1. Comment #132147 by maton100 on February 24, 2008 at 10:40 am

Hey, where's Milan Kundera?

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2. Comment #132151 by Rational Thinking on February 24, 2008 at 10:56 am

I heard this live this afternoon - great programme. One thing somewhat puzzled me, and I wondered about the "Self-proclaimed Biological Guru" :-) I thought it was rather amusing.

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3. Comment #132160 by Geoff on February 24, 2008 at 11:23 am

I wish people would stop adding to my reading list! I cant' keep up!

Only read Hoyle out of those 5, and that must have been 40 years ago.

Oh well, amazon, here I go again...

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4. Comment #132162 by moopet on February 24, 2008 at 11:30 am

I actually thought I was the only person to have ever read the first two! They're a very interesting selection, one I wouldn't have guessed.

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5. Comment #132166 by pulsar1z on February 24, 2008 at 11:36 am

My Goodness Richard you are so multifaceted

I enjoy your insights

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6. Comment #132168 by The Soilworker on February 24, 2008 at 11:44 am

I would have bet money that some Douglas Adams would've graced the list....

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7. Comment #132178 by Jiten on February 24, 2008 at 12:22 pm

Of those 5 I've only read The Lion Children.I tried to read Red Strangers but just couldn't get into it.It wasn't easy to get hold of a copy either!

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8. Comment #132179 by APPlet on February 24, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Ah, five more books to add to my contiually growing stack. A stack that is growing faster than it can be consumed. Having said that I would like to risk further becoming hopelessly behind. I visit this site daily and have learned much from the people posting. I wonder what fiction books each of you would consider to be in your top five.
Without giving it a lot of thought I will offer (without apology), mine:

1984 - George Orwell
River God - Wilbur Smith
Aztec - Gary Jennings
Salems Lot - Stephen King (I know, I know)
The Old Man and the Sea - Papa Hemingway

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9. Comment #132181 by Steve Zara on February 24, 2008 at 12:27 pm

I must get around to reading "The Black Cloud"!

I'll join in:

Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid - Douglas Hofstadter
Eon - Greg Bear
The City and the Stars (the long version) - Arthur C Clarke
The Player of Games - Iain M Banks
Changing Places - David Lodge

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10. Comment #132186 by mikejswalker on February 24, 2008 at 12:33 pm

fave books.
The Bible.
another Bible.
a big bible.
Pole dancing in Ruskin country.
How to really really really.

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11. Comment #132192 by jdb on February 24, 2008 at 12:38 pm

I've heard Richard say several times that he'd like to write fiction, or has at least mentioned some good ideas. The question is... WHEN?!

I "found" Carl Sagan by reading Contact, his only work of fiction, at the age of 14. Of course this led me to the rest of his work, which I love.

How much larger of an audience would Richard draw with a work of fiction?

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12. Comment #132194 by Eamonn Shute on February 24, 2008 at 12:41 pm

I have also read The Black Cloud, it is one of my favourite SF novels, with a very unusual alien, and calculus! I am a little surprised that several others have read it, it seems to be unavailable new and was first published in 1957. I have it in Penguin, price two shillings and sixpence in 1960.

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13. Comment #132195 by Jiten on February 24, 2008 at 12:42 pm

My 5 best:
A Fine Balance- Rohinton Mistry
Creation:Life and how to make it- Steve Grand
Demon Haunted World- Carl Sagan
Language Instinct- Steven Pinker
Fabric of Reality- David Deutsch

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14. Comment #132197 by APPlet on February 24, 2008 at 12:48 pm

Jiten: Demon Haunted World was a life changing book for me, it is a great read for any sensible human being and a MUST read for any non-sensible human being. I also happen to be a big fan of Steven Pinker as well. I was looking for fiction though even if it is Stephen King. :)
Cheers!

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15. Comment #132201 by AllanW on February 24, 2008 at 12:58 pm

Top 5 fiction;

Cyteen - C.J.Cherryh
LOTR - J.R.R.Tolkien
One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Behold the Man - Michael Moorcock
Foundation trilogy - Isaac Asimov

Bugger! I couldn't fit any Pratchett in! Or Orwell :((

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16. Comment #132208 by Rtambree on February 24, 2008 at 1:09 pm

1. Guns, Germs & Steel - Jared Diamond
2. The Blank Slate - Steven Pinker
3. Understanding Power - Noam Chomsky
4. Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan
5. Ancestors Tales - Richard Dawkins

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17. Comment #132214 by elfstoned on February 24, 2008 at 1:25 pm

Jiten,I have 3/5 of your list, so I suppose I have to get the other two!! (Sagan and Mistry). Actually, the Fabric of Reality was the book where I first heard about Dawkins :)

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18. Comment #132269 by GBart on February 24, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Why can't British people pronounce "controversey" GAWD

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19. Comment #132273 by Ilovelucy on February 24, 2008 at 2:34 pm

Why can't yanks spell "favourite"?

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20. Comment #132290 by alexlg on February 24, 2008 at 2:59 pm

1. TGD (natch)
2. The Master and Margarita - Bulgakov
3. Chapaev and Void (or The Clay Machine Gun) - Pelevin
4. A People's Tragedy - Figes
5. A Clockwork Orange - Burgess
6. The Trial - Kafka

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21. Comment #132303 by Fire1974 on February 24, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Just sticking to fiction fav-OR-ites:
The Inheritors-William Golding
The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises-Ernest Hemingway
A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgess
Middlesex- Jeffery Eugenides

APPlet: I can't believe I'm not the only one here to have read Aztec. I loved it, but it just couldn't mingle with the above company.

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22. Comment #132305 by Cartomancer on February 24, 2008 at 3:16 pm

Given that all my favourite books are cheap fantasy novels that nobody has ever heard of I shall refrain from following suit here...

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23. Comment #132318 by Fire1974 on February 24, 2008 at 3:35 pm

I'd be remiss if I didn't strongly recommend The Inheritors to everyone here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inheritors_(William_Golding)

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24. Comment #132334 by Geoff on February 24, 2008 at 3:50 pm

1. LOTR
2. The Mote in God's Eye; Larry Niven
3. Rendezvous with Rama: Clarke
4. Stranger in a Strange Land; Heinlein
5. Flowers for Algernon; Daniel Keyes

Other Comments by Geoff

25. Comment #132339 by rejohnsonil on February 24, 2008 at 3:54 pm

aw, i wonder if the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy was #6? :)

i miss douglas adams still and wish i could read a new dna book...

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26. Comment #132401 by CK76 on February 24, 2008 at 5:56 pm

I enjoy Solzhenitsyn's prose in The Gulag Archipelago and would suggest it. Good bit is "Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing."

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27. Comment #132422 by robotaholic on February 24, 2008 at 6:23 pm

1. H.P.Lovecraft (has some of the most fabulous sentences I have ever read)
2. Varner Vinge (inventor of the idea of the technological singularity)
3. Robert A. Heinlein (just a kick ass scifi writer)
4. Richard Dawkins -TGD (the audiobook is amazing)
5. Steven Pollock - quantum lectures (i actually can understand some of this lol)

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28. Comment #132432 by Rational Thinking on February 24, 2008 at 6:37 pm

Five favourite fiction books, thus far :-)

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy (all of it) by Douglas Adams
Bridget Jones' Diary and Edge of Reason (counts as 1:-))
Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L Sayers
Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals

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29. Comment #132468 by LorienRyan on February 24, 2008 at 7:39 pm

Oh well, here goes...

To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee
Philosophy and Philosophers, John Shand
What is this thing called Science?, A.C. Chalmers
The Gospel of Buddha, Paul Carus
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan

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30. Comment #132471 by chuckgoecke on February 24, 2008 at 7:46 pm

Matt Ridley - The Red Queen
Carl Sagan - Contact
Frank Herbert - The Dune Trilogy
Sir Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's End
J. R. R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Richard, Please, Please give us at least one novel, before you die. Carl did it. Do it for us; do it for Carl.

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31. Comment #132499 by PJG on February 24, 2008 at 9:26 pm

The Black Cloud is the only one of RD's choices that I have read too. It is still on my bookshelf, being good enough to have survived the periodic "clear out" for over thirty years.

