Reddit mentions: The best computers & internet humor books

Ever Excellent a,

You are very welcome to my opinions about taking a group out for an activity(fan, fan, fan). We may be so very close in our views but that just enhances the slight difference in the angles we can see at. My bet is we'll find that difference in angle complimentary on most days.

>...saying someone would enjoy telling me what to expect from a particular activity I was concerned about organizing is new and very motivating.

This is a powerful one, really. Something I'm not sure I've taken enough advantage of. Just think of the floods I can suddenly write when you ask about sailing. It might be part of that principal that I've found almost universal - people want to talk about themselves and the activites we love and water-love are part of that self yet just separated enough to no be too revealing. A person who is inhibited about self-disclosure will usually be completely open when discussing the subjects of their enthusiasm.

>It makes so much sense to do something myself a few times and then invite others to what I’m already comfortable with.

) That way you get to be the one who can share what to expect, pretty cool, huh? Though with that said, it seems to me that the right group of people should make joint discovery of some new adventure even better than being alone. You are good at understanding others, so I'm sure you'll be able to choose the right paths with the right groups.

>I agree completely about letting others be responsible for their own happiness. I just need to nudge my heart up to where my head is on the matter.

One of the hardest things to do. Knowing and Feeling can defy "being synched up" so hard. Maybe it's a function of the fact that it's not always one or the other is actually right. Let's call this another case where the angle of a complimentary personality's view might help convince your recalcitrant heart. You can provide others all the reasons and motivations in the world to be happy but it really is completely up to them to take that final step, if they don't it isn't your failure.

>Are you less comfortable about some conversational situations than you were years ago?

No, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I mean to say that as the conversation degrades (imagined or not)due to my errors then my discomfort increases, spiraling the situation downward in my mind.

>I’m not positive of what you’re saying in the vague version[of how you acquired your trade].

Yeah, that bit is kinda jumbled. I think I can straighten it out and remain just the right level of vague but not right now. It will take a bit of time to put together so I'll defer it for a while. If you would rather hear it sooner or I don't address it due to poor memory, just let me know and I'll set aside the time to do it right. Deal?

>>I could be unfit to ply my trade if my honesty were in doubt.

>That seems to be true about all of the legitimate trades I’m familiar with...

And you are correct. In my case I would be, in essence, legally barred and unemployable.

>...operations I’ve dabbled in for fewer years brought the benefits of widening my skill set and allowing me to meet diverse groups of wonderful people.

It is just plain inspiring to hear your positive take on things,including your life in the mines. The way you benefit while providing benefits to others, seemingly no matter what. That's quite a story of mining you have to share, even in the short and vague version. Do you think your current mine will wind up with you in the historian's seat once again? Do you think you might be willing to occupy it for a longer or shorter period?

>... I see one [a parental figure] in Lost too, though, because that person for me is Locke.

That is a very good point and an angle I hadn't fully seen. It must be nearing time for another viewing, I'll just put that in my schedule :D

>Maybe the lighter element in Firefly arises from...opposite of what the Oceanic 815 survivors could ...Maybe there are flights-of-fancy elements to character interactions in Firefly that mirror their ability to fly, and determined groundedness to some of Lost’s characters’ relationships because they are stranded.

All of this! AND, I now think, the fact that the ability to fly or not is present fully reflects a (possibly consciously decided) philosophy of the fictional world presented. The titles alone provide an instant tone for the story being told <--- that feels like a bit of a revelation to me right now, hm. =|

>Maybe the best story tellers ask how the story has always been told and how the elements that speak to our tribal hearts can remain while the vehicle for delivering them is shaken up and turned on its head.

I think you've got something there. I wonder how often said storyteller actually ask themselves that question. It seem some probably just live the question-- seeing all things shaken and turned. If you haven't had the opportunity to read The Salmon Of Doubt then it probably belongs on what I'm guessing is your already impossibly long list :)

That is an excellent Adam's favourite quote! I could go to my bookshelf, take down the right book and find it in context with hardly an effort at all :) I don't have one that springs to mind, too many choices. If I do find a temporal favourite, you know I'll share it.

(on to your original "part two" of this particular, supposedly single message which actually flows and blurs with all the amazing and wonderful journeys you've taken me on in this simple text)

I finished 3 books last week, but 2 were easy YA books.

Hero by Mike Lupica - I know it's a kid's book and is supposed to be simple but this one was TOO simple. There was virtually no explanation as to why the kid or his father had superpowers, it felt like the author was just throwing abilities out there whenever it was convenient to give the kid more. Even though it was a kid's book, it definitely needed more depth or needs a sequel to go into further depth. I picked it up on a whim while at the library and read it in about 2 hours. I like superhero stories so that's why I decided to take it but it didn't do a whole lot for me.

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger - I really liked this one. There was a lot of sex in it for being a teen book but I guess it makes sense. The main character is a bitter, sarcastic type of girl, which I love. High school setting, the hot guy talks to her when she's at a restaurant with her friends and says he's doing it because she's the DUFF and increases his chance of getting with her hot friends. She of course hates him but over time ends up falling for him. She has a chance with the nice guy she's had a crush on for years but when they give it a go, she realizes they just don't mesh and she is meant to be with the "asshole" jock guy and he fell for her as well. It's of course a cliche storyline and predictable but it's a lot of fun, and there is a lot of great biting wit kind of humour in it. The author has written a few others I might check out. I was interested to find out that the author of The DUFF was a 19-year-old girl. It makes me frustrated because if she can do it at 19, why haven't I done it yet by 30.

Both of those were easy simple books, read them both in one day.

I then also read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book, definitely my favorite of the year so far. This seems to be a very polarizing book though, either you love it or absolutely hate it or were not impressed with it, there doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground reviews. I thought it was a great fun adventure story set in the not-to-distant future that felt very real and quite plausible given the state of the earth's problems and our rapid progression of technology. It's 2044 and the world's gone to shit, and most of the humans spend their time jacked into OASIS, a fully immersive Virtual Reality game world. When the creator of OASIS dies, he announces a contest to inherit his fortune and control of the company. He has hidden 3 puzzles inside OASIS that the user has to find and solve, the first to do it wins. When an 18-year-old kid finds the first one after 5 years, all hell breaks loose. There is a giant corporation that cheats, steals and will even resort to murder just to win the contest, the kid is racing against them to finish it first. The creator was obsessed with the 80s and vintage pop culture, as that was when he was a kid and was his happiest time. So this OASIS world and these puzzles are filled with all kinds of references to old video games, movies, tv shows, food, and music. I loved this aspect of it because I am the right age to have been a kid in the 80s, so I remember most of the stuff in the book. Anyway, I highly recommend this one, but be warned that apparently not everyone likes it and thinks it's poorly written or patronizing.

This week I am reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, of course, in time for the movie like everyone else driving the resurgence of popularity on this one. It shouldn't take too long, it's pretty short and easy to read.

I was considering giving The Book Thief a go but I'm thinking of scrapping that. I still have so many other books on the waiting list that I need to get to, that one not being one of them. I will see how I am feeling after 'Perks'.

You might like some of the following for your summer book adventures:

The Lies of Locke Lamora - if you like this one, then there's a second book in the series. I think it's shaping up to be a trilogy, but I can't recall off the top of my head. It's low fantasy, clever and occasionally snarky, with some fun intrigue and good action. It keeps up a decent pace, which is great.

If you enjoy magic realism at all, I really liked The Hummingbird's Daughter, which is about a young woman who becomes a saint. I found it to be really fascinating. It doesn't exactly qualify as magic realism, but it's fairly fantastical so you can't read it as realistic either.

The Passage was an interesting read, although I didn't finish it before I had to return it to the library, so the ending might suck :P It was a really neat blend of vampire mythology, science, and the apocalypse though, and I did make it about halfway through before I had to return it.

Finally, Ready Player One was a really neat sort of blend of space opera and adventure quest, with some good nostalgia thrown in for fun. Everyone basically lives in OASIS, which is a virtual reality sort of place, because the world is ugly and gross. This kid is taking part in a contest that everyone in the whole world takes part in, and it follows his progress. I thought it was really neat, anyway.

