Dune

Frank Herbert Dune, book, there is a graphic novel of the latest edition which I glanced through. Machiavelli The Prince Sun Tzu The Art of War Epictetus The Enchiridion Tao Te Ching- different editions The Odyssey in variety of formats, illustrated, graphic novel, book The King James Bible-- Different pieces at various points. Proverbs many times. Lewis Carroll-- Alices Adventures In Wonderland, book, annotated edition

And yes: Tolkien, Dune, Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Asimov/Foundation, McCaffrey/Pern, Janny Wurts, Raymond E Feist, and more recently Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, and Melissa McPhail (who sadly passed away, with the Pattern of Shadow and Light incomplete).

Read: American Gods, Consider Phlebas, Neuromancer, The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dune 1, Nineteen Eighty-Four listened to Foundation and I definitely recommend all. But for me Consider Phlebas is the best. Currently on 4th book in series, but cant get through it. Nineteen Eighty-Four doesnt feel geek novel, just political. Also great. I keep reading outputs from LLMs all day and don't have energy to focus on Eng written books in the evening.

A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge Dune, by Frank Herbert Diaspora, by Greg Egan The Clockwork Rocket, by Greg Egan The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

I love Dosadi and all the Busab books, anything by Herbert that isn't Dune, the trashier the better. "A Pattern Language" had very little impact on architecture but a huge impact on software design.

Other than the Bible, that would be Dune and Starship Troopers. I can't really put my finger on how specifically they influenced me, but I often find myself recalling scenes and quotes from those two books when discussing deeper topics with family and friends.

In the fictional corner I must place the Nights Dawn Trilogy and Dune. Other corners don't really have a best book, for me. Recently read 'Emperor of all maladies' and found it a fascinating journey through cancer, both as an illness and as a research subject. Also recently read 'The Grand Chessboard' which was also fascinating for a completely different reason.

harry potter lord of the rings dune game of thrones berserk vinland saga robinson curso : happy reading time!!!

Many of Philip K. Dick books and short stories, but Ubik and A Maze of Death are my favorites. William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive) Douglas N. Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Frank Herbert's Dune books Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human Robert A. Heinlein - Citizen of the Galaxy Robert Charles Wilson's Spin trilogy Frederik Pohl's Heechee books

Rendezvous with Rama. Arthur C Clarke Consider Phlebas. Iain M Banks Dune. Frank Herbert Kiteworld. Keith Roberts The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams

If you haven't read Ted Chiang's short stories yet, do so. His first collection (Stories of Your Life and Others) was my favourite, but his more recent one (Exhalation) was also very good (the title story, Exhalation, is gorgeous). Stories of your Life is what the movie Arrival was based on and (as ever) the story was better than the movie. As far as sci-fi novels, I have pretty generic tastes for this crowd: Dune, The Dispossessed, The Martian. The Crying of Lot 49 is one of my favourite books. Not exactly sci-fi but close.

I get what you’re saying. But I still read because it’s such a habit and part of my identity or something lol. There were some years I was hitting 50-75 books (and not small ones! GoT and godel Escher Bach etc) but now I’m down to a more sustainable pace of around 20 a year, and I’m pretty liberal about quitting books. If I’m getting a sense that it’s a 3/5 book then I just quit and move on. But even then I feel like I’m having an unquenched thirst for an absolute banger like Dune and Enders game. I’ve been thinking about doing a full year of just rereading books I loved like that from decades ago.

Reread Dune Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Highly recommended.

Non-fiction: Disinformation, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa Fiction: Dune and Asimov's The Last Question.

I like to read a wide variety of genre from fiction to human psychology. For the mind: Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg - A great book on how to communcate more effectively with others. Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman -He is the only psychologist ever to recieve the Nobel Prize if I remember correctly. This book scientifically digests human biases and errors and how they influence our every day lives and decision making. Sometimes it a bit too technical for my taste and I like mostly the first part. (its not an easy read) I rarely had so many Aha-moments. A random walk down on wall street - For investing your income in stocks. What to do and what no to do. Simple, with facts. Sapiens by Harari -Interesting, I remember it was a great read and fun read. Connecting a lot of dots :) On programming: Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann - I am failry a junior web dev, so any material that is clear and explains well is a great source of information and inspiration. This is such a book.…

A good chance reflect. There are several: - A Conferedancy of Dunces, Peter O'Toole: tragic, hilarious and absurd - Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Taleb: this was my first exposure to a lot of biases and other interesting phenomena - The Design of Everything Things: eye-opener! Harry Potter, Tolkien, Dune and a lot of other sci-fi has also affected me, although I find it hard to point out one in particular. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein stands out a bit.

