Best Book you ever read

[jallenecs]

As an antithesis to "The worst book you've ever read" I'd be curious to know what were the best?

For me, there are so many to fall into the Best Category. In SF, it would have to be "Dune" by Frank Herbert. It was an epiphany for me. My father forced me to read it (practically at gunpoint! ;) ). Before that, I was a "Star Trek" kind of girl. Dune helped me figure out what REAL Science fiction was like, and I've been hooked ever since!

In horror: "Salem's Lot"

In classics "Bleak House"

Historical stuff "A Distant Mirror" (nonfiction, granted, but still)



Then there's "Ender's Game" and "Pilgrim's Progress" and "Pride and Prejudice" and "Twice Told Tales" and......

Oh, golly, I need to get to my bookshelf, pardon me, I'll be back sometime before I become a grandmother...... :wink8:

[Prospero]

A woman after my own heart! Indeed, I have to credit Frank Herbert with my love of science fiction. Dune was the first book of his I read, but hardly the last. Unlike most people I've spoke to on the matter, I happen to enjoy his other works as well. But, that's beside the point; for science fiction, Frank Herbert wins hands down.

For non-fiction science, I definitely choose Carl Sagan, either Dragons of Eden or Boca's Brain. Both were extremely interesting, though a tad dated.

For horror, I'd say anything by H.P. Lovecraft as far as short stories go. Watchers, by Dean Koontz, though suffering of some plot holes towards the end, was good up until they became glaring.

For straight up fiction, I'm going with The Magus by John Knowles. I wouldn't call it obscure, necessarily, but it's not well known and is certainly one of those books that is characterized as a mindbender throughout. You're clueless as to what's real and what's not throughout the entire thing, but it's not fantasy, which makes it even better.

My favorite novel series is either the Red Dragon/Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal series by Thomas Harris or the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley.

And I'm afraid I must guiltily admit that I'm a fan of Tom Clancey. I think it's the guy in me that is obsessed with guns and bombs and intrigue and action.

On a similar note, I love Michael Crichton's work because it's so thoroughly researched yet still entertaining. He tends to do quality work which can be rare in literature. I also greatly enjoy E.R., but that's nothing unique.

I have countless more favorites, but the only other one I'll mention is Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear. It's heavy on the biology, but extremely engaging nonetheless.

[uneasy]

I like Dune and A Distant Mirror, but here are my picks for those categories instead.

SF: Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
(really a series)

Historical stuff: Making of the Atomic Bomb
Don't laugh. It starts with the early lives of all the scientists, their views on life, and takes it all the way through Hiroshima. Won the Pulitzer prize too.

[Renfield]

For non-fiction I'd say Under the Banner of Heaven, only because I just read it recently and its at the top of my head. I'd recommend it to anyone in this newsgroup. Krakaur takes an unashamably skeptical look at the extreme elements of the mormon religion, and religion in general.

[LuxFerum]

War and peace.

[Marc]

Originally posted by Renfield
For non-fiction I'd say Under the Banner of Heaven, only because I just read it recently and its at the top of my head. I'd recommend it to anyone in this newsgroup. Krakaur takes an unashamably skeptical look at the extreme elements of the mormon religion, and religion in general.
got it on order. should be ariving next month. Will be a nice counterpoint to reading the Book of Mormon.

[tamiO]

I can barely read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein out loud without crying.

As a child my favorite book was One fish, Two Fish by Dr. Seuss.

:)

[Iconoclast]

Originally posted by uneasy
Making of the Atomic Bomb
Don't laugh. It starts with the early lives of all the scientists, their views on life, and takes it all the way through Hiroshima. Won the Pulitzer prize too.
I'm about half way through this at the moment, WWII hasn't even started yet. It's a fascinating, in-depth account, I'm loving it.

[Chaos]

Fiction:
"The Clan of the Cave Bear", by Jean Auel
"Arc Light", by Eric Harry
The novels of the Belgariad saga, by David Eddings
"The Godfather", by Mario Puzo

Nonfiction:
"The Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan
Any book by Ulrich Kienzle and Bodo Hauser - they did the best political TV show ever, "Frontal", and their books are even better.