I'm going to ponder a bit more, and see if anything else strikes my fancy as something you might like. I love recommending books to people :)

I think the best way is to suggest a few that got me into reading. One or two are YA, but well-written enough that I find it as worthwhile a read at 28 as it did at 14.

Ender's Game - Earth Has made contact with an alien species, and... It didn't go well. A program is started to teach a new generation of soldiers how to fight this alien threat. Children are not allowed to be children for long when the future of mankind is on the line. Also, it's being adapted into what is shaping up to be a pretty badass movie.

Snow Crash - Written in the 90's, but it essentially pioneered the concept of the online avatar, and predicted the rise of the MMO. Also, pizza-delivering ninjas. Trust me on this. It's good stuff.

Neuromancer Classic cyber-punk. Most sci-fi is like you see in star trek. Clean and sterile. Cyberpunk is the dirtier side of sci-fi. Organized crime, computer hacking, and a heist on a space station. And Molly. This book is the reason I have a thing for dangerous redheads.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Considered by most to be the very best in sci-fi humor. Lighthearted, hilarious, and I find I can read it in the course of about two days. It is absolutely, completely, and utterly amazing.

American Gods - What happens to the old gods when we start worshiping the new ones? Can the likes of Odin or Anubis compete with our new objects of worship. like television or internet? Remember, Gods only exist as long as folks believe in them. The old Gods aren't going down without a fight, though...

Hope some of these strike your fancy. It's admittedly more sci-fi than anything, but it's all soft sci-fi (Where the science isn't as important as the fiction, so story comes first), and nothing too out there. Please let me know if you decide to try any of these, and especially let me know if you enjoy them. I always like to hear if I help someone find a book they love.

I've had this journal thing called My Grandma: Her Stories on the top of my list for a bit. My grandmother is one of the most important people to me. I love hearing the wisdom she has to impart as well as any random story from her past. She loves writing and talking, so it's the perfect gift for both of us really. I'm not that great with starting conversation, and even if I do, I know there I things I don't even know I wanted to know. There are a bunch of questions about life stuff in there that I'm sure I'd love hearing about. I'm sure I could gush about my grandma some more, but yeah. That's my tippy top item.

Somehow didn't notice that you mentioned each list. The above is my main super wants list and really the only thing that I'd want if given the option between all lists. Grandma has a special place in my heart.

My other lists though:

From my food list: A pack of Luna Bars, so that my SO has a decent snack while in class. She doesn't get much of a break and sometimes goes a good 5ish hours without anything to eat.

My music list: This is a bit strange, though I want all of the albums there, none of them are super mega wants. Oddly enough, the super mega want albums are on my high priority/default list. I guess I should change that. That being said, the albums I reallyreallyreally* want, are on Bandcamp. Artists that are lesser known and stuff. That'd either be Ott's Mir, Ne Obliviscaris or Naomi's self-titled that I've wanted for quite some time. Though, if it HAD to be on Amazon, the Blade Runner soundtrack would be AMAAAAZING!

Books list: I'm into cyberpunk, so the top of my list right now is between Afrofuturism because rarely are POC represented in sci-fi and I'd love to see who's done what and the Cyberpunk Handbook which is a bit of a parody/joke book.

Vidya games list: The highest are Way of the Samurai 3 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed "Ultimate Sith Edition"

Finally, my other random assortment of items wishlist: Probably the H&K MK23 airsoft gun. I like H&K, and this is much safer lying around than the actual thing. I won't shoot somebodies eye out with it a la A Chris Story, I promise!

> Would you say that a virus is a type of machine?

Yes, I would, though whether it's a living machine (or an agentive one) is much more controversial. This is addressed extensively in the Moreno & Mossio pieces I linked you to before, and I know that Estrada has a paper coming out about it soon as well (I recently reviewed the submission). You may also be interested in looking into Tibor Ganti's concept of the chemoton, the theoretically simplest cell, and its associated literature.

>Would you classify a language as a machine?

I don't think 'machine' is exactly the right word. I think language is a kind of "social technology," intended to scaffold our innate cognitive processes and extend our ability to do information processing, somewhat like how Lev Vygotsky thought of education's role during the zone of proximal development in childhood learning. Language works by piggybacking on our innate (i.e. biological) abilities to reason and work with abstract concepts, allowing us to transform significantly more complicated tasks into the kinds of semantic manipulation tasks we're good at. Andy Clark has a great piece called "Magic Words" that elaborates on this thesis.

>As in, a kind of mind virus that infects homo sapiens, a kind of terminal mental illness?

This sounds a lot like Richard Dawkins' meme theory. Dawkins postulated memes as the mental or cognitive analogue of genes: small units of self-replicating information, responsive to selective pressure, and able to spread from organism to organism. There have been a lot of criticisms of the analogy since Dawkins came up with it in the 70s, and most people don't take it terribly seriously as anything but a metaphor these days. I'm not sure it's quite right to see language as something like this in any case; natural languages are far too complex to be thought of as memes themselves, though they may contain memes, and certain languages may make the spreading of certain memes easier. I certainly don't see any reason to think that language is something like a "terminal mental illness." That is, it seems to me that language is, if anything, a monumentally helpful adaptation: the sort of thing that's let humans be as successful as we have been. This whole line of discussion reminds me a lot of Neal Stephenson's fantastic 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, in which the plot revolves almost entirely around the idea of a "mind virus" spread through the linguistic manipulation of certain deep pathways in the brain. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do so immediately--it's a really great book, and it touches on a lot of the points that seem to interest you.

As to your point on education, well, I agree in some respects. I'm highly critical of a lot of what goes on in contemporary education, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that I'm an educator myself. Your critical view isn't as radical as you might think. I get the sense that you're rather young (that's not a criticism!). If you can get your hands on it, I suspect you'd enjoy Jerry Farber's classic piece of educational anarchist literature from 1970, The Student as Nigger. I enjoyed the hell out of it when I was in high school, and it led me to a lot of interests that I still pursue today.

Hoookay.
To start off with, the two mandatory books are:

Neuromancer, by William Gibson: This is the big daddy, the first example of the genre. Especially notable for pre-dating the world wide web, but managing to predict it pretty well. We still use terminology (like cyberspace) coined by him today.

Snow Crash: Snow Crash (in my opinion) is the close to the genre, the book that took everything unseriously enough to lead us into the world of post-cyberpunk. An awesome book, and more readable than Neuromancer.

Movies:

Blade Runner: The visual inspiration for a ton of stuff, Blade Runner is the shit. Make sure you watch the Final Cut, because there are three versions.

The Matrix: Worlds inside computers are huge in cyberpunk, and The Matrix nails it. The aesthetics are pretty good too, given less sci-fi stuff in the computer world.

The Surrogates: Not the greatest movie in the world, and Bruce Willis has hilariously fake hair, but an interesting approach to a cyberpunk world.

Miscellaneous:

Psycho-Pass: The less well-known cyberpunk anime, Psycho-Pass treads interesting philosophical ground, and pairs it with a really fun cyberpunk police procedural. Season 2 is coming out this fall, mark your calendars.

Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex: The Ghost in the Shell movie is one of the leading lights of Cyberpunk, but I prefer the TV show for it's more drawn-out, easier to follow narrative. Drop magic into GitS, and you have Shadowrun, straight up and down. This is a must-see for anyone interested in the genre.

Akira: I confess, I haven't actually seen Akira, but it's another classic of the genre. Beware that without having read the manga, there are pretty decent chunks that just won't make sense.

I know this post is 2 days old, which puts it in some sort of reddit graveyard, but I'll add my thoughts.

First, Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan is the definitive "modern" cyberpunk novel so check that out for sure.

Also, for more of a "5 minutes into the future" cyberpunk, check out the Nexus trilogy by Ramez Naam. The third book in the trilogy won the Philip K. Dick Award if that means anything to you.