Personal Power - Robbins, How to win friends and influence people - Carnegie, Feeling Good - Burns, Godel Esher Bach - Hofstadter, Fundamentals of Physics - Halliday and Resnick, Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Bach, The Commodore 64 User Manual, "Stocks for the Long Run", The Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide - Gygax, Dune - Herbert

Frank Herbert only wrote six books. You only have to read them in order of publication. His son's books aren't as good and in the opinion of many aren't worth the trouble of reading.

1984 and Animal farm - George Orwell. Dune - Frank Herbert. Antimemoire - André Malraux

A Wrinkle In Time, by Madeleine L'Engle I probably read it in fourth or fifth grade, not too many years after it was published. It was definitely the first science fiction novel I ever read. It wasn't until many years later that I saw how foundational to my worldview it was that my first SF book had a female protagonist. I was going to give a few other examples of truly life-changing works (LOTR, Dune, Neuromancer), but I'm not sure how I would have found them if A Wrinkle In Time hadn't opened by pre-adolescent eyes.

Dune. Specifically the parts about how a human can choose their reaction to an external event. And the ability to overcome fear. Man's Search For Meaning. Again, overcoming the worst situations and finding joy anywhere. How to Practice. Understanding what you are feeling and why you are feeling it. Emotional Intelligence. How the amygdala sends signals to the brain, why it does that, and how to recognize your negative reactions. And all the Discworld books, to find joy and humour in everything. GNU Terry Pratchett.

Dune. I'd like to recommend all 6 by Herbert, but since I can only recommend one I'll say Dune. My favourite book. I even have this beautiful edition: https://imgur.com/LQPoi4m

I only read two books this year but they were amazing! The first one is Dune : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44767458-dune. It needs no introduction to HN, I think. Best Sci-fi book I have read so far. The second one is American Kingpin : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31920777-american-kingpi... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31920777-american-kingpin) . It is about Silk Road (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_%28marketplace%29), the online darkweb market place. It's very well written.

> What are you reading and why? Audiobooks are a special case for me. They help fill the time when I'm driving to work, mowing the lawn or doing dishes. If I consume my entertainment during these productive times, I find I'm less drawn to television and other mindless distractions. They also help me to be motivated to do tasks that I otherwise find dull. The better alternative is to find a friend to share these tasks with, but that is not always a practical option. While I do read for entertainment, I really enjoy non-fiction as long as it's light. If I want to explore a topic and truly learn something, I often need to find a text version. That said, I have found some great audiobooks that I have learnt from: -The Goal -Pragmatic Programmer -Designing Data-Intensive Applications -Thinking Fast and Slow -Ultralearning The best entertainment so far have been -Dune -The Expanse series -The Bobiverse series -The Expeditionary force series.…

Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others is the best, single-author collection of short stories I've ever read. If you like that, you might also enjoy The Lifecycle of Software Objects, an absolutely heartbreaking novella about simulated children, and his follow-up collection Exhalation. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is fantastic, and it's follow-up, Speaker for the Dead is even better, and my favorite science fiction novel of all time. They won back to back Hugo and Nebula awards. Card is a polarizing figure for his outspoken political opinions, but if ever the art should be separated from the artist, it's Speaker, which is an incredible exploration of empathy and responsibility, in addition to being a gripping, action-packed, science-literate read. Many more in this series, if you get into it.…

Dune

I just finished read my first fiction novel in about 10 years: Dune. Although it’s not quite contemporary - I really enjoyed it so you might too. There is also a bunch of follow on books I may delve into one day... but right now I’m back to business books :)

Same :)

Same! Also Herbert's Dune

The first Dune book.

Just finished Dune last month, that book was on another level. Ahead of its time.

The Dune series is so rich in ideas and imagery. I've read it (print and audio) more than 20 times.

