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Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction

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Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction

#41

Post by captn3m0 »

Fnoord wrote: post #40

The correct answer really depends on what you're into, and what kind of person you are. There are a lot of subcategories in fiction (just like there are in non-fiction). Lord of the Rings is much more than mere fiction. It is possibly interesting from a linguistic PoV as it contains an entirely new language called Quenya developed by Tolkien. It also contains a lot of subjects which are relevant IRL. Without getting…

+1 on Ghost in the Wires. You could also try On wings of Eagles, a narrative of a rescue of EDS employees during the Iranian Revolution.

Wikipedia tells me that the genre is called Non-fiction novels.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction

#42

Post by DanBC »

Fnoord wrote: post #40

The correct answer really depends on what you're into, and what kind of person you are. There are a lot of subcategories in fiction (just like there are in non-fiction). Lord of the Rings is much more than mere fiction. It is possibly interesting from a linguistic PoV as it contains an entirely new language called Quenya developed by Tolkien. It also contains a lot of subjects which are relevant IRL. Without getting…

> You might also be interested in stories which are based on non-fiction, but are written in a story telling kind of way, greatly adding to suspense. In that category I read the books Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick and Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen [1]. If you're interested in following a suspenseful hacker story I can recommend them both.

Another excellent book along those lines is "The Cuckoos Egg" by Clifford Stoll. (And he's awesome person too.)

Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction

#44

Post by gpderetta »

It seems that everybody has been recommending sci fi and fantasy... Well, so will I.

- The Lies of Locke Lamora: fantasy (think fantastic Renaissance Venice), fairly light read, very well written, great characters.

- Accelerando: from our own cstross. Postuhumanist episodic scifi, pretty much a required read for the average HN reader.

- The Book of the New Sun: fantasy (or is it?), On the surface episodic adventures of an executioner, but it is built on multiple layers. Not an easy read, but masterfully written. Might require multiple reads. Long series.

- Blindsight, bleak diamond hard scifi, about first contact, consciousness and life. Not an easy read, but strongly recommended.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction

#45

Post by gpderetta »

henrikschroder wrote: post #9
GlassOuroboros wrote: post #5

While I cannot recommend any particular books, I can recommend that you look into the "Hard Science Fiction" genre. They are very realistic, yet still have a cool aspect of fiction. The Wikipedia page for Hard Science Fiction has a list of good books in the genre. Besides that, off the top of my head, I would say books by Isaac Asimov (Foundation series) or Arthur C. Clarke (Space Odyssey series).

My standing recommendation in the SciFi genre would be any Culture novel by Iain M. Banks. Truly utopian SciFi, and an interesting depiction of a post-labour, post-scarcity, post-human, AI-symbiotic, "human" civilisation. It's not hard SciFi, but close. Banks really understood that spaceship battles are about mass, velocity and energy, and technobabble doesn't save the day.

> not hard SciFi, but close

I would say it is pretty much space opera (every single technology is handwaved away). It doesn't make it less awesome though.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction

#47

Post by mercer »

gpderetta wrote: post #45
henrikschroder wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My standing recommendation in the SciFi genre would be any Culture novel by Iain M. Banks. Truly utopian SciFi, and an interesting depiction of a post-labour, post-scarcity, post-human, AI-symbiotic, "human" civilisation. It's not hard SciFi, but close. Banks really understood that spaceship battles are about mass, velocity and energy, and technobabble doesn't save the day.

> not hard SciFi, but close I would say it is pretty much space opera (every single technology is handwaved away). It doesn't make it less awesome though.

That's fascinating! Do you know why this would be called 'space opera'? And could we also say things like 'western opera'?

Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction

#48

Post by mordant »

kijin wrote: post #36

If you're into social issues, Ursula Le Guin wrote several novels that combine sci-fi with social and political philosophy in a package that feels somewhat non-fiction-y. My favorite are The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed . Meanwhile, a more recent novel of hers, Lavinia , is a fascinating reinterpretation of ancient Roman epic fantasy. Margaret Atwood is another author who doesn't get mentioned a lot aro…

>If you're into left-wing politics, Ursula Le Guin wrote several novels that combine sci-fi with left-wing preachiness in a package that feels extremely overbearing. My favorite are The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Meanwhile, a more recent novel of hers, Lavinia, is an SJWish mockery of ancient Roman epic fantasy.

>Margaret Atwood is another author who doesn't get mentioned a lot around here but whose works of SF(she prefers "speculative fiction" to "sci-fi") I've enjoyed a lot. Her MaddAddam trilogy is weird and preachy. You'll probably hate it. Her other works focus on SJW ranting about issues of sex and gender in various past and future settings, some fictional, some historical.

>Of course, I as well as a lot of other commenters in this thread are assuming that you'll be into ham-handed left-wing message fiction, because that's what we like.

>Le Guin and Atwood are typical ur-SJWs, so you might find them pretentious and tendentious.

FTFY.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction

#49

Post by DeanWormer »

kripy wrote: post #18

Anything by Haruki Murakami. Start with "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" and never look back. Supernatural and super good.

I discovered him from the old puzzle site thisisnotporn and loved "Dance Dance Dance" and "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World".

Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction

#50

Post by detaro »

mercer wrote: post #47
gpderetta wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not hard SciFi, but close I would say it is pretty much space opera (every single technology is handwaved away). It doesn't make it less awesome though.

That's fascinating! Do you know why this would be called 'space opera'? And could we also say things like 'western opera'?

I think for "simple" western movies the term was "horse opera", related is "soap opera", but in science-fiction it is not seen as such a negative term anymore and the definition has expanded to cover a wider range of works. Futuristic with not much in the way of technical details, hero figures, grand conflicts is roughly what makes a space opera now, and at least some of Banks' works fit right in there.
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