From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@messagenet.com)
Date: Wed Apr 23 2003 - 00:57:32 MDT
jubungalord@hotmail.com writes:
> I'll like a very diverse list as
> possible. I read a couple hours a day so list as many as you would like.
My favorites for ultratech combined with high adventure, moral choices,
and pure inspirational aesthetics would be the aforementioned Vinge
books _A Fire Upon the Deep_ and the sequel _A Deepness in the Sky_,
along with Greg Bear's _Anvil of Stars_, _Blood Music_, and Bruce
Sterling's _Schismatrix Plus_. Vinge's _Across Realtime_ is also very
good but difficult to find but all the others should be widely
available. The Sterling book is every bit as cyberpunk as William
Gibson's _Neuromancer_ though with a considerably more expansive vision
and scope. _Anvil_ is the iffiest in the above list, though may make the
best movie (with _Deepness_ making the best game). All imho of course.
Getting weirder, almost any Philip K Dick book will provide a few hours
of quick and readable entertainment, with some really wacky ideas.
I used to re-read Shea & Wilson's _Illuminatus!_ trilogy every year or
so as a method of clearing out crap in my brain. A cleansing experience
to be sure. Wilson's Schrodinger's Cat trilogy is in some ways even
better but impossible to find (the available single-volume abortion
being less than half the original).
I recently read the new William Gibson novel _Pattern Recognition_, and
enjoyed it more than anything of his since _Neuromancer_. Hardcover only
though.
I have a very low tolerance for crappy books and will toss a so-so book
immediately upon some glaring inconsistency. Like you I read mostly
nonfiction (O'Reilly manuals mostly, geez...)
HTH,
-Mike
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