As a longtime Sci Fi fan the Culture based books from Ian Banks was really interesting and made me think.
Culture WIKI
They arenāt a series per se, but a bunch of stories in the same universe.
The treatment of walking, talking advanced AI is brilliant; especially considering that the first book was written in 1987.
Then there is all things William Gibson Neuromancer (1984) related.
Al gore may have āinventedā the internet, but WG told us how to use itā¦
One manās opinionā¦
3 Likes
im reading OG POSTS 
2 Likes
The World Is SoundāNada Brahma, Joachim-Ernst Berendt
The Mysticism Of Sound & Music, Hazrat Inayat Khan
Man And His Symbols, Carl Jung
The Science Of Numerology, Walter Gibson
Nothing In This Book Is True, But Itās Exactly How Things Are, Bob Frissell
The Dreaming Universe, Dr. Fred Alan Wolf
Aliens To The Sermon, R.M. Weerasingha
A New Model Of The Universe, P.D. Ouspensky
The Orion Mystery, Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert
The Sirius Connection, Murry Hope
The Sirius Mystery, Robert K.G. Temple
The Message Of The Sphinx, Graham Hancock & Robert Bauval
Edgar Cayce on Atlantis, Edgar Evans Cayce
From Atlantis To The Sphinx, Colin Wilson
5/5/2000, Richard Noone
Serpent In The Sky, John Anthony West
Initiation In The Great Pyramid, Earlyne Chaney
When The Comet Runs, Tom Kay
The Twelfth Planet, Zecharia Sitchin
The Supergods, Maurice M. Cotterell
Pyramid Power, Max Toth & Greg Nielsen
The Mayan Prophecies, Adrian Gilbert & Maurice M. Cotterell
The Urantia Book, The Urantia Foundation
The Kabbalah, Adolphe Franck
The Power Of Silence, Carlos Casteneda
The Divine Invasion, Philip K. Dick
VALIS, Philip K. Dick
Assassin, Dr. Haha Lung
The Illuminatus Trilogy, Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
8 Likes
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Like many things in life, there are two sides to this story!
Dr. Felix Frankenstein says:
āā¦on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toilsā
āI collected the instruments of life around me that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.ā
āMy candle was nearly burnt out, when by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.ā
āUnable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room.ā
āI beheld the wretch-- the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on meā¦ā
The Monster replies:
āRemember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiendā¦ā
āā¦ my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures, who owe me nothing?ā
āHow was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirrorā¦ā
āCursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge.ā
Whew! What we have here is a failure to communicate. LoL
Aside from a brutal abuse of the semicolon, the book is a short and riveting read, well worth your time. Available for free online.
Cheers,
-Grouchy
7 Likes
This is one I read during the last year. The author specializes in labor and union history. Thereās some real eye opening history in here.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1620976277/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
5 Likes
I looked into getting this but all I can find is ridiculous prices for it. Sounds like a great read.
1 Like
I liked it too.
An excellent book of far more substance than āFrankenstein eat brains.ā
2 Likes
Entrails? Is he eating entrails?
1 Like
I liked Markoff Chaney. That signs idea was genius.
Iām on the final book of the Owner triology from Neal Asher.
I read it mostly for the violence. Asher writes delicious violence.
@CanuckistanPete they can be delicious. liver is pretty pedestrian. heart over coals are fantastic.
3 Likes
Brains for dinner
Brains for lunch
Brains for breakfast brains for brunch
Brains at every single meal
Why canāt we havenāt have some guts?
I havenāt thought about this song in a long time 
5 Likes
On the road jack Kerouac and naked lunch William burroughs
So a newer author I have come to like is James Rollins. They have all sorts of cool new tech in the book then at the end they show the actual technology, links, videos to show itās not science fiction but the tech is there.
2 Likes
Itās nice to see this dormant thread be revived again. 
I am currently reading Neal Stephensonās Cryptonomicon.
I am not all that much into math and equations etc., so parts of this book are a little bit of a slog for me, however that has not discouraged me in the least, because it is otherwise quite entertaining and thought provoking.
I previously read his Snow Crash, The Diamond Age and Reamde. I enjoyed them all greatly.
ā¦
Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periodsāWorld War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, crypt analyst extraordinaire, and gung-ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe. Theyāre part of Detachment 2702, an Allied group trying to break Axis communication codes while simultaneously preventing the enemy from figuring out that their codes have been broken. Their job boils down to layer upon layer of deception. Dr. Alan Turing is also a member of 2702, and he explains the unitās strange workings to Waterhouse. āWhen we want to sink a convoy, we send out an observation plane firstā¦ Of course, to observe is not its real dutyāwe already know exactly where the convoy is. Its real duty is to be observedā¦ Then, when we come round and sink them, the Germans will not find it suspicious.ā
All of this secrecy resonates in the present-day story line, in which the grandchildren of the WWII heroesāinimitable programming geek Randy Waterhouse and the lovely and powerful Amy Shaftoeāteam up to help create an offshore data haven in Southeast Asia and maybe uncover some gold once destined for Nazi coffers. To top off the paranoiac tone of the book, the mysterious Enoch Root, key member of Detachment 2702 and the Societas Eruditorum, pops up with an unbreakable encryption scheme left over from WWII to befuddle the 1990s protagonists with conspiratorial ties.
6 Likes
My wifes wedding band was made by Sammy Robinson in Kitimat Village, Haisla. itās Raven Stealing the Moon. I worked up in Terrace and heard about him (I love west coast native art, my house is full of it) so I sought him out, went to his village and asked around. Ended spending 5 hours at his house listening to his stories (he has a million). He also made a bracelet for her with the same theme as an anniversary gift years later.
3 Likes
Iām on
The Plague by Albert Camus
5 Likes
Just read 2 books on North Korea, The Girl With Seven Names about a girl who escaped from there, then read Nothing To Envy about 6 different people who escaped from there. Interesting reading about growing up in a country that brainwashes you into thinking youāre in the best country in the worldā¦these people all had friends and relatives who starved to deathā¦and they still thought others were worse off until they finally escaped.
Now Reading The Big White Lie about the CIAs involvement in bringing tons of cocaine into the US, going back to the Cocaine Coup in Bolivia. Crazy.
5 Likes
If these interest you try āBitter Fruit.ā Itās about overthrowing the Guatemalan government. I havenāt read this one specifically but itās an interesting story.
6 Likes
Sounds like a good follow upā¦
Iād heard about them with the Contras, but Iād never heard about them helping to overthrow the elected government in Bolivia and letting the biggest cocaine producer, Roberto Suarez, on the planet run the country.
3 Likes
Just reached the halfway point in Crime and Punishment by Dostoevskvy. Not all I had been expecting. But happy to be crossing it off my list.
5 Likes
Apparently itās happening again but about lithium this time. I donāt know much about this one.
If you find it dry try Gogol. Dostoyevsky was highly influenced by him but heās got a wicked sense of insolent humour.
4 Likes