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I find myself in the mood for some lightweight military space opera. Massed fleets, burning flagships, admirals gazing into the void, etc. A focus on deep-space action over politics or groundside miltary operations preferred. To give you some idea of what I'm looking for, Passage at Arms by Glen Cook (but not the other Starfishers books), or the earlier Honour Harrington books by David Weber, would qualify. Mordiceius posted:Dishonored coming out in a week has put me into a major steampunk mood. Anyone have any good steampunk recommendations for someone who has never read a real steampunk book? The Anubis Gates isn't really steampunk, but it is a good read. Perdido Street Station actually drove me kind of crazy, Deus Ex Machinas coming out of the loving walls, man, the loving walls! Not enough to get me to stop reading, though, and I thought The Scar was a big improvement. Certainly worth checking out. Seconding the recommendation for Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century books.
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# ¿ Oct 2, 2012 00:37 |
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# ¿ Apr 17, 2024 20:15 |
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Echo Cian posted:But it has this! Ocean's Eleven, fantasy edition, eh? Ordering it now, because reading three books at once isn't nearly enough. The Lies of Locke Lamora is delicious, as is the sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies. Can't wait for The Republic of Thieves. I love con/heist stories in general. I'm going to check out the other books people recommended to you too, they sound up my alley.
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# ¿ Oct 3, 2012 04:24 |
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Zola posted:I enthusiastically second this nomination--it got me through a miserable, flu-filled weekend. Plus the entire trilogy is on sale for the Kindle for a whopping $2.99. Just finished reading Bridge of Birds after seeing it recommended here earlier today. Seconding (thirding?) this recommendation - it's excellent.
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# ¿ Oct 4, 2012 00:40 |
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shelper posted:I recently realized I'm a complete dumb-rear end in all but a handful of subjects. The thermonuclear weapon of book recommendation resources of this type is probably the book recommendations thread in Science, Academics, and Languages. Personal recommendations follow. Asimov on ____ (eg, Asimov on Physics) are a bit dated now but are excellent reads nonetheless. Good loving luck finding them, though. Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos, also by Asimov, also gets a mention. Ignition: An Informal History of Liquid-Fuel Rocket Propellants is part history of the space race, part chemistry, and all fun. Some basic chemistry background, while not necessary, will let you get a lot more out of some parts, though. (I'm not sure what to recommend for an introduction to chemistry. There is an "Asimov on Chemistry", but again, good luck finding it.) On history, I have heard Lies My Teacher Told Me recommended; it is specific to US history, though. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters can get a bit soapboxy at times, but I recommend it nonetheless. The "I'm a recovering libertarian, help" thread in D&D has lots of recommendations for books on economics. Graves' The Greek Myths. Haviland, Fedorak & Lee's Cultural Anthropology. Somewhat Canada-biased. Fromkin, Rodman, Hyams, and Hummel, An Introduction to Language. Personally, I think everyone should have some programming knowledge; Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs is available online, and the MIT course bearing the same name (and the Python-based course that replaced it, 6.00 "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming") are both available online at OpenCourseware. The Python tutorial is also well thought of.
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# ¿ Oct 9, 2012 04:07 |
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Iain M. Banks's Culture books. Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Every single science fiction book by C.J. Cherryh. They're all pretty short, but she's prolific. Everything by Glen Cook and Randolphe Lalonde.
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# ¿ Oct 11, 2012 02:53 |
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A little while ago I read John Clark's Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid-Fuel Rocket Propellants, and loved it. A very pleasant read, enough technical information on the physics and chemistry involved while still remaining comprehensible to someone who specializes in neither, with interesting anecdotes and historical context to tie it all together. What I'm looking for is more books in the same vein on the 20th century space programs, especially the design, engineering, and testing side of things (as opposed to the missions themselves). An Ignition! equivalent for solid fuels would be pretty interesting, I think (if anyone ever took up Clark's suggestion that someone should write one!). I've already had Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module recommended to me; any other suggestions? (P.S. Ignition! owns, go read it)
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# ¿ Nov 21, 2012 21:40 |
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BigRed0427 posted:I'm curious. Has anyone tried doing a mystery/thriller story in a fantasy setting? This is basically the premise of Glen Cook's Garrett, P.I. series (the "Adjective Metal Noun" books). I remember hearing about a book (books?) that was about a CSI team in a magical setting, but I don't remember the title.
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# ¿ Nov 28, 2012 15:04 |
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Nuglord posted:I'm just trying to get back into reading to pull myself away from the computer, but I haven't read almost anything in years. Can anyone make some recommendations for some well written and easy to digest non-fiction? Any particular subjects? I'll go with my usual recommendation, Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Fuel Rocket Propellants by John Clark. It feels like I recommend that a lot, but it's excellent, if you can find a copy. I recently finished The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, and that was a good read, too. Rummaging through my bookshelves, I'd also recommend Blind Man's Bluff: the Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage by Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, and Annette Lawrence Drew, and The Professor and the Madman: a Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. I've also recently had recommended to me Why Does e=mc2 (and why should we care?) by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw, as well as The Signal and the Noise: Why Most Predictions Fail (But Some Don't) by Nate Silver, but haven't started reading either yet (and I don't know how easy to digest they are).