- Sapiens - The Lord of the Rings - Siddhartha - Chaos: Making a New Science - The Death Gate cycle books - Neuromancer - Head First Design Patterns - Valis - Dune - The name of the rose I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones off the top of my head.

Dune by Frank Herbert. This is a book I first read as a young teenager, but every time I re-read it every few years at a somewhat different point in my life, I get a different sense of it, maybe more based on where I am in my life and what is going on in the world. That for me is what makes a book endlessly re-readable: you always find something new in it. It is packed with all kinds of references and allegories to so many parts of our world, but in a way that still seems like its own world.

Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, Dune, Shoe Dog, On The Road

Nah, it's best to read all 6 books by Frank Herbert. They're incredibly good.

Don't bother with the books past the first and maybe the second. Dune itself should be treated as a standalone masterpiece of worldbuilding.

i learn from Dune to never ever trust blindly any kind of leaders. Great leaders should be come with a warning on attach to their heads.

He is, perhaps, my favorite contemporary author. I have a fairly predictable "best novels ever written" list which includes _War and Peace_, _Anna Karinina_, _Brothers Karamazov_ and _Dune_ ... but I would also place _SevenEves_ on that list. I found _Fall Or: Dodge in Hell_ to be terrible, however.

Agreed. No specific book has every "changed my life", or specifically been the source of positive impacts. But reading stories is fun, and something I do constantly. Currently I'm re-reading Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Every year or two I re-read Dune, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Amber, and Steven Brust's Taltos series. Always a pleasure. My recommendations would probably echo those already posted, with the addition of small random stories that I remember fondly because they were just fun, interesting, or surprising (e.g. H. G. Wells: The Door in the Wall, or the original Mary Poppins books recently completed after finishing the Dresden Files for the first time.)

- Anna Karenina: Tolstoy knows people better than they know themselves - Brave New World: Aldous Huxley is a genius and a wordsmith - Dune: a sci-fi masterpiece, highly recommended to anyone into sci-fi - Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: not purely fiction but an amazing book I will surely re-read during my lifetime

Dune and Lord of the Rings. Both have such detail to their worlds that is rarely done well in other works. On top of the world building, I enjoyed the internal struggles that both Paul and Frodo had to go through to become better people and achieve their goals

Dune is great. Really great, especially the first part. While many books get a lot of praise/hype, Dune is one of the few that lives up to expectations.

Currently: Through a Camel's Eye by Dorothy Johnston although admit I'm having trouble getting into it. Will give it another 50 pages before I decide. And today started listening to Dune Messiah on audiobook. I loved the first book which I've reread many times, but didn't enjoy the following books at all when I read them years and years ago. Decided to give them another try. Recommend: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North for beautiful prose, charming writing and an inventive story. Her first and best book under that pseudonym. Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard and The Moons of Barsk by Lawrence M. Schoen for making me care about anthropomorphic elephants. Children of Time and Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky for almost making me care about non-anthropomorphic spiders. I Am Not a Serial Killer and sequels by Dan Wells for tricking me into reading a horror novel when I at first thought it was a thriller, but really enjoying it anyway. The Lost Man by Jane Harper for being similar but so far a lot better than Through a Camel's Eye.

- A Random Walk Down Wall Street: I got much more interested in personal finance this year, and definitely recommend this book as a stepping stone for learning about investing. - Frankenstein: Highly recommend! It is nothing like it is portrayed to be in pop culture and I thoroughly enjoyed it. - Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in America: It is literally unbelievable. It follows Katy Tur, a reporter tasked with following Trump leading up to the election. If you aren't already fed up with Trump, then give this a whirl. - Dune: 5/5 sci-fi - The Society of the Spectacle: I had trouble with this one. I think some things get lost in translation, and the philosophical arguments are so abstract it was a bit hard to follow along. I had a few key take-aways but to be honest it was kind of a chore to read. - How Not to Die: Argues for prioritizing a plant-based diet, and definitely changed my relationship with food. - East of Eden: My wife's favorite book and is now one of my favorites. - Sapiens: Very enjoyable, but some of it can feel pseudo-sciency and gets a bit nihilistic in the end.…

"Blindsight" by Peter Watts "Solaris" and "Summa Technologiae" by Stanislav Lem "Dune" by Frank Herbert "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson

Dune undoubtedly is a masterpiece. But, it's neither fun nor light-hearted like OP requested.

