdoms of Light and Darkness" is a more sober tale of the battle between good and evil, but it's still full of fun, and the protagonists are the talking familiars of a dead wizard who have to carry on his mission; it would be particularly appealing to a dog lover.

If you enjoyed "Clan of the Cave Bear" there are about five sequels and they're just as good.

Try a mainstream novel by a Nobel winner: "Henderson the Rain King" by Saul Bellow. My wife, with an M.A. in English, turned me on to this knowing that I don't have much patience with traditional novels. It's wonderful. Lots of fun but full of drama.

I didn't discover "Winnie the Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" until I was in my 30s. I'm glad I did. The message is that there's a child in each of us. That child will love these books.

...I enjoyed the book "A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant".

By the very nature of book, it is not possible for the author to dwell deep into any one of the World philosophies. But, he does scractch the tip of the iceberg, and he does it well. It has a tendency to leave one with an urge to know more about each of the philosophies.

H.G. Wells and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (think Sherlock Holmes) are masterful writers. The Invisible Man is another great read from H.G. Wells.

My favorite book is Manage IT As A Business.

One of my all-time heroes is Albert Schweitzer. He is mostly known only in his role as the jungle doctor.

But there were so many other facets to his life.

His autobiography:

"Out of my Life and Thought."

My nephew, Alexander, aged 31, never ceases to amaze me. [He is a Unix Systems Administrator]

I didn't hear from him much for quite a while, and then he emailed me the document he had been compiling -- a list of ALL plays that could be read or downloaded free from the Internet. The size of the list was mind-boggling. He intends to set it up as a free resource, and is working on making it self-updating.

Well if that wasn't enough, last night he told me of his New Year's resolution. Quite a modest goal, really -- to read every play that has ever been written.

"Well, my plan is to start with the ancient Greeks and move on from there.
I've already read about 30 plays since the beginning of the year. So far Aristophanes is my favourite."

We are an Auctions Company in Michigan near Traverse City. We often auction books of large amounts during the summer and in smaller amounts duing the year. There is old books 1800's-1900's we ven dig Barnard books out of the metro area and sold them new still in the boxed cases.
anyway to visit our website aaauctionservicetwl.com if you want updates when we have the auctions or just to talk with more detail my email is twlaaas@aaauctionservicetwl.com

I'm not going to suggest any books for you until we get an idea of your interests.

When I retired, last year, I started reading. Basically, I read fiction for the first 8 months. The way I chose the books was to examine the best-seller lists and choose from them. I also have a list of good authors in mind.

Beginning in August, I switched to non-fiction related to aviation history because I entered the program to become a docent (tour guide) at the Udvar-Hazy Center (located near Dulles Airport in VA.)

My methodology is to look first in the local library...I can examine the collections on line and even order on-line. When the book is available, I go to the library to pick it up. They can even use the Inter-Library Loan program to get books that are not in their collection.

If you do much reading, using the library is much more cost-effective.

Stephen King has always been my favorite author, which is why I picked up the first book in the Dark Tower series "The Gunslinger". In the Epilogue of The Gunslinger, he tells you that there are 7 books, but he's not sure if he can finish them all. This was shear torture for me and millions of other fans of the series, which was started in 1982/3. Rest assured, he just finished the last one in 2005.

This series in NOTHING like the Stephen King we all know and love. :-) However, there are references to the Dark Tower characters and events in at least 15 of his other books including classics such as "The Stand" and "Salems Lot".

This story is more Sci-Fi meets old west and weaves in and out of modern day. These are by far the best books he's ever written.

Trust me....if you pick up this first book, you will not be able to put it down and will spend the following 7 weeks as part of Rowland's ka-tet.

Thankee-sai.

Rhonda

Nobody seems to have thought of these two unusual and classic geek books, true stories but written as novels:

The Cuckoos Egg, Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage - Clifford Stoll
(Stoll was systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab when a 75-cent accounting error alerted him to the presence of an unauthorized user on his system. He began a one-man hunt of his own, spying on the spy, this is his wild and suspenseful true story, a year of deception, broken codes, satellites, missile bases, and the ultimate sting operation).

