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I don't mind loopy, Fredric Brown is my all-time favorite science fiction writer followed by Frederic Pohl. Are you saying it gets loopy as in I won't understand what the hell is going on? Or, are you saying that is gets really weird and way out there man? I like to have my mind blown when I am reading science fiction.

No I mean loopy as in shared souls and wife swapping and angels and so forth. I don't want to ruin the surprise, though. :)

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Ayn Rand (fiction & non-fiction) & Victor Hugo (novels & plays), of course.

Fiction:

O. Henry (great plots & characters), Douglas Adams (hysterical sci-fi satire), Agatha Christie (mostly for Poirot), Jane Austen (romantic & funny), Arthur C. Clarke (brilliant!), Terry Pratchett ("fantasy" satire), G. Stolyarov II (brilliant philo-sci-fi), James Thurber (funny short stories & "essays").

Non-fiction:

Aristotle (still learning from him!), Plato (asks good questions, provides bad answers), Kant (know thine enemy...), Richard Preston (good "documentaries"), Hawking, Penrose (and others on cosmology & physics), anything on Schekerian Music Theory or Beethoven.

Christopher Schlegel

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I love Science fiction and science fantasy. I like how these two genres are usually about ideals with a space or fantasy setting in the backround. I like

Starship Troopers - Heinlein is often described as being Libertarian in view, but he penned his works before the libertarians were formed, so it is being used as a blanket term of people who favor individualism and capitalism. Excellent book with a strong anti-collectivist streak.

The Forever war - Very powerful epic which parallels the author's experience in Vietnam, excellent story about the destructiveness of altruism on a person's soul.

Lord of the Rings - Admittedly, there are alot of Christian themes present in this trilogy (Tolkien was a devout Catholic who explicitely said he wrote LOTR as a tribute to his God, even going so far as to rebuke Asimov who wrote an essay comparing it to WWII) but I like the value he places on Friendship within the story.

Star Wars - despite common misconceptions about the force and all that, episode 1 suggested there may be a real explaination for what the force is, rather than assuming it's supernatural origins (In fact, that was probably the ONLY redeeming quality of that movie.) Therefore, I see the use of the force as use of the mind, naturally making the series very appealing to me. The Empire is a very clear representation of collectivism.

the Foundation trilogy - Isaac Asimov was a marvelous writer, but his concluding books to his Foundation series were so flawed philosophically I wanted to puke. Never read "Foundation and Earth" because it will make you hate Asimov. Such a shame because the conclusion to the "Second Foundation" was magnificent.

Mars - Ben Bova is like Heinlein in that he has been clumped as a Libertarian even though he has no ties with that political movement. His books are very individualist, anti-collectivist, pro-business. Heck in one of his series the main character was a businessman, the owner of a mining company that mines the asteroid belt to sell raw materials to Earth, whose Surface is a blasted wasteland thanks to the deprivations of the Fundamentalist governments.

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  • 3 weeks later...
No I mean loopy as in shared souls and wife swapping and angels and so forth. I don't want to ruin the surprise, though.  :thumbsup:

You were right, Inspector, you were right. What the hell is wrong with that guy? He likes to sneak in a couple good ideas here and there, but it is always after an orgy or something! The characters spend so much time humping, he only leaves a few pages to dish out the ending like slapping on a half-baked bumper sticker on a car.

Two books I've read by him, and I end them thinking: what was that all for?

I'm going back to my Frederick Pohl.

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All Ayn Rand's fiction and non-fiction books

Leonard Peikoff's nonfiction books (The Ominous Parallels & Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand)

Victor Hugo's - The Man Who Laughs & Les Miserables

Edmond Rostand - Cyrano de Bergerac (which has not mentioned in this thread yet)

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Edmond Rostand - Cyrano de Bergerac (which has not mentioned in this thread yet)

Cyrano is my all-time favorite play. Mel Ferrer's portrayal in one of the film versions is one of the very, very best performances on film of any actor doing any character.

Hopefully mentioning this wonderful play twice makes up for its earlier omission. :thumbsup:

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You were right, Inspector, you were right. What the hell is wrong with that guy? He likes to sneak in a couple good ideas here and there, but it is always after an orgy or something! The characters spend so much time humping, he only leaves a few pages to dish out the ending like slapping on a half-baked bumper sticker on a car.

