Ask Slashdot: What Do You Like To Read? 647
badeMan writes "I will be traveling a third of the way around the world this Christmas, and that means a lot of time on a plane. I have decided I am not going to do any coding or technical reading during the flight. Outside the realm of technology and all things related to work, what do you find interesting to read? What books, genres, and authors do you enjoy?"
Math Books (Score:3, Interesting)
I am working through Churchill's Operational Mathematics right now, classic from decades ago, picked it up for under 5 dollars. I swear you can get a masters deg. worth of education from pure bookstores alone if you have the dedication.
Also if your a fan of the free and don't have any serious moral qualms, just use google to pick up some free pdf e-books. Use queries like "The Complete Calculus site:mediafire.com" and you can hit jackpots of pdfs on the free.
Re:Eclectic, and possibly atypical here on /. (Score:3, Interesting)
I love Dostoevsky, Tolstoy,
Those are serious books meant to be read on an almost daily regular basis, and not an "everytime you step on a plane" basis. My copies of Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, and War and Peace clock in at 472, 658, 717, and 1393 pages respectively. The latter two have 1 or 2 pages listing all of the characters and brief descriptions to aid in plot juggling.
For smaller reads, I recommend Tom Wolfe's Hooking up, which meanders from the birth of the semiconductor industry to gay-bashing; Thomas Harris' Hannibal, which is familiar, educational and offensive; or Kafka's Metamorphosis or The Trial. Also, Dilbert and Calvin and Hobbes. For a pragmatic read, check out Chris Hadnagy's Social Engineering which best describes how humans can be hacked like computers.
Dragonlance (Score:4, Interesting)
Dragons of Autumn Twilight (April 1984), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-88038-173-6)
Dragons of Winter Night (April 1985), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-394-73975-2)
Dragons of Spring Dawning (September 1985), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-88038-175-2)
Also, the most famous Legend of the series:
Time of the Twins (February 1986), by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-7869-1804-7)
War of the Twins (May 1986), by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-7869-1805-5)
Test of the Twins (August 1986), by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-7869-1806-3)
Must read for leisure and pleasure, if you like LoTR style fictions.
Nonfiction Works on Commodities (Score:4, Interesting)
The real economy is based on natural resource extraction and industrial production. As such, I find it important to read about commodities (petrol, natural gas, bananas, cereals, coal, iron ore, etc.) and how they've shaped civilizations through the ages. To this I add books about effective management of water, topsoil, rangeland, and forest resources.
A short list of books related to these subjects:
1) Nature's Metropolis by William Cronin
Cronin tells the story of Chicago's development during the 19th century by tracking the flows of various commodities to and from the city, its hinterlands, and other urban centers. The chapters on how improvements in transportation networks and grain storage facilities led to futures trading are a must-read.
2) The Economic Growth Engine: How Energy and Work Drive Material Prosperity by Robert Ayres and Ben Warr
Ayres (a physicist and economist) has argued for decades that the real growth of the economy is strongly based on how effective civilizations can convert energy resources (especially from fossil fuels) into useful work. In this slightly esoteric work, Ayres and colleague Warr flesh out this idea (the "useful work growth theory") and challenge the Solow model of economic growth and its exogenous variable representing "technological progress" favored by many neoclassical economists. They also discuss topics such as how best to measure energy quality (net energy vs. exergy) and the interplay between thermodynamics and economics.
3) The Rice Economies: Technology and Development in Asian Societies by Francesca Bray
Rice is one of the most important cereals in the world; this book explains how its cultivation has shaped Asian societies. If you're interested in how Asian societies have managed soil fertility and high crop yields over the ages, I also recommend Farmers of Forty Centuries by American agronomist F.H. King.
4) Merchants of Grain by Dan Morgan
About the global grain trade and the titans who control it.
5) Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed The World by Dan Koeppel
Covers banana republics, banana cultivation methods, and the virtual extinction of the Big Mike varietal in the mid-twentieth century. The Big Mike was superior to today's Cavendish banana in taste and durability.