Another series I liked, which has a great dark humor to it, is the Avery Cates series by Jeff Somers. Seriously, just read the 'About the Author' section at the bottom of that page to get an idea of the humor.

Have you read William Gibson's The Peripheral? It's a neat update on Gibson's cyberpunk vision now that the world has changed.

Someone else recommended Cory Doctorow. I actually think Little Brother is his best work, though it's young adult so prepare yourself for that.

Finally, I feel weird recommending this, but if you were a child of the 80s, have you read Ready Player One? It's pretty polarizing in this sub since you either love it or you hate it, but it is a popular modern cyberpunk novel.

I've owned about a quarter of these books since high school, and I read two to three books a week, so your math isn't far off! I'd say I'm closer to maybe two thousand books, maybe 2500. I want to get an accurate count at some point! I also want to catalog them so that I can tell what I own without having to call home and have my SO tell me if I've forgotten (I forget pretty often). Just haven't gotten around to doing that yet. But someday!

Ready Player One is set in the near future, in the year 2044. It's a dystopian novel that deals with a virtual reality world. The guy who created the world died, and whoever solves his puzzle gets ownership. The puzzle is solved through a bunch of easter eggs hidden in the world, all of which involve 80's pop-culture and video game references. The first couple of chapters are kind of slow, but by about a quarter of the way in, it just sort of hooks you. I finished most of it in one night before passing it off to the SO. He's not a big reader, but he practically inhaled the book. We've been buying copies from my store when they come in, and just handing them out to friends ever since.

Indy is surprisingly graceful. He corners on a dime! My SO actually nicknamed him "Indy 500" because of his speed, although I'd say the cornering ability is more akin to that of an F1 car. Scott, on the other hand, has some slight brain damage and is pretty derp. He doesn't know how to retract his claws all the way, so they stick to the area rug in the living room as he walks across it. And his tail throws him off balance a lot when he flails it around, so he falls off the furniture when he's excited. Aw, dog! What's his (her?) name? What kind of dog? Also, dog tax.

So jealous of your weather right now! Mid-seventies is perfect. It's been in the forties and fifties this past week. 38º right now, but that's because it's five AM. Sleep is totally important! I don't do mornings. At all. Like, if I'm awake before noon, it's because someone's paying me to be. (Side note: maybe the military isn't the best idea for someone who likes to sleep in late, dude.) Field training should be interesting, if nothing else! Accepted for what?

Pressure cookers can be fun! Slow cookers might be what you're after, in the beginning. Pressure cookers can lead to accidents like this if you're not careful though. Slow cookers don't have, y'know, pressure, so they cook slower (hah, words), but it's the same principle. I've got a slow cooker, but I'm a little nervous to pick up a pressure cooker just in case! Don't want to lose my security deposit on this apartment so spectacularly. XD You should totally ask him! I bet he'd love to teach you. What kind of food does he make?

Yeah, dude, it was a pretty sad thing to watch. The guy stole a book that we paid $100 for, which we priced at $400 (Sex, by Madonna-- unopened, still in the mylar wrapping, and in perfect shape), and he got $20 for it at a pawn shop. I checked online and it doesn't look like the guy has any more convictions after that one (this was in 2013), so there's hope. His defense attorney gave a story about how the guy was abused by his father, made to steal just so he could eat... I don't doubt it. Coming from that sort of background, it's no wonder he'd turn back to theft whenever times were tough.

Jesus, our government sounds kind of like my store. We've spent so much money replacing the broken, leaky AC units that half our computers are still running WinXP while connected to the internet. Thankfully, with PCI compliance, at least they're not the POS terminals! Those are running Win7 and have no internet access. Hooray for F-35s?

Oh man, I've heard so many good things about The Witcher series! I've been meaning to pick them up, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm re-reading Discworld because SO is supposed to start them soon and I want to refresh my memory a bit. Next on my list is The Blood Mirror, by Brent Weeks. It's the fourth book in the Lightbringer series and it's a really well-done fantasy series. You should check out the Night Angel trilogy by the same author; it's good, and it's finished so you don't have to wait.

Holy crap I'm watching DS9 right now too! I'm halfway through season six! The SO and I started watching it together a few months ago, but I've been on leave because of my hysterectomy (I go back on Friday, woo!) so I powered ahead of where he last saw. Been trying to catch him up this past week. We also just finished Stranger Things, which was phenomenal. Highly recommended, especially if you liked The X-Files at all, or suspense-type stuff. After that, I don't quite know what we'll end up watching. Maybe we'll pick up Voyager? Or we might go back and actually finish TNG. I've seen lots of bits and pieces, but we never watched like, full seasons in a row. The SO grew up watching it with his dad, and has the science officer badge tattooed on his chest! I'm trying to catch up to what all he's seen, I guess.

1. When you wish upon a star
   
2. Can I say all of them?? :/ I LOVE Disney/Pixar movies! Like, seriously. They are amazing. So, out of Disney/Pixar movies, my top 5 are Toy Story, Toy Story 3, Wall-E, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille (not in order). My favorite Disney movies are Aladdin, Tangled, Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, and Mulan. :D
   
3. Prince Ali! Definitely. Also, I Just Can't Wait to be King, Something There, I'll Make A Man Out of You, and I See the Light.
   
4. How about a book? Books are awesome.
   
   Also, that mashup was fantastic. Thanks for sharing that! And thanks for the contest!! Disney is the best. :D

I really, really like Company by Max Barry about the absurdity that comes from internal beauracracy. his Jennifer Government is also excellent, but I didn't laugh quite so often.

Most of Terry Pratchett's discworld series is awesome. Some books are stronger than others and some people will like different character/storyline focuses than other ones. For example, I'm not huge on the Watch stuff, but I love so many others.

In the same vein, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen combine to make the super book Good Omens Which I think most everyone should give a read at least once.

Finally, author A. Lee Martinez has a very Pratchett like voice in his fantasy-esque novels which are always humorous and enjoyable

The best book I've read in recent years.

Ready Player One

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

Just recently finished "Ready Player One". A really fantastic novel chock full of awesome 80's pop culture references. Definitely an enjoyable read for anyone who loves video games, John Hughes movies, or awesome hair bands. The audio book is also narrated by Will Wheaton which is pretty great.

We actually have an e-book in common: Ready Player One, but it's over your price limit. From the rest of your book list, I think you might like The Remaining, it's not a sure thing, but it seems to be similar to your interests.

I've been reading the Hyperion series, and they are great! I really hope you get a chance to read them. I randomly picked one up at the bookstore one time and my SO loves them as well!

My favorite book would have to be Ready Player One :)
This book is so exciting, as it's about a video game virtual reality 30 years in the future. The creator of the world was single and had no kids, but he was also the richest man on the planet. Since there was no fair way to distribute his money, his will was a contest.

"Three secret keys open three hidden gates,
wherein the errant will be tested for worthy traits.
And if they have the skill to survive these straits,
they will reach the end where the prize awaits."

Halliday(The creator of the game) left this only clue to the world to try to gain his power and money. Six years passed before anyone finally figured out the first clue.

This book touches every gamer's nostalgia and you will want this game as soon as you finish the book. It makes you feel good to be a gamer. :)

Steam ID

Just Cause 2 :D

EDIT: OP, even if I don't win, I highly recommend this book :D

Incredibly late to the party... but right now I'm reading The Atrocity Archives - by Charles Stross. If you like well written sci-fi, Lovecraftian interdimensional horrors, and computer science, this is the book for you.

One of his other novels, Glasshouse, might be my all time favorite book. It's pretty easy to read sci-fi, has some awesome new concepts, and surprisingly really delves deep into gender issues. The last part kinda threw me but it's really well done and a very well presented.