Two books I've read by him, and I end them thinking: what was that all for?

An accurate summation. Which two, may I ask? I can point out a few that are easier on the digestive tract...

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Cyrano is my all-time favorite play.  Mel Ferrer's portrayal in one of the film versions is one of the very, very best performances on film of any actor doing any character.

Hopefully mentioning this wonderful play twice makes up for its earlier omission.  :)

In that case, make it thrice!

It is rarely played nowadays other than in community theaters, but even the worst amateur level cannot quash the power of those words penned by Rostand.

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An accurate summation. Which two, may I ask? I can point out a few that are easier on the digestive tract...

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls

Stranger in a Strange Land - I have to say this one started off really well, and I did enjoy the wit and character of Jubal Harshaw. But, in came the free love...

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Yeah, even Heinlein himself implied that Stranger was not a very good book (or, at least, not as good as its popularity would indicate). Starship Troopers is, I think, free of Heinlein's weirder impulses (it's been awhile since I've read that one, though). Citizen of the Galaxy is pretty good, also. The moon is a harsh mistress has a small bit of his weirdness, but it can be ignored, IMO, because the rest of the book is good enough and it is hardly central.

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Have you read any Alfred Bester? The Demolished Man and The Stars, My Destination are both great works.

I love the work of Harlan Ellison, too. Essays, short fiction, teleplays and screenplays...the man does it all and does it very well. They just re-released his Strange Wine short story collection, as well as his screenplay for I, Robot. (Not the version that was made into the Will Smith vehicle.)

How about Dan Simmons? Hyperion is a terrific science-fiction novel. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to the others in the series.

Right now I am re-reading Atlas Shrugged. I am going back to college to get my undergrad degree in less than a week (I'm 33, so better late than never, I suppose!), and I want to get AS in before my time is taken up with school work.

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  • 7 months later...

My top 10

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Tale of Genji - Shikibu Murasaki

The Possessed(I know..) - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Toilers of the Sea - Victor Hugo

Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Chosen - Chaim Potok

currently working on Red Badge of Courage and Dune

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Non-fiction almost exclusively. Mostly modern philosophy (last 120 years) and science, along with some sociology/politics/etc. My favourite writers are Ayn Rand, Wittgenstein and Nietzsche, all of whom I regularly read for both pleasure and learning.

In terms of fiction, I love Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels - Sam Vimes is one of the most genuinelly heroic characters I've encountered outside of Objectivist fiction. I like sci-fi too - Heinlein is good, and so is Robert Anton Wilson (in as much as you can call him sci-fi). I've also got a soft-spot for some existentialist fiction - Doestoyevsky's "Notes From The Underground" is brilliant, as is Kafka's "The Trial". Some of Sartre's work is interesting, although I find him a rather boring writer.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hmmm... what do I read. Well, way too much Ayn Rand :) . (Currently: We the living)

In addition to that: Carl Sagan and everything on Marketing I can get my hands on since I want to start an internet marketing company once I find the time to do it.

Besides, I may be the only one in this forum who prefers The Fountainhead and not Atlas Shrugged. :(

I read a lot of R.A. Wilsons books. I have tried to read the Bible once from cover to cover, but I stopped during the fornication part of it. Somewhere in the Book of Moses.

I read a lot on Zen Buddhism and existentialism. I also liked the satanic bible for having such a strong pro-life attitude and I still recommend reading it. Another book that had an impact on me was The seven habits by Stephen Covey.

Well, I guess that's about it, it's one A.M. Time to go to bed. :D

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In that case, make it thrice!

It is rarely played nowadays other than in community theaters, but even the worst amateur level cannot quash the power of those words penned by Rostand.

What about the translation? I recall liking the Anthony Burgess translation when I read it about ten years ago. Any other recommendations?

--Schefflera

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Fiction: almost exclusively Jane Austen.

I also like reading Ursula LeGuin, even though she has a socialist-anarchist agenda.