Central Station by Lavie Tidhar is an amazing charming story of a world deeply steeped old sitting baking world where new things are coming about. It is charm & delight in the purest & simplest. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. "Robert Charles Wilson is a hell of a storyteller," said Stephen King and this wonderful tour through time and space, humanity & people's lives is incredible. The Quantum Thief series by Hannu Rajaniemi is open, scenic, wild, & so so vivid, one of the most beautiful worlds I've ever visited, & it reminds me so much of a joyous wild swashbuckling run. The mystery of the main character is enchanting. Infoquake series by David Louis Edelson is a gripping suspenseful rise of a star entrepreneur that redefines and radically expands the world, amid an already boisterous & full & busy beautiful world already overflowing in seamless technology everywhere. Although the plot line whips along with some suspense & tension, the scenery and the voyage is incredible.…

Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein [1] The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov [2] The Wrong Unit [3] wasn't a bad little humorous tale. Pretty much anything by Timothy Zahn (sans Star Wars novelisations) [4] or Robert Sawyer [5] floats my boat. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North [6] Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen [7] made me care about sentient elephants. Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi [8] is very funny. Audiobook version narrated by Wil Wheaton. Of ones already mentioned: The Bobiverse was surprisingly good (including the audiobook version). The Expanse is good. With regards to Dune, there are some like myself who only ever liked the first book in the series. (Also there is a good audiobook version out there.) The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and sequels are great world building and characters, although the plots seem to meander about with not too much purpose. The Martian is great. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50851.Farmer_in_the_Sky [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50091.The_Complete_Robot [3] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30959279-the-wrong-unit [4] https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12479.Timothy_Zahn…

Dune. Definitely Dune. The most epic sci-fi world that is so far in the future it feels like it could be middle earth. Politics, mysticism, prescience, intergalactic travel build an amazing world that feels utterly alien but still relatable. It’s like reading about modern battles between oil, culture and money, but in countless years and star system into the future. Honorable mentions for Hyperion and Neuromancer for my favorites :)

Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash were great. Others you might: - The Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang (superb short story that Arrival was based on) - The Three Body-Problem (Cixin Liu) - Dune (Frank Herbert) - The Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler) - Lucifer's Hammer (Larry Niven) - The Kundalini Equation (Steven Barnes)

Actually, the whole Dune series, and risking to be controversial - the extended universe with the abomination of books by Frank Herbert's son. Yes, they break the rules, yes, they are rushed and yes some explanations plain don't make sense, but ohmygod the additional tens of thousands of years added to the story just put on so much more grandure... But why I like it: I open random page, and I just enjoy falling back to the epic story and remembering small details, discovering new ones, pondering upon the small artificial quotes before the chapters. Those books have so much going on for them, and thanks to the time spans involved you can actually pretty much jump in at any moment. Other one is Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison, those are very funny and don't attempt to take themselves too seriously, and have the same principle - you can jump into the story at any moment and just enjoy rapid pace of events splashed with humorous commentary. Plus the protagonist is a very much self made man in a world where it doesn't come easily, so there's that bit of hope for you. Thirdly - Discworld. I guess it does not need comment, does it?

My top three would be: Dune by Frank Herbert (only the first book, dislike the rest of the series) Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein The Crysalids by John Wyndham I've probably read these three books at least twice a decade since the 80s when I was a teenager. The Complete Robot from Isaac Asimov would be a close forth. The Tripod Trilogy by John Christopher would be fifth on the list. Hadn't read since a teenager, but about ten years ago tracked down copies of them (and the prequel) and it was delightful to reread.

It's still openly debated, but the generally accepted Best Order to read the Dune Novels is as follows: Dune, followed by a 1-5 year pause, followed by Dune. Repeat until death. You may, if you wish, throw in the first hundred pages of a different Dune novel every ten years or so, just to remind you of the correct sequence.

Push on for books 2-4. They're great but take a longer investment. 5 & 6 fast-forward thousands of years, so I'd only recommend them if you enjoy things like the Foundation series where the setting and cultural movements are more important than individuals.

