Would like a list of some good books

[oldunion]

My schools library is average i guess you could say. I just finished fahrenheit 451, i liked 1984, but my memory is not so good and I am wondering if people could list books similar to that.

Also id be interested in some sci-fi-political books if such existed, or maybe just a well written sci fi.

 

[zoobyshoe]

A book similar to those two is This Perfect Day, by Ira Levine.

 

[wasteofo2]

Kurt Vonnegut has some excellent Sci-Fi/Political books.

Slaughterhouse-Five and Sirens of Titan are my two personal favorite novels of his.

If you're looking for a short read, you might pick up God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian, which is also by Vonnegut. This one isn't a novel, but a compilation of "reports" on near death experiences. The premise is that Dr. Kevorkian was giving Vonnegut fractions of lethal injections, so that he would have a near death experience and get to interview dead people, then report on his encounters once the near death experience wore off.

Pretty much all of Vonnegut's work Sci-Fi and Political elements to it, and it's all exceedingly clever. I'd say Vonnegut's work easily blows away Fahrenheit 451 and 1984.

 

[oldunion]

my library has none of those available. this place is pretty beat, and I am on a college campus...i remember vonnegut though, i read slapstick once. good stuff.

what about a non-fiction alien type book?

 

[arildno]

You could pick up some book by Stephen King.
He isn't a bad writer.

 

[oldunion]

slaughterhouse 5 is good, I've read most of it. the alien touch isn't too overdone either.

 

[wasteofo2]

my library has none of those available. this place is pretty beat, and I am on a college campus...i remember vonnegut though, i read slapstick once. good stuff.
what about a non-fiction alien type book?

Most libraries have programs where they can order books they don't have from other libraries, does yours?

And what do you mean by a "non-fiction alien type book"? Do you mean like a real account of aliens, or books of research on the existence of aliens?

Another random good book involving Sci-Fi stuff is The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and its sequels. My brother got all 5 books bound as one and entitled "The Hitchhiker's Trilogy", go figure...

Further Random stuff, Theodore Sturgeon is supposed to be an excelent Sci-Fi writer, very old-school, though I've never read any of his stuff.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I've been reading Greg Bear recently. He's a very good sci fi author in my opinion. He definitely fits in some political and sociological commentary. I haven't read much yet so I'm not sure what to suggest. I read a book of his short stories which were quite good and I just finished a book called Anvil of Stars which was quite good but it was a sequal and I didn't realize it. The book before it was called Forge of God.

It's not Sci Fi but I liked Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It's a political satire of WWII. I'm reading the sequal Closing Time currently.

Franz Kafka is a classic satirist. His books are a bit drawn and dry though. If you think you have the patience for something dry I'd suggest The Trial, not being so bad as some of the others. That or his short stories.

The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson I think you would enjoy from what I have gathered about your liking for conspiracy theories and so forth. And if you like that then the Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy. You may also like his Cosmic Trigger series and Quantum Psychology. Neither of the last two are fiction but a sort of anecdotal non-fiction.

Phillip K. Dick is one of my favorite sci fi authors. I'd recommend just about anything by him. Good starters might be Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep(the book Bladerunner was based on) or The Man In Highcastle(a WWII what if). Clans of the Alphane Moon is a rather amusing one. It involves a colony in another solar system that was abandoned and the asylum inmates that were left behind have created their own society and government.

Ummm... I'll let you know if I come up with anything else.

 

[Smurf]

oldunion, ignore everybody else's suggestions. The book for you is definitely "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy%2C_State%2C_and_Utopia" " by John Rawl.

if your university has an even half-decent political science program they should have both.

I can't really say if it's similar to Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 because (believe it or not) I've never read anything by Orwell except this one essay on the death penalty in English 12...
And I've never even heard of Fahrenheit 451, actually, what is it?

 

[Smurf]

Another random good book involving Sci-Fi stuff is The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and its sequels. My brother got all 5 books bound as one and entitled "The Hitchhiker's Trilogy", go figure...

Not surprised.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

And I've never even heard of Fahrenheit 451, actually, what is it?

READ IT!
It's a rather short sci fi novel by Ray Bradbury. It should take you a day tops, depending on how much time you can give to reading for leisure.

 

[Smurf]

READ IT!
It's a rather short sci fi novel by Ray Bradbury. It should take you a day tops, depending on how much time you can give to reading for leisure.

Seriously, what is it?

 

[oldunion]

Seriously, what is it?

firemen burn books in the common era, no one is allowed to read, society is bland, there are wars that kill everyone, scholars are outcast. i liked the ending, it was realistic.

ape, some of your books sound very interesting. after i read the perfect day and finish slaughterhouse 5 ill dive into them. reading is good, you kind of cherish it more after reading fahrenheit 451. go read it Smurf! now. go to the library.

 

[Mk]

Again, as always I will HIGHLY recommend, Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series. Seven books, the first book is pretty bad, don't lose faith.

"Seize the Night" by other popular writer, Dean Koontz is also VERY good.

I liked them and again HIGHLY recommend the Dark Tower series. omg omg omg omg omg omg...!

If I'm recommending fiction books.

 

[Gale]

The Giver, Brave New World, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Amensia Moon...

Those're a few i liked.

 

[enigma]

"Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Starship Troopers" by Heinlein.

A note on the second... don't judge the book by the movie. The movie was crap. They successfully managed to miss each and every point he was trying to make. The only thing which they got right was there were bugs in the book...

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Yes, I've heard good things about the Starship Troopers book.
I've yet to read any Heinlein but he's on my list.