Jacek Dukaj - Other songs
For me - the best book ever. Other are just worse.
Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
51–60 of 61 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
#52I'm going to a very different route than my colleagues: Sandman by Neil Gaiman. It's a series of graphic novels which delves deeply into theology, philosophy, and the human condition.
Since it's in the form of a graphic novel, it's much more like "reading" a TV miniseries, and makes for a great introduction to Neil Gaiman's writing style (which will take you straight off the deep end into the fantasy genre). They're also easier to pick up and set down as the whim strikes.
If you really enjoy the setting, the Lucifer series of graphic novels takes one of the most interesting characters from the setting and expands upon it. It was adapted to a TV show as well, much to the chagrin of anybody who actually enjoyed the graphic novels.
Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
#53If 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 whos…
Thanks for the chuckle, but if Le Guin and Atwood sound SJWish to you, I think you and I have very different definitions of what it means to be SJWish. They are the last two people I can imagine who would agree to the blatant censorship that is taking place in today's academic and literary circles in the name of SJWish-ness.
The Dispossessed does get preachy, as does the MaddAddam trilogy, but only because their worlds are chock full of preachy people, each with their own stash of dirty laundry. That's kinda the point that those books are trying to make. I would read them any day over some blogger trying to be preachy about the One True Javascript Framework.
So how about I tolerate the anarcho-capitalist stuff that some of the other suggestions not-so-subtly drool all over, and you tolerate a bit of preaching in the other direction.
Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
#54The 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…
LoTR is not something I can recommend. When I read it, it was a miserable trek, and I read obsessively. It was a book written by somebody who cares more about the language then they do they story, and it shows.
That's not necessarily bad, but unless you share that point of view, I'd give it a miss.
Anyways, in the same vein as Ghost in the Wires, I recommend The Cuckoo's Egg and Exploding the phone, which are both fantastic.
Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
#55Dune. I mostly read non-fiction myself, so, just like you, I looked for something else amd randomly chose Dune. Loved it. Brilliant world building and a story arch that keeps on giving. And there are 7(?) books in total.
Yes, indeed. Dune. Lets talk about the why . Its much more than an average fantasy because it contains a lot of angles. It is full with psychology, politics, and sociology. Specifically, it touches on subjects like discrimination & racism, oppression/tyranny, managing, infiltrating, warfare, and various eastern philosophies (since the Atreides are forced to suffer). Did I forget anything? Please, do improve my answer…
A few more points:
I'm allergic to clumsy exposition and Herbert, by and large, did a very good job.
Many times you can read what the characters are thinking. This gives you many situations where you get a sense just how tormented someone feels, but how he needs to react in order not to lose control.
Fremen suffering in general. How it shapes their rituals, culture and further development of the story. Interesting also how it clashes with other cultures. There's also a nice part about how they must continue to suffer along, lest they become weak.
A few analogies to our dependency on oil.
The Great Maker <3
Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
#56Some great suggestions here, but mostly well within the engineer comfort zone (Adams, Gaiman, Tolkien, Asimov, Pratchett, Weir, Sanderson, Rothfuss). If you're feeling like trying something a little different, I'd highly recommend Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It's historical fiction set in Tudor England, and follows Oliver Cromwell who is a kind of fixer for Henry VIII. Beautiful language, but Mantel also has an ability to enter into the mindset of the times in a way that can be striking and alien.
I have a fear that engineers on here are all reading and watching the same things. Intellectual monocultures are boring and potentially fragile. Let's make 2017 the year where HN reads a few books that aren't about wizards or engineers in space.
Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
#57It 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…
I second Accelerando and Book of the New Sun. Both challenging in their own ways.
Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
#58While 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).
Another "hard sci-fi" suggestion: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Goes into a lot of detail about some potentially interesting things (moon science and orbital mechanics come to mind), if you enjoy that. I learned that I don't, but still really enjoyed it for the great story.
Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
#59I'll second someone else's recommendation for The Martian, that was just a really fun read you can just burn through because it is so enjoyable. If you want another really fun read, Ready Player One was fantastic. I've also enjoyed the Old Man's War saga, there are 6 books but you can skip book 4 since it is a retelling of book 3 from the POV of another character. This is a space saga and I really like the universe h…
More than a few mentions of The Martian, going to add that to my list. Thanks.
Eh, I'd give it a shot by I quit after the first few chapters. I didn't like the narrator's voice/tone at all and the writing was definitely not my favorite.
Re: Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction
#60For sci-fi with some Indian spice have a look at River of Gods by Ian McDonald