I finally got around to reading Dune. I burned though it pretty quickly and loved it. For some reason I can't get into the other books in the series. For now they mock me from their spot on my bookshelf...

The Name of the Wind - For all the reasons mentioned above, is one of my absolute favorite fiction books. Its not just the characters, its Rothfuss' use of language. I've never kept track of so many quotable phrases in a book. Enders Shadow Series by Orson Scott Card - I loved the majority of the Ender's Game series was disappointed when it was over. Throughout those books, Bean was always my favorite character and it was a great day when I discovered the Ender's Shadow series which chronicles Bean's life over several books. The thing I loved most about Bean were his powers of analysis and he taught me to think more about scenario outcomes and think about multiple ways of achieving my goals. Dune - A pattern is emerging here. I love the books where the hero CHOOSES to ascend and works to get there. Paul Atredies starts out a boy against harsh conditions and rises to the challenge. The Stand by Stephen King - I read this book when I was 14 or 15 on summer break in a week. I fell in from the start and read for entire days until it was done and when it was over I was in awe at the size (1000+ pages) and scope of what King accomplished.…

Is sci-fi "technology"? I've taken much from Dune (see the name) but also Clark's books. Comics and the bible have also helped me understand much of US pop culture in a way that i wouldn't without. Realizing the religious overtones in the marvel movies, or the STD metaphor in HarryPotter, is great fun.

I'm not sure what "fundamentally" means in this context, but these certainly made a lasting impact upon my young mind: Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter Dune by Frank Herbert Post Office by Charles Bukowski V. by Thomas Pynchon Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy Pretty much everything by JL Borges

Three books I tend to re-read every 3-8 years are: Farmer in the Sky[1], The Chrysalids[2] and Dune[3][4]. Read them as a teenager and thirty years later still re-read. Others I’ve re-read recently are: * Camouflage [5] * The Green And the Gray [6] * The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August [7] * The Martian [8] * I Am Not A Serial Killer series [9] I plan to re-read in the near future: * Touch [10] * The Hollow City [11] * Pulling Up Stakes [12] Yes, I read a lot. [13] --- [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50851.Farmer_in_the_Sky [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/826845.The_Chrysalids [3] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1000049.Dune [4] Only the first book in the series. Really disliked all the rest. Last couple of times I’ve listened to the Audible audiobook version which is excellent. [5] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21607.Camouflage [6] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216455.The_Green_And_the... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216455.The_Green_And_the_Gray) [7] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18295861-the-first-fifte... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18295861-the-first-fifteen-lives-of-harry-august)…

Just finished Daemon and about to start Freedom. Great read, and it's amazing how quickly it ramps up near the end! I hadn't been hooked to a book like that since "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "Dune"

The correct answer really depends on what you're into, and what kind of person you are. There are a lot of subcategories in fiction (just like there are in non-fiction). Lord of the Rings is much more than mere fiction. It is possibly interesting from a linguistic PoV as it contains an entirely new language called Quenya developed by Tolkien. It also contains a lot of subjects which are relevant IRL. Without getting further into LOTR I agreed with another poster on Dune and attempted to explain the subjects it touches in another reply to your post. Problem with both of these (as well as say GoT) is there are movies made of them. You might also be interested in stories which are based on non-fiction, but are written in a story telling kind of way, greatly adding to suspense. In that category I read the books Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick and Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen [1]. If you're interested in following a suspenseful hacker story I can recommend them both. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13240924

Yes, indeed. Dune. Lets talk about the why. Its much more than an average fantasy because it contains a lot of angles. It is full with psychology, politics, and sociology. Specifically, it touches on subjects like discrimination & racism, oppression/tyranny, managing, infiltrating, warfare, and various eastern philosophies (since the Atreides are forced to suffer). Did I forget anything? Please, do improve my answer! :)

Dune. I mostly read non-fiction myself, so, just like you, I looked for something else amd randomly chose Dune. Loved it. Brilliant world building and a story arch that keeps on giving. And there are 7(?) books in total.

Books I've give away this year: - "In the Garden of Beasts", Erik Larson: An excellent history of diplomatic relations between the US and Germany leading up to WWII. - "Dune", Frank Herbert: Most of you are probably familiar with this book.

