Quote from Hankstar :

The last one, The Algebraist, was Banksy's usual mind-expanding writing. Very, very immersive, high-concept epic space-opera.

Awesome. Bought this recently at the Goodwill as well. Can't wait to get to it.

Quote :

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. Just read it. If you're not in love with the heroine by chapter 2 you're broken

I love this book. Easily the best thing he's done since his first trilogy, maybe the best period. It's amazing how contemporary it feels--something SF rarely pulls off.

Gibson's great at plausibility and that feeling of currency, like that could be happening right now, next door. Totally locked me into that book. I think you could almost drop the scifi tag from Pattern Recognition though, it's more a contemporary mystery novel with a shitload of t3h internetz in it Dammit, I think I'm going to have to read it again now!

maximum boost by corky bell
and some manuals..

Read it while I was in Finland. Great book; gunporn at its finest with a fairly scary, potentially realistic terrorist scenario.

It's actually the first book I've read in years, and I think I might just get into the whole reading thing if I can find a new book to go through. I'm thinking Stephen King, or maybe one of those books by Clarkson. We'll see ;p

I've never been able to get into Iain Banks' sci-fi stuff, probably because I can't stand sci-fi, but the couple of his normal-people's books I've read were very clever and very enjoyable.

Been reading the Odd Thomas trilogy by Dean Koontz after a pal recommended them - they're fun in a way, nothing too impressive though. Characters, metaphors and smart-assiness in it try to resemble Steinbeck's style it seems but dialogs fall short as all people appear to talk and reason the same way, kind of kills the immersion for me.

Next up is a book the author of handed to me sometime ago but I haven't gotten into the mindframe to read it - it's called "Dead On Time" by Glyn Jones and appears to be some sort of secret agent, mystery novel parody or ... something... and I also got Amon Oz's "Tale of Love And Darkness" on stand-by as well as a sci-fi book that sets the basis for a niche-market space-going game called "X" the author of which sent me sometime ago and I've shamelessly not read yet either - that's Helge Kautz' "Farnham's Legend".

Last book I thoroughly enjoyed was Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal". Previous to that I had read Tom Wolfe's "Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers", Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", Umberto Eco's "Baudolino" and "Island of the Day Before" and the rest of that stack next to my nightstand. Not that stack, those only have photos you ninny - the other one.

Quote from beefyman666 :

Halfway through Clarkson's Don't Stop Me Now. Gotta love how he describes stuff.

My girlfriend got me that for Xmas but not got around to starting it yet.

ATM I am reading an autobiography of one of Scotlands most famous mountaineers.
The Evidence of Things Not Seen - WH Murray.

Fantastic accounts of the golden era of development in Scottish winter climbing plus early explorations of the Himalayan peaks. He has a wonderful turn of phrase and a most philisophical outlook on many matters.

I get bored of reading, so I like picture books!

At the moment I am looking at "MOTOR RACING the golden age. Extraordinary images from 1900-1970."

It is an amazing book, loads of stunning pictures and quite a bit of background information to go with them.

have to agree with hankstar here, some really great books in the thread, didnt expect that.

going to get 'the remains of the day' then as per dwbs suggestion.

and 'sphere' to come back to that. imo everybody should have read it who enjoys, uhm, "technical" sci-fi and wants to know what makes us special on earth.

Now that it comes to mind, i read this couple of months ago...
Stephen Davison - "Ragged Edge"
Fantastic book and stunning photos!

I read not much in my lifetime but recently i read the Never ending story

It was one of best storys if readen in a book that is not a manga

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recently i read the Never ending story

My favourite book as a youngster I think I've read it around 6 times atleast.

Quote from dodo.ger :

and 'sphere' to come back to that. imo everybody should have read it who enjoys, uhm, "technical" sci-fi and wants to know what makes us special on earth.

I loved Sphere, a really great book. I watched the film a few weeks after and it just doesn't do it justice at all, although films never really do.

Incedentally, while we're on the topic of The Films Of The Book anyone who enjoyed the Jurassic Park films should really read the books those films were based on. I've only read a few of Michael Crichton's books ('TimeLine' was another i really liked) but enjoyed all of them.

Quote from Rtsbasic :

Last book: Red Dwarf - Backwards (Rob Grant)

Hahahahahahaha - brilliant stuff. I've read all the RD books years ago. I know it's a bit of a cliche, but they are better then the TV series (which I own on DVD )

Come to think of it the last 4 books I've read have all been (auto) biographies. Unusual for me!

If it's sciency things you like, I can recommend "In search of the Big Bang" by John Gribbin. In fact most books by him are superb examples of taking obscure or difficult topics and making them readable and interesting to the average punter (eg. ME!)

Quote from HVS5b :

If it's sciency things you like, I can recommend "In search of the Big Bang" by John Gribbin. In fact most books by him are superb examples of taking obscure or difficult topics and making them readable and interesting to the average punter (eg. ME!)

EmmyLou got given that book as a 'present' by a top Oxford University professor...as a reward for doing brilliant in her maths.physics classes..
Maybe he thinks she has got potential! Not bad for (at the time) a 12 year old!
As for the book...I haven't even got around to reading it yet..maybe I should, but i want to read a bit of Stephen Hawking first

Ah, now that you mentioned science-related books - one I really enjoyed was Roger Penrose's "The Emperor's New Mind: Concer ... , and The Laws of Physics" - if one would like an interesting, educating and funny reads I also recommend Ian Stewart's books - especially his collaborations with Jack Cohen are great to read as they cover more ground than just mathematical issues that he usually takes on his own (being a mathematician and all). He also did a collab with Cohen and Terry Pratchett called "Science of Discworld" (which is actually about science in our world) that is great fun to read and can give incentive for further scientific reading.

Hehe...you got me started now
Try this...its so interesting that you HAVE to read it in one go...problem is, some of the technological possibilities revealed in this book are downright SCARY!! (mainly because they are true!!!)



http://www.kevinwarwick.com/ICyborg.htm

Ah, Captain Cyborg himself - the only thing scary with the whole of his experiments so far is that of all things he linked himself to his wife so she could tell approximately what he was doing with his hand at any given time.

Quote from xaotik :

....he linked himself to his wife so she could tell approximately what he was doing with his hand at any given time.

Scared?? I'd be PETRIFIED!!!!!

Quote from Bladerunner :

Try this...its so interesting that you HAVE to read it in one go...problem is, some of the technological possibilities revealed in this book are downright SCARY!! (mainly because they are true!!!)

http://www.kevinwarwick.com/ICyborg.htm

Oh not bloody Kevin Warwick again. I've just taped a TV antenna to my head, and now I'm going to go on tour to tell everybody about it.

Reading all the rave reviews in here inspired me to go get a copy of the Richard Hammond biog.

I was going to buy it just before Christmas, until i realised it was Christmas, and therefore was legally obliged to spend all of my hard earned on alcohol....

Just hope there aren't to many long words in it

Last book:
- Philip K Dick - A scanner darkly

Older:
- 1984 (a definate must read)
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the looking-glass
- some Hemingways (the old man and the sea i.e.)
- American Psycho, Less than zero
- Moby Dick

Next to come (when I get the time):
- Darkly dreaming Dexter

Quote from three_jump :

Last book:
- Philip K Dick - A scanner darkly

Great read, no?

And one of the most literal book->film transitions I've seen, along with No Country for Old Men.

Great book

yep, great book and i can recommend the movie also, great stuff like nearly everything by him.