The Newtonian Casino - Thomas Bass
(The true story of how a group of young physicists and computer scientists developed a computer to predict the results of roulette. They then smuggled the device into the casinos of Las Vegas, hidden in the soles of their shoes).

Both a little out-of-date in the fast moving world of computers, but cracking reads never-the-less.

1. My favourite fiction is - political election promises.

2. My favorite reading, once I get beyond the Cambell era SciFi authors like Niven, Azimov and Heinlein are

Ann McCaffery - all her stuff Pern Dragons, Brain and Brawn ships, Freedom Series, Tower and Hive, the lot

Dick Webber - The Honour Harrington series is marvellous, go to the Baen website and you can download a copy of the first book in the series for free to give it a try, then go out and buy all the series - most people do. That's why the freebie - get you hooked.

Elizabeth Moon - The Serano series is is nice light reading.

I also love the historical mystery novels by Peter Tremayne, Ellis Peters, and Lindsay Davis.

Grisham's novels are good to - The Firm, Pelican Brief, Runnaway Jury, etc - every one I have read is good.

Harry Potter is nice light reading too. Some of the later books may be heavy to carry but they are still light weight material, just lots of pages in each book.

I am Australian and have not found any Aussie writers that I can really recommend. Most of those that make the best seller list are in the romance novel or historical romance novel groups. Paul Jennings is starting to get a good rep but that is mainly aimed at older teens - don't know how that will go with you.

Oh, and Enid Blyton does some nice light reading as well, lol.

BTW I am trying my hand at writing at the moment and anyone who wants to read my first short story, and possibly comment on it for me, can email me at ernest@bywater.net.au and I will send a copy of the 18 KB .rtf file.

If you want something light, "Skinny Dip" by Carl Hiaasen is one of the funniest you'll ever read.

City of Golden Shadow (Otherland, Volume 1)
River of Blue Fire (Otherland, Volume 2)
Mountain of Black Glass (Otherland, Volume 3)
Sea of Silver Light (Otherland, Book 4)
by Tad Williams

Neuromancer (Remembering Tomorrow), by William Gibson

Count Zero, by William Gibson

The Great Book of Amber : The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (Chronicles of Amber) by Roger Zelazny

Snow Crash, by Neil Stephenson

Altered Carbon, Richard Morgan

Mind Players, by Pat Cadigan

The Player of Games, Iain Banks

I would recommend anything by R.A. Salvatore. A friend gave me one of his books, and now I have 10. Once he pulls you in to one of his books you are his. Warning nothing will get done around the house til you are done.

Robert Jordan the entire 'Wheel of Time', David Eddings 'Belgarion', 'Mallorean', Clancy anything pre 'Sum of all Fears' and 'Rainbow Six'. Stephen King anything before 'The Dark Half', this one and Clancy are getting to wordy now.

PaperBackSwap.com...trade books with other members

The first in my listing isn't my favorite but I think that for us in the IT field it might represent something of a religious IT relic of some sort. The 'Neuromancer' by William Gibson was released early 1984. It blew my mind to read this. William Gibson had foreseen so much of what has become reality. The 'Neuromancer' is an absolute read for anyone who has a passion for their field.

Now that's said here are some of my favorites:

Books by Stanislas Lem a very prolefic author, you might want to start with 'Eden' or 'Solaris';

As for Isaac Asimov, one of the three god fathers of Sci-Fi, I don't know where to start. (side note: Asimov invented the word Robotics) 'Bicentennial Man', 'iRobot', the 'Foundation Series' trilogy. and numerous brilliant short stories.

Anything written by Robert Heinlein, start with
'Stranger in a Strange Land'

Anything written by Michael Moorcock, I'd start with the Elric or the Korum series.

Anne Mccaffrey's 'Dragons of Pern' series

The original Dragonlance series started by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Trust me on this one, it's some of the best fiction to come out of TSR's dungeons. The first in the series is called 'Dragrons of the Autumn Twilight'. I read 30 or so books of the series and only one or two didn't hook me.

The Robert Lundrum series of 'Bourne', if you've only seen the movies, don't worry the story line and plots in the book are 80% different.

'The Broker' by John Grisham.

