I need a great book

Only my opinion of course ... or should I say only my opinion and those of my father, sister, and all of my friends who are also Asimov fans! To me the problem was that Asimov had this overwhelming need in his later years to make everything he ever wrote tie in together, which to me was pointless. It was clear that the robot books and the Foundation books had nothing to do with each other when he wrote them (since there were no robots in the Foundation universe), yet he felt the need to make it all be one universe, and that hurt the story quality. Also, the fact of the matter is that he was more on top of his game in the 1940s than he was in the 1980s (nothing to be ashamed of). Just about the only book he couldn't fit in was The End of Eternity, since its basic premise is so completely different (but I think he threw in a sentence or two in one of the later books trying to get it in there too).

As to the question of what to read first if you're just starting out, to me it is clear that it should be original series - Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. These were written within a few years of each other, and were designed to flow together as one story. The prequels and sequels were not aimed at new readers, but rather people who had already read the original three books, and they were written accordingly.

 

thanks. I'm headed to the library now. If I can't get it there, I'll order them on eBay.

hope they're at the library so I'll have them for my annual thanksgiving pilgrimage to baltimore.

 

damn, all they had was prelude and foundation and earth. my quest for the first 3 continues

 

If I hadn't traded them all in years ago at the used bookstore, I would have sent them to you. Maybe if you have a used bookstore locally, you could get older books for cheap?...

 

nah, I don't have one near me. But I can always buy them on eBay if all else fails. I just saw someone selling 5 of the foundation books. bidding ends in a few days.

 

Amazon also sells used books. I just got a hard cover for 8 bucks, totaled 11 something with shipping. Took 3 days to get it.

 

yeah, Amazon has cheap books from individual sellers, but they're all sold individually. What makes eBay useful is that people sell lots of books, which means I can combine shipping.

If I'm just buying one textbook, I use Amazon. For a series of books, I use eBay. I got an entire detective series of like ten books for $5 including shipping.

 

His dark materials trilogy is my favourite series of books.Check them out before the movie comes out next year.

On a sidenote,Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress" is the worst book i've ever read.

 

I also enjoyed these:



"They star child criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl. The series is written in a half-serious language alternating with dark moments, a style favored by a number of popular children's authors, including J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter) and Roald Dahl (The Witches).

Artemis, the main character, is a rather ruthless but extremely intelligent young criminal whose main goal is the acquisition of money. The author of the series summed up his books with the line, "Die Hard with fairies.""

Supposedly they're children's books but I enjoyed them thoroughly.

 

I just read "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. If you post-apocalypse, nuclear winter wasteland America is fun to you, check it out.

In all seriousness, I liked it.

 

damn, Asimov wrote loads of books.

Didn't find the Foundation books in my house, but I found like 8 other books of his.

 

It's a bit short, you'll need a 2nd.


I absolutely give my highest recommendation for Ender's Game. Absolutely great book. Based on the books you like I think its a safe bet you'll like it. The most amazing book I have ever read, great series too. Won the Nebula and Hugo Award. A Bestseller.

 

I hope you like it, but if you don't, blame Badger - he brought it up first! :wink:

The only problem is that it's a pretty quick read (it's actually five stories that appeared in Astounding that make up the book, all designed to go together), and if you do like it, you'll wish you had gotten the others too.

 

Should've gone with EG man.

 

Ender's Game is pretty good. Read it along with the various sequels some years ago.

Anyway, mission successful. I finally got Foundation on my third library (first two were listed as having it but they couldn't find it). Unfortunately, my card wasn't on me somehow so I had to buy a new card and pay off the fines. ^#%#&#%

And now I remember I could've used my QC ID there and they would've accepted it. Life sucks.

 

If you like Ray Bradbury stuff I'd recommend Phillip K. Dick, his stories are the basis for a lot of good movies (Blade Runner, Minority Report). One of my personal favorites is called "The Man in the High Castle" about a guy who writes a book about what the world would be like if the Allies had won WWII, because in Dick's novel the Axis win and Japan and Germany divide America just like America and Russia divided Germany in real life...it's really sharply written.

Some other great science fiction:

Solaris
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
and although they rarely get classified as Sci-Fi, almost all of Vonnegut's stuff, specifically Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, and Timequake

Outside of science fiction, some other personal favorites are:

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Saturday or Atonement by Ian McEwan
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
All of David Sedaris's stuff
A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

 

Wow, all this sci-fi talk and no love for the greatest sci-fi book ever? Dune, people.

 

It's a good book, but the all time greatest sci fi book? Honestly Dune is more fantasy than Sci-Fi...just because something takes place in space doesn't make it Sci-Fi.

 

I would certainly classify Dune as science fiction, and it's a great, great book. It also has the distinction of having the biggest drop in quality from first book to sequel - the other Dune novels were IMO horrible.