Dune by Frank Herbert- I'm one of the few people on Earth who enjoys the David Lynch adaptation so I finally had to get around to reading the book. Kind of awkward stylistically and structurally but a lot of fun. Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen - It's seemed to me that there are political philosophies that focus on economic needs and those that focus on personal freedom. This is the best I've read at uniting those concepts. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! - A blast to read and great insight into the thinking of a great mind. The LA Quartet by James Ellroy (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential, White Jazz) - Really the pinnacle of dark gritty noir. If you like that I can't recommend highly enough. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett - I like a lot of Hammett's other work but this seemed to have a lot of wheel spinning. City of Quartz by Mike Davis - As an Angeleno this gave me so much insight into the city I love. I have no idea if it would be of any interest to an outsider. Antifragile by Nassim Taleb - Nassim Taleb is great and I've definitely been influenced a lot by his ideas, but he's getting too in love with the smell of his own farts.…

Dune - Frank Herbert. Just an amazing book.

Hugo and Nebula award winner Ancillary Justice is pretty good, though perhaps not great. Before that I reread No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy is definitely great and I enjoyed it far more this time than when I read it nine years ago. Right now I am rereading Dune for the first time in at least twenty and possibly thirty years partially because Ancillary Justice reminded me of it, partially because it might be something I recommend trying to my son and partially because being able to read previously read books in new ways is turning out to be a pleasure of getting older. Anyway, Dune is great in ways that Dino Delaurentis and subsequent film makers had made me forget. Langston Hughes' Weary Blues is amazing, but I'm no expert on poetry.

Pretty much the defining space opera, yeah -- I mean, it's set in the year ten thousand, what else can you fairly expect it to be? While I quite like it (and can't abide its sequels), I do concede it takes a peculiar taste to appreciate it on its merits. the whole thing is a metaphor for the oil industry, no? No, not really, or at least I think not deliberately; it's much more Lawrence of Arabia in space.

Lord of the Light Dune Neuromancer Hyperion Snow Crash Use of Weapons Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained

Dune - Frank Herbert There's something mystical and very powerful about this book and the theme of conquering fear. It also reads surprisingly well considering how dense some of the political and technical descriptions are.

How big of an expert on deserts do you have to be that Dune stops being interesting? Unless you still find it valuable emotionally or philosophically and just reject is as 'science fiction' I think it's a bit sad to just flat out get rid of such an interesting book!

Neal Stephenson, Anathem Iain M Banks, Use of Weapons Greg Egan, Diaspora and Permutation City Frank Herbert, Dune Kim Stanley Robinson, the Mars trilogy Vernon Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky [Note to Hollywood: can we please have a Culture movie?]

I have strong opinions about this. My criteria for a book being science fiction and not fantasy is that is must be based on scientific thinking. The author must have done some work to determine whether whats happening in his book is at least plausible according to real science, and then work out the details of how it would actually function. So I regard most "science fiction" books and almost all "science fiction" films as really being fantasy. Essentially they are works of fantasy or dramatic fiction re-skinned with lasers and aliens instead of magic and goblins (to a great or lesser extent). So dune is a great book but it is 90% fantasy, there is only a little bit of research done by the author on desert ecosystems. My favourite real science fiction author is Arthur C clarke. some good books by him... earthlight the fountains of paradise islands in the sky the sands of mars rama songs of distant earth Also would recommend accelerando by Charles Stross and the mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson

Dune - IM not-so HO its the best sci fi novel ever.

Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Dune, Foundation series, Martian Chronicles & Illustrated Man, Ender's Game, Accelerando, Hyperion, The Forever War, Player of Games, Snow Crash

A single book? Impossible. I don't think I could even name my favorite Zelazny or PKD. Many of the works of both are in the running. As is "Dune", for sure. Possibly "Snow Crash". "Protector" might not quite make the cut, but comes somewhat close - from my recollection it was my favorite Niven (not counting short stories)... I'm currently finally getting around to "The Mote In God's Eye". Further back, "Foundation" was pretty amazing, and I've a bit of a soft spot for "Childhood's End". Bester's "The Demolished Man" is well worth a read, but I think also doesn't quite make the cut.