'The Bridge over the River Kwai' by Pierre Boule

'Blade Runner aka Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' by Philip K. Dick

'The Eye of the World' (The Wheel of Time, Book 1) by Robert Jordan

Project Gutenburg has assembled 17,000 free ebooks available online without copyright impediments. From DaVinci to H G Wells, they have the most fascinating stories by the best autors of all time. These are the stories that define our Culture. Some txt, some Html, some audio, or all three. Pop the best 100 collection into your computer to read (or listen) on the train, unless like Kirk you just love the message of the paper itself, and do not get off the train at Willoghby!

Fin-de-Siecle (end of the 19th century) books have great sci-fi themes, esp. for techies: man often misuses, overestimates, or overly depends on the powers of science and superior technology, only to suffer the consequences.

Site: www.gutenberg.org/

Top 100: http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top

? Frankenstein, M Shelly: Unlike the cheesy movies, brilliant scientist treads in the domain of God, creates Life, only to be driven to destruction. Who is the "monster" really: Dr Frankenstein, his Creation, man's idolatry of technology, or technology itself (leading to man's eventual doom)?

? Heart of Darkness, J Conrad: An army of "businessmen" working for King William II infiltrate and take the Afrian Congo, but the raw nature of the Congo overwhelms the greatest "civilization" and technology on earth.

? The Time Machine, H G Wells: Two stories in one. Scientists creates Time Machine, meets girl, looses girl, saves girl, and .... Also finds that in the future there are two races of mankind. The Eloi have everything they need, no labor, all play and leisure, and stunning beauty, thanks to thechnology and machines kept running by the ugly Morlocks. Shocking end!

? Pride and Prejudice, J Austen: Here, civilization is technology, the method of mating, breeding,and controlling every aspect of fine upstanding British Empire, until it is overcome by man's most basic need.

-MAC

I'm using my husband's account to post--I'm a librarian and SF/fantasy fan so he asked me to help you out.
You mentioned a while ago you're not familiar with Canadian & Australian authors so I'll start there..

From Canada: Since you like hard SF I'd recommend Robert J Sawyer. For wonderful urban fantasy definitely try Charles de Lint, who weaves in Celtic, Native and African magic in along with plenty on music (he's also a folk musician). If you like Pratchett (and bad puns with your SF) there's transplanted Yank Oh Damn, he wrote the Callahan books, can't remember his name...(Just tried Amazon)--he's Spider Robinson.

My favorite Australian author, who writes teen fantasy but sophisticated enough for grownups is Garth Nix.

As for Americans, most of my friends who like Lois McMaster Bujold (you must read Curse of Chalion and her other Chalion-world fantasies!) also like Kage Baker's stories of immortals created to "save" items throughout history, starting with "In the Garden of Iden," which has only 1 or 2 books to go in the series so you won't have to suffer as long as the rest of us have. Also her fantasy (only novel so far is "Anvil of the World")

I'm guessing you don't mind reading teen-level books (most SF fans don't)--if you haven't read Pullman's His Dark Materials series yet it's excellent. Also try Diane Duane's Wizardry series, starting with So You Want to Be a Wizard?
If you want more graphic novels to read Hayao Miyazaki's "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind" (which is a complete series!) is excellent SF with an ecological theme and beautiful watercolor-style art. (If the name sounds familiar it's because he directed the films Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, etc.) There's other SF and fantasy manga (Japanese graphic novels) too but that's one of the best plot- and characterization-wise.

My best friend who likes hard SF more than I do would recommend Vernor Vinge, Charles Sheffield and Michael Flynn.

Lastly, if you haven't read Ursula K. LeGuin, I can't recommend her highly enough and neither can thousands of SF/Fantasy fans. She writes character- and social-milieu-driven (rather than tech-driven) novels and short stories, and is quite feminist and socially liberal, especially in her later novels. I'd recommend either "The Dispossessed" or "The Left Hand of Darkness" for a first try.

I can't resist ending with this...if you aren't doing this already, you could save yourself some money by trying your local library before shopping at Amazon...

Enjoy!
Beth Jenkins Chandler
Yank Librarian, official Equipment/Computer Person at my branch (so I am a bit of a techie!)

