Recommend a book

[Isotope_238]

I second The Martian. It was so engrossing that I read the whole thing in one sitting. I might have to stop being a Golden Age SF snob and start reading some newer science fiction.

[Edwards]

The book I am reading at the moment is called "The man who forgot his wife" by John O'Farrell.
Its a mixture of romance and comedy, about a man that loses his memory.
I have read a few of his books. The style that he writes makes the books very readable.

[addams]

The book I am reading at the moment is called "The man who forgot his wife" by John O'Farrell.
Its a mixture of romance and comedy, about a man that loses his memory.
I have read a few of his books. The style that he writes makes the books very readable.

oh, Those are so fun.
It is sort of a Genre. (right?)

It is a Love Story.
Each time they meet, the Affection grows Anew.
Friends sometimes have that Conversation.

If we had met while you were Changing a Tire;
Would we have become friends?

Like a Dr. Seuss book.

Spoiler:

Under a Tire.
Up in a Tree.

No matter where you were or what you were doing,
I would have liked you.

Because, you are you.

Under a Tire.
Up in a Tree.
No matter where you were or what you were doing,
I would not have liked you, after I got to know you.

Because, you are you.

[Djehutynakht]

I recently picked up a book of parables called The Wanderer by Khalil Gibran.

I liked them. It was short, but they were interesting and witty.

[addams]

There was a time when Khalil Gibran's The Prophet was required reading for a great many people.
It was sort of nice.

In most groups, we all had that one book in common.
We didn't have to like it. We had to understand it.

[Vahir]

I found War and Peace and War by Peter Turchin to be both interesting and enlightening. It analyzes the question of what causes empires to rise and fall, as well as the cycle of population in pre-industrial society, while avoiding being a dull read by presenting real world examples. I strongly recommend it for other history fanatics.

[moody7277]

I was wondering if anyone familiar with Jeff Schaara's books knows of a treatment of the Napoleonic Wars done in a style similar to his?

[addams]

I’d like to recommend a book.
This recommendation comes with Qualifiers.

The book is, “Man’s Search for Meaning’, by Dr. Victor Frankle.

The qualifiers are:
This book is not a book for Children.
This book is not a book for unguided UnderGrads.

You Children and UnderGrads have enough on your plates.
If you do the reading for your discipline, That’s Enough!

You have to know, Your Shit.
You don’t have to know, Everyone’s Shit.

Even if you are a Psych Major.
Victor Frankle is too advanced.

For everyone else.
‘Man’s Search of Meaning’ may have some meaning.

In Real Life I found it useful, again.
Somehow that book came up in conversation.

He had read it.
He seemed to respect the authorship.

It was like we knew the same person and had lived some of the same experiences.
There was a moment of recognition. A moment of understanding words can’t tell.

Knowing that we had both read that book replaced Hours of Small Talk.

[b"]How about those Jets?"[/b]
"Yeah. The Jets."

"They say we will be getting some rain."
"Yes. We need rain."

"….umm."
"Yeah. umm…"

"Victor Frankle?"
"oh! You, too?"
"ok. I’m comfortable with you."

It’s a small book.
It fits neatly in the back pocket of a pair of jeans.

Some Post-Grads wear Jeans.

[emceng]

I was wondering if anyone familiar with Jeff Schaara's books knows of a treatment of the Napoleonic Wars done in a style similar to his?

For naval combat in the Napoleonic era, try the Horatio Hornblower books and the Master and Commander series.

[chad23]

Hope the thread is still alive
I'm reading Awakenings by Oliver Sacks and want to recommend this book. It tells story of epidemic survivors after World War I who awoke after years of lethargical sleep. Very intersting and humane.

[tarascon]

I read almost every page of this thread and there are some great suggestions. Quoting mengelji: "... Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban (read it aloud to yourself) - A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess." Hoban was going to be my first suggestion. It's fun!
The OP goes back a number of years so my contribution may well be far too late and you may have read this already (I did a search to see if it's been posted). I'd say try Italo Svevo's Confessions of Zeno.

[Izawwlgood]

Whelp, I stayed up until 3am lastnight reading Seveneves. "Just One More Page" hasn't happened to me in a long time.

[tarascon]

The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson.

http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/c ... ong-ships/

[Artemisia]

I have a recommendation! A book I didn't think I needed until I read it and my mind is blown.

Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life, by Emily Nagoski Ph.D.

So the first thing I like is that it's really well-researched, scientific and written by an expert:

http://www.thedirtynormal.com/about/about-emily/ Emily has a Ph.D. in Health Behavior with a doctoral concentration in human sexuality from Indiana University (IU), and a Master’s degree (also from IU) in Counseling, with a clinical internship at the Kinsey Institute Sexual Health Clinic. She also has a B.A. in Psychology, with minors in cognitive science and philosophy, from the University of Delaware.

While at IU, Emily worked as an educator and docent at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex Gender and Reproduction. She also taught graduate and undergraduate classes in human sexuality, relationships and communication, stress management, and sex education.

The second thing I like is that it offers a deeper understanding about woman's relationship to sex which has been a topic of exploration all my life (good and bad) and I already like(d) to think I knew and understood quite a lot about sex, having overcome quite a few boundaries over the years. I trust that I am not the only one who finds this topic important and interesting.

The last thing I like is that it blew my mind with how much more insight I gained not only about women's sexuality, but about women in general and how much it resonated with me in other aspects of my life. It hit a nerve, and that's an understatement. I have to put a trigger warning on it for women with sexual trauma, though Emily does give trigger warnings in a few instances when she gives examples and you can skip the passage without it diminishing your understanding of the premise.

From http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22609341-come-as-you-are
Using actual, real science, Dr. Emily Nagoski – a speak-the-truth-and-only-the-truth sex educator/professor – breaks down all the things we think we know about sex and desire and drive and, in the process, makes you feel like not are you normal, but we’re ALL normal. As she says over and over and over, “We’re all made up of the same basic parts, just organized differently.” In other words, there is no normal. This is a game changer of a human sexuality book – not just for women, who have always been told that men’s sexuality is the default (HINT: it’s not) – but for men who love women and don’t understand why the things that work for them, don’t work for women. Just….just go buy this. Buy this and read it and try not to be that weird person pushing a sex book on every single lady person you know. Because these are all lessons we need to learn. Better for us, better for everyone.

The comic Ohjoysextoy.com sums up a few important highlights of the book: read the comic here

Although it is geared towards women, I trust this will be insightful to anyone who has ever been in the proximity of one.

[edit] another Goodread review that sums up my response pretty well:

You don't need to read this if you meet all the following criteria: you've never felt ashamed or [b]othered for your emotional response to anything, you've got the stress cycle down pat, you know that sex isn't a drive, you've never had a sexual or emotional response that you didn't utterly understand and agree with, and you don't know anyone that ever has.

Yeah, you need to read this.

One note, however. If you, like me, have been blaming yourself for everything under the sun your whole life, it will be difficult to read. If you avoid hugs because they make you cry, if words get stuck in your throat until you feel like you're suffocating, you have to read this. You won't enjoy it, not really, but you need it.

[Zohar]

At a friend's recommendation I got around to reading Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others. I'm only up to the 3rd story, but so far it has been very, very good. It seems a lot of people love the "Understand" story, which I found interesting, but not as emotionally impacting and surprising as Babylon. Now reading Division by Zero, which is its own sort of fascinating mind-horror.

[Kalium_Puceon]

I second The Martian. It was so engrossing that I read the whole thing in one sitting. I might have to stop being a Golden Age SF snob and start reading some newer science fiction.

Dang, The Martian is such a fun book and really refreshing if you're a big science geek, because it at least tries to make some physical sense when it comes to the science parts.

Otherwise, Sam Kean writes a really cool set of non-fiction books called The Disappearing Spoon, The Violinist's Thumb and The Tale of the Duelling Neurosurgeons, which are about the Elements of the Perioidic Table, Genetics and Neuroscience respectively. The books tell the story of how particular facets of each field were discovered, and so cover more than just the science but also the unusual characters and circumstances surrounding them. They're really interesting reads and good if you want a quick overview of the history of the fields (for instance, the Neuroscience one begins in the mid 1500's.)

[samuelgorbold]

I'm reading right now The Magus (1965) is a postmodern novel by British author John Fowles. It's my second time reading this book.
I totally recommend it.
The most exciting descriptions of characters' feelings.

[Izawwlgood]

I just read the first book in Max Gladstones Craft sequence, and found it to be entertaining and thought provoking, if beyond campy. Gargoyles vs Vampires are silly window dressing to a pretty cool theology war.

