Books

[CabooseRvB]

Finally bought 'Guns of August' on the Kindle.

A French General (I think it was Messemy) proposed that they should change the colors of the French Army Uniform (which consisted of what they wore since 1830, red pants, blue coat, and red cap) to something darker in order to match the environment. The rest of the French Military Council refused to place practically in front of fashion sense with War Minister Etienne spoke [i]"Eliminate red trousers? Never! Red pants is France!"[/i]

[Sundowner]

[QUOTE=Tac Error;31339089]There's no real propaganda stuff in the Voroshilov Lectures, just mainly military affairs, doctrine and strategy.[/QUOTE]

I dig, I think it's the red star just kickstarted something in my brain.

Also anyone who likes either Beat literature or Lovecraftian horror, there's this novel you can download a PDF of for free called 'Move under ground', it's pretty good from what I've read of it so far. Manages to blend the two somewhat distant genres together.

[DasherDigital]

As much as I dislike reading (for some reason, it stresses me that I cannot read as fast as my mind wants me to. Or something like that)

[b]Tuesdays with Morrie[/b] is a great, great book.
I read it in my Sophomore year of high school back in 2007, and it still sits neatly on my nightstand.
Simply because of the philosophical conversations and the thoughts that arise in your head.

[junker|154]

Can anyone recommend me a good science fiction book which takes place in the far future, including some epic spaceships and colonies around the galaxy, maybe a war between factions. Anything with that setting, although it shouldn't be to generic.

[Zezibesh]

[QUOTE=junker|154;31343759]Can anyone recommend me a good science fiction book which takes place in the far future, including some epic spaceships and colonies around the galaxy, maybe a war between factions. Anything with that setting, although it shouldn't be to generic.[/QUOTE]

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelation_Space]Revelation Space[/url] series, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_Ice]Pushing Ice[/url], [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep]A Fire Upon the Deep[/url] and [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Deepness_in_the_Sky]A Deepness in the Sky[/url]
These are my personal favorites, if you're new to hard scifi I would not suggest to start with Revelation Space as it can get tedious at times. You should probably start with Pushing Ice, then read AFuTD, then ADitS and afterwards move to Revelation Space.

[DasherDigital]

[QUOTE=junker|154;31343759]Can anyone recommend me a good science fiction book which takes place in the far future, including some epic spaceships and colonies around the galaxy, maybe a war between factions. Anything with that setting, although it shouldn't be to generic.[/QUOTE]

Read some of the books based around the EVE universe (MMORPG).
They are well written and have plenty of depth. Plus, they're set pretty far into the future.

[Killoch0]

Just finished reading the War of the Worlds. I've seen 3-4 adaptations of it through my life but never read the book until now, and it's far better than any of them.

Onto reading 1984 now, on a bit of a classic sci-fi binge. After this I'm intrested in reading some of Isaac Asimov's stuff, any recommendations?

[Emugod]

[QUOTE=junker|154;31343759]Can anyone recommend me a good science fiction book which takes place in the far future, including some epic spaceships and colonies around the galaxy, maybe a war between factions. Anything with that setting, although it shouldn't be to generic.[/QUOTE]

Ender's Game is really the only one I can think of. It has some of those elements, but most of the book is just about a kid training to become the Captain. It's a good read nonetheless.

[credesniper]

Back from my bicycle trip to a locally owned book store.
Finally got the book I need for my summer reading project, and three other books for fun.
Marx for beginners by Rius
The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by... You should know, it's a great book.
And Xenocide by Orson Scott Card.

[MrPorygon]

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
The Black Hole War by Leonard Susskind

Two books I enjoyed, I have weird tastes though.

A bit more abstract, Unknown Quantity:A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra by John Debyshire

Another interesting book, Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos by Seth Loyd

None of these require a background in anything, but one might want to review math a bit before taking on Unknown Quantity.

[InvisibleTed]

[QUOTE=Killoch0;31344838]Just finished reading the War of the Worlds. I've seen 3-4 adaptations of it through my life but never read the book until now, and it's far better than any of them.

Onto reading 1984 now, on a bit of a classic sci-fi binge. After this I'm intrested in reading some of Isaac Asimov's stuff, any recommendations?[/QUOTE]

The Foundation series is pretty essential as far as Asimov goes.