Favourite fiction is a tricky one (I don't think my 10 favourite books would include any works of fiction) but I'll join in. In no particular order:

1. Catch 22, Joseph Heller
2. Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes (LOADS better than the film they made of it)
3. Love of Seven Dolls, Paul Gallico
4. The Chrysalids, John Wyndham (I read this about thirty five years ago - still on my shelf and I often remember it - must re-read - it may not be as good as I remember)
5. Longitude, Dava Sobel (does this count as "fiction"?)

Oh dear, I just realised that the list goes on and on, Asimov, Austen, (Douglas) Adams, Du Murier, ......

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32. Comment #132501 by Stratos on February 24, 2008 at 9:41 pm

I would definitely be interested in reading a science fiction novel written by Dawkins. He could combine real science within a fictitious world that he himself shall create. Richard please do it!

Some of my favorites:

1. The Iliad & Odyssey
2. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
3. Zorba the Greek
4. The Last Temptation of Christ
5. Hamlet

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33. Comment #132522 by Wosret on February 24, 2008 at 11:13 pm

I don't actually read a lot of fiction, unless subtitles count. I get all my fiction from anime and video games, but I will still outline a list, although I have only ever read a couple dozen works of fiction. Also, there is no order, 1 is not best, nor is 5 worst, just my top five favorites.

Dawrinia - Robert Charles Wilson

The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - Dougles Adams

Life the universe and everything - Dougles Adams

Not particularly because it was the best, but because it was the first series of books I ever read, I feel I should add all twelve books of the "Everworld" series by K. A. Applegate.

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34. Comment #132525 by ASonOfLiberty on February 24, 2008 at 11:16 pm

1) Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agaency
2) The Lord of the Rings
3) Nineteen Eighty-Four
4) 2001 A Space Odyssey
5) The Half Blood Prince (Yes, Harry Potter)

TGD or the Ancestor's Tale would be in there if there wasn't such a focus on fiction.

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35. Comment #132534 by Copson on February 24, 2008 at 11:55 pm

My (strong) suggestions:

M. P. Shiel "The Purple Cloud"
George R. Stewart "Earth Abides"
John Kennedy Toole "A Confederacy of Dunces"
Ray Bradbury "The Martian Chronicles"
William Hope Hodgson "The House on the Borderland"
Ivan Goncharov "Oblomov"

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36. Comment #132536 by Vadjong on February 25, 2008 at 12:03 am

It's booktime already again ? Why, you, geeks !
I just finished YOUR INNER FISH (Shubin), MUSICOPHILIA (Sacks), BIBLICAL NONSENSE (Long) and INK (Duncan) and have started MATTER (Banks) and LINGUA EX MACHINA (Calvin & Bickerton)

Ofcourse, Umberto Eco's FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM and FIGMENTS OF REALITY by Stewart & Cohen must always be mentioned at least once in these threads.

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37. Comment #132538 by Bonzai on February 25, 2008 at 12:07 am

"The joy of gay sex" by Siverstein and Picano.

Somehow I like do it yourself books.

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38. Comment #132546 by Wosret on February 25, 2008 at 1:08 am

Ha! Bonzai, that is only fiction for homosexuals that are either extremely bad in bed, or can't get laid.

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39. Comment #132596 by MPhil on February 25, 2008 at 2:54 am

Man, there are really far too many to chose from, but five of them surely would be

-J.K. Rowling: The Harry Potter Series
-J.W.v.Goethe: Faust
-D. Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Series)
-P. Auster: City of Glass
-S. Lem: Solaris

...I've excluded nonfiction, poetry and dramaturgy for reasons of simplicity... and am still left with far more than 5. These are just off the top of my head.

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40. Comment #132603 by Steve Zara on February 25, 2008 at 3:12 am

Come off it people, having series of books as a selection is surely cheating. I think it might be acceptable if the entire series is available as a single bound volume. That seems reasonable in the case of the Hitch-Hiker series, but is going to a problem with Harry Potter. Indeed, lifting such a volume would probably result in the need for medical care.

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41. Comment #132608 by MPhil on February 25, 2008 at 3:25 am

Well, in that case - I think I can't help it. I couldn't possibly chose between the 7 parts, since I see them as one unified (if quite long) story - as it was set out by Mrs. Rowling. Much like Babylon 5.