Best I've ever heard of these is not mine, but worth sharing, this comes from Douglas Adams in his book The Salmon of Doubt

This actually did happen to a real person, and the real person is me. I had gone to catch a train. This was April 1976, in Cambridge, U.K. I was a bit early for the train. I’d gotten the time of the train wrong. I went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword, and a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table. I want you to picture the scene. It’s very important that you get this very clear in your mind. Here’s the table, newspaper, cup of coffee, packet of cookies. There’s a guy sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking guy wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase. It didn’t look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore it open, took one out, and ate it.
Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the British are very bad at dealing with. There’s nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies. You know what would happen if this had been South Central Los Angeles. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, CNN, you know… But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Englishman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, tried to do aclue in the newspaper, couldn’t do anything, and thought, What am I going to do?

In the end I thought Nothing for it, I’ll just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, That settled him. But it hadn’t because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another cookie. Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around. “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice…” I mean, it doesn’t really work.

We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were only about eight cookies, but it felt like a lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away. Well, we exchanged meaningful looks, then he walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief and st back.

A moment or two later the train was coming in, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper were my cookies. The thing I like particularly about this story is the sensation that somewhere in England there has been wandering around for the last quarter-century a perfectly ordinary guy who’s had the same exact story, only he doesn’t have the punch line.

OH MY GOODNESS they are so cute!!! :3 I have a little chihuahua/rat terrior mix named Pookie :)

Young Adult is great! I really enjoy dystopias as well! If you're interested in trekking down that path, a few good Young Adult/Dystopias are The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Giver. I also highly recommend Ready Player One and The Handmaids Tale :D

I really like the Laundry Files novel series by Charles Stross. It's hard fantasy, is very well written, and is quite fascinating.

Basically it follows a British secret agent as he tries to survive various adventures. He works as an IT guy and a computational demonologist in an agency that deals with the supernatural. The idea is that using certain advanced mathematics and science you can breach walls in reality, summon interdimensional aliens (AKA demons), get them to do stuff, etc. If you run those algorithms in your head you run the risk of having the demons eat your brains. If you run them on a computer, you get to be far more powerful.

Here are a couple of free short stories from that universe: http://www.tor.com/tags/Laundry%20Files

Also, here is the first book in the series: The Atrocity Archives

I highly recommend these books. They are very neat, and the series is still being written. The latest book came out this summer - I can't wait for the next one.

I love books, reading is one of my favorite hobbies and it's much easier now since I recently bought a Kindle Fire :p

My favorite book series is The Dark Tower series by Stephen King because it does traveling between different dimensions pretty well, and when I finished the series it gave me so many feels :(, feels that still stay with me today. Plus Roland is one of my favorite characters ever. My friends got into the Game of Thrones books, while I got into The Dark Tower series, they called me a loser because I 'wasnt reading what other people where' but the series is so worth it.

I've really been wanting to read Ready Player One I've heard great things about it.


Also I hope you have been enjoying The Hunger Games, I read them all in a one month span last summer!

My all time favorite book is [Enders Game] (http://www.amazon.com/Enders-Game-Ender-Book-1/dp/0812550706) by Orson Scott Card. I read it when I was like 8 and it is an amazing piece of work.

I would also recommend two other books I've read recently.

1. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Cool. Weird. Funny
   
   
2. Killing Floor by Lee Child. It's the first novel in the Jack Reacher series. It had me hooked. I've continued the series and this one is a fun and exciting read.

There is one glaring omission from the books list!

Ready Player One is the best cyberpunk book I've read since Neuromancer.

Not only does it have a great plot, great characters, and excellent virtual worlds, but it is as much a love letter to the 1980s as it is a cyberpunk novel. Definitely check it out!

I love books too, but struggle soooooo much with them. Meds seem like they are helping a little bit, as does scheduling a specific time of day (when the meds are working) to read. I'm trying to read for 15 minutes before lunch. That seems to be working, and I'm hoping that eventually I can build up to an hour.

Ready Player One has really held my interest! I might be able to finish it!! WOO!

Boys don't cry (title from one of my all-time favourite songs =D)
In a Year of 13 Moons (warning; REALLY triggering even from me, a pre-hrt woman who can't even cry when she is sad 9/10)
Paris Is Burning
The Crying Game (another triggering film)
The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Ma vie en rose
All about My Mother
Wild Side
Becoming Chaz
Tomboy (2011)
Beautiful Boxer (2003)
Soldier's Girl (2003)
The Badge (2002)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Princesa (2001)
M. Butterfly (1993)
The Crying Game (1992)
Prelude to a Kiss (1992)
Myra Breckinridge (1970)

Here's a comic and book if you'd be interested in reading them:

http://www.amazon.com/Flutter-Vol-Hell-Can-Wait/dp/1484085957
About a cis lesbian who has the ability to shapeshift, including into a male, and has a huge crush on a straight girl to the point that she pretends to be a man, believing that she would be able to have a "straight" relationship that way. She isn't trans, at least not identified as a trans man since she identifies internally as a woman even when taking on a male body. If she's non-binary it doesn't seem like the series is intending her to be. Still its a good story and a decent ending for its first volume. It also has a side plot that could be inevitable in real life at this point: a rally of bigotted right-wingers trying to ban same sex marriage in the USA. It's second volume is kindle only on amazon so far so i haven't read it yet, but hopefully its as good as the original.
http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Like-Me-Jennie-Wood/dp/0692238069/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0DBX3BECWSV19086RCVF
She also made A Boy Like Me, a novel about a self-identified trans man, though this isn't scifi or fantasy like flutter is. Very sad at times, even for a trans feminine person like me who wishes i could switch places with him...
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445063355&sr=1-1&keywords=ready+player+one

I really liked An Agorist Primer by Konkin. Quite concise.

Complete Liberty is another good one (it's in the sidebar --> ).

I also enjoy the graphic novel Escape From Terra.

One of my favorite books is Snow Crash. It's not really a good book for advocating anarcho-capitalism, but the system in the book is essentially ancap, and it's just a fucking awesome book.

My other favorites have already been mentioned.

Edit: Ah! I forgot No Treason! Spooner dominates the constitution.

I'd like this book because Bo Burnham... I love him... he's awesome and the few poems I read from this book were hilarious.

I don't have a kindle so... I don't have an e-book on my WL sorry haha...

If I were a book, I hope that I'd be a great one.

Since searching wikipedia turned up the Timeline of Non-Sexual Social Nudity(TIL) I'm just going to guess you're you're looking for a more techie true to life rendition of the hacker archetype based on the amazon synopsis.

Based on that I'd recommend:

Cryptonomicon

just.go.read.it.right.now.

It may take a little effort to get into, damn thing is a tomb, but give it a chance. You will not be disappoint.

--------------

Stealing the Network Series

How to Own a Box

How to Own a Continent

How to Own an Identity

How to Own a Shadow

comments

These are told in a chapter/viewpoint style, each chapter is usually written by a different knowledgeable, and sometimes security famous, security dude. Out of those I've only read How to Own an Identity so far, but it was pretty good and and my guess is that the rest hold up to that standard, so dive in. They are a series from what I understand so reading them in order is probably a good idea, but not completely necessary.

_____

And then for flair (these are more scifi/cyberpunk-ish; so if that's not your thing avoid):

Snowcrash

comments

The main character's name is Hiro Protagonist. No seriously. He's a ninja, he's a hacker, he lives in a U-Store-it container, and he delivers pizza for the Mob in a post-collapse USA, can you really not read this book now?

--------------

The Diamond Age

comments

All about the practical social implications of nanotechnolgy told through the eyes of a young girl, her father, and an assortment of disposable associates.

--------------

The Sprawl Trilogy

Neuromancer

Count Zero

Mona Lisa Overdrive

comments

I've only read Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive, which were both great, so I'm guessing Count Zero is probably good too.

Similar to Snowcrash in the lone gun hacker sense, except with more drugs a little bit more of a scattered tone.


And if all else fails there's always the DEF CON reading list.

ninja edits because I suck at markdown

It was brutal. I wasn't that good. But there were many people who were superb. It was such a pleasure watching them perform.