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# ¿ Dec 13, 2012 19:29 |
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Zola posted:I'll second this rec--great book! Thirding, it's criminal that I forgot to recommend it the first time. I'd also recommend the various "Asimov on ____", such as Asimov on Physics; they are a bit dated now in places but enjoyable and go down very smoothly.
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# ¿ Dec 14, 2012 04:53 |
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Echo Cian posted:Sounds like the the Rai-kireh trilogy by Carol Berg. Her other books tend to play with expectations of good and evil too. I'd recommend Song of the Beast and Flesh and Spirit + Breath and Bone over Rai-Kirah, personally; they hit the same themes but, I think, do it much better. I rather feel like all of her works are thematically similar, but the shorter they are, the better; Song of the Beast was fantastic, but Rai-Kirah was merely ok and I barely completed Bridge d'Arnath.
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# ¿ Dec 15, 2012 06:27 |
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Ok, I have a request. We just finished watching season 5 of new Doctor Who, and this one - especially the season finale - had a lot of, for lack of a better phrase, time travel shenanigans. People leaving messages for their past selves, crossing their own timelines, running into each other in different orders, and so forth. Turning the "timeline" into a "time yarn ball". I love this sort of stuff but I've read very few books that do it at all, let alone do it well. To Say Nothing of the Dog is probably closest, and it's still not quite what I'm looking for. Homestuck would be it, if it were comprehensible. And finished. And a good book rather than an animated webcomic. But it has the same kind of time-tangling madness that I'm looking for. So. Can anyone recommend books (or short stories) along these lines? Echo Cian posted:The one time I don't recommend the Lighthouse Duet first is the one time someone else mentions it for me. quote:I do prefer those and her Collegia Magica series by a fair margin, but Rai-kireh sounded closest to the request, and Lighthouse's protagonist can be off-putting to some (for the very same reasons that make him one of my all-time favorite characters, even). Song of the Beast is solid too. Collegia Magica? A new series by Carol Berg I haven't read? And it's on par with Lighthouse for quality? I know what I'm getting my wife and myself for christmas.
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# ¿ Dec 16, 2012 06:33 |
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Joramun posted:End of Eternity, By His Bootstraps, -All You Zombies-, Prisoner of Azkaban, The Man who Folded Himself Lex Talionis posted:How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, The Chronoliths Bhodi posted:The Light of Other Days, Timescape Thanks for the recommendations! I've already read Prisoner of Azkaban, and I've tried a few times (and failed each time) to get through The Chronoliths, but I'll definitely check out the rest. dopaMEAN posted:Blackout, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Doomsday Book I've read most of Connie Willis's books, including To Say Nothing of the Dog and Doomsday Book. I don't think I've read Blackout, though. I'll check that out too.
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# ¿ Dec 17, 2012 17:52 |
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Bhodi posted:Battletech, but you should probably avoid it because it is universally terrible. They do go the extra mile on sound effects, though! There's also a series of english Robotech novelizations. I have no idea if they're any good and I'm not about to read them to find out, but they exist. Drop the "humanoid" requirement and you have more scope. Mind-machine interfaces and powerful war machines with a crew of one aren't exactly super-rare themes in science fiction; it's just that most authors make the machine part more, well, vehicular - tanks, or fighters, or starships. When they're more humanoid, they tend to be either power armour or telepresence rigs rather than colossi.
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# ¿ Dec 17, 2012 22:49 |
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V for Vegas posted:For sci-fi, check out any Peter F Hamilton books. The Night's Dawn Trilogy is a good starting place. Less 'sciencey' than Robinson, but lots of good space opera and future society stuff. Off the top of my head I'd recommend C.J. Cherryh's Faded Sun, Alliance-Union, Chanur, and Foreigner series, Iain M. Banks's Culture series, C.S. Friedman's This Alien Shore and In Conquest Born, Randolph Lalonde's Spinward Fringe series, Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space series, and Asher's Agent Cormac series as good SF ahead of Hamilton. I like Hamilton, but his books in general (and Night's Dawn in particular) seem to have issues with endings.
