Read most of it on a flight back from LA to Aus and laughed my head off. So close to home it was like it was my dad as well. Great easy read.
I was always more of an Arthur C. Clarke fan than Asimov, but indeed the Foundation series are amazing. If I had to pick a favourite Sci-Fi book, it would be Rendezvous with Rama by Clarke by a long shot. I read it maybe 4 or 5 years after it came out, and I recall it being so hard to put down - ended up reading chapter after chapter by flashlight in my room when I should have been sleeping... Lot's of talk over the years of making it into a movie, and that is one I would most definitely like to see. I've also read the follow-up novels that Clarke wrote with Gentry Lee in the late 80's and early 90's. All good books but the original is the best. Cheers, Al
This provides so much insight without impinging on the magic, (indeed it adds to it), and is my ultimate dip-in-and-out-of book. "No book has ever taken us closer to the actual music of The Beatles...A brilliant piece of work" (Tony Parsons Daily Telegraph)
@Archer ... my dad was a Physics prof and a wiz kid growing up who literally blew up his basement. As a kid, I had boxes of Galaxy And Astounding Sci-fi pulp mags to plow through and shelf after shelf of books in the house. All the greats were there. I had lots of flashlight moments too. The mags and the books are lost to dust and unfortunately hurricane Irma but I just love that genre. I have a pretty big library myself. It’s really hard to pick a favorite. I think I’ve read the Rama books twice. Childhoods End still haunts me.
The Right Stuff is a great read if you like the style of Wolfe; read it again last summer leading up to the 50th anniversary. (Along with Breaking the Chains of Gravity, which is a good piece on German rocket science leading up to WWII and how it evolved-eventually-into the US space program, for those who like WWII and pre-NASA stuff). As for fiction, Boys Life is a great book.
I’ll add another vote for The Grapes of Wrath, and I’m currently re-reading one of my other favorite books The Fountainhead. Also a big fan of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
The best books change your perspective on life. Like: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. Re-read that one many times. I love how it turns from funny to poignant. Also: On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Mandatory reading for any kid in their late teens, early twenties. And then anything by Murakami. Norwegian Wood is so incredibly well written—also incredibly sad.
Read the series straight through, what an imagination that guy has and a great homage to Star Wars et al
Paper backs, "The Spear of destiny" and "Tesla" both are intrinsic to the power of one mind. Both hard to put down once started.
Three men in a boat - Jerome K Jerome. Very funny in an old English humor sort of way (think P.G.Wodehouse) and easy to read more than once. I think I've read it about 6 times. It's by no means a thick book. Honorary mention - Anything by Bill Bryson (very funny writer) Meat.
I have read Slaughterhouse 5 but not got around to exploring his other works. I will have to look this one up
In the historical fiction category, two favorites are In a Dark Wood Wandering, by Hella Haasse, and A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary Mantel (the latter now a bit overshadowed by Wolf Hall).
Lolita by Nabakov The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas The Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin The Little Prince by Expurey Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil