For anyone wishing to take a break from the political pot-shots going on in the other threads: what are some of your favorite books? What was the book about, and what did it mean to you? How did you discover it?

You asked . . .

"Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan

It's an agnostic's bible. Written by someone who was actually there to make observations, not written by a bunch of gentlemen based on hearsay four generations after the fact.

from wiki:

The book is intended to explain the scientific method to laymen, and to encourage people to learn critical or skeptical thinking. It explains methods to help distinguish between ideas that are considered valid science, and ideas that can be considered pseudoscience.


Man, there is one nut here that could use this book but alas he's blinded by the light . . .

Cool thread!

(up late too huh?)

A very early favorite book of mine was discovered right there in the school library. "Lucky Starr and The Pirates of the Asteroids". I picked it up then as a kid, because it had space ships, pirates and other cool sci-fi things in it.

I read it many times because of how it was written. I remember the experience to this day. Page one contained a scene, and even though the vocabulary was not all that high level, the use of language was excellent. It literally painted a vivid picture in my mind, that I could probably draw today. I'm not so sure the book is all that special as much as it was one of the first times I experienced the "minds eye" with that kind of enduring clarity that moves a person.


"The Boys First Book of Electronics" -- Again, the grade school library. This one is special because I was told I could not check it out because I could not understand it! That was the first time I ever completely understood what the word offended meant!

Yeah, I stole that one. Fuck 'em! Fixed stuff with what I learned from that book too.


Over 10 years of National Geographic. My Grandfather bought me a subscription. I read every one of them, cover to cover. I liked the photos, and the writing and the diversity of topics. Lots of my innate curiosity was sparked by those pages.


"Who Can Replace A Man?" Collection of sci-fi shorts. Simple, thought provoking themes, many still relevant today.


"Your Handwriting and You" -- Bunker. This is a book on the art (not science) of handwriting analysis. It's probably the goofiest thing I do, but I do it. It's fun, I'm not bad at it, and beyond the fun party analysis game, I grew to seriously appreciate the simple written word, for it's form as well as it's meaning. (and when they combine, for artistic purposes, I think that's quite beautiful)


"A wrinkle in time" -- Fantasy. Pure fantasy, where it's about emotion, images, places, ideas, feelings and people. Beautiful. Given to me by a teacher who thought I needed to explore some new material.


"Dune" -- Herbert. Probably one of the more complex and fully realized stories I've ever read. I read this every few years, and love it every few years. This book defines the word "scale". What I like most about it are the truisms found as quotes from the characters. They are actually truisms, and are all thought provoking. ie: "Fear is the mind killer." -- "A thing, once seen, cannot be un-seen." Handed to me by a friend, who never read anything, but couldn't put it down.


"The Stand" - Stephen King It's an absolutely huge story, with vivid characters and places.


"IT" - Stephen King Similar to the stand, but scary as hell. I find it difficult to explain, but this book violates some social covenants we all expect to remain constant. Some kids grow up in a town where evil feeds, and they are aware of it, while the adults are not. There is a sight-line where as a kid, you can play below it and get away with things. Here's the scary part! What if the evil is below that line with you, and you can't escape? Both happy larks.


"Age of Reason" "Rights of Man" - Paine. Powerful thinker. I like these two books because each time I read them, I find myself reconsidering things, trying to resolve things. I feel smarter for a time after reading. Then it fades as real life intrudes. Required reading in a college course.


"That Hideous Strength", "Perelandra", "Out of this Planet" - C.S. Lewis I like the blend of science ideas and theological ones in these books. The characters are dated and highly stereotyped, but the story and ideas are timeless. Random draw from used book store.


Tolken. Not much to say here. We've see the movies. The books are much better. Timeless.


Truth is I've a ton of favorite books! I love books of all kinds! So I'll just stop and see what others post up!

Well, maybe. I will add that the books that moved me the most were books when I was younger. It's harder to be really moved now, but it still happens! Lessig did that with "Code" recently.

No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Personal History by Katharine Graham.

"A Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking.

"The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene.

"Hyperspace" by Michio Kaku

All deal with the time/space continuum, Einstein's theory of relativity and the like. I'm gonna read and re-read these things until I understand them completely. After about 15 years, I'm maybe 65 or 70% there. Whew.

Tal, I'm going to have to check that out. I am ALWAYS looking to extend my WWII collection. I have a book that discusses the relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill, it's fascinating.

Missing, I hear you on National Geographic. Some 25 years ago my grandfather got my mother a subscription for National Geographic, I have taken over paying the annual subscription for her now. She has 25 years worth of Nat-Geos around the house in cases, six months to a case, and it's great to grab something from the mid-80s and thumb through it. The magazine has changed little if at all, and it's not politically charged and full of ads. Each one tells a story.

