good sci-fi books?

M Quack

Let me know how you like them.

Another good one is Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio.

Niven/Pournelle's Mote in God's eye is one of my all time favourites. I've enjoyed some of Asher's Polity novels (especially the Spatterjay ones), Banks has a few good novels but his style takes getting used to. On the other hand I was disappointd by PF Hamilton - completely predictable.

I will certainly look into some of the other books proposed. Keep them coming :-)

Borek

Now that the Niven was mentioned... It is surprising how sometimes writing style changes the ease of reading. I have no problems with reading Clarke (or King, or Grisham, or Clancy, or Archer, or Tolkien, or Pratchett - I list them cause I can see their books from here), but Niven books are much more difficult. There is something funny with his English, which makes understanding him much more difficult.

Note it is just my personal opinion, and English is my second language.

turbo

Herbert's Dune is a classic, though the sequel materials were so-so at best, IMO.
Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a good read - one of the best books of my teen years. I haven't re-read it since, so I don't know how well it held up over the years.

When I was younger, I couldn't afford to buy all the science-fiction books I wanted, so some friends and I would each buy them as we could afford them and then swap them. Unfortunately, that meant that most of those books drifted away in swaps, and I never got them back.

Somewhere, there is probably a "black hole" person who failed to pass on the books and has a great library of them.

Borek

Yep. But he keeps them on the floor, as people never borrow shelves, just books.

turbo

Could be, though I was leaning toward him storing them in stolen plastic milk-crates.

As Bill, Mark, and myself (and others in our circle) bought and read the books we wrote our names inside the front covers before trading them. That might not have been a good idea, since there was a marginal chance that we might have gotten them back if we had not acknowledged that we had read them yet.

I would love to have some of those classics back, but it would be $$$ to get them. The price of paperbacks has soared.

Evo

I just started reading "Tool of the trade" by Joe Haldeman, I'm having trouble putting it down. It's listed as a "sci-fi thriller". So far I'm loving it. Anyone else read this or any of his other books?

From the back of the book
Author's Biography: Joe Haldeman has served twice as president of the Science Fiction Writers of America and is currently an adjunct professor teaching writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

turbo

I read some of his stuff that was serialized in pulp magazines. My friend's father subscribed to them, and I got to borrow them.

jim hardy

Early Theodore Sturgeon

"Widget Wadget and Boff" a long, heartwarming short story
Ether Breather" series made me laugh 'till i cried
"Never Underestimate the Power" as timely today as in 1950

and anything by Robert Sheckley, most imaginative guy ever IMHO.