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# ¿ Dec 26, 2012 05:37 |
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Panicked Spathi posted:As of now, I am about 100 pages away from finishing Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy and I love it to little tiny pieces. I'm really into the setting (so much so that I'm designing an Erna D&D campaign setting), and I dig the moral ambiguity, the great characters, and the dark but occasionally funny atmosphere. I love it so much that I am procrastinating at reading the last bit because I don't want it to be over. Well, you could always read more Friedman while you try to figure out what to read next - In Conquest Born, This Alien Shore, and The Madness Season are all excellent, albeit quite different from Coldfire (and all science fiction). I'm honestly not sure what I'd recommend as a followup to Coldfire. The Black Company and the Vlad Taltos books are good, and I can think of a lot of other fantasy I'd recommend in general, but nothing "like Coldfire". I do know that Friedman recently finished another fantasy trilogy, Magister, which I haven't had a chance to read yet. That might be worth a look.
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# ¿ Dec 27, 2012 04:47 |
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Along similar lines, I remember (earlier this year) hearing about a series that was basically "CSI: Magic" - it's about a forensic magician (magicians?) in a modern-day-with-magic setting, solving crimes by investigating the magical rather than physical traces left by the criminal(s). It sounded interesting but I can't remember the title or author.
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# ¿ Dec 31, 2012 19:44 |
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Joramun posted:Dresden Files. No, that's about a PI (and I have read it). This was about an actual official investigator and there was, as I recall, a heavy emphasis on department internals and procedures for magical investigation of a crime scene and whatnot.
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# ¿ Dec 31, 2012 19:58 |
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ulmont posted:Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers of London series. First book is either Rivers of London (UK, most of the world) or Midnight Riot (US edition). That's probably it! I'll go check it out. Thanks If anyone knows other books/series based on a similar premise, I'd be interested in other recommendations as well.
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# ¿ Dec 31, 2012 20:48 |
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Zola posted:Is that the Aaronovitch series that starts with Rivers of London/Midnight Riot? I don't know! Someone suggested that last week and it's in my queue. I'll probably start Rivers of London once I've finished the Magister trilogy. WastedJoker posted:This also sounds a little bit like Max Frei's "The Stranger" I'll check that out too, thanks! Hieronymous Alloy posted:It's very, very, very preachy. Like "forty five page long speech" preachy. Every word in this post is true. If asked, I would recommend The Fountainhead over Atlas Shrugged, but The Moon is a Harsh Mistress outclasses both and is by far my favourite Heinlein. I don't think the politics come through quite as clearly in Moon, because it's more concerned with telling a story than with sitting you down and explaining the author's philosophy to you, so if that's specifically what you're after you might check out Fountainhead instead, but Moon is by far the better book.
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# ¿ Jan 14, 2013 17:02 |
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Also, John Brunner's The Shockwave Rider, which is not only fantastic in its own right, but gave us the term "worm" (in the software sense) in 1975.
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# ¿ Jan 15, 2013 20:50 |
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So, a few pages ago, this was postedPanicked Spathi posted:Thanks for the recommendations. I think I'm being so indecisive because I'm back reading fiction after a long hiatus and have forgotten how in some regards - I tend to approach it like I approach reading scientific articles. And I said that I couldn't offhand think of more stuff that was "like Coldfire", but Friedman had recently finished another fantasy trilogy, Magister, and while I hadn't read it that might be worth checking out. I'm now most of the way through the last book and yes, yes you should. If you liked Coldfire, go read Magister. It's not a sequel, but there are a lot of thematic parallels and in some ways, at some times, it almost feels like it could be.
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# ¿ Jan 16, 2013 17:34 |
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I read the Mardrus & Mathers version growing up and rather liked it, but as the only version I've actually read I don't know how it compares to other translations.
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# ¿ Jan 17, 2013 15:39 |
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dream owl posted:Wait, should I read Discworld? This after a lifetime of feeling like I just didn't get it because I was badgered into reading Color of Magic & Light Fantastic and couldn't bring myself to keep going. I quite enjoyed both, but as others have said, they're a parody of swords-and-sorcery fantasy that isn't really Discworld yet. Start with Guards! Guards!, or perhaps Mort, Small Gods, or Interesting Times.
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# ¿ Jan 31, 2013 20:26 |
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# ¿ Apr 17, 2024 20:15 |
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So, in some other thread, the subject of racecars (specifically NASCAR and F1) came up, and specifically, discussion of all the crazy bullshit engineers get up to trying to either (a) do stuff that is not technically against the letter of the rules, but is definitely against the spirit, or (b) do stuff that is completely against the rules but not get caught. Examples included the extra-long helical fuel hose, the inflatable fuel tank insert that made the tank seem smaller when it was being tested, and the turbocharger that measured as within spec off the track but changed shape slightly under load to admit more air. Is there a good book about this stuff, or about cool poo poo in racecar engineering more generally? Basically I'm looking for the automotive equivalent of Ignition: An Informal History of Liquid Fuel Rocket Propellants. You can't throw a cat without hitting a youtube video about it, but I'd rather read.
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# ¿ Apr 16, 2021 23:29 |