I am a military-thriller junkie, my favorite works are by Tom Clancy. Dan Brown, W.E.B. Griffin, Clive Cussler, I get into that stuff for sure.

I have a LOT of history stuff as well. I always thoroughly enjoyed Stephen Ambrose's work, he spans so many genres and does it so well. The world lost a great historian, and spokesman, when he passed away.

Has anybody ever read Ben Bova's Mars. Read it out of bordem in the summer of 96 and feel in love with the story. IMHO it would adapt perfectly to the screen if it were done correctly.

Micheal Criton's Sphere and Congo were both great books that incidently blew as movies.

There are two books I read annually. Already mentioned by Missing_kskd but still.

Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings: My goodness what kind of impact has this book had on my life. Tremendous. I still cry when I read the chapter "the Scouring of the Shire."

Frank Herbert's Dune is such a dense book. I have read it on a political level, a sociological level, as an economic treatsie, an ecological warning and a great example of Campbell's hero cycle. There is so much you can dissect in that book. It's just jammed with imagery and science to form something unique. The film is horrible and it's the one work that David Lynch wishes his name was not attached to. The mini series was a little better than the movie but not by much.

I, also, really like the the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. It's a ten books series but the first five are the only good ones, in my opinion. These books got me through college when I had spare time to read.

I like Gore Vidal's historical novels. Burr was great and I liked Lincoln as well.

Heinlein is another sci-fi guy I really dig. Starship Troopers is classic. And his award winning the Moon is a Harsh Mistress tops my list of favorites by him.

Any historical books regarding the Founding of America, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, the Great Depression. Thomas Paine's Common Sense should be required reading for high school seniors in my opinion. If they are revisionist, I don't read them.

oh and GO READ: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen. It will totally shake up the whole concept of how we should fight the "war on terror."

Shyguy wrote "Has anybody ever read Ben Bova's Mars. Read it out of bordem in the summer of 96 and fell in love with the story."

Is that the Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars series? IF it is I read the first one about halfway through. It was interesting but I was in college at the time and had too much reading to catch up on in class so I never finished the book.

From an Amazon review:

"Red Mars has the dubious honor of being the first science fiction novel that bore me to death. Want a good read about Mars? Read Ben Bova's "Mars"."

Kim Stanleys' "Red Mars" IMHO, is about 300 pages too long...I didn't even make it halfway through!

Couple that I like:

"A Briefer History of Time" Hawking and Mlodinow... Updated and more readable than Brief History.

"Bad Astronomy" Philip Plait... I fell for some of the "bad science" at one time, but at least I am positive that the we did land on the moon in 1969!

@ Moman. We have similar tastes! I liked the Amber series --all of it!

Too bad we lost Zelazny early. His universes were very interesting.

Another favorite set -- "Blue Adept" - Piers Anthony.

"A light for me, that's bright, I see!" <-- Can only invoke it once! If you've not read, do! Then you will come to understand the subtle idea that words contain power, with said power being at it's potential the first time they are combined in an artistic and unique way. Love books that contain stuff like that. Good to ponder.

Heinlein is another sci-fi guy I really dig...

Me too. Back when I was in high school I actually read ALL of Heinlein's books. At that point "Stranger In A Strange Land" was his most current book. I didn't like it as much as his other works.

I actually found a couple of those books a while back in some boxes I was digging through. I was amazed to see that they cost all of 65 cents back in the early 70's!!!

My favorite authors are Stephen Coonts, Dale Brown and John J. Nance. Their books generally involve aircraft so that's OK by me!

Lately, I've read a couple of books by W.E.B Griffin and they have been good, although they are a lot like Tom Clancy's books wherein about the first 2/3's of the book are setup and the last 1/3 is where all the "action" is.

Good books jus the same though.

I also like James Patterson. I've read almost all, if not all of his books. He co-authored a few books with Andrew Gross. Now Andrew Gross has written a couple of books solo; "The Dark Tide" and "Don't Look Twice". Both are cop thrillers and are pretty good.

I'm a reading freak! I feel like I'm missing something if I don't have at least one book sitting on the back of the toilet that I'm reading!

Starting in the spring of 1984, I started checking out those electronics projects books from the library. I am pretty sure that The Boys First Book of Electronics was one of them. In my recollection, all of these books were from the mid 1960s, and reflected the technology of the time. One of them contained the statement, "power transistors are primarily a thing of the future." One of the books had a simple brushless DC motor, controlled by a single transistor. At the end of the chapter was a statement that said something like, "at this time, there are no commercial applications for a motor of this type."

Like others here, I read a lot of National Geographic magazines, as well as Time. Probably one of the most profound impacts that National Geographic made on me was with a series on evolution that appeared in the summer of 1984 and the vitriolic opposition that some readers mounted against it: an angry letter appeared stating that evolution was contrary to the reader's religious beliefs, and that he was thereby canceling his subscription. A note from the editor stated that National Geographic had received over 100 similar letters in response to the series.

1984 was probably the first book that I had to read as a school assignment (10th grade) that I really came to appreciate as more than just a story. I find it somewhat disturbing to think that the level of surveillance described in the book could easily be achieved today. Perhaps somebody should write an updated version, showing how a totalitarian government could use contemporary technological tools to control its citizens by eliminating privacy.

Science Friction by Michael Shermer was an interesting look at the way that Shermer makes sport out of critical thinking and debunking hucksters and superstition. I discovered this book at an appearance that Shermer made at Powell's books some years ago, although I had been following him for a few years before that.

I may get some tomatoes thrown at me for the next book, one that I recently finished and found to be good, though I don't know how it will stand the test of time: my brother gave me a talking book of Atlas Shrugged. The overall impression that I got of the book, besides that it is very complex, is that characters and events in the book are used by Ms. Rand to perform a variety of philosophical thought experiments that demonstrate her attitudes towards popular ideologies and viewpoints of her day. A lot of metaphors and symbolism are used throughout. I don't think that it can or should be taken as a literal prophecy. The Cedar Hills Crossing location of Powell's Books is going to be having an Atlas Shrugged discussion night this week that I plan to attend.

I think we are talking about a similar book. I totally remember the statement about power transistors.

That evolution series sparked a town wide intervention where I lived! The many churches squabbled, but the Nat Geo story was well done and kids were reading. They countered with lots of lectures and presentations.

It's not necessary to agree, or buy into a book for it to be a favorite book. I've not read Atlas Shrugged. I can easily see doing so. Alfredo, I absolutely have some to realize that one cannot really make belief statements with any kind of true conviction without hearing the contrary ideas, knowing them, and vetting them against what appears to make sense. There is a fear of this in people that is important to overcome. Do it. Enjoy the discussion. You will have new tools to reason with when it's done!

Nat Geo was great for just the sheer scope of coverage. And it sparked an anthropological interest in me that I didn't even know what it was until much later in life. Reading the stories of different cultures and places seemed to speak to me about us as people first and foremost.

Those parts of the magazine are valuable experiences, particularly for young readers.

Brianl: I love looking back through their lens! Hope they never change their standards either. The thing is just perfect as it is.

Growing up in a small town, Nat Geo brought the world in. Culture, places, people, things, stories, tech, causes, life... I was never, ever board because of those.

My first Heinlein book was "Citizen of the Galaxy". Was hooked straight away. Spider Robinson has taken up the Heinlein style, and even finished a few works left undone. He's somebody to watch, because he gets it.

For tech stuff, I really liked the Asimov quick intro to various things.

"On Writing" - Stephen King is a keeper too. I've read through it a few times. He tells his story and connects it to writing and what drives it. I really like books like this. What people know is important. What influenced them, or how they derived what they know is priceless.

Orwell is powerful. Frankly, I like his shorter works and essays most of all.

History is kind of a weak spot for me. I'm trying to dip my toe in and read some. Where I am in life now makes sense for that kind of thing. I like the writings of historical people, but have not followed the history itself as much as I have the progression of ideas.

"Stranger in a Strange Land" is a bold work, done by a Grand Master. Gender fiction is very, very difficult to write in a way that is both relevant (all of us lack perspective on the other gender), and enduring. (the story has basic meaning and insight, without being stereotypical) There are many taboos in most cultures surrounding basic gender identity too.

(And anything that exhibits a taboo, is something I'm absolutely going to explore! What can I say? The allure of the unknowable is like a big shiny thing!)

I also did not enjoy it as much as I did his others. I do appreciate the skill he has in the simple fact that the book is accepted over time.

Oh God -- "The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy". How could I have forgotten! Douglas Adams.

I clearly have not kept track of just where my towel is!

Well, if Doug Adams makes your list (mine as well), then just about everything by Terry Pratchett is gold. I guess this list is a very short list of authors that have made me laugh out loud.

Pratchett's Discworld series, my favorite is the Hogfather. John Irving starts a joke in one chapter and the punchline comes three chapters later and by that time you're in tears over the joke. Mark Twain is just as funny then as now. Tom Sawyer has some absolutely classic humor in it. Charles Dickens always managed to sprinkle in enough humor to not bore me, even getting me to laugh every once and a while.

I just got done reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and it was quirky, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi.