Neil have you tried The Second Son by Charles Sailor. Maybe the Ring World Series or go back farther to the John Carter of Mars, etc.
Good reading to you.

Hi,
I created this website for the mystery bookseller Murder by the Book in Denver, Colorado:
http://www.murderbythebook.com

It lists favorites of many site users and the newsletters contain reviews of mystery books.

Good luck in your search,
--
Michael Cordova
21st Century Technologies, Inc.
http://www.21stsoft.com
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clark, The Lost Worlds of 2001
-------------------------------------------

Mind opener.

If you have not read "A Hymn Before Battle" by John Ringo you are missing out. Quite frankly its probably the best military sci-fi novel to appear in 20 or more years. Likwise the stars at war series by David Weber is excellent. In this series you especially should check out "In Death Ground" and "The Shiva Option." David Weber also pens the Honor Harrington series which is more political and has a slightly different reader demographic, but still maintains quite a bit of action. Hunt's series that starts with the "Dark Wing" is intrigueing but is kinda B5ish in that you never have all the answers...so pick up the next book, etc. Hamilton wrote the excellent Fallen Dragon which I think alienated some of his fans but will actually stand as one of his best works. It starts as one thing and becomes something else entirely.

Now...howzabout the legends...
If you have not read Dune...no matter who you are or where you are from you are missing out on one of the greatest philosophical works ever written. Yes, its fiction, but it elevated Sci-Fi from spaceships and robots to high thought and introspection. In fact, because of most of its religious and political themes its required reading in many, many, seminiaries.

And in a similiar way Alastair Reynolds reinvented Sci-Fi for the 21st century by incorporating ideas from William Gibson and others into traditional space opera to create something entirely new. Revelation Space, Chasm City, and Redemption Ark are wonderfully great works that reimagine Sci-Fi in light of the science of the last decade.

If you haven't read them you might want to conside "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" and "Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy."

The Illuminatus! Trilogy: A conspiracy theorist's wet dream dealing with the war between the Illuminati and the followers of Eris. Covers everything from the fall of Atlantis to the Kennedy assasination to the pyramid on the dollar bill.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440539811/ref=pd_bxgy_img_b/103-5739375-4258219?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Scrodinger's Cat Trilogy: A look at quantum theory and quantum psychology. Covers the lives of a handful of more minor characters from Illuminatus in a few parallel realities.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440500702/qid=1140280163/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-5739375-4258219?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Both have some fairly heavy drug references (more in Illuminatus! than Schrodinger's Cat), so if you find that offensive you may want to pass on them.

Neil,

If you have not read the Helmsman series, you have missed a great 7 books. The basic story line is a space opera/epic that follows the career or Wilf Brim, and parallels European history from 1910 to WW2, but across a galaxy. The author is a retired NASA/military engineer, ill (Merle) Baldwin, and is paperback from the 90's and the frst two were re-edited and reissued in the US by Timberwolf Books. Timberwolf was supposed to do all of them but has apparently imploded, and stalled on the third, as well as release of some more that were to carry the story further. The Other author is David Weber and Steve White and their "Starfire Universe" 4 or 5 books of great space epic naval battles, found through Baens Books. The Baen web site is a great place for sci-fi fantasy authors as that is all they do, and they do it well. Too bad the Helmsman was hung out to dry

Hi Neil,

I rarely respond to messages like this, but when I saw we are kindred spirits about Stephen Donaldson, I thought I should let you know a few of my favorites and recent good reads. Some you may have read, but here you go:

Elizabeth Haydon's "Symphony of Ages" series--now up to six volumes, I think. All imaginative and beautifully written. Rhapsody is an interesting and nicely-developed heroine, and the story line is fresh in all of the volumes, like Donaldson's. The first three in the series are Rhapsody, Prophecy and Destiny. She's not a whiner like Thomas Covenant. :)

Larry Niven's "The Integral Trees". It's a classic, and a beautifully developed idea of how a human world might evolve without gravity. It's part of a series, but this one was the best, and stands alone well.

Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" (First in the Sword of Truth series). I would assume you have read some of his books. Readers love him or hate him, and I was able to get emotionally involved with his struggle for "true love". A male friend recommended this one to me, saying it was the best he had read.

For non-fantasy fiction and other "good reads" I recommend these:

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" by Mark Haddon. It is a very intriguing and well crafted book about an autistic boy, with the story told from his point of view.

"A Thousand Days in Tuscany" by Marlena DeBlasi. It's like taking a vacation without leaving home and will leave you craving asiago, grana and parmesan! (Unless it's too much from the female point of view for you)

"The Red Queen" by Margaret Drabble. A two-track novel where a modern academic who is changed by the experience of reading the history of an 18th century Korean crown princess who ruled through the men of her time. The historical sections are particularly haunting.

Update to add this: How could I have forgotten one of my favorite books...Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card? A young boy with special abilities in a futuristic setting is the focus of a galactic epic. Anyone who is a multiplayer gamer will especially enjoy this, and of all the "Ender" series, it's the best.

Enjoy!

I have read a couple of books by Neal Stephenson and have thoroughly enjoyed them. In particular, Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon were both a lot of fun, spun a good tale, and had some connection to computer technology too!

Check out
"Blind Traveler Down a Dark River"
by Robert P. Bennett.

This sci-fi mystery takes you into the life of an everyday guy who happens to be blind and makes his way through the world using a device which feeds him sounds identifying his location and objects around him. One day a problem with the system causes it to describe what's going on a few blocks away. Now it's not magic - describing a scene with sound is not like seeing so of course the details are fuzzy and initially it's just confusing. Gradually though he realizes he has witnessed a murder. The police don't believe him ( a blind man who claims to witness a murder when he was't even there ), so he needs to investigate himself.

I think you'll find this to be fun, easy reading and very interesting. The technology is actual real technology currently in prototype use
see - http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/pgs/main.htm
The story is well researched and gives a good sense about what it may be like to be a blind man in a sighted world - as well as both the benefits and the limitations of technology which may be just around the corner.

This is the author's first novel, but he has written articles frequently for newspapers and magazines often focused on disability issues, people who have striven despite obstacles, new technology which is available for enabling access to the world, and problems the disabled may face in living in an able bodied world.

If you are interested you can read more about the novel at
www.enablingwords.com/traveler.htm

OK - I am prejudice - I'm the author's brother, but don't let that stop you. I think you'll find "Blind Traveler Down a Dark River" a really good read.

As for getting the book in London - I think Amazon UK carries it, but you can also order a copy by mail or electronic download from the author.

William Gibson's Neuromancer is worth a re-read. I did a week ago, and was surpised how this book had everything from which grew series like Hyperion, Matrix, et. al.

I got a new perspective how concepts can *inspire* and create new authors, works, even genres without the product being necessarily a ripoff, IE, when I first read and saw the Hyperion / Matrix, it did not register why the themes were familiar, even with the open nod to Gibson in Hyperion.

In Dan Simmons Hyperion, "the original cyber-cowboy Billy Gibson" is named; the name 'The Matrix' in context was coined in Neuromancer; and the plot of Johnny Mnemonic is found in the recollection of the character Molly's who herself smells Trinity-ish although she isn't into cyberspace. Indeed, extending that line of though all the plot devices of The Matrix trilogy can be found in The Neuromancer - as with the cyber part of Hyperion.

I don't know if Gibson got his ideas elswhere and for myself I haven't heard these comparisons made before.

Enjoy! Cheers,

My first suggestion is that you visit http://www.baen.com/library/ and download a bunch of the free books they offer. Yeah - you have to use your laptop to read them. You may find that to be a worthwile tradeoff.

Baen gets a lot of my money these days because they got me hooked on the authors who wrote those free books. I now purchase most of the monthly subscriptions at http://www.webscription.net/baen/orderform.asp.

As far as books to start off with . . . Hmmm

Pyramid Scheme by Eric Flint
Rats, Bats and Vats by Eric Flint
Doc Sidhe by Aaron Allston
Lt. Leary Commanding by David Drake

Doggone it - I'm listing some of my favorite books from the free library. I'm gonna stop now - download them all and read away. Then start purchasing the monthly subscriptions. You get an awful lot of reading material for US $15.00 - 5 to 8 complete books.

