Surface Detail

"A Canticle For Leibowitz" "The Sparrow" "Lord of Light" "The Immortal" "Hyperion" "The Last Question" "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" "Stranger in a Strange Land" "The City and the Stars" "Childhood's End" "Anathem" "Eifelheim" "A Case of Conscience" "VALIS" trilogy "The Book of Strange New Things" "Behold The Man" "The God Engines" "Book of the New Sun" "The Parable of the Sower" "The Dosadi Experiment" "Grass" "Project Pope" "Calculating God" "Factoring Humanity" "Jesus on Mars" "Surface Detail

The Algebraist is my favourite Iain M. Banks book too - the breadth of imagination in it is amazing I think Surface Detail is my favourite Culture novel. Many Iain Banks books (regular fiction as well as sci-fi) are really just wish-fulfillment stories, but they're so stylish and fun to read that I love them (plus there's usually at least one very insightful rant by a minor character to be found in nearly every book)

I thoroughly enjoyed Iain M. Banks 'Culture' novels [1] (sci-fi), in particular 'Surface Detail', 'Matter' and 'The Player of Games'. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture

Reposted from my site: (http://ben.kudria.net/post/2548785108/my-favorite-books-of-2... (http://ben.kudria.net/post/2548785108/my-favorite-books-of-2010)). Affiliate links there, for those inclined. === In 2010, every single book I read, I read on my Kindle. Buying a Kindle has been the best thing I have ever done for my reading addiction. I recently upgraded to a Kindle 3, and I wholeheartedly recommended you get one as well, even if you currently have a Kindle 2. Here are the top books I enjoyed in 2010, and you will enjoy also. - The His Dark Materials Trilogy. Start with The Golden Compass. - The City & The City by China Miéville. Quite the post-modern detective story. (Read also his novel Perdido Street Station) - Surface Detail, the new novel by Iain M. Banks, who has quickly catapulted to the very top of my “Favorite Sci-Fi Authors” list. Surface Detail may not be the best novel for a Banks-unfamiliar reader, however — you may wish to start with something like Consider Phlebas or Look To Windward.…

Not sure how many new books I read last year, but Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks is the first thing that comes to mind. It's the latest book in the Culture universe; if you like sci-fi then I highly recommend it (though I don't know that Surface Detail is the best introduction to the series).

I've read all of his novels and must say I am an Ian M Banks addict. I've read some of his fiction as well which he publishes under Ian Banks. My favorite is The Use of Weapons. I liked Surface Detail but I do think you should read the Culture novels in the order they were written. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series

Surface Detail, by Iain M. Banks. This man can make you laugh and cry within three pages, and it's damned good Sci-Fi, to boot.