i'm mainly into fanstay books(i can thank my brother for that one)

BUT one book everyone MUST read is ANGELS & DEMONS!!!

(not really sure if that's been said before or not, but trust me, you'll love it, the plot behind this book is amazing!)

 

I just finished the audio book of Freakanomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything and it was quite interesting. If you're looking for an economics book that doesn't try to scare you with big numbers and complicated theories then this is the one for you.

-S-

 

I finished that one pretty recently, too.

The ideas are...interesting. I wouldn't say I disagree with anything in the book, but I don't draw any specific conclusions from it, either.

 

1) I know I'm jumping back a bit but I agree with ShakeZulu that Ender's Game is one of the best books I've ever read. Shake, did you ever get round to reading the sequels, or the Shadow series by Orson Scott Card. Just fantastic.
2) I can't believe that someone on a porn site forum is commenting on books by Gladwell! I can't imagine anything less connected to porn. Not that anything on this thread is, so I suppose I'm off track with that one. apologies.
3) I've just finished "How Mumbo-Jumbo conquered the world". It's about how irrational beliefs have been taken up by people in high office, basically, to the detriment of reason. Very thought provoking.
I'm now reading "As used on the famous Nelson Mandela" by a brithsh stand-up comedian called Mark Thomas. He basically tried to expose how bad the arms trade is, partcualrly in the UK. It's shocking and funny at the same time.

 

I've read everything Jimmy Buffett has written. He has a humourous style, and a very quick wit. His stories all take place where I wouldn't mind living, the Carribean.

Warm, humid, lots of fish, (I'm a commercial fisherman in SE Alaska) cause I like to eat the two things that smell like fish, and one of them IS fish!!
Tese two pics are of me and what I'm catching; Prawns, and if I can get one more, it will be WILD ALASKA SALMON!

 

Soon on my list are the three books by long-time Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder. They look good.

 

A long list of books I like:

Jurassic Park
The Lost World
Anything by Anne Rice (before she was born again)
All of the Jean Auel Clan of the Cave Bear/Earth's Children Series
Ender's Game
Starship Troopers
Many of the Star Wars novels.
1632
1945
Hannibal's Children and The Seven Hills
Resurrection Day
The Romanov Prophecy
Link
Deep Fathom
And many more that I'm too tired to think of right now.

 

Anything by Stephen King I love. Geralds Game made it hard for me to get to sleep at night because he makes it easy for you to visualize the entities he describes.

Richard Matheson is a great author. He did a lot of the scripts for The Twilight Zone. One of my favourites of his is What Dreams May Come, which was made into a fantastic movie.

Right now i'm reading The Cricket Player by H.G. Wells, a short book, only about 100 pages, but it's a really great ghost story.

 

Ender's Game rox!! i've read the sequels and the were pretty damn good too! i luv books with amazing plots such as this one. (even tho they're just scifi)

 

I made the mistake, as directed in a literature class, of reading Speaker for the Dead first. I'll have to read Ender's Game sometime, but I'll be lost in a pile of non-sci-fi for a while.

 

Caffeine,

Read Enders Game, then work your way through them from there. You won't be dissappointed.

Also, has anyone else read any Kim Stanley Robinson? The Mars trilogy are really superb.

And Evanvr, You should be ashamed! Only Sci-fi? What's wrong with sci-fi? There are some great stories being written by some great writers dealing with real issues in an accessible way. Sci-Fi isn't just Star Wars.

And by the way, I love Star Wars. It's just not all that thoughtful.

 

I've been reading stuff by Richard A. Knaak lately, he wrote some novels about Azeroth (Warcraft, har) and about certain heroes, etc.

I've been reading some of the sagas in The Elder Edda, the Norse mythology book, Edited by Snorri Sturluson, basically the Norse equivilent to The Odyssey.

 

i kno, i didn't mean it that way, i luv scifi! it's just i kno alot of people who are really into books who don't really dig the whole sci fi thing, yakno what i mean? Hell i'm into anything(book,game,movie,etc) as long as it has a badass plot! (my current distraction isn't a book i admit...it's Lost...but wrong forum for that...lol)

 

evenvr,

You are forgiven! :wink:

BUT.... (here comes the well meaning sermon. Take a seat)

Don't do down your own tastes and preferences because of what you think others might think. Your opinion is just as vlid as any other. Enjoy it and take pride in it.

And try the Kim Stanley Robinson Mars trilogy. It really is superb.

 

Most of the good books come in series, although there are a few stand alone books in here:

A Game of Thrones (By far the best I've read)
Jurrassic Park
Otherland
Dune (The entire series, even the new stuff)
Enders Game
All of the Conan series (Especially by Robert Jordan)
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
Tai-Pan & Shogun
Most of Stephen King's stuff (His old works are way better than the new ones)
The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (Very Good)
The Merchant Of Venice (As well as most of the stuff by Shakespeare)
The Entire Drizzt Do'Urden Series, Beginning with "Homeland" (I think it starts with Homeland)
All Of David Eddings' stuff
All of Anne Rice' stuff
Angels & Demons, and The DaVinci Code

And for those into self-development and communication:
The Magic of Thinking BIG
The Masterkey to Riches
Anything by Robert Kiyosaki
Personality Plus
The Five Love Languages
What to Say When You Talk to Yourself
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Winning Without Intimidation: the Art of Positive Persuation

And if you're in the mood for something different
try downloading "The Biggest Secret, the book that will change the world, by David Icke" published by "Bridge of Love" It's very strange, but very interesting.

Also Recommended:
The Necronomicon
SAS Survival Guide
The Karma Sutra

Ahhhhhhhh! So many good books, this is just the tip of the Iceburg....

 

Top of my list: Ain't Nobodys Business if You Do by Peter McWilliams. (He debunks most of our cherished notions about drug laws, Jesus Christ, The Bible and much more).
Then; The Book Of J by Harold Bloom. (Bloom hedged in his book but later confirmed he believes Bethsheba wrote the first version of the Bible)
I also got a lot out of The Road Less Traveled by M. Scoot Peck.
For fiction
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko.

Some classics I keep going back to McBeath, King Lear, Twelfth Night, and Nietzsche (in my opinion the scariest mind that ever set pen to paper).
And finally the book I love to despise: Paradise Lost.

 

At one time in the English Empire it was mandatory to have two books.

The King James Bible and Paradise Lost.

I personally think Dante's inferno is better than Paradise Lost, but they are both amazing books. Enlish literally 1400-1800 is really awesome. I wish American literature still had some type of class to it like the Brits back in the day. Oh well.

 

I really liked Beowolf (sp) and Canteberry Tales, but could not stand the way Milton dumped on Eve just because he was gay.

 

Beowulf is an Old English Saga about a Norse Warrior, how much better can you get? It's a wonderful tale. I love it.

As for Canterbury Tales.. Eh, it was okay. Thomas Becket's story was cooler :twisted:

Edit: Holy shit, I mis-spelled English and Literature in that last statement. Sorry.

 

You might have to help me on this one, but there was another guy, a poet and I think I remember his name was John Dunn, but he was like an early English Bob Dylan.

P.S. Let's not worry about spelling as long as we know what we mean. Like Andrew Jackson it's a damn poor mind that can't think of at least two ways to spell a word.