Here are some sci-fi recommendations (you may have read them already, but I thought I'd offer anyway):

Serious Scifi:

Anathem the "multiverse" (multiple realities) and how all that works
Seveneves feminism meets eugenics—watch out!
The Culture series by Iain Banks, esp Book 2, the Player of Games Banks is dead, but wrote some of the best intellectual scifi ever

Brilliant, Visionary:

Accelerando brilliant and hilarious; and it's not a long book
Snowcrash classic
Neuromancer another classic

Tawdry yet Lyrical (in a good way):

Dhalgren beautiful, poetic, urban, stream of consciousness, and more sex than you can believe

Underrated Classics:

Voyage to Arcturus ignore the reviews and the bad cover of this edition (or buy a diff edition); this is the ONE book that every true scifi and fantasy fan should read before they die

Stress Pattern, by Neal Barrett, Jr. I can't find this on Amazon, but it is a book you should track down. It is possibly the WORST science fiction book ever written, and that is why you must read it. It's a half-assed attempt at a ripoff of Dune without any of the elegance or vision that Herbert had, about a giant worm that eats people on some distant planet. A random sample: "A few days later when I went to the edge of the grove to ride the Bhano I found him dead. I asked Rhamik what could have happened and he told me that life begins, Andrew, and life ends. Well, so it does."

I'm gonna stretch the rules and include some comics on this list:

1. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Perfect in tone, pacing, characters, exposition and humour.
   
   
2. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. One of the greatest sci-fantasy epics of all time.
   
   
3. The Outlaw King by S.A. Hunt. More sci-fantasy, but with the sort of trippy, psychological, anything-goes attitude that elevates it above most of the genre.
   
   
4. Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis. Exceptional political satire contained inside in a painfully real near-future scifi wrapper. Ellis's best work, IMO.
   
   
5. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan. Yeah, I have a soft spot for sci-fantasy, but this comic series is all about the characters, and every one of them is pure gold. Exceptional writing, great art, compelling storytelling. The complete package.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Fantasy.

Engraved on the Eye by Saladin Ahmed. Fantasy stories. Free.

Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos. SF.

Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey. SF. (Part One, free.)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. SF.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. Fantasy.

----

You also can check in at /r/FreeEBOOKS, /r/freekindle, /r/KindleFreebies and /r/kindlebookdeals occasionally. There are lots of self-published ebooks nowadays, and lots of them are offered free or very cheap, especially if the writer is a new author. Lots of them aren't very good, but there's also some hidden gold. Some writers will offer their ebook for free for a limited time (like, a week or less) in hope of encouraging some people to write them a good review.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

-

It is with great honor and duty that I hereby present your royal highness Sir ARMStrong: The Wacky Waving Inflatable Tube Guy

-

With Sir ARMStrong at your side on your desk, you'll always have someone close by that would not hesitate to make you smile and start your day(or end it) on the most glorious of highest notes.

-

And as if that's not enough. Sir ARMStrong would remind you of everyone on RAOA that is always there to help anyone in their time of need.

-

Viva La Vida

-

Viva la ARMStrong!

I'm halfway through Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I really like it so far! It's set in a not-too-distant future wherein people live both in reality and virtual reality, and everything belongs to or is a corporation, including the US. Hiro Protagonist ["'Stupid name.' 'But you'll never forget it.'"] is a freelance hacker attempting to get to the bottom of a dangerous drug/virus called Snow Crash, which is transmitted virtually but unusually has near-fatal effects in real life. Obviously there's a lot more to the story, but I like it for its unique premise. Stephenson makes some really intriguing intellectual connections, and I love his dry sense of humor. Check out the Amazon reviews, but watch out for spoilers, even in the editorial reviews (seriously though? So unprofessional).

http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/030788743X
The first time in a long time I have been so sucked in that after finishing int in 3 days, I wanted to go right back to it. Every child of the 80s I have shared it with, especially those who were extra-nerdy, loved this book.

http://www.amazon.com/A-Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1347860128&sr=1-1
If you want non-fiction, I finished this recently and it is hands down the best non-fiction book I have ever read. History filled with compelling narratives rather than dry dates and facts, Bryson brings the past to life - the story of how Halley convinced Newton to write the Principia even though Newton would rather have been searching for King Solomon's tomb for the dates of Christ's second coming or practicing alchemy is just one example of the wonderful narratives that fill this book.

It is good but I almost got annoyed by the amount of nostalgia/references it makes. I kind of wonder how much I would have liked it had it not thrown around all the references. It was entertaining though. I think I liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson better to be honest (except the ending).

Bonus for some: I got the audio book from audible read by Wil Wheaton...so if you're a nerd that might be your cup of tea.

Yes, Diamond Age is such a great spiritual successor to Snow Crash. Where Snow Crash has that frantic pace and hyper compressed events, Diamond Age takes its time and describes every molecule of the beauty in the book's events. These two works are such great testaments to Stephenson's skill because it's obvious he worked really hard to make them describe similar themes, but also compliment each other.

Have you seen the new covers? I like them, they do a good job of presenting them as companion pieces.

Snow Crash

Diamond Age

A similar book but a little more directly matching OP's scenario is How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler. It's kind of a fluffy book that doesn't take itself seriously, but does attempt an outline of key inventions that allow advancing civilization more rapidly at each point in time.

But the information in that book is easy to absorb and more or less memorize. I'd want to condense it down to key facts, like recipes for simple chemical processes, etc., and then I'd be tempted to say I'd want some math tables, if I don't have a calculator, but I'm not quite sure how soon I'd need that.

A map of mineral deposits would be pretty useful.

Try Ready Player One. It's about a world that's become obsessed with this virtual game, but there's a conspiracy and an interesting dynamic between online personas and real life. If you like audiobooks, Wil Wheaton narrates. (BONUS! The ebook is on sale for $2.80!) and if you have any passing interest in SF, definitely read The Martian. It has math in it AND I DIDN'T EVEN CARE IT WAS THAT GOOD. Basically, an astronaut gets left behind on a mission to Mars and must survive on his own...

If you enjoyed the first three, I would wager that you will enjoy the remaining books. I would agree that they are not as amazing as the first few but they are still very funny.


You can grab the complete edition for under $15 on Amazon. I would also recommend Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and the Salmon of Doubt. It's a half completed Dirk Gently book with additional writings of Adams what was put together after he passed away.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Came out in August, 2011. Prodigies in the year 2044 get PhD's in pop-culture of the 1980's in order to save the greatest videogame ever made. Best entertainment value I've read since World War Z. I wrote Ernest Cline to tell him how much I loved it, and the man actually wrote me back. Fellow gunters, unite!

Well, we hit the 10000 limit. Reserving this comment for the misc. section.

FREE TIME/FUN/MISC.
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
The Art of War
Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won't Tell You about the Internet
How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish without a Trace
The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
Casting the Net: From ARPANET to INTERNET and Beyond thanks sjhill
A Quarter Century of UNIX thanks sjhill
A Reading List For the Self-Taught Computer Scientist thanks zinver
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk thanks segamix
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable thanks AgonistAgent
Snow Crash thanks AgonistAgent
Cryptonomicon thanks Mirple

Oh man, this again.

Funny story... I wrote this. It's part of a viral article/now book. The original post can be found in its entirety here.

That went viral one night many moons ago--a bizarre experience by itself--but then it got weirder when HarperCollins called the next day with a book deal. If there was a god, I would've thanked him.

Parts of the book have been up here before, and it's always strange seeing them reappear in my life organically (relatedly, I found out the article went viral because my friends started posting it on Facebook, not realizing the author). All the nicer to see something dig it, as the experience of producing the book--while something I'm grateful for--was a little rough. Glad you guys enjoy this snippet.

Proof: My comment history has a pic I think.

You have to throw about £3 at it but green laser ponter would be cool.

Or maybe I Am America (and So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert.

And you can never go wrong with a classic.

Edit: I almost forgot both book by John Hodgman are great.