[Peter Jenkins]

Fiction:
well, I love the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, it would be difficult to just one in that series. OK, if you push me, 'Guards Guards'.
'Lightning' By Dean R Koontz I just love Time travel plots

Non Fiction:
'No Man Knows My History' - Fawn M Brodie The first book to show me the historical cracks in Mormonism.
'Demon Haunted World' - Carl Sagan

Peter

[Nyarlathotep]

My favorite non-fiction book is "Lies my Teacher Told Me", it does a good job of showing how political forces on both the right and the left have managed to distort History education in this country for their own purposes. "The Death of Common Sense" is up there too.


Fiction is harder to pin down an all time favorite, mostly because I don't read a lot of fiction lately. Obviously I like Lovecraft but I can't really use him because he wrote short storys, not novels. So I would have to go with "The Coffin Dancer" by Jeffery Deaver, I love crime fiction almost as much as I love horror, Jeffery Deaver is my favorite crime fiction writer, and I consider "The Coffin Dancer" to be his best work. I don't want to give too much away but it is about a forensic scientist named Lincoln Rhyme (if the name is familiar, another book in the series "The Bone Collector" was made into a so-so movie) tracking down a hitman called "The Coffin Dancer", so named because one of his identifying marks is a tatoo of Death dancing with the soul of a woman in her coffin. I can't say too much more because it has a LOT of good plot twists.

"The Blue Nowhere" also by Deaver, runs a close second. It isn't in the "Lincoln Rhyme" series but it's still good. It details the hunt for a serial killer who is also a talented hacker. The killer uses his skills to get close to his prey (i.e. finidng out personal details about potential victims so as to figure out a plan to get close) and to throw the police off his track. Some of the technologies made me roll my eyes but it also had a lot of good twists and was overall a good read.

[Brian]

Par Lagurkvist (sp?) The Sibyl.
Hemmingway's first 3 books.
Celine - Journey to the End of Night

[Brown]

Fiction: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

Non-fiction/historical: Black Boy by Richard Wright.

Mixture of fiction and historical: The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton.

[Brian]

Black Boy reminds me...
Invisable Man by Ralph Ellison
One of tightest novels ever, he spent 8 years writing it. One of the all time best opening passages too.

[HarryKeogh]

Originally posted by Prospero
My favorite novel series is either the Red Dragon/Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal series by Thomas Harris or the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley.

cool, a fellow brian lumley fan!

fiction: necroscope

non-fiction: demon haunted world

[MoeFaux]

Atlas Shrugged.
And I've read To Kill a Mockingbird at least 30 times.

Oh, and the O.E.D. I've never read the whole thing, but it's my most prized possesion.

[mothworm]

Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle - Stephen Jay Gould
The Island of the Day Before - Umberto Eco
The Horseman on the Roof - Jean Giono
Mad Love - Andre Breton
Zarafa - Michael Allin
Bright Paradise : Victorian Scientific Travellers - Peter Raby
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder - Lawrence Weschler
Awakenings - Oliver Sacks
The Last Temptation of Christ - Nikos Kazantzakis
The Adventures of Augie march - Saul Bellow
Night - Elie Wiesel
Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs and Human Imagination - Barbara Hurd
The Once and Future King - T.H. White
The Naked Civil Servant - Quentin Crisp

[gnome]

Funny how "Atlas Shrugged" Tends to wind up on a lot of best and worst lists.

For me: Douglas Hofstadter's "Goedel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid."

[JAR]

Mine is "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.

[a_unique_person]

"The Magus" was by John Fowles.

I also like some of his other stuff, "The French Lieutenants Woman" and "The Collector".

[asthmatic camel]

The Tin Drum by Gunther Grasse or The Trial by Franz Kafka.

[mothworm]

A few more:

The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
How to Talk Dirty and Influence People - Lenny Bruce
The Moon and Sixpence - W. Somerset Maugham
The Tower of Babel - Robert T. Pennock
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond
Dime Store Alchemy - Charles Simic
The Plague - Albert Camus
The Mind of a Mnemonist - A.R. Luria
Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in a Free Society - Peter McWilliams (Excellent book. I recommend this to everyone.)


Loved Dune, as well, and definately agree with To Kill a Mockingbird.

