Must-read books

[Polaris]

Philip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner)
William Gibson - Neuromancer
Lewis Carroll - Through the Looking-Glass
Stephen Hawking - A Brief History of Time
Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene, The God Delusion
David Hodgson - Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar

 

[Tagaziel]

Process, Kafak
Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut
Clockwork Orange, Burgess
Dune, Herbert

 

[Crushenator 500]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values - Robert M. Pirsig

Kingdom of Fear : Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century - Hunter S. Thompson

 

[Darkside55]

Darkside, I lol'd at the Wheel of Time bit, after the fifth or so book I gave up on it

I gave up at Eye of the World. I finished it and I held it in my hand, and I said, "If I didn't love books so much, I'd burn you."

Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment is essential), Soltzhenitsyn (short stories are best IMO, Ivan Denisovitch...)

Listen to this man and read both of these books. Ivan Denisovitch was required reading for a western civilization course I took; I'm immensely glad of it because I don't think I would've found that book otherwise. Among all the books I have from college, only that one made it into my personal library.

And Crime and Punishment, well, nothing needs to be said of that one. Go read it.

Ayn Rand everyone should read to know what a colossal ****head she is. Atlas Shrugged is like hiking to the top of a mountain that's been converted into a concentration camp (that is, not a fun walk, nor short)

You ever watch that old Southpark episode where Officer Barbrady learns to read? He's really happy about it until he reads Atlas Shrugged, at which point he decides he hates all books and gives up reading.

 

[QuantumFireball]

The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King, only finished the first two books so far but so far they are amazing...

 

[DeusExMachina]

I'm not commenting on LOTR at all, just pointing out that by definition you cannot be fully qualified to judge or comment on something that you haven't actually taken the time to read, regardless of whether you liked it or not. You might have an idea, but you're essentially talking out of your ass by that point.

No, not really. I don't have to read all of Ayn Rand's work to know she's a psychopath or a bad fiction writer. I don't have to see all of Michael Bay's films to know he lacks any form of substance. I certainly don't have to read all of the LOTR books to know they're boring. I'm not talking about the story or the characters or setting. Those are done well. The book itself is just not interesting to read or entertaining and I don't have to do much experimentation to know the other books won't be any more pleasurable. Have you read the The Silmarillion or History of Middle-earth? Probably not. So I guess you're not fully qualified to judge or comment on it then.

But anyway, thought I'd add a few more books:

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur Clarke
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
Lord of the Flies - William Golding

 

[Ennui]

You ever watch that old Southpark episode where Officer Barbrady learns to read? He's really happy about it until he reads Atlas Shrugged, at which point he decides he hates all books and gives up reading.

I laugh uncontrollably whenever I think about that episode, and then I lament my similar fate.

No, not really. I don't have to read all of Ayn Rand's work to know she's a psychopath or a bad fiction writer. I don't have to see all of Michael Bay's films to know he lacks any form of substance. I certainly don't have to read all of the LOTR books to know they're boring. I'm not talking about the story or the characters or setting. Those are done well. The book itself is just not interesting to read or entertaining and I don't have to do much experimentation to know the other books won't be any more pleasurable. Have you read the The Silmarillion or History of Middle-earth? Probably not. So I guess you're not fully qualified to judge or comment on it then.

But anyway, thought I'd add a few more books:

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur Clarke
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
Lord of the Flies - William Golding

I have read The Silmarillion, although I clearly wasn't commenting on it in any case so that's a bit of a weird way to go about contending my point. Surely you misunderstand me... you may be able to judge in some capacity, but the pure and simple FACT, and this applies to all novels and movies and what have you, is that you will NOT be adequately or fully capable of passing judgement on a work if you HAVEN'T READ OR SEEN IT. If you read something, you can judge it - otherwise there is ALWAYS going to be ambiguity in the value of your opinion merely because of context, regardless of whether you are right or wrong. Stop arguing about it, it's just logic.

Beyond that, Lord of the Flies is great. I actually have to read Heinlein and Clarke for a seminar I'm taking right now as well. Other sci-fi: Asimov's short stories are all fantastic (the anthology Gold is ftw). Anything PKD ever touched. Storm Constantine's Wraeththu (weird, but worth a read).

 

[Laivasse]

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson: cyberpunk novel with a motorcycle-riding sword-wielding protagonist, gatling railguns, superb quotes, sumerian mythology, a bad guy called Raven and references to Aleutians which MGS1 seems to have nicked. Contender for coolest book ever?

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge: favourite sci-fi I've ever read. Great stuff relating to technological singularity theory. You'll know whether you'll love it or not from the prologue.

 

[Godron]

I had to do English coursework on Lord of the Flies, and yeah, it's a pretty awesome book. I don't read that many books, so I'm not really in a position to declare any must read books, although the whole Mortal Engines series by Philip Reeve is definately worth a read.
As for Terry Pratchett, I always get the feeling that there's a message or point or something that I'm not understanding in the most of the Discworld books. In all honesty, I'm finding them kind of boring now; I prefered the first 10 or so quite a bit more. The Truckers series however, I loved all the way through; you don't have to be particularly intelligent or anything to enjoy them.

 

[leib10]

The Forgotten Soldier, as far as war books go. The definitive memoirs of a German soldier on the Eastern Front. Changes your perspective of war.

 

[Ennui]

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson: cyberpunk novel with a motorcycle-riding sword-wielding protagonist, gatling railguns, superb quotes, sumerian mythology, a bad guy called Raven and references to Aleutians which MGS1 seems to have nicked. Contender for coolest book ever?

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge: favourite sci-fi I've ever read. Great stuff relating to technological singularity theory. You'll know whether you'll love it or not from the prologue.

Been meaning to read Snow Crash, but the second one you mentioned sounds interesting, and I've never heard of it or the author. Speaking of singularity theory sci-fi, though, have you read the online novel The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect? http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/

Also, as far as Metamorphoses are concerned, Kafka is good too (The Metamorphosis and The Trial are both excellent).

 

[staticprimer]

Read Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban - I'm saying it again because it is my favourite fucking book in the world.

Read Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban

Read Riddley Walker

Read Riddley Walker

I really cannot emphasize this enough.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

I forgot to mention Grendel by John Gardner

 

[Asknoone]

WTF is wrong with you people. Where in the hell is His Dark Materials?

Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials
James Ellroy: L.A Confidential
Robert Crais: Elvis Cole series
Marc Laidlaw: Neon Lotus
Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park
H.P Lovecraft: At the Mountains of Madness
Harper Lee: To Kill a Mocking Bird

Most of the others I would have mentioned have infact, already been mentioned, so I've thrown some new ones in.

 

[Laivasse]

Been meaning to read Snow Crash, but the second one you mentioned sounds interesting, and I've never heard of it or the author. Speaking of singularity theory sci-fi, though, have you read the online novel The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect? http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/

Also, as far as Metamorphoses are concerned, Kafka is good too (The Metamorphosis and The Trial are both excellent).

I did read that short story and happened to find it pretty enjoyable. Someone linked to it in a thread here ages back iirc. I would have loved it had I not strongly disliked the Caroline character, who just seemed to be bloodyminded for the sake of being bloodyminded, plus I didn't like the slightly contrived climax point where

Spoiler

she argues with Prime Intellect and 'enlightens' it.

As for Vinge, he's a scientist/mathematician who is often credited with being one of the most notable proponents of singularity theory, but he's also a very good novelist. A Fire Upon the Deep won the Hugo award, but a glance at the reviews at Amazon or wherever will give you an idea of how much he splits people's opinions of him. Some people (me) think he's the best thing since garlic bread, others say they don't really 'get' it. He got criticised in AFUtD (like a lot of sci-fi authors do) for not enough depth of characterisation, but has since gone overboard on characterisation in his subsequent novels, perhaps as a response to that. IMO it's still his best work, but like I say, the prologue will let you know if you'll like it or not.

Snow Crash is supremely cool, aside from the tiny drawback that Neal Stephenson can't write an ending to save his life.

As for The Metamorphosis and The Trial, I have a copy of the latter book knocking around my house somewhere but keep forgetting to read it. Tbh I've not read any Kafka (or many big literary names at all), but The Metamorphosis also sounds interesting if I'm remembering right and that's the one about the man-beetle.

 

[repiV]

I'm going to chuck in a couple of lesser known but nonetheless brilliant books.

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan - currently being made into a film.

Broken Angels, also by Richard Morgan.

The Prometheus Deception by Robert Ludlum - not revolutionary in any particular way, but possibly the best thriller ever.

 

[ríomhaire]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Discworld series (Especially Reaper Man and Night Watch)
Can't think of any else right now; I'm a little tired.

 

[Laivasse]

I think if you're a Pratchett (or indeed Neil Gaiman) fan, then Good Omens probably qualifies as a 'must read' (sorry if anyone already mentioned it).

 

[Higlac]

Recently read ender's game and all of the bean series again, was pretty awesome - I'll have to go through the ender's series again soon too D:

**** yes

The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King, only finished the first two books so far but so far they are amazing...

**** yes

WTF is wrong with you people. Where in the hell is His Dark Materials?

Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials

Is that the Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, and Amber Spyglass series?

 

[Solaris]

Metamorphosis is very good, I read it on my phone.

 

[Warbie]

I think if you're a Pratchett (or indeed Neil Gaiman) fan, then Good Omens probably qualifies as a 'must read' (sorry if anyone already mentioned it).

Good call. I tend to read Good Omens every year or so. So easy to read and so funny

 

[Asknoone]

Is that the Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, and Amber Spyglass series?

Yup.

 

[Godron]

I think if you're a Pratchett (or indeed Neil Gaiman) fan, then Good Omens probably qualifies as a 'must read' (sorry if anyone already mentioned it).

Hell yeah. I read some of it years ago before I had to give it back to the library. I'll probably buy it and read it some time soon; it was very funny IIRC.

 

[Higlac]

Yup.

Yeah, I liked them a lot, but I wouldn't call them absolute must-reads though. I liked Ender's Game much better.

 

[Wanted Bob]

Ender's Game and the Hitchhiker series are must reads IMO.