I almost-thoroughly enjoyed Stanislaw Lem's volume of imaginary book reviews, A Perfect Vacuum, but I haven't read his science fiction.

Reading Victor Hugo is frustrating, because I feel like I'm wading through swathes of verbiage to get to the main event--but I think this would probably happen with almost anything you translated from English to French. I read French better than I speak it, so I plan to find a few of his shorter works in the original French.

I've read good chunks of We the Living in Italian (Noi Vivi), and of The Fountainhead in Spanish (El Manantial--in which I found at least one rather lengthy cut!)

I've read almost all of Schiller's plays, in English, and I'm working on getting through them in German.

I'm reading Lessing's Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise) in German at the moment.

As you may guess, I'm somewhat of a translation snob...

Gotta run, the roommates are home and they're making a beeline for the television.

--Schefflera

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  • 5 weeks later...

I've read:

Tolkien: Lord of the Rings series

Robert Jordan: Wheel of Time series

George RR Martin: Song of Ice and Fire series

Terry Goodkind: Sword of Truth series (first 3, haven't gotten the rest)

Frank Herbert: Dune series, The Black Cloud, short stories

Isaac Asimov: Foundation and Robot series (I agree about the last Foundation books, very disappointing)

Tom Clancy: almost everything he authored (the co-authored books are very poor)

Timothy Zahn: Star Wars trilogy

And lots of other assorted books...

My first four Rand books are in shipping as I type :)

mrocktor

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  • 1 year later...

O'ist reads: Books in my collection.

Atlas Shrugged

The Fountainhead

The Virtue of Selfishness

Anthem

We The Living

Philosophy: Who Needs It

Capitalism The Unknown Ideal

For The New Intellectual

Journals of Ayn Rand

Lexicon

Misc. reads:

Ultimate Power, Anthony Robbins

7 Habits, Stephen R Covey

The Mind Map Book, Tony Buzan

Use Both Sides of Your Brain, Tony Buzan

Math Magic, Scott Flansburg

Connections Quadrant II Time Management, A. Roger Merrill

Heavy Duty II: Mind and Body, Mike Mentzer

Muscles in Minutes: Mike Mentzer

Power Factor Training, Peter Sisco & John Little

Static Contraction Training, Peter Sisco & John R. Little

Strength Training Anatomy, Frederic Delavier

Fitness Weight Training, Thomas R. Baechle & Roger W. Earle

Going the Extra Mile, Ron Ayres

Square Foot Gardening, Mel Bartholomew

...

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I finish a different baseball autobiography each week.

I read a book called "Baseball and Philosophy", and it surprised me that the authors of most of the articles had accepted Kant's philosophy, and based their opinions on those ideas. "Whats best for the common good?", "Why faith is important", their appraisal for the Anti-Trust laws, and they threw in a couple articles about Zen Buddhism("no mind"). I gained next to nothing in terms of meaningful knowledge from the book, except now I know that Kant is more popular with professional philosophers than I thought.

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I am reading The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie, and it is thouroghly enjoyable.

Hugh Laurie, as in House, M.D.? Interesting!

In addition to Rand's novels and non-fiction, I have really enjoyed:

The Harry Potter books

Pride and Prejudice

Northanger Abbey (less for the brilliance of its heroine than for the hilarious satire)

Gone With the Wind

Sparrowhawk

Ivanhoe

The Agony and the Ecstasy (wonderful portrayal of an artist thoroughly dedicated to his work)

I used to enjoy Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series but I have lost patience with it. Just finish the story already, without 1000 extra subplots!

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Hugh Laurie, as in House, M.D.? Interesting!

In addition to Rand's novels and non-fiction, I have really enjoyed:

The Harry Potter books

Pride and Prejudice

Northanger Abbey (less for the brilliance of its heroine than for the hilarious satire)

Gone With the Wind

Sparrowhawk

Ivanhoe

The Agony and the Ecstasy (wonderful portrayal of an artist thoroughly dedicated to his work)

I used to enjoy Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series but I have lost patience with it. Just finish the story already, without 1000 extra subplots!

Yep! its a comedy, and extremely entertaining. Gone with the wind is also one of my favorites, I've read it like three times.

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