6) A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization by John Perlin
Re:new yorker (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll second that. Take along an ebook copy of "Reamde" too. It's a hoot and will make the time fly by. Dude knows how to tell a story. Some of the best set pieces you'll find in the genre known as "sci fi" and the most fantastically plausible situations that could totally never happen, unless they do. It helps to have at least a passing acquaintance with roleplaying games, networks, and geopolitics, but it's not required.
Also, the Stephen Mitchell edition of the Tao Te Ching is worth sticking in the backpack (the actual paper copy, not the ebook). It's a slender volume, won't take much room, but will occupy a lot of space inside your head if you read it without expectations. You'll come back from the holidays refreshed and I guarantee that picking it up and reading passages will attenuate the holiday blues. You'll want the paper copy so you can flip around to something you read a few days previously, just to see if it really says what you think it said.
A great historical read is "Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War" by Tony Horwitz. It's a great reminder that if you go back to any of the most important events in American history, you'll find someone who could very easily (and mostly accurately) be termed a "terrorist". It's the story of unbelievable courage or zealotry bordering on the insane, depending on your point of view, and a chapter from our past that a lot of people don't know about or are uncomfortable talking about. John Brown is an amazing character that is held up as a hero by the far right and the far left and of whom even the "middle" stand in awe (if a bit uncomfortably). The things that happened at Harpers Ferry are still affecting us today.
Also, make sure you take a little time to read nothing, to take out the earphones and put away the electronics. The real interesting stuff is what's happening inside you, if you only have the patience and ability to quiet the noise in your head for a while.
And happy new year if I don't see you before.
Geeky must-reads (Score:4, Interesting)
So I've seen at least three Neal Stephenson threads, a Will Gibson, a Phil Dick, and Ender's Game. Some more recommendations on books I think most geeks should read:
Vernor Vinge - Rainbows End. Seriously, every geek should read this book. It's the best fiction on near future augmented reality that I've seen myself. Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep is also outstanding, but much more "out there"; it's more entertaining than eye-opening. It does have one of the best alien perspectives I've read. Not just humans with bumpy foreheads, really *alien* aliens.
Charles Stross - Just about anything, really. His "Laundry Files" fantasy read like a cross-between H.P. Lovecraft, Douglas Adams, and Ian Fleming ("James Bond"). I know that sounds really weird, but it works. They're a riot. More serious and sciency are the "Eschaton" books -- Singularity Sky and sequels. Some of his works are available online for free, legally. Scratch Monkey [antipope.org] for example.
John Scalzi - Old Man's War. I just finished this myself. The finish was weak but the ideas are a blast. As one reviewer put it, it's like Starship Troopers without the lectures.
Here's a few others I'm suspect will won't appeal as broadly, but I'll throw in 'cause I want to. It's my post.
C.S. Friedman - This Alien Shore. Space SF. Protagonist is a girl with cooperative multiple personalities; this is fascinatingly portrayed. Very good speculation on how direct brain interfaces might be realized. Lots of diverse human cultures. The real winner, though, is a human culture that values emotional differences and has social customs to let people interact across such boundaries. Introverted geeks (INTJ) will love this. Friedman packs a very high density of ideas into her books.
Corey Doctorow - Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom [craphound.com]. Free content. An interesting take on a post-scarcity meritocracy. I think it's kind of nutty, but interesting. For the price, it's decent.
Re:Ok, For me personally... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand (Score:3, Interesting)
Why? I'm beginning to be interested in Rand. Why the objection?
Here's a pretty good argument:
http://www.gq.com/entertainment/books/200911/ayn-rand-dick-books-fountainhead [gq.com]
Non pretentious, fun reads (Score:2, Interesting)
George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. It's good addictive fantasy. It took a bit for me to get into but after that I loved it.
The Ian Fleming James Bond books are good. My favorite so far is Casino Royale.
If you are looking for some SF with more depth, but still fun I'd recommend Lem's Tales of Pirx the Pilot