What are you reading?

VF21 said:
I read Ender's Game a couple of years ago because of your recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed it. :)

I'm sitting here looking over at my bookshelf and it appears the entire Dragonrider series is calling my name. However, whispering from the shadows is "Stranger in a Strange Land," my favorite Heinlein book.

Before my cataract surgeries, I had gotten away from reading. I watched movies - TONS of movies - instead. It's pretty easy when your best friend has a video store. Lately, though, so many of the movies are disappointing or just plain dull. I think there are a lot of books (including many of the ones on my bookshelves) I'll be devouring during TDOS. :)
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The Ender series is also interesting because of how he tackled it. The original trilogy (Ender's Game, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind) get a bit stranger as you progress if I remember correctly (haven't read the last two in a LONG time). But he also writes a set of books set around Bean, one of the other boys in the original book, so you can follow much of the story from multiple character's point of view in separate books.

Have you read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (Chronicles, Second Chronicles, and Last Chronicles)? Two trilogies and a follow up series of 4 books. Start with Lord Foul's Bane and go from there! I started reading the first series in 8th grade on a recommendation from a friend and the last book just came out in 2013.
 
Started reading the various Lost Fleet series - set in the future this series focuses on a fleet commander and space warfare.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Fleet

It is an entertaining series and fairly easy to read. Not overly complex or as "in depth" as some sci-fi authors/books can be (looking at you, Dune), but I like one aspect the author really puts some time into - the distances in space and implications of speed for both communication and travel/warfare. This has made it a more interesting series for me (as an engineer, I appreciate some attention to details like this). For instance, when a fleet of spaceships pops into a star system from the "wormhole"-type interstellar "highways" between various star systems, there are implications for a fleet already in the system. The new fleet can immediately see where the old fleet was say 4 hours ago, while the old fleet won't see the new one arrive from the wormhole until 4 hours after it is there (due to the time it takes light to travel across space). Stuff like that.

Anyways, for a relatively easy and entertaining read for the sci-fi junkies out there it may be worth a try.

I've finished the original Lost Fleet series of 6 books and have started in on the Beyond the Frontier follow-up series.
 
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In one more day, I’ll be reading the new Alex Cross novel by James Patterson. How does a guy write so many books in a calendar month? Granted many books are in tandem with other writers but still.
 
I'm reading The Outsiders by Stephen King. Well, technically, I'm listening to someone else read it out loud. Audible is my new best friend.
 
I'd love to hear some recommendations out there. I don't like fantasy, sci-fi type of books. If anyone would like to share some books that are very resourceful and informative I'm all ears :D
 
kingsboi said:
I'd love to hear some recommendations out there. I don't like fantasy, sci-fi type of books. If anyone would like to share some books that are very resourceful and informative I'm all ears :D
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Are you looking for non-fiction? Here's a few;

The Elements of Style - William Strunk Jr.
Confessions of a pricing man - Hermann Simon
Blackbelt in Blackjack - Arnold Snyder
Tribes - Seth Godin
Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wilson
 
Ozymandias said:
Are you looking for non-fiction? Here's a few;

The Elements of Style - William Strunk Jr.
Confessions of a pricing man - Hermann Simon
Blackbelt in Blackjack - Arnold Snyder
Tribes - Seth Godin
Prometheus Rising - Robert Anton Wilson
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not really what I was aiming for but I do appreciate your suggestions none the less.
 
kingsboi said:
not really what I was aiming for but I do appreciate your suggestions none the less.
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Not sci-fi or fantasy, informative and very resourceful, that sounds like 99% of the books I've read... Ur not giving us much to work with here!! If there's been 150 million books written you've maybe narrowed the list down to 75MM with those qualifiers.
 
Ozymandias said:
Not sci-fi or fantasy, informative and very resourceful, that sounds like 99% of the books I've read... Ur not giving us much to work with here!! If there's been 150 million books written you've maybe narrowed the list down to 75MM with those qualifiers.
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fair enough. 75 mill is still a large number to choose from however.
 
kingsboi said:
I'd love to hear some recommendations out there. I don't like fantasy, sci-fi type of books. If anyone would like to share some books that are very resourceful and informative I'm all ears :D
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You just took out all the best books with those restrictions. ;)

Since you didn't narrow it down much, I would recommend several books for your consideration:

The Lost City of the Monkey God (Preston) - non-fiction, very interesting tale of the use of LIDAR to initially find, then his participation in a ground-truthing journey in the Hondouran jungle to find a lost city, including discussions on previous attempts, political issues, human and non-human threats to the search party, and quite a bit on medical issues/local diseases, including those caught by the search party. Fascinating read.
Cities of Gold (Preston) - non-fiction, the author retraces (on horseback, and BTW almost dies) the proposed route of Cortez looking for the fabled golden cities in the southwestern US, discussing the history of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, Native American tribes, etc. Another very interesting book.
The Relic (Preston and Child) - fiction, modern day, with a monster (not really sci-fi or fantasy)
Battling the Inland Sea (Kelley) - interesting read on the history of the development of the levee systems in central California and how gold mining, farming, and politics all played into forming the existing water transportation system we have in CA today.
The Great Influenza (Barry) - history of the flu epidemic during WWI including the impacts on health care, politics, and some interesting changes it made in history.
 
