Stranger in a strange land, by Robert Heinlein.
I read it far to early in my life. About 14 or so. definitely loved it.
Yeah, it had a big impact on my adolescence, too, and not really in a good way.
Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
221–230 of 599 posts
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#222[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#223Much of Neal Stephenson's work provides me inspiration, similar to William Gibson's work. It envisions future tech/life that stirs me to see if I can create some of it.
I kind of fell in love with the Anathem's monastic world. Stephenson is awesome, I love some of his books, but others are for completely lost on me.
I loved Anathem, too, though I've only read it once (several books of his I've read many times.)
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#224Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, aka Three Body Problem. Explored existential topics in a way I've never encountered anywhere else. I truly believe that decades from now this series will be viewed as the LOTR of our time. I've recently been reading the Foundation series, and have found the concept of The Mule character to be incredibly eye opening. I can't say directly it's had a positive impact on my life but it…
I found all 3 books to be vastly overrated and mediocre at best. I would bet money that in 10 years, few will even remember them.
The translation doesn't help, but the issues with the books go beyond it. It's obvious that Cixin Liu is not a good writer. The characters in TBP are cardboard cutouts and his pacing and framing of ideas awful. I feel that there is merit in his imagination but it'd be better presented in a different format than science fiction.
To truly see how bad he is as a writer, compare him to the greats:
Stanislaw Lem, Gene Wolfe, Iain Banks (Culture Series), Strugatsky brothers, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein, J.G. Ballard, Ursula Le Guin, William Gibson ...
Since Dune was mentioned in this thread, I find the first two books to be absolutely in a different league than TBP as they're complex socio-political SciFi masterpieces that have stood the test of time. I've read Dune more than 9-10 times already (as I've read and re-read most of the books by the greats I previously mentioned). Can you imagine doing that with any of the TBP books?
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#225Cryptonomicon got me interested in programming and engineering when I was young.
Yeah, this had a huge impact on me in my twenties/early thirties.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#226Kurt Vonnegut's works: The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, Player Piano, Jailbird, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater... Find the time to read Vonnegut.
My favorite Vonnegut was Bluebeard.
That and Deadeye Dick are the two outside his big, famous works (Slaughterhouse 5 and Cat’s Cradle being the big two, followed probably by Breakfast of Champions) that I like best. Bluebeard in particular manages to cover most of the themes and ideas from the rest of his books all in one, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better than the rest but does make it interesting.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#227Howard's End, EM Forster, is one, along with all of Forster. Arcadia, a play by Tom Stoppard, is fantastic. Good for many re-reads (and re-watches). Ursula Le Guin (maybe The Left Hand of Darkness is my favorite?) might be the best sci-fi/fantasy ever written, as much as I love Lois McMaster Bujold (three worlds to choose from, each offering many more or less independent novels and novellas), who is also great. A few…
Am intrigued by the mention of "re-watches" for Arcadia. Is there some filmed production of the play which is available on video? Have never been able to find one ...
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#228The Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein and many of the stories by Greg Egan and Hal Clement. They show people who are curious about the world, care about the fate of others and try to be open-minded. They also show (perhaps somewhat idealizedly) how patient adherence to such principles can spread in a society.
Yeah, Greg Egan had a huge influence on me, too.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#229NK Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy, which has won a hugo for every book in the trilogy.
Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon and Who Fears Death are also excellent books.
I also highly recommend Jeff Vandermeer's Sourthern Reach trilogy, of which the first book Annihilation was adapted into a movie.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#230Zorba the Greek - this book is an enjoyable, seemingly light read but a beautiful contrast of intellectual understanding, and wisdom that's made manifest through living. Thought vs action.
The author is a "philosopher" who finds the company of Zorba and sees in this simple man the result of the philosophy in everyday living.
Zorba is uneducated and is unable to explain the why in meta physical arguments but to the author he seems to be effortlessly living the truth that the author is an "expert" in but unable to emulate.
It affected me because I identified with being a "seeker" and a "philosopher" and this made me realize that understanding something intellectually is very different than being able to use/live it. That I wasn't somehow "superior" because of the thoughts in my head.