One word of warning: Baen pads out some of the monthly subscriptions with books from the free library. I personally don't see that as a problem - I wouldn't be buying that months offering if I didn't like what I had already read.

One final carrot to entice . . . each of the books offered by Baen's webscription service allows reading of the first half or so of the entire book. You get a very good chance to see how the book is going before you have to purchase it.

dwayne

"the code book" by simon singh

I'm currently reading them and have quite enjoyed the first two. Here's a link to a website where you can browse a chapter of two as well as hear clips from the audio books, if you are interested in that:

http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/

Also you may want to consider as others have mentioned reading some of the classics as well.

Favorite Autor: Patrick O'Brian
Ideal Introduction: The Golden Ocean
Favorite Books: Aubrey/Maturin Series

Other Favorites:
Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Dick Francis, John D. McDonald

Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon, Vol I of Baroque Cycle, Haven't read Snow Crash but will, hear it's great

Colleen McCullough - Masters of Rome Series

J E McDonnell - based on his own life and his mates. Mostly set in WW2 is a moden day Conrad concetrates on the interactions of the people on board but plenty of action too. He started life as a teenage sailor and worked his way up through the ranks to become an officer. Most are paperbacks by Howitz Publishing and have frequently been reprinted in various editions

Raymond E. Feist is the Author
1. Riftwar saga
Magician apprentice, Magician Master, Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon
2. Riftwar legacy
Krondor the betrayal, Krondor the assasins and Krondor the tear of the gods
3. Prince of the blood and King's buccaneer
4. Serpenwar saga
Shadow of a dark queen, Rise of a merchant prince, Rage of a demon king and Shards of a broken crown
5. Conclave of shadows
Talon of the silver hawk and 2 others.

This guys is an awesome story teller and my absolute favorite author

He also wrote Faery tale and co-wrote The empire series with Janny Wurts which is a sequel to the riftwar saga from the other side of the rift.

My favorite science fiction is 'The Foundation Trilogy' all you math and probablity geeks will like this one. And, history is 'His Excellency, George Washington' best book I've ever read.

Eric Flint and David Weber have some fun reading out. Try Baen Books (www.baen.com)

This is a 4 part "trilogy" that'll blow your socks off if you like major action and major characters!! The only thing that I will say is that you MUST read the series from the begining...starting with "A Hymn Before Battle" and ending(at least for the major portion) with "Hell's Faire"! When you're done...you'll want more...you become so wrapped up with the characters that you want to run out and ask them..."What happens next??"!!

Elizabeth Moon She's been mentioned, but not the Paksenarrion trilogy - Well worth the read. I think this is her best work.
Charles de Lint. Almost anything. Start with Moonheart.
Peter Tremayne - Sister Fidelma series. In real life he is a historian specializing in dark ages ireland so the background is authentic. Oddly, his real name is Peter Ellis, & Ellis Peters wrote the Cadfael series mentioned elsewhere
Mary Stewart - the Arthurian trilogy
Tami Hoag - Gritty Detective stories
Mo Hayder - Tokyo ( based in the reality of the Nanking massacre - very disturbing. It needs to be a morning read so you have the day to get over it.)
RF Delderfield - light historical WW1-2 period
Bernard Cornwell. So far I have Gallows Thief & Grail Quest series. both gripping, but I found quite a few inaccuracies in Grail Quest
SF seems to have been covered pretty well, though I don't recall seeing Harry Harrison (Deathworld, SSRat), Fred Hoyle (Black Cloud) or Fred Pohl
Ursula Le Guin - esp. Earthsea Cycle. Some of her later books are a bit weird.
Wilbur Smith has been mentioned. I'll second the motion
Bill Shakespeare - anything at all.
I will also second Kushiel series
Tobsha Learner - Witch of Cologne
Matthew Reilly - Very light on character development & accuracy, but they rattle along. Expect to finish in one sitting.

My favorites, because they are the only ones I've ever read more than once :
1. The Godfather
2. Interview with the Vampire
3. The Thornbirds
4. Winds of War
5. War and Remembrance