I would pick Dune, Lord of the rings, and anything by Zelazny and Steven Brust as my two followups.

I just finished reading The Martian recently, inspired to write a review: http://www.alphadevx.com/a/453-Review-of-The-Martian Currently reading Flash Boys by Michael Lewis, which is about High Frequency Trading in Wall Street which is interesting for the technology involved. Favorite book of all time is Frank Herbert's Dune, the six books are great in fact.

Dune is great, but don't stop there. Read the rest of the series (I don't care for any of his Son's books though, so not going to recommend those, but there are those that like em).

If you are looking for some good SF read I can't recommend "Dune" enough, this thing is a masterpiece. As far as right now goes, I just started "The girl with the Dragon Tattoo", too early to give an opinion.

I've read the entire Dune series more than 15 years ago, one of the best Sci-Fi series I've ever read.

If you're talking about any sort of science fiction, I (and I'm sure countless others) would recommend Dune by Frank Herbert -- the best-selling sci-fi novel of all time, and for good reason. It's not as light-hearted as Ready Player One, though.

Isaac Asimov's robot series (start with "I, Robot" and "The Caves of Steel") is good, as is his Foundation series. Ender's Game is also good; I've heard other people complain about the other novels in that universe (Speaker for the Dead and sequels, Ender's Shadow and sequels), but I liked them fine. Cryptonomicon is rich, fascinating, and entertaining. Dune is rich and pretty fascinating. Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Time Enough for Love" are somewhat scandalous, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. Outside science fiction: P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster novels, as well as what of his other books I've read, are hilarious and brilliant; I would suggest "Right Ho, Jeeves" as a starting point.

After reading Game of Thrones I wanted to read more book series, so went with science fiction ones: Started with: Dune, by Frank Herbert (+ 5 books in the series) Continued to: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (+ 3 sequels) Now reading: Foundation by Isaac Asimov (+ 5 books) All those are pretty great in sense of that they take set in span of thousands of years, and touch bit different ideas around society, myths, religion, morals, physical and mental technologies. Other than that, been been enjoying some classic literature, Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, James Clavell, Haruki Murakami and books about Richard Feynman.

Since you're going with "classics" I'd add: * Les Liaisons dangereuses * The Count of Monte Cristo Plus my personal picks; Taltos the assassin, Chronicles of Amber, Dune & LoTR.

Dune 1984 Would greatly help if you told us what type (or examples) of books you like.

Non-developer specific good sci-fi books: -Dune -Hyperion + The Fall of Hyperion -The Book Of The New Sun -Ilium + Olympos -Takeshi Kovacs trilogy -The Culture Series (meh..) -The Demolished Man More dev-oriented: -Reamde (which I hated, but I seem to be in a minority) -Neuromancer I'll always have a special place in my heart for Calculating God (not science fiction), because its the book that got me into reading seriously.

God Emperor of Dune from the Dune series. Work up to it. It's incredibly rewarding.

Sci-Fi: The Dune series. All of them. There is no excuse to give up after the first one. Frank Herbert was a philosopher who worked in the medium of the sci-fi novel. Fantasy: "The Worm Ourobourous". If Christoper Marlowe had invented the fantasy novel genre, this is what he would have written. The prose makes modern fantasy look like milquetoast. Criticism: "The Art and Craft of Drawing" by Vernon Blake. The best attempt to capture the mental processes involved in drawing like the Masters. It was written in the 1920s when artists could still draw like the Masters and knew the tradition. Programming: "Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp". A gymnasium for the programming mind.

Dune

There's plenty of nerds here so I'm sure I won't be the last to nominate Lord of the Rings and Dune.

Seconding the dumping of the TV. I've heard nothing but good things about the Culture series so that's something I'll have to get to soon. And I can never recommend the original 6 dune books enough, simply legendary.