The Areas of My Expertise: A Compendium of Complete World Knowledge Compiled with Instructive Annotation and Arranged in Useful Order by Myself

More Information Than You Require ( Paperback )

Morthy's demands:

English giggle: This book which is on my "media and media accessories" list

Oh God: if i was caught with this it would ruin the purpose of the item... also possibly any good reputation i have left... (from my food, kitchen stuff list)

Phallic: i have so many phallic looking items i had trouble picking, but thought i might get extra points for the lipstick since you're supposed to rub it all over your mouth? hehehe (beauty items list)

Akeleie's demands:

geeky: i have about 15 superhero costumes on my "gooby pls" list because i can't choose which one i like best!

achieve a goal: would love to finally have a decent phone case! (phone accessories list)

deserted island: assuming i'd be deserted there for reals and left for dead i'd say either these or this as a sort of last meal type dealio hehe (on the food wishlist)

thanks for the contest! this was fun!

Charlie Stross sounds like just the ticket:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/buy-my-books/buy-my-books-us.html

I would suggest this to start, short and sweet, funny & dark:

http://www.amazon.com/Atrocity-Archives-Charles-Stross/dp/0441016685/

Also, what others have said about Iain M Banks and his Culture Novels - they're pretty awesome; Consider Phlebas isn't a bad place to start.

If you like Wool I highly recommend Ready Player One.

If you enjoy 80's culture, video games, or dystopian futures you'll love it. Wool was actually recommended to me because I liked this book so much.

Ready Player One

by Earnest Cline

I'm not sure if anyone else has recommended it on this sub yet, but I will say that if you love FireFly, then you will love this book!

I loved Ready Player One, written by Ernest Cline and read by Wil Wheaton.

I just finished this book last night, I listened to it at every moment it was so fun. Engaging, interesting, exciting, new, GOOD.

Ready Player One book reviews on Amazon

Ready Player One on Audible

I absolutely love Snow Crash. Very humorous writing without becoming pure comedy. Great plot. Awesome concepts.

Snow Crash is a beautiful book, with Neal Stephenson being one of my favorite cyberpunk authors. Anathem is also a great book by him.
I highly, HIGHLY recommend getting the book, as it's only 10.20 + 6 day free shipping from Amazon right now.

Wow super awesome contest!

I've heard a lot of good things about Ready Player One

Pecksniffian

Ready Player One

>Ready Player One takes place in the not-so-distant future--the world has turned into a very bleak place, but luckily there is OASIS, a virtual reality world that is a vast online utopia. People can plug into OASIS to play, go to school, earn money, and even meet other people (or at least they can meet their avatars), and for protagonist Wade Watts it certainly beats passing the time in his grim, poverty-stricken real life. Along with millions of other world-wide citizens, Wade dreams of finding three keys left behind by James Halliday, the now-deceased creator of OASIS and the richest man to have ever lived. The keys are rumored to be hidden inside OASIS, and whoever finds them will inherit Halliday’s fortune. But Halliday has not made it easy. And there are real dangers in this virtual world. Stuffed to the gills with action, puzzles, nerdy romance, and 80s nostalgia, this high energy cyber-quest will make geeks everywhere feel like they were separated at birth from author Ernest Cline.

This book is one I recommend to everyone who reads any non-romance genre of fiction with some regularity.

Looking Good, sweetheart, and so will I if I win ;)

I'm stuck at work for 10 hours today and 12 hours tomorrow so any extra reading material would pretty much be a god send. Haha. I can only read so many trashy free books at a time. Gotta break up the monotony of it all.

This book was recently suggested to me and I'm really curious to read it. I've heard quite a few good things about it.

For those wondering how this was made:

1. The raw terrain is created using WorldPainter. That isn't grass; it's two shades of stained, hardened clay.
   
   
2. The large, customized trees are manually placed in using MCEdit. These trees are originally created by LetsLente and are available for download for use in your projects [here]
   (http://www.planetminecraft.com/project/native-trees-of-europe-template-repository-1779952/).
   
   
3. In ZBrush, a 3D model (the giant head) is sculpted or edited before being exported as an OBJ file.
   
   
4. That OBJ is run through Binvox to convert it to a schematic file.
   
   
5. The Schematic file is checked using ViewVox.
   
   
6. The final Schematic file is imported and posed in the WorldPainter-made World using MCEdit. It is then changed from default stone into Quartz.
   
   
7. For the first time, the world file is opened in vanilla Minecraft. Here the terrain is adjusted, with the small houses being built, the caves dug, and the waterfalls added. Smaller trees are bonemealed into existence along the ground, or hand built on the model. The model is also retrofitted to better fit it's surroundings. In my case, I needed to almost completely destroy and rebuild the nose.
   
   
8. The world is opened up using Chunky, excellent software built for rendering Minecraft worlds. The chunks that are visible from where the camera is are selected for rendering.
   
   
9. In Chunky, the render is set up. Light-colored blocks (like Quartz and Sand) have trouble rendering in Chunky under the default setup, so the sun's brightness, the photo gamma, and many other features are adjusted. The sun is also moved to where it best compliments the build. The sky is actually an image called a "Skymap" and there are many available online.
   
   
10. The scene is rendered, a process which can be very time-consuming for the computer based on the complexity of the lighting. While the scene is being rendered, it might be a good idea to leave your computer and read a book. I suggest Ready Player One by Ernest Cline or The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. ^^^DFTBA!
    
    
11. The image, now completely rendered, is imported into Photoshop. Here adjustments are made to the color of the photo. I find the David Nanchin actions to be helpful for this sort of thing, though I never run them full-strength. I also add in a water splash at the base of the water fall, and remove some pesky leaves that floated too far from their trees.
    
    
12. The final image is exported from Photoshop and is ready to be seen by the lovely people of /r/Minecraft.
    
    In Conclusion:
    
    These kinds of renders do take time. A user commented:
    
    > Pretty Certain you just imported a 3D model of a head using Binvox..
    
    And that's absolutely correct. However, that doesn't mean this kind of thing is simple to create! Certainly, this wouldn't be what it is without the help of external software- but the use of that software doesn't mean it can't be respected as a build. Don't say I just imported it-- it took a lot of work!
    
    TL;DR: I used a lotta software and it took a lotta time.

By the way, there's a really good sci-fi book about VR. It's called "Ready Player One"

It's different in the narrative, but also touches upon the topic of people becoming addicted to the virtual world. It also contains a mystery that the characters had to solve, which I found to be pretty intriguing. Also, if you grew up in the 80-ies, you'll love it even more.

Ready Player One reference? Needs a Z, but I bet it is since he's a good parallel to Halliday or the Great and Powerful Og.

I have a few awesome teen gift ideas, I will post some links to for you. Im sort of know as giver of random awesome things to my neice and nephews. If you can give me some ideas of what he likes I can try to track down more specific things.

These will all be through amazon because its easiest but they can be found elsewhere.

Wacky Waving Inflatable Tube Guy (RP Minis) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762462876/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_T6EXDbE0R87ZK

Ravensburger Disney Villainous Strategy Board Game for Age 10 & Up - 2019 Toty Game of The Year Award Winner https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DLGD9K6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_x7EXDb180973A

Acrylic Dragon Ball Set Z Shenron Action Figure Statue with 7pcs 3.5cm balls and stand https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0793S17T5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_68EXDb2DE13K5

WOWOSS Hogwarts Magic School Badge Wax Seal Stamp Kit Retro Wax Sealing Set Party Invitation Stamps https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LBN1722/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_h.EXDbXJESRC3

Cyxus Blue Light Blocking Glasses for Computer Use, women/men UV Filter Eyewear, Square Eyeglasses Frame, Anti EyeStrain Headache(8082T01, Lightweight Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GNO3G48/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_HbFXDbZP51PSZ

> Jeff Bezos

I had no idea who this guy was until I googled it, funny since Amazon only sells books here.

I just scammed this guy to get my free Audible audiobooks, just like the true anarchist I am :)

Halfway into listening to [Dangerous] (https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X) ;)

If you're looking for something for < $1.46 you're mostly only going to find short stories and books of questionable quality by indie authors.

