I think I would go with Larry Niven - he likes the hard science, but also has a fondness for detective and adventure stories. If we're talking Golden Age authors, I think Fred Pohl is the obvious comparable person. If there are Asimov fans out there who are looking for someone else to start reading I would encourage considering the two of them. I certainly don't think Heinlein is the right one - I think he and Asimov were very different.
Ok you hooked me. That was a very good, warm, weird, interesting read. I'll give 100 Years a try this summer.
Over the years I have considered several titles to be the 'best book I've ever read', so let's see if I can remember five of them... 1 - Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell 2 - The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway 3 - The Thousand Autumns of Jacon de Zoet, David Mitchell 4 - Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield 5 - The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Louis de Bernieres Mitchell is my current favourite author - I love every book he's ever written. Steven Pressfield had an amazing run with Gates of Fire, Killing Rommel, Last of the Amazons, the Afghan Campaign etc, but he hasn't written anything for a while. George RR Martin is superb, but I bear a grudge against him because I don't think he's ever going to write the next Song of Ice and Fire book.
I liked Cloud Atlas, and actually liked the movie as well. I've only also read The Bone Clocks, which I thought was not as good. It was after that I read all of his books fit into a larger "universe" so I may go back to him at some point. I've recently read some Guy Gavriel Kay, and his writing is excellent. He writes semi-historical fantasy books. I've read The Lions of Al-Rassan and Tigana. Not sure they are in my top 5 books, but I'd recommend them.
Yeah, The Bone Clocks is good but I didn't think it was great. Slade House follows on from it and is really good. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (not Jacon, as I wrote earlier!) includes the most moving passage of writing I have ever read, where a British warship is bombarding a Dutch trading post. Number Nine Dream is great too. Ghostwritten is like an earlier incarnation of Cloud Atlas, it's interesting but not as polished. Black Swan Green I found okay but nothing really special. He's a magnificent author, though, at his best.
Down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell With the old breed by EB Sledge Anything by George Pelecanos someone mentioned Alive, if that’s the book about the Paraguayan rugby team that survived a plane crash in the Andes, another excellent choice.
Ince Memed by Yasar Kemal Benim Adim Kirmizi by Orhan Pamuk Peygamberimizin Hayati by Salih Suruc Suc ve Ceza by Dostoyevski
