Ask Lemmy

Consider Phlebas

I had been reading, mainly fantasy up until that point because of 2 less understandable sci-fi books. The feel of realism and cynisism, mixed with optimistic philosophy. I'm not a very visual reader, but that book made some awe-inspiring scenes in my head. It's just the very peak of 80s sci-fi

Harrison Bergeron is my favorite piece of US literature. Incredible short story

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

The End of Policing.

Time enough for love - Heinlein

Nor crystal tears - Foster

A world out of time - Niven

Ringworld - Niven

Sassinak - McCaffrey

The Martian - Weir

Survivor by Chuck "Fight Club" Palahniuk.

After Fight Club I went on a spree of reading this guys work. Survivor was the last of his written before the Fight Club movie made it big. It was also released a couple of years before 9/11 which killed its chance of being made into a movie.

I think it highlights how being passive in the world isn't enough to avoid doing bad things. You have to make your own choices to avoid a bad result. Interesting story structure and has some dark comedic moments too.

"What Is a Laser?"

When I saw that book in the elementary school library it was a revelation: There are books explaining the cool mysterious stuff like that! And written for kids to understand!

I think that one book is a big part of what sent me on the path to geekdom.

It wasn't technically my first nonfiction science book, which would be "Our Friend the Atom" but I wasn't old enough to actually read that when I had it (probably got destroyed before I could). I liked the pictures though.

Learning Perl, 2nd edition

Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The first book I read was "Guards, Guards" and it's still one of my favourites. I own the series and every few years I read through it again.

The Scar, China Meiville - It's an epic journey and the clear best, in my opinion, of the Bas Lag novels. It has such weight and magic to the journey. Mystery too. It's a book that leaves you feeling like you want to feel more.

The Wild Girls, Ursula K Le Guin - a tale so emotional that I was broken for two days after reading it. Couldn't bring myself to read, or really do much except think about what I'd read.
Its about a slaving raid on a village near a city state, family, love, and gender.

How to solve it by Polya.

House of Leaves. I don't know if I want to read it again, but that book was a cool experience.

All Quiet on the Western Front

Tells you everything you need to know about war. First book which made me cry. Everybody should read it.

These two changed my whole perspective on American history and the public school system, as I learned a lot of information that had been deliberately withheld from me.

• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
• A People's History of the United States

As for fiction:

• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (Beautiful and a little sad)
• The Tapestry Series by Henry Neff (Just a wonderful series to read)
• Night Shift by Stephen King (Read it way too young, in elementary school)
• The Bible (in a bad way, God is an asshole)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (A trip through my childhood, basically)
• Incidents Around the House (A scary book that touches on all our worst fears as kid)
• The Witches by Roald Dahl (Just a great kids horror book)

in no particular order:

• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
• Swallows and Amazons
• How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People
• The Wizard of Earthsea

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson.

The main character’s reflection on his past and continuation of growth really resonates with me.

Voltaire's Bastards by John Ralston Saul. It showed me how the world really works. Also The Doubter's Companion as a supplement to that.

Edit to add that after reading through all the comments, it's pleasing what a well-read community we have here.

Fear of Small Numbers, by Arjun Appadurai

Played bloody knuckles with hard copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire once in grade school, and still have a lil mark from it.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami

Everybody Poops

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm and Sam Hughes.

Anna Karenina. There's no better pshychological character study of upper class Russian culture (but at the same time, about people in general).

Atomic Habits.

As someone who is likely on the spectrum, it was like someone gifted me a user guide for life where other self-help books have either leaned a lot on the emotions of things or tried to cram all sorts of philosophy down my throat.

Lot's of common sense ideas around how to turn what, where, and who you want to be into actually achievable goals and genuinely helped me figure out who I want to be for myself and not for other people.

I wouldn't say it has any groundbreaking or radical ideas in it, but the structure and presentation of the simple ideas really helped me work out some life things for myself.

The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog.

John Darnielle's Devil House is a GREAT novel. All of his books are but it's particularly great

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.

His Dark Materials

Singularity Sky (and its sequel, Iron Sunrise)

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (a fanfiction novel that is far better than the original series)

What If (and What If 2, by Randall Munroe)

The Planiverse

The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Society After an Apocalypse

Sophie's World

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy

Definitely not the bible. That shit is unreadable.

"The Arsonist in the Office" by Pete Havel

Helped me recognize that the incredibly toxic job I was in was not sustainable.

"It's Your Ship" by D. Michael Abrashoff

Excellent book on leadership. Should be required reading for anyone who manages people.

"Psychopath Free" by Jackson MacKenzie

Most people probably have no idea what it's like to be in a relationship with someone who has a personality disorder. It can be absolute hell. It certainly was for me. This book provided some good insights but also helped me feel less alone.

There are other books but those are three big ones for me.

The technological society by Jacques Ellul. This book introduces a new way of looking at the world.

• The Gray House, Maryam Petrosyan. It's the story of a house, which is a disabled children and teenagers institution. It's weird, hard, and incredible. It's not a book for children, nor a young adult one – I mean, you can read it if you're a young adult or a late teen, but don't skip this book only because the characters are teenagers. I will reread this one.
• Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy. I read it recently because it was translated in french in 2022, but it's a book from 1976. It's a SF novel, and one of the few fictions which speaks against psychiatry. It's a feminist utopia, but the first pages are pretty hard.

Whale Done by Ken Blanchard