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A really good book about the Iraq War from ground level. I'm basically looking for "Dispatches", but Iraq.
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Oct 6, 2015 02:02
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A sci-fi story or novel set in the medium-term future on an earth where technological advancements more or less stagnate. No space travel, no nanotechnology, transhumanism or AI. Where society is gradually slipping into a dystopian dark age. Not post-apocalyptic though. This might sort of border on the cyberpunk genre, just with less...cyber. Also, a soft scifi story that closely examines changes in culture in the future. Bonus if it's combined with the above concept too.
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Oct 19, 2015 20:57
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Looking for a great European history book, focusing on a very niche area in great detail. I'm particularly interested in relatively unkown aspects of political or cultural history. Example titles might be (and I'm completely making poo poo up here): - Popular music culture in revolutionary France - A history of the use of psychedelic mushrooms in Europe, from Pagan days to the present - The "untold story" of a particularly eccentric person, perhaps a real-life Don Quixote who decides to embark on a new crusade in the 17th century - A history of postwar protests and resistance to the Franco regime - The beginnings of the environmentalist movement in Europe Get the idea? Good books on stuff like this.
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Apr 24, 2016 21:04
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Looking for a present for my dad for Christmas. Can someone recommend a good adventure/expedition man-against-nature non-fiction book written recently? Googling suggestions for this brings up books written 50 - 100 years ago, I guess when this genre was more popular. Preferably something with at least a semi-happy ending.
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Dec 9, 2019 23:20
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Looking for a good climate/sci fi novel written by someone other than KSR or Paolo Bacigalupi, but definitely more in line with the kind of cyberpunk dystopian vibe of Windup Girl than KSR's utopias.
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Oct 18, 2021 17:56
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Has there ever been a sci-fi novel written that depicts the future, in 100 years or even more, where technology has barely if at all progressed from the present day (when the book was written) but vast changes have nevertheless taken place, due to climate change or a stagnating economy/politics/culture, or some other factor the author explores? But not war necessarily, we're all familiar with the post-apocalyptic setting. Warhammer 40k kind of does this, where science is illegal and basically no technological progress has been made in 10,000 years. Bizarre rituals grow around that, like praying to the machine spirits to keep technology running that is now beyond the understanding of those who use it. So kind of like that, but the cut off for progress is now, instead of the year 30,000AD.
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Oct 30, 2021 02:34
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I remember reading in an interview with Kim Stanley Robinson (wish I could find it) in which he says that speculative sci fi novels are typically either set in the near future (extrapolation of present conditions) or the far future (make up a completely new world, because so much has changed over the millenia that the future is unrecognizable from the present). Much rarer are stories set in the mid-future, in which the DNA of the contemporary world is still present, but there have also been vast changes through centuries of future history. What are some examples of this, other than some of KSR's own work? Star Trek is another one I can think of. Though I'm less interested in space opera here. I'd love to read a novel set perhaps 500 years in the future, on a richly detailed future earth.
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Apr 26, 2022 20:49
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Looking for a birthday present for my dad. A non-fiction, funny, memoiresque type adventure, very much like A Walk in the Woods. Maybe even another Bill Bryson book, actually. Or, since my dad enjoys sailing, has anyone written a nautical-themed book similar to A Walk in the Woods?
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May 11, 2022 04:57
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What's a good starting point for the Philip K Dick bibliography? Something a little more narratively clear than I think he's know for. I'm kind of dumb. But not Man in the High Castle, I'm looking for sci fi. Is Ubik a possibility? Or is that one not really for beginners?
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Apr 27, 2023 05:28
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I'm really trying to get my dad to read books. He's nearing retirement and needs something to do. One of the few books he's read in recent years was non-fiction about a sailing race around the antarctic circle. So, something like that, nautical adventure books are what I'm looking for. Probably gotta be non-fiction, but maybe a novel if it's really good.
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Dec 3, 2023 20:51
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Opopanax posted:That would be the aubrey maturin books Selachian posted:David Cordingly's Under the Black Flag is a really good history of the Golden Age of Piracy in the Americas if he might be interested in that sort of thing. tuyop posted:Oh man, I think Empire of Blue Water might be perfect for this. It’s about the rise and fall of captain morgan, including harrowing land expeditions to attack Spanish cities and stuff. Gnoman posted:Hard to go wrong with the classic Bounty trilogy by Nordhoff.. The middle book, Men Against The Sea, in particular sounds fitting. yaffle posted:Eric Newby's "The last Grain Race" might suit. At 16 (18 maybe?) he signs on as crew on the sailing ship Moshulu to bring grain from Australia back to Europe in 1938. He might also enjoy "Love and War in the Apennines" which take up where The Last Grain Race leaves off (more or less) and is about Newby's experiences during the war. Khizan posted:Maybe mountain climbing stuff like Into Thin Air? It’s a similar kind of non-fiction adventure story, and the kind of thing I definitely think of as prime dad lit. rollick posted:I liked the Thor Heyerdahl books about the Kon Tiki and Ra expeditions -- building boats with pre-industrial technology and sailing across the ocean. Tim Severin also did something similar, retracing famous voyages. escape artist posted:Sounds like he might be into Nathanial Philbrick's nonfiction Thanks all for the great suggestions for dad books. I ended up going with The Last Grain Race, but the other recs gave me ideas for books for my mom and sister. (my mom and I loved The Wager, another true story at sea book from the author of Killers of the Flower Moon)
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Dec 12, 2023 01:10
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| # ¿ May 4, 2024 08:21 |
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Also, any suggestions similar to Bad Blood, in the sense of Silicon Valley fraud in this modern age of techno-grift? Crypto, Musk, NFTs, all fair game, just as long as its well researched and entertaining.
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Dec 12, 2023 01:13
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