I loved Ayn Rand in high school. I read the Fountainhead in ninth grade, and immediately decided I was going to be an architect. On the first day of college, they asked everybody why they wanted to study architecture. Only two of us said it came from reading The Fountainhead. The professors laughed. We were the first ones to leave the program (Now I'm a librarian. Natch.)

I haven't read Rand in years. My feeling now is that I wouldn't be impressed. Her ideas sound great in a novel, but could never be implemented with any practicality. I can't help but think of the South Park episode in which Atlas Shrugged is an argument against literacy.

[hgc]

The Brothers Karamozov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Conformist - Alberto Moravia
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maguire

[LFTKBS]

Fiction (novel): Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
Fiction (short stories): Stories in the Worst Way, Gary Lutz
Nonfiction: A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn

[headscratcher4]

How do you define the "best" book, when so many have moved me or been important to my life?

Some titles that I love dearly:

Sci/Fi Fantasy:
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy/The Hobbit
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Foundation Series
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Dune Series
Lord of Light
The New Oxford Annotated Bible

Humor:
Bored of the Rings (when I was 13, this made me howel uncontrollably and still makes me giggle)

General Fiction:
War and Peace
Anna Karenina
Lolita
East of Eden
The Angel of Repose
The Tale of Genji
Slaughterhouse Five
The Last Temptation of Christ
Elmer Gantry
We
1984
Animal Farm
I Claudius
The Master and Margarita
The Illiad and The Odessy
The Arabian Nights
The Magus

Some Non-Fiction:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Black Book of Communism
The Alexiad of Anna Comnena
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Byzantium (Norwich)
Thucydides' History of the Peloplenisian War
Tacitus, the Annals of Imperial Rome
The Gulag Archipelago
The First Coming
The Last Place on Earth

Tons more, all wonderful, all important.

[lofgoernost]

For SF I'd go with Zelazny's Lord of Light.
I was just thinking of Wolfe's Severian novels earlier today. I read the first one and have meant to get into the rest for some time now. I also enjoyed his Latro books -- I read them just after I'd seen "Memento" and they meshed well.

A couple by Faulkner: The Sound and The Fury andAs I Lay Dying.

Really, too many to list.

[JAR]

Originally posted by headscratcher4
[snip]
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
[snip]
"The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon was very good.

[HENRY MOLISE]

women by bukowski

[Brian]

Originally posted by HENRY MOLISE
women by bukowski

Love that guys stuff. I think the shorts are way better. Ordinary Madness, Most Beautiful Woman, South of No North.

"You're lucky that you're ugly. At least that way if someone likes you, you know it's for something else."

The Gut Wringing Machine.

[Cecil]

Aztec, by Gary Jennings is amazing. In fact, it was recommended on the last "great book" thread here about a year ago.

A couple other books I love are:
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.

Of course, I could reiterate many other books on this thread, but that would just be a waste of space. Go read them all. :D

[uneasy]

Originally posted by tamiO
I can barely read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein out loud without crying.

As a child my favorite book was One fish, Two Fish by Dr. Seuss.

:) This reminds me of my favorite book when I was a kid, The Upside-Down Man.

The story is basically that he's a man who is upside-down, and literally going around hanging in the air upside-down. This bothers people, but at the end, he grabs everyone else in town and turns them upside-down too. :)

[TruthSeeker]

So many possibilities, but confining myself to what is in this room:

"serious" Fiction:
Anything and everything by Toni Morrison, John Irving, Timothy Findley, Margaret Laurence, Virginia Woolf

Airplane Fiction:
John Saul or Jonathan Kellerman or even Agatha Christie

Poetry
Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Bukowski

Popular Science books:
The Man who mistook his wife for a hat ~ Oliver Sacks
Without Conscience ~ Robert Hare
The Challenge of Pain ~ Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall
The Burning House ~ Jay Ingraham

Spirituality:
The Prophet ~ Khalil Gibran
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry ~ Jack Kornfield
The Hero with a Thousand Faces ~ Joseph Campbell
The God Experiment ~ Russell Stanard

Inspiration/Self-Improvement
anything by SARK
Revolution from Within ~Gloria Steinem (also, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions)
The Hundreth Monkey ~ Keyes

And books I have and keep because I love the title or the author/title combo:

Satan is alive and well on Planet Earth ~ Hal Lindsey :D
Guidelines for Successful Living ~ Lawrence Welk :D

[fhios]

How about Von Clausewitz's On War? If nothing else, it probably had the profoundest affect of any book in shaping my views. There have been other books that affected me, of course, but I can't really get the longer list down to anything below twenty--clearly too many for a list of the greatest book that I've read

[uneasy]

Originally posted by fhios
How about Von Clausewitz's On War? If nothing else, it probably had the profoundest affect of any book in shaping my views. There have been other books that affected me, of course, but I can't really get the longer list down to anything below twenty--clearly too many for a list of the greatest book that I've read Then you should check out A History of Warfare by John Keegan. It's basically an anti-Clausewitz book, and it's good to get other viewpoints.

[xouper]

TruthSeeker: The Hundreth Monkey ~ KeyesAACCK! The Hundredth Monkey Myth again. Not that I wish to take away your inspirational enjoyment of the book, but I find it difficult to be inspired by any author who perpetuates and exaggerates a pseudoscientific myth like Keyes has done.

[TruthSeeker]

Originally posted by xouper
AACCK! The Hundredth Monkey Myth again. Not that I wish to take away your inspirational enjoyment of the book, but I find it difficult to be inspired by any author who perpetuates and exaggerates a pseudoscientific myth like Keyes has done.


I debated whether or not to include this in my list. I agree with you completely. And yet, there is something about the story if taken as fiction/myth that is encouraging. I probably should not have included it. :(

[Interesting Ian]

Hmmmmm . .as an adult I would say my favorite novels I've ever read are:


[list=1]
Shogun by James Clavell
The man who folded himself by David Gerold (sp?) - This is a time travel story which fully explores all the paradoxes of time travel with this guy meeting up with himself etc
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers - Another time traveling story. This guy goes back to 1810. I love time traveling stuff too. I've read lightening as well by Koontz and really enjoyed it, but not one of my VERY favorites.
Grand Canary by A.J Cronin - The rest of my family read this ie my parents and brother, but none of them were really keen on it LOL
Clan of the cave bear by Jean Auel - the second of the series (valley of horses?) is good as well, but then the series goes downhill.
The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov - er . .another time travel thing lol
Nightworld by Paul F Wilson - Simply horrific, but nevertheless excellent!
[/list=1]

Oh, and as a kid I would say [list=1]
The magic wishing chair again by Enid Blyton
The Magicians Nephew by C.S Lewis - The first in the series of Narnia books although not the first one published.
Thanks to Jennings by Antony Buckeridge - Simply hilarious!
Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippe Pierce (sp?)
[/list=1]

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by TruthSeeker



I debated whether or not to include this in my list. I agree with you completely. And yet, there is something about the story if taken as fiction/myth that is encouraging. I probably should not have included it. :(

From doing a quick google, I think the idea has been expressed by others in a less mystical way. I can still remember one of my high school teachers when he told us "There is nothing so powerful, as an idea who's time has come".

This has been seen many times in recent history. Look at the fall of communist USSR, for example, or the nationalist movement lead by Ghandi. There is nothing mystical about all this, just a common realisation that "The Emporer has no clothes".

[Temporal Renegade]

This is my 'short-list', as I have too many favourites to just pick out one or two. There are more, but these are the highlights:

FICTION:
The entire Elric saga by Michael Moorcock

Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars series

The Ringworld set by Larry Niven

Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (yes, I rather like this one; read it over seven times!!)

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman (what if Drac survived, and was Queen Victoria's Consort?)

NON-FICTION:
Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale--read this years ago, way before the film. If you haven't, you might want to give it a look.

Cosmos by Carl Sagan (read this Billlllions and Billllions of times :roll: )

DEPRAVED: The Shocking True Story of America's first Serial Killer by Harold Schechter--I love true crime stories!

[Small Town Jesus]

Just a small selection of my favorite SF/Fantasy books:-

To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis.
(Those of you who love time travel books should definitely read this one.)

Little, Big - John Crowley

The Last Coin - James P Blaylock

Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
(I'm just about to start 'Quicksilver' :) )

On Stranger Tides - Tim Powers
(Pirates!!)