That's a good intro to Neal. Go right for it and read Cryptonmicron. (Or however you spell it.)

The guy is just great.

And you can catch the short essay, "In the Beginning There Was the Command Line"

http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html

An excellent introduction to the dilemma computer technology poses to us.

Amazingly, I've not read Terry Pratchet. I keep meaning to, but just don't. It's gonna happen, and it's going to be great when I do.

The Killer Angels (1974) by Michael Shaara. Being a Civil War nut this was a historical novel about the battle of Gettysburg. One thing left in my "to do list in life" is visit Gettysburg PA.

Skep:
"not written by a bunch of gentlemen based on hearsay four generations after the fact. "

Just so you know there is more historical pieces of fact about the life of Jesus than that of any one figure in history. Something like 5000 actual documents including eye witnesses. Not that you have to believe the "faith" aspect of it all, but there is no denying the factual accounts.

Just so were clear.

Just so were clear.

I'm glad you were paying attention. I though the Bible was written by people who knew Jesus and only recently found this out.

But we're going off topic, so, to get back on topic . . .

I'll add to the books pointed out earlier like "Bad Science" and Michael Shermer's book . . .

Why People Beleive in Wierd Things Michael Shermer

Flim Flam James Randi.

The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road - Cameron Tuttle

All the "Numbers" books by Janet Evanovich
Thomas the Train
Giant Book 'O Noods
Anything "pop up"

HA! We must have 25 "Thomas" books. Baby M is a "Thomas" freak. I have no time these days to read anything very deep since I get about 3 pages in before I crash, but I've started (about 3 times) "Manhunt: the 12-day chase for Lincoln's Killer."

95% of my reading time is spent reading out loud. Our current favorites:
May I Bring a Friend?
All the "Madeline" books
A Visitor For Bear
We're going on a Bear Hunt
The Bad Mood
The Robot and the Bluebird
All the "Harry" the Dog books

If you like Janet E, have you read Chelsea Cain? She's my (only) favorite writer at the Boregonian, and she has 2 books set in Portland about a female serial Killer. "Heartsick" and "Sweetheart" (Library, don't buy). Another series I like is Nevada Barr's, she does murder mysteries set in National Parks. They're a pretty quick read.

P.S. Missing: I spent/wasted most of a Mexican vacation glued to my lounge chair with "It". Very scary, and I couldn't put it down. I also loved "The Stand", I should re-read that one!

Another two of my favorite authors are Sherman Alexie and Chuck Palanuk (sp?).

MERKIN! Yeah I wish I had read Fight Club before seeing the movie (top 5 of all-time). Chuck Palahniuk is a really good author.

"It" scared me so badly I had to put it down a few times, and I'm a King addict! I never anticipated being so shaken by a book.

Larry Niven, the "Ringworld" series. An amazing sci-fi world comparable to "Dune" IMHO, complete with it's own language, multiple species living together (or not...), and a brilliantly engineered "world" like no other. I wish there were more than three books. I trade paperbacks with some of my homeless customers and that's how I got these.

Agreed on National G, and I'll put Smithsonian magazine there, too, for the same reasons.

I attended the Atlas Shrugged discussion. I was expecting to run into at least one hard-core Objectivist. However, the book appears to have been selected partly as a joke and partly because many of the group's regular participants (mainly seniors) had read it in their youth. The main concerns of the group were the literary flaws of the book: highly idealized characters with beautiful, perfect "good guys" and ugly "bad guys," melodramatic plot elements, unlikely situations, unrealistic dialogue, and overall lack of subtlety. My observation was that this was a group whose tastes are for realistic, intricate characters (such as those found in Shakespeare) and for subtle plot elements.

Although I think a discussion containing both critics and fans of the book would have been more interesting, I liked that this group had people who were knowledgeable about the book and were therefore able to explain their criticisms in detail. The consensus seemed to be that the heroic main characters were so appealing to enthusiastic young adults because these people tend to see themselves in those characters. I think that I might have contributed to this conclusion because I said something like, "the young person who would attempt to read a book this long is probably someone who is fairly intelligent, likely a good student, and knows that he is intelligent. Seeing the abilities of the main characters, he is drawn to want to put himself in the story." At some point in the discussion of the story's appeal to young people, an old man said, "people our age are too jaded to think like that."

In my opinion, Rand does come off as a cheerleader for laissez-faire capitalism and the triumphs of the human mind; in that respect, Atlas Shrugged is a feel-good book. I do like and find it interesting that Rand, as an atheist, created a story about heroes that are completely secular. This last point is about as far as I believe that I should go in defending the book.

Green Eggs and Ham,one fish two fish,Go Dog Go,Horton hears a who