[Liri]

For some very unique Australian post-apocalyptic fiction, read "Souls in the Great Machine" by Sean McMullen. It's the first in a trilogy.

It's really weird. There are no good (as in, good people) characters with more than 5 lines. No one to empathize with. Requires a good sense of direction.

The second two are even more opaque. Lots of characters, all of them dicks. They're also uncomfortably rapey (not that much but more than 0). I didn't feel good after finishing them, but it's refreshing (?) to be made to feel discomfort every now and then.

If this still sounds like a recommendation, then great, if not, that's okay too.

[heuristically_alone]

The Alien Invasion thread keeps making me think of the series by Orson Scott Card First Formic War Trilogy . An interesting take on what human civilization will be like and how we react to our first alien encounter. Also an orgin stories prequel to Ender's Game. Pretty phenominal.

[Zohar]

I liked Orson Scott Card when I first started reading sci-fi in high school, but I've noticed while he writes relationships fairly well, his stories didn't hold up to other writers, IMO. Combine that with his deplorable political opinions and how he keeps pushing them using his capital, I'm really not interested in investing anything in him - time, money, or attention.

[Mat]

I recently finished the Remembrance of Earth's past series by Liu Cixin, which is incredible. Hard scifi where everything goes wrong for humanity.

The first book feels more grounded as it's set in the 20th/21st century (starting with the cultural revolution), while the other two skip further and further into the future, but all three were really interesting.

[Plasmic-Turtle]

Just finished Adam Johnson's set of short stories, "Fortune Smiles": first Adam Johnson I've read, really enjoyed it. Well crafted.

[nightbird]

I can't recommend China Mievielle's Bas-Lag novels "Perdido Street Station", "The Scar" and "Iron Council" enough. Inventive, subversive high fantasy with a touch of Lovecraft in it.

Other books I recently read and liked:

"Job" by Joseph Roth. To quote Wikipedia, "It tells the story of an orthodox Jew whose faith is weakened when he moves from Tsarist Russia to New York City." Published in 1931.

"Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell

"Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson

And if you want something light, I still quite like "he died with a felafel in his hand" by John Birmingham. A collection of anecdotes from shared house life in 1990s Australia.

[Zohar]

I never particularly enjoyed China Mievielle. He feels tedious to read. cloud Atlas was pretty good though.

Finished reading Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper. It was very good, if you're into futuristic sci-fi AI-human interaction stuff. It's part of a larger universe and has a bunch of sequels, but this is the first of hers I've read.

[emceng]

I highly recommend "The Library at Mount Char". First novel by the author, but does not feel like it. Followed it up with Shadow and Bone...eesh. Maybe it's because I didn't know it was YA when I got it...but damn, it is just not in the same league.

[Liri]

The Core of the Sun, by Johana Sinisalo
Finnish weird, Atwoodian dystopia, spicy chilis

The Bees, by Laline Paull
life as a bee, scientifically literate, some bees are more equal than others

Suttree, by Cormac McCarthy
life in a houseboat, series of vignettes, scrumptious writing

[Ginger]

The Green Rider by Kristen Britain and Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey?

[Izawwlgood]

I just read the first book in Max Gladstones Craft sequence, and found it to be entertaining and thought provoking, if beyond campy. Gargoyles vs Vampires are silly window dressing to a pretty cool theology war.

I want to plug this series again. Female protagonistS, LGBTQ friendly, the writing quality very sharply improves after the first book, and the stories remain interesting and well paced. 5 books in the arc, and he recently put out a side story.

There's a line of campy throughout, but it gets pruned down. It also feels entirely acceptable by the time each book is wrapped up.

[pkcommando]

I just recently got a chance to read an advance copy of Christopher Moore's new book, Noir, coming out in April. If you like Moore's stuff, you'll almost certainly enjoy this one. However, he does warn you up front that many characters do display attitudes towards race/gender/sexuality that are in line with the book's setting of 1947 and that it have the potential to make you uncomfortable. Still a good mix of mystery, comedy, and Moore's zaniness.

As for fitting in with the rest of the Moore-verse:

Spoiler:

I've read it twice and can't find anything that ties it to the others, aside from it being in San Francisco. 1947 is obviously before the others, but I couldn't spot any big noticeable call-forwards.