Warhawk said:
You just took out all the best books with those restrictions. ;)

Since you didn't narrow it down much, I would recommend several books for your consideration:

The Lost City of the Monkey God (Preston) - non-fiction, very interesting tale of the use of LIDAR to initially find, then his participation in a ground-truthing journey in the Hondouran jungle to find a lost city, including discussions on previous attempts, political issues, human and non-human threats to the search party, and quite a bit on medical issues/local diseases, including those caught by the search party. Fascinating read.
Cities of Gold (Preston) - non-fiction, the author retraces (on horseback, and BTW almost dies) the proposed route of Cortez looking for the fabled golden cities in the southwestern US, discussing the history of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, Native American tribes, etc. Another very interesting book.
The Relic (Preston and Child) - fiction, modern day, with a monster (not really sci-fi or fantasy)
Battling the Inland Sea (Kelley) - interesting read on the history of the development of the levee systems in central California and how gold mining, farming, and politics all played into forming the existing water transportation system we have in CA today.
The Great Influenza (Barry) - history of the flu epidemic during WWI including the impacts on health care, politics, and some interesting changes it made in history.
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three recommendations from Preston. He must have some good work. Thanks for the input. I'll have a look at some of these.
 
kingsboi said:
three recommendations from Preston. He must have some good work. Thanks for the input. I'll have a look at some of these.
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Preston and Child have written a whole series of fictional books based on a very unusual FBI agent that I find entertaining but can vary in quality. The Relic is the first of the series, and one I greatly enjoyed. But Preston also has written much on his own including the two books listed. These two in particular I found to be very good reads. Others I have recommended them to have also greatly enjoyed them.
 
Warhawk said:
Preston and Child have written a whole series of fictional books based on a very unusual FBI agent that I find entertaining but can vary in quality. The Relic is the first of the series, and one I greatly enjoyed. But Preston also has written much on his own including the two books listed. These two in particular I found to be very good reads. Others I have recommended them to have also greatly enjoyed them.
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I just got The Relic on Audible (based on your recommendation above) and am thoroughly enjoying it. I think you've recommended Preston & Child to me before, but I don't remember which one. I'm really enjoying the "reader" of the book, too. His voice is perfect for optimum listening. Thanks for turning me on to another good "read." It's perfect for these stormy nights.
 
Warhawk said:
Battling the Inland Sea (Kelley) - interesting read on the history of the development of the levee systems in central California and how gold mining, farming, and politics all played into forming the existing water transportation system we have in CA today.
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I just happened to start this and am enjoying it so far. More political history than I had expected, which has been a nice surprise!
 
VF21 said:
I just got The Relic on Audible (based on your recommendation above) and am thoroughly enjoying it. I think you've recommended Preston & Child to me before, but I don't remember which one. I'm really enjoying the "reader" of the book, too. His voice is perfect for optimum listening. Thanks for turning me on to another good "read." It's perfect for these stormy nights.
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Glad you like it! They have a slew of books in their series on Pendergast and they vary from excellent to decent. Some seem more finely tuned while others a bit more pedestrian. I think one issue they have is coming up with a worthy adversary or new approach at times. While I enjoy the writing style and characters, some books are better than others (not that I thought any were "bad" by any means). I didn't care for the follow-up Reliquary as much. I liked Cabinet of Curiosities and Still Life with Crows, for example.

I haven't listened to many audiobooks at all, including any of theirs, so I can't comment on that at all.
 
Warhawk said:
Glad you like it! They have a slew of books in their series on Pendergast and they vary from excellent to decent. Some seem more finely tuned while others a bit more pedestrian. I think one issue they have is coming up with a worthy adversary or new approach at times. While I enjoy the writing style and characters, some books are better than others (not that I thought any were "bad" by any means). I didn't care for the follow-up Reliquary as much. I liked Cabinet of Curiosities and Still Life with Crows, for example.

I haven't listened to many audiobooks at all, including any of theirs, so I can't comment on that at all.
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Finished The Relic. Is it vital that the other books in the series be read in order?
 
VF21 said:
Finished The Relic. Is it vital that the other books in the series be read in order?
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They definitely go in order, and some plot points may be missed if you skip books or read them out of order. However, I think that often the authors do a decent job of summarizing most of these from one book to the next when critical for context, so I don't think you would be totally lost reading some of the books at random.
 
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