If you're willing to be patient the Kindle Daily Deal has high quality books from time to time for only $2. Just off the top of my head I've gotten sweet deals on Arthur C. Clarke, Stanislaw Lem, Lauren Beukes and Philip K Dick.

Amazon also has Monthly Deals and periodically a Big Deal where you can find books for $2-$5.

If that money is burning a hole in your pocket a quick perusal reveals a few books within a couple dollars of your credit:

Most of Greg Egan's books are permanently at $2.99

Nod $3.79 was an amazing book, nominated for several awards

1st 3 books of the Dragonriders of Pern $1.99

Player Piano $3.99 by Vonnegut

Flowers for Algernon $4.81

Enders Game $3.99

A Calculated Life $3.99 - was nominated for a couple awards this year

Edit, Also found (and added prices to all):

The Last Policeman $2.99

Horns $2.99 This is horror and not sci-fi but it is a thrilling good book.

I started to read more when I was trying to unplug. TV/Netflix/phones can really pull you out of reality, make your brain weak as you begin to lose control of your thoughts. Just try not watching TV/youtube for 3 days...why is it so hard? Are we addicted to screens or are we just lazy. Research neuroplasticity, and how you can make your brain work for you (any how you fall into additive traps when you lose control of your attention). A lot of people on here are recommending meditation, I can't stress how important this is.

Start by reading someting that interests you...check out r/suggestmeabook if you need some help. Also, I can recommend some great books:

• Snow Crash - Neil Stephenson // The best cyberpunk/sci-fi roller-coaster of a read I have come across.
  
• The Iliad - Homer / Fagles translaition // Read this to understand the mankind's greatest story about war, violence and masculinity - this is about the Trojan war (well 4 days near the end), and was widely considered to be the Bible for ancient Greeks.
  
• A Man on the Moon - Andrew Chaikin // Fascinating (and accurate) account of NASA's Apollo space program from start to finish.
  
• Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed - Ben Rich // Behind-the-scenes account of the Skunk Works program and the incredible achievements they made back in the day.
  
  Best of luck.
  
  

I try not to watch anything while I eat, it helps contribute to overeating.

For relaxing, I read. I was never a big reader, so I have to force myself to read a lot of the time. Once I start reading, I enjoy myself. If I'm not enjoying it, I'll find a new book. I'll throw out a recommendation -- Ready Player One was a pretty sweet book.

• Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game"
  
• Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash"
  
• Joe Haldeman's "Forever War"
  
• Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama"
  
• Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep"
  
• Kurt Vonnegut's "The Sirens of Titan"
  
• Philip K. Dick's "Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep" (inspiration for the Blade Runner movie)
  
• Dan Simmons' "Hyperion"
  
  Every single one of these books has something different to offer you from the genre of scifi. Those three at the top are great entries into the genre. As what I perceive to be "deeper cuts", allow me to suggest my four favorite scifi novels:
  
  
• Isaac Asimov's "Foundation"
  
• William Gibson's "Neuromancer"
  
• Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl"
  
• Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination"
  
  Cheers!

Have you read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson? It's a SciFi novel but the narrative is heavily based upon the Babel narrative and Sumer language. It'd be a very fun read for someone interested in the topic (obviously the facts are bent a little bit). No question, just think you'd enjoy it!

I'll add a couple to this list:

Snow Crash - without giving too much away, many parts of it deal with how religions evolve and borrow from older ones, and ultimately equates it to a mental virus. I've never been able to verify how much of what Stephenson wrote is true on his facts, though he does say he cited things appropriately in his book.

Space by James Michener. It's a historical fiction, following many different people from the roots of the space race in WWII up through the space shuttle, throwing in fictional characters into real events to show what it was really like as America emerged out of WWII from many aspects in our culture. One character in particular, Leo Strabismus, is a con-man of sorts, and is used to show the rise in evangelical denominations and the anti-science/we-have-the-answers-already paranoia that began to rise as a result (oddly directly following the huge push and fascination in science and a keen interest as a nation in "what's out there")

Here are some quick recommendations from my list of favorites for those who are interested (I hope mods are OK with links to make looking easier, otherwise I'll happily remove them). These books engaged and inspired me and my imagination:

The Alchemist:

>The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho continues to change the lives of its readers forever. With more than two million copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has established itself as a modern classic, universally admired.

>Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found.

The Three Body Problem is a Chinese Science Fiction novel that has recently become popular in the West thanks to a good translation (I recommend reading my synopsis and not the Amazon one, to avoid spoilers):

>Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project looks for signals in space from alien civilizations. Meanwhile, in the present day, a physicist joins a grizzled detective to investigate why famous scientists are all committing suicide.

Fahrenheit 451:

>Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

The Art of Happiness (by the Dalai Lama):

>Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and a hugely sought-after speaker and statesman. Why is he so popular? Even after spending only a few minutes in his presence you can't help feeling happier.

Snow Crash:

>Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse.

I'm assuming so. Once again, innocent from the kids perspective. You might've been a little hurt (depending how sensitive you were), but I guarantee the mom felt super bad.

My favourite one was being in a book store when my oldest (and only at the time) was like one and a half. I was looking at something, and she was looking at some books like 5 feet away from me, and walked over holding up some book called "What White People Like" (she obviously had no idea), and there was a black person right beside us.

Edit: "Stuff" White People Like (https://www.amazon.ca/Stuff-White-People-Like-Definitive/dp/0812979915)

That is not how it is going to happen.

The rift will not be among countries, but between classes inside each country. The filthy rich will benefit from this. The specialized white collar workers of the upper middle class will become richer. The lower middle class will disappear. There will be a huge, unemployed lower class with no work. It will destabilize countries without systems to deal with this.

If you want to read a good version of this, find a copy of Kurt Vonnegut's
Player piano.

Ready Player Oneis a funny tour through geek humor wrapped up in a neat storyline that is full of mysteries. Hey and at 16 bucks an hour!!!

Rats Saw God, Kindle is OKfor me if I win.

Agreed, I also wouldn't want to live in the past, unless your royalty, and even that is fraught with hassles. I want to live in the future on my own Dyson Sphere.

That's why the recent Interstellar movie was so interesting. An ultimately hopeful story written to advance a positive view in Sci-Fi movies, kind of like the Hieroglyph book, yet they still needed a dystopian element to even tell the story. And while there are glaring plot holes in the movie big enough to drive a black hole through, they were needed to advance the story. I still liked both the movie and the book.

Speaking of Star Trek, I wouldn't have my cell phone if some engineer didn't like it so much. Or even the Internet itself if DARPA hadn't been worried about nuclear bombs destroying the infrastructure. What's really interesting his how Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will change society in the future. Like ReamDe or Ready Player One explore.

If you haven’t read the book yet, ready player one is one of the best books i’ve ever read. It revolves around the idea that the world is in dystopia and almost everyone lives their life in the OASIS.

I think anyone who likes sci-fi and games and such should read it, oh it also has alot of refrences to the 80’s

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448

Thanks alot for the giveaway!

I absolutely loved this book. It is set in the Amazon and is jam packed with action and adventure. Amazonia
Also, I just finished this book last night. One of the best books I've read in a while!
Ready Player One

[Ready Player One] (http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline-ebook/dp/B004J4WKUQ) by Ernest Cline. One of the most talked about books on r/booksuggestions and a fantastic read. Really easy reading, well written and bucket loads of fun.

It caught me off-guard too. A buddy who also reads and loves Suarez's work, IM'd me one day asking if I got my copy yet, assuming I had pre-ordered. Needless to say I was on Amazon within 5 minutes.

If you liked Daemon and Freedom, check out Ready Player One.

Have a read.

How to invent everything

It’s a fun read that takes you from prehistoric times to more modern inventions, with all of the discoveries along the way. Granted, it is rather superficial as it needs to be given the amount of material it covers. I found it fun and fascinating!

The premise is that it’s a handbook for a stranded time traveler and tells you what you need to do to rebuild civilization.

Oh if you like dystopian, then check out Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Awesome fantasy - Patrick Rothfuss The Name of the Wind. And a really cool non-fiction survival story is The Tiger by John Vaillant, about a man-eating tiger terrorizing a village in Russia.