Just wanted to chime in that Dune & Foundation are excellent (and my personal favorite) sci-fi series. I really enjoyed Ringworld by Larry Niven as well.And of course, the Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy in 5 parts :)

I've just finished Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga and it's definitely one of the best books I've read in a long time. The first three Dune novels are particularly good. Dune has a tendency to get more philosophical in the later volumes (plans within plans within plans). If I had to choose an all time favorite I would probably go with Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red/Green/Blue Mars). An extremely well researched view of how Mars colonization and terraforming might proceed in a realistic way. He also has a trilogy on the possible/likely consequences of runaway global warming (Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, Sixty Days and Counting) but RGB Mars is definitely better. Edit: "The content of Green Mars and the cover artwork for Red Mars are included on the Phoenix DVD, carried onboard Phoenix, a NASA lander that successfully touched down on Mars in May 2008. The First Interplanetary Library is intended to be a sort of time capsule for future Mars explorers and colonists." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy#On_Phoenix_spacecr... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy#On_Phoenix_spacecraft)

Damon (plus the rest of that trilogy), Dune - those are two recent favorites off the top of my head

Depends on what you like. The Dune and Foundation sagas are excellent (although a bit dated). For a more modern feel checkout Alastair Reynolds and Peter Hamilton.

Dune is the best science fiction book ever written.

Want to blow your mind? Fiction Keep an open mind, and a sense of wonder when you read these for max effect! Hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy. I was hooked at "The big yellow ships hung in the air just the way bricks don't." Dune - what does scarcity do to a society? Isaac Asimov - Robot series. Foundation series. All of his short stories, esp. The Last Question, Nightfall. A.C. Clarke - 2001 - series, Childhood's End, The Fountains of Paradise The Little Prince, The Count of Monte Cristo, Catch-22, Siddhartha, Ender's Game, Sundiver, Wodehouse.

Dune by Frank Herbert and Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Dune, The Rama Series.

+1 for Dune (my favorite in the series is the 5th book - Heretics). By the way, don't expect the prequels and sequels have even half the quality of original Herbert works.

Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune by Frank Herbert are my favorites. the sequels God Emperor, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse were good as well but I like the 1st three the most. Dune was about how people shouldn't let supermen lead. it was complex. it was an ecological novel. they had quotable quotes like "thou shall not make a machine in the likeness of the human mind". people say it's the lord of the rings of science fiction. the characters are rich, the plot thick. i highly recommend Dune.

i can't narrow this down to one. some of these are already named: Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, "The Last Question", Ender's Game/Shadow, Dune, Slaughterhouse 5, Ringworld

1984 (George Orwell) Fountains of Paradise (Arthur C Clarke, Space Elevator SciFi) Dune Series (Herbert) Ender Series (Orson Scott Card) 2001 Series (Arthur C Clarke)

Fiction: - The Time Machine (still holds up very well, and seems strangely eerie and prescient in places)... (H. G. Wells) - Dune (Frank Herbert) - The Hobbit (and LotR) (Tolkien) - Neuromancer (William Gibson) - Idoru, All Tomorrow's Parties (I picked up Idoru first, so I haven't yet read Virtual Light) (also Gibson) - The Difference Engine (Gibson, Sterling) - Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson) - Cryptonomicon (" ") - Circuit of Heaven, End of Days (Dennis Danvers) - All of the "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser" stories and novels. (Fritz Leiber) - The Earthsea trilogy (Ursula K. LeGuin) - 'salem's Lot (Stephen King) - Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein) - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain) - the Coldfire trilogy (C. S. Friedman) - various Cory Doctorow short stories - Kamikaze L'Amour (Richard Kadrey) - Lightpaths (Howard V. Hendrix) - A Canticle For Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller, Jr.) - Moonwar, Venus (Ben Bova) - the Stainless Steel Rat series (Harry Harrison) - Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson) - Ringworld (Larry Niven) - Cthon (Piers Anthony) -- Trippiness level approaching Philip Jose Farmer ;-) - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (Douglas Adams)…

1984 The Silmarillion The Hero With A Thousand Faces Dune Walden (about half the chapters anyway)

I was going to mention Dune. That series taught me an important lesson: the techniques of mind, and the mind-body interface, are a technology - and we are still in the dark ages. We do not know how to learn, how to teach, how to make best use of our brains to analyze or synthesize. We are generally blind to our own minds and bodies and running nine tenths of the time on autopilot. When individuals get these skills, it's by aptitude or discovery. We haven't systematized them, we haven't made a science of them, we certainly don't teach them in school. There's a lot of room for improvement.