[sirbinks]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Amazon usually ship preorders early so that you'll have them on the release date? If so, I am thoroughly pissed off that I'm not currently reading Ghost Story:

[img]http://www.jim-butcher.com/pics/gsCoverSm.jpg[/img]

[Eudoxia]

Is it just me or is A Fire Upon the Deep incredibly slow?

Also, I just finished reading Permutation City.

[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fe/PermutationCity(1stEd).jpg/200px-PermutationCity(1stEd).jpg[/IMG]

And sort of liked it. (The tagline was a huge lie though)

Now reading Diaspora. I love me some Greg Egan.

[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Diaspora%28GollanczPB%29.jpg[/IMG]

[Zezibesh]

[QUOTE=Eudoxia;31356003]Is it just me or is A Fire Upon the Deep incredibly slow?[/QUOTE]

It may be a bit slow for the Out Of Band II folks, but I found the Tine politics with Jefri and Johanna pretty interesting

And Pham Nuwen is badass

[darkrei9n]

Anyone remember that book "Go the Fuck to Sleep"? Well it appears there is an audio book for it, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwwtO5viUDE&feature=share[/media]

[kaine123]

[img]http://mybreadandjam.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/postwar_book_tony_judt-725315.jpg[/img] I love how neutral this book is.

[RayvenQ]

[QUOTE=junker|154;31343759]Can anyone recommend me a good science fiction book which takes place in the far future, including some epic spaceships and colonies around the galaxy, maybe a war between factions. Anything with that setting, although it shouldn't be to generic.[/QUOTE]

The Lensman series, if you can get ahold of it, it may seem a bit generic nowadays, but it pretty much defined Science Fiction for us.

[myalt22]

Books! I spent £35+ on books today!

[img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bRhnQBGjL._SL500_AA300_.jpg[/img][img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Q4TCaondL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg[/img][img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YyiNPSAdL._SL500_AA300_.jpg[/img]
[img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fb8UskJAL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg[/img][img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515QrVuvoTL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg[/img][img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511CDi4sKbL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg[/img]

I decided to give the road a try, despite somewhat hating The Crossing.

I was also going to rent an Ian M. Banks book, but I didn't know what to get first.
Same with Neal Asher.

Recommendations? I have a serious lack of sci-fi books, apart from the Inaccessible Ravenor omnibus, which I gave up because I don't know any 40k Terminology past the species.

[Zombii]

Finally finished [i]Use of Weapons[/i]. The ending really shocked me.

Now on:
[img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--TBIrEzJDCo/TZvm1xov8DI/AAAAAAAAAuY/nPW8T_ZZkKo/s1600/Iain%2BM.%2BBanks%2B-%2BCulture%2B04%2B-%2BExcession.jpg[/img]

So far so good, I really like the conversations between Minds.

[Zezibesh]

Wow, that's an awful cover for The Road.

As for scifi, have you read the books I suggested at the top of the page?

[Zombii]

Read [i]Consider Phlebas[/i] first. Also read [i]The Player Of Games[/i] if you're ok with a more politics oriented one. Also read the ones Zezibesh suggested, except I recommend reading ADItS before AFUtD.

[Zezibesh]

I like them in the order I suggested, gives more of an "oh shit" reaction when you realize what [I]the dude[/I] really accomplished

[myalt22]

[QUOTE=Zezibesh;31391196]I like them in the order I suggested, gives more of an "oh shit" reaction when you realize what [I]the dude[/I] really accomplished[/QUOTE]

I can't really get into sci-fi, I don't think i'd enjoy those books much..

[Zezibesh]

Try getting Pushing Ice from a library or reading an e-book or something, it's pretty easy to get into imo

[myalt22]

Allrighty. I'm going to compile all the books in this thread into a excel file so I always have a big reading list to choose from.

[Sundowner]

[QUOTE=Zezibesh;31390480]Wow, that's an awful cover for The Road.

[/QUOTE]

[img]http://smaointelambo.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/theroadbook.jpg[/img]

[img]http://americanthings.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/road-by-yooglimusicdotcom.jpg[/img]

these are best Road covers.

[myalt22]

This cover was £3 compared to the £7 for the other cover.

[Loli]

[img]http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/50272_73574039507_4537484_n.jpg[/img]

Pretty good so far.

[TacError]

Just started reading this:

[img]http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/9105/0934812.jpg[/img]

[Zezibesh]

[QUOTE=Loli;31397866][img]http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/50272_73574039507_4537484_n.jpg[/img]

Pretty good so far.[/QUOTE]

wow you spoiled me