Bones of the Moon - Jonathan Carroll

I could go on all day and will be checking out many of the titles that people have recommended in this thread. :book:

STJ

[jenspen]

Emma by Jane Austen.

[jallenecs]

Originally posted by jenspen
Emma by Jane Austen.

You didn't prefer "Pride and Prejudice"? I'm torn between it and "Persuasion." Persuasion is probably the winner this week, though next week I'll probably change my mind again!

:rolleyes:

[TruthSeeker]

Originally posted by a_unique_person


From doing a quick google, I think the idea has been expressed by others in a less mystical way. I can still remember one of my high school teachers when he told us "There is nothing so powerful, as an idea who's time has come".

This has been seen many times in recent history. Look at the fall of communist USSR, for example, or the nationalist movement lead by Ghandi. There is nothing mystical about all this, just a common realisation that "The Emporer has no clothes".


Yes, you are absolutely right. Some context before I die of embarrassment: I read this book at the age of twelve. For me, at that time, it seemed to explain some of what I was learning about world history and the power of certain ideas/movements. The book itself caused me to explore the lives of leaders (eg: Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr.i, Gloria Steinem) in greater depth and so, although I left its mysticism far behind, it inspired me in, important ways. That's why I included it in my list.

[xouper]

TruthSeeker: Yes, you are absolutely right. Some context before I die of embarrassment: I read this book at the age of twelve. For me, at that time, it seemed to explain some of what I was learning about world history and the power of certain ideas/movements. The book itself caused me to explore the lives of leaders (eg: Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr.i, Gloria Steinem) in greater depth and so, although I left its mysticism far behind, it inspired me in, important ways. That's why I included it in my list.No need to die of embarassment. A book can't ask for a better endorsement than that. My comments about the "hundredth monkey myth" don't apply to what you got from the book.

[Boo]

As a an adolescent I adored the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen. Falling right in with that was the Little Women series. Jo March was my heroine.

Then there was the Hornblower series and as an adult that led to Honor Harrington.

Now I would say that I will read anything written by Mercedes Lackey.


As for all time favorites, stuck on an island with only 3 books......

An good anthology of Poetry
Count of Monte Cristo
The Good Earth


Those 3 would keep me. I have owned a copy of the last 2 since I was 12.



Boo

[jenspen]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jallenecs
[B]

You didn't prefer "Pride and Prejudice"? I'm torn between it and "Persuasion." Persuasion is probably the winner this week, though next week I'll probably change my mind again!

Ha! They were my favourites and are now my second and third favourites respectively but over the years I have been more and more impressed by Emma. There is such an accumulation of significant detail - it's plotted like a very superior crime novel - and it's so perfect in its language and its portrayal of a small group of people interacting. Whoever wrote the foreword to my copy calls it "the Parthenon of fiction" and I can see why.

I should also have mentioned that I am pretty much obsessed with Patrick O'Brian too - though, much as I love him, I can tell the difference between ordinary genius and utter genius if I read a bit of Jane Austen just after reading some PO'B.

[Bluegill]

The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
The Demon-Haunted World (Sagan)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

I just finished reading Atonement by Ian McEwan. I highly recommend it. It hit me pretty hard at the end.

[Chanileslie]

How do you pick just one or two or ten? I have hundreds of favorites, and I know if I list the ones off the top of my head, there will be a flood of others that I have 'forgotten', but will all come flooding back to me so that I am making post after post after post stating, "Oh, and........" That said, off the top of my head:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
The Dragon Rider's Series by Anne McCafferey (my especial favorite is Nerilka's Story).
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (although the last few books have been lacking; he just needs to conclude the series or dump a few of the duller characters such as Perrin and his idiot wife.)
Most of the so called juvenile SF especially Red Mars, Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Podaykayne of Mars by Robert Heinlein (his so called juveniles were hard SF although I don't think his so called adult works are.)
Like Nyarlathotep, I am quite fond of Jeffery Deaver, and did really enjoy the Coffin Dancer which is his best book quickly followed by the Blue Nowhere (also had some parts that made me groan when it came to technology, but good story line).
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume - couldn't put it down.
The Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz (named my eldest child after the main character in that book)
The Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell

And about a thousand books that I am not thinking of at the moment.