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42. Comment #132616 by SteveN on February 25, 2008 at 3:40 am

Quote: GBart

Why can't British people pronounce "controversey" GAWD

Why can't Americans spell "controversy" GAWD

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43. Comment #132643 by Philip1978 on February 25, 2008 at 4:26 am

Here be mine, well, the books that made a massive impact on my life:

Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams - Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul

J R R Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings -I have a massive book so I count it as one :)

Terry Pratchett - The Last Hero

Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion


Douglas Adams has always been a part of my life, got his books very early on and loved them. The Lord of the Rings was the first proper Epic book I ever read. My first intro to Terry Pratchett made me laugh so much, he had to be included, very clever book and writer. The God Delusion was a great inspirational book for me, it made me want to learn about religion and science more - I think its had a good impact on me :)

I have loads of other stuff like Shakespeare and Keats but I dont think I could class them as novels!

Philip

Other Comments by Philip1978

44. Comment #132668 by APPlet on February 25, 2008 at 5:28 am

PJG, I forgot about The Chrysalids, that was the first SciFi book that really resonated with me.
gcuJimmy, glad to see 1984, loved it and hated the subject matter.
Fire1974, have you tried Jennings book on Marco Polo, I forget the name.
Good to see clockwork orange on here a few times.
Thanks all, I need to print this thread off and get over to eBay.

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45. Comment #132671 by gcujimmy on February 25, 2008 at 5:35 am

Hi all this is my first post, actually this is the first thread I haven't felt daunted by. I have been pretty much lurking here for the last couple of weeks since reading TGD and am totally in awe of the level of discussion on this site.I feel I have learned so much already and, who knows, Some day I may pluck up the nerve to post on one of the more serious threads.

Anyway, for what it's worth here is my list.

JRR Tolkein - The Lord of The Rings

Herman Hesse - The Glass Bead Game

George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty-Four

John Steinbeck - The Grapes Of Wrath

Upton Sinclair - The Jungle

Other Comments by gcujimmy

46. Comment #132676 by Verylee on February 25, 2008 at 5:39 am

Comment 46 by gcujimmy: For what it's worth, I know the feeling! This is the first and only forum I have ever joined and I spent many weeks/months perusing it before I joined and then again before I posted....and I am sure we are not alone! But I am sure you realised as I did that there isn't an overt intellectual elitism displayed here...everyone on this site just comes across as just being themselves....honestly. Maybe a fear of feeling intellectually inadequate may delay or put some people off from contributing initially (like it did me)...but to be honest I think the wit and wisdom found here on the forums more than compensates for any foolish statements I might make! We're all here to learn.

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47. Comment #132677 by Simon Wilson on February 25, 2008 at 5:48 am

Fairly new to this forum (I had a user name but forgot the password - doh!).
My favourites would be:
1) Ted Simon - Jupiter's Travels (an amazing book about a bloke in the 70's who rides round the world for 4 years on a Triumph motorcycle)
3) Brian Keenan - An Evil Cradling (havent been abel to read it since because it is such an intense book about his years in captivity in Lebanon)
3) TGD - It put into words what I couldnt before - and led me to this website.
4) Tom Sharpe - A Riotous Assembly (a comedy about South Africa under apartheid that had me crying with laughter)
5) C.S. Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia (yes I know! But as a child I didnt see any christian allegory in it. It was just a great story. I still love Narnia - but I know that it's make believe).
I could add Carl Sagan in there but I havent finished Cosmos yet. Like some others, my reading list is growing quicker than I'm reading!!

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48. Comment #132683 by MPhil on February 25, 2008 at 6:01 am

Herman Hesse - The Glass Bead Game

Guess I could or should have included that, too...or for that matter all of Hermann Hesse's books. 5 books are just by far too few.

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49. Comment #132747 by fides_et_ratio on February 25, 2008 at 7:16 am

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Hemingway
Our Man in Havana - Graham Greene
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
Roots - Alex Haley

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50. Comment #132763 by Slyer on February 25, 2008 at 7:32 am

I think I need to rekindle my reading, I used to read a lot up until a few years ago.
Last book I read was half way through the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan, those books are long! nearly 1000 pages each and 12 books in the series once it's complete. He died last year so the last book of the series is being completed by someone else.
Recommended reading if you have LOTS of time. :P

Heh:
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/8704/churchpornomv4.jpg

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