[Chanileslie]

Originally posted by jallenecs


You didn't prefer "Pride and Prejudice"? I'm torn between it and "Persuasion." Persuasion is probably the winner this week, though next week I'll probably change my mind again!

:rolleyes:

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorites, and A&E's movie, Pride and Prejudice was a wonderful adaptation of the books that I watch over and over and over again. Of late I am becoming enamored with Sense and Sensability. I have not read Persuasion. I will have to do so.

[Dorian Gray]

The Boomer Bible
What is the Name of This Book
This Book Needs No Title
Bridge Across Forever
One

[xouper]

Dorian Gray:
Bridge Across Forever
OneRichard Bach is one of my favorite authors too.

[jallenecs]

Originally posted by Chanileslie


Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorites, and A&E's movie, Pride and Prejudice was a wonderful adaptation of the books that I watch over and over and over again. Of late I am becoming enamored with Sense and Sensability. I have not read Persuasion. I will have to do so.

Oh, you really must try Persuasion. It's a Cinderella story for grown ups. ;)

[Landis]

For Fiction I particularly liked Gary Jennings' "AZTEC" and also his first novel about Marco Polo's secret journal (sorry I can't remember the title right now).

For Non-fiction: I go with Ken Wilbur's "Up From Eden" , a very comprehensive discourse on the evolution of consciousness

currently, I'm reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Krakaur and would recommend it to everyone.

[Marquis de Carabas]

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

[Armi Shanks]

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte.
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Fabulous stuff, and as for Heathcliff - phwwoaaar. *applies cold compress to forehead*

[JesFine]

I seem to remember enjoying The Phantom Tollbooth as a kid. There are too many adult books to mention, although I'm a big fan of this thread (http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24849) .

Also if you play golf you should read Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible or else don't read it and then play me for money.

[Suddenly]

David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest is my favorite novel with endnotes. It would be my favorite novel overall as well, although Shut Up and Deal by Jesse May is close.

Hard to judge nonfiction. I will say the most useful book I've read is The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky. Required reading for anyone wanting to really understand poker. Handbook on Evidence for West Virginia Lawyers by Frank Cleckley would be a close second, but only really useful if you are a lawyer in ..... West Virginia.

[fhios]

Originally posted by uneasy
Then you should check out A History of Warfare by John Keegan. It's basically an anti-Clausewitz book, and it's good to get other viewpoints.

Agreed as to getting all viewpoints. I'm going to take your suggestion and read the book above in the next few months. I haven't managed to have anything add or challenge my basic thinking since reading Mahan's work on naval strategy. Thanx!

[Peter Jenkins]

Originally posted by Marquis de Carabas
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

An excellent, excellent story............though, I would have thought Neil Gamains 'Neverwhere' would be more to your taste....
P

[Hexxenhammer]

Here are some of my favorites. Books that I would take to that proverbial desert island.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein. A classic that I can read over and over again.
Snowcrash - Stephenson. (I'm reading Quicksilver right now. 256 of 900 some pages down.)
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series - Leiber. Best fantasy ever IMNSHO. Modern fantasy writers probably don't even know the debt they owe to Leiber.

[Corwyn]

Shabumi - Trevanian
Atlas Shrugged - Rand
LoTR - Tolkien
Wheel of time - Jordan
EVERYTHING from Andrew Vachss

Corwyn

[Corwyn]

The ULTIMATE in Conspiracy theories

Illuminati

[Ruby]

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
The tale of the body thief by Anne Rice
Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice
A spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony
Stanger in a Strange land by Robert Heinlein
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Faith healers by James Randi
Demon haunted world by Carl Sagan
All of Anne Perry inspector Pitt mysteries!

[The Whether Man]

Top of my list would have to be:
The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks
Time is the Simplest Thing - Clifford Simak
The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov
Nightwalk - Bob Shaw
Reflex - Dick Francis
Take Back Plenty - Colin Greenland

and of course The Phantom Tollbooth.

[Foofer]

My favorite is probably "The Plague" by Albert Camus. I love short stories and find that the books I reread most often are "The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor" and "Dubliners" by James Joyce.

[geni]

good omens again
imperial earth Arther C Clark