Totally check out the library, most these days do inter-library loans within counties or regions, so if they don't have any of the above, you can request them for free. Enjoy!

Its funny enough to read about stuff like white people like that someone made a book about it (there's a second one too). Source: am white, think its funny, and fit a lot of them

I want to read Armada by Ernest Cline because I really enjoyed Ready Player One. I know it won't be as good, but I feel like it would still be interesting. If you haven't read Ready Player One yet, I highly recommend it.

I've heard a lot of great things about Ready Player One but haven't gotten the chance to read it myself yet! I'd love to join said Reading Rainbow!

I ain't so good at book descriptions but here's some stuff I really enjoyed -

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi: http://www.amazon.com/The-Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585

The author would argue with me about this being SF - Atwood prefers the term "speculative history" I believe - but the entire Oryx and Crake trilogy is very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Oryx-Crake-Margaret-Atwood/dp/0385721676/ref=la_B000AQTHI0_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397411558&sr=1-2 the first book in Oryx and Crake, followed by Year of the Flood and Madaddam

Gotcha, I totally understand. I don't think your assessments are incorrect! PS I also loved A Monster Calls.

I always recommend from Marcus Zusak - I Am The Messenger. He wrote The Book Thief, which got a lot of traction (because of the movie) but this is an earlier work with I think more gravity/character development, and a good bit of humor. It's about this kid who's an underage cab driver, kind of a loser, and starts getting these cards in the mail, putting him on a bunch of missions, all the while wondering who's responsible, and why. A bit fantastical, but also grounded.

​

Ready Player One crushes the atmosphere/setting, but if you're not into video games/VR as a theme, it might not be as interesting. However, my 65 year-old mom knows nothing about video games and she liked it, too, if that means anything, haha.

Like others have said, this is obviously participation bias. Those who purchase the book are likely to rate it highly.

You can see the exact same thing has happened with Milo's book, Dangerous. It's currently sitting at 4.9 stars from over 2000 reviews, which is just as ridiculous as Hillary's book having 4.8 from over 1,300 reviews.

Milo's book has 4.9/5 stars from 1,657 verified purchases (2,005 total).

Hillary's has 4.8/5 stars from 1,356 verified purchases (1,408 total).

Compare this to The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri sitting at 4.2/5 from 961 verified purchases (1,251 total).

I don't think anyone's saying that either of these books are better written than The Divine Comedy, just that both books are bought by fans of those people, who are likely to rate the books highly afterwards.

If you love Adams do yourself a favor and check out "The Salmon of Doubt."

It's a compilation of his scattered writings, words about him from friends, unfinished tales and such... I can't read the damn thing without either laughing or crying depending on what bit I'm on.

It's always a joy to see some small child or engrossed adult hunched over a 'complete' Hitchhiker's "trilogy" binding in airports and in parks even all these years later.

If you have any interest in video games or 80's pop culture I highly recommend the book Ready Player One, it was a really fun and engaging read.

This is possibly the funniest book I've ever read, and any time I recommend it to someone they always tell me it was hilarious. Thanks for the giveaway!

https://www.amazon.com/History-World-According-Facebook/dp/0062076183

I read it, it's pretty good.

I prefer John Hodgman's The Area's of My Expertise. He's like an older, wiser Trey Hamburger.

It's also endorsed by the Church or of Satan.

Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive On Ideas Alone by Bo Burnham

I'm a huge fan of Bo's comedy, and he directed the movie 8th grade. This book is full of jokes and thought-provoking pieces, all in poems. It's fantastic, and I think it's exactly what you're looking for.

Ok, so I've read Grisham, Moore, and Asimov. Straight off the bat, read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I assume you've already read that, but just in case you haven't. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, has Grisham's pacing, Moore's humor, and Asimov's themes. I think you'd enjoy that as well.

Sounds like you might enjoy Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I think Snow Crash is meant to be in the same universe - it's hilarious but not as dense. You might also like his Cryptonomicon, though it's not technically Sci Fi.

Tad Willams' Otherland Series is Epic Sci Fi with a huge amount of detail. Might be right up your alley.

Dune, Neuromancer and The Enderverse if you haven't already read those.

Any book in my wishlist pretty much, i love reading so maybe this one.
Thanks for the contest!

I've been dying to read Ready Player One!

I don't think you wanna live through me this weekend, it's pretty boring, I'm probably just gonna play video games all weekend. Happy Friday

Thanks for the contest!

If you enjoyed watching Fan Boys (and enjoy reading) you should check out Ready Player One. Both the movie Fan Boys and the book Ready Player One were written by the same dude.

Also, his nerd credentials check out. He uses technological/MMO terms correctly without spewing too much made-up bullshit.


Edit: Sorry for the ambiguous wording, I meant that both Fan Boys the movie and Ready Player One, the book, were written by the same guy. As far as I know, there are no plans for a Ready Player One movie.

I know this is slightly off topic, but let me play Grandma here and suggest some books for you that have gaming influences which you might enjoy. Coincidentally, my nerd book club is reading these three for April:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To by DC Pierson, and Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf.

Also, happy late birthday!

For sheer 'play in the virtual world' stuff, you MUST read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. You'll blaze through that, so follow it up with Stephenson's The Diamond Age


Good YA dystopic future stuff:
The Windup Girl

Station Eleven


Finally, get into Neuromancer, by William Gibson. It's a fantastic--some would say genre-defining--cyberpunk novel.

Then go devour everything Stephenson and Gibson put out there. That should get you through at least the first half of the summer. Happy reading!

Don't worry, SAO inspires my interest in virtual reality too. Well, I was already intrigued by the idea of a "virtual game" from way back when I read the Greed Island arc in HxH, but SAO made be dream bigger about virtual technology. I'm doing Comp Sci right now, with a concentration in Human Computer Interaction. Not sure if I'll be the the VR field some day, but it's a step closer to technology that inspires me.

I recommend checking out this book, Ready Player One. I don't really read much, but this was recommended to me and I ate through it like no tomorrow. It showcases a virtual reality system much closer to what's possible today versus SAO's nervegear design.

Umm. you do realize this is exactly how the book Ready Player One started right? if any of you havnt read it already. do yourself a favour. :). Pretty much, the majority if the planet is educated like this in the book.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

[This book] (http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-ebook/dp/B004J4WKUQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1BGV2L2FWNXQM&coliid=I2OARYCHD7XAVK) looks great. Its "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. It looks like a great post apocalyptic novel.

It's Breitbart, but still what? Here, let me Google "milo yianopoulos book" for you and click the 2nd result which is Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Milo-Yiannopoulos/dp/069289344X

Just in case Amazon takes off the #1 Best Seller in Books tag anytime soon I have a screen cap too

I haven't read that myself, but based on the description and notes elsewhere in the thread I might recommend these:

• the Newton's Cannon series by J Gregory Keyes - probably more serious than Chaos Walking but not nearly so grave as Game fo Thrones (did you like Game of Thrones?)
  
• Just about anything by Terry Pratchett
  
• Early Piers Anthony like A Spell for Chameleon, The Source of Magic, or Castle Roogna
  
• The Expendable series by James Alan Gardner (not the same story as the recent movies)
  
• The Red Lightning series by John Varley
  
• Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein
  
• Snow Crash and Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
  
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
  
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman

This is from Bo Burnham's poetry book Egghead: or You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone

The kid is a fucking genius on stage and while I've never read this book in its entirety I'm sure anyone who enjoys his stand-up will love it.


edit in>on

I expect the VR community to EXPLODE in participants once this hits the big screen.

If you haven't read the book (or if you have) and like Wil Wheaton... get the book on kindle and add Audible narration ($17.48 USD total). I've listened to it 3 times during my commute to work over the past few months. It's only ~ 13 hrs of audio so it goes by quickly.



https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline-ebook/dp/B004J4WKUQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1504549779&sr=8-1



Having already experienced the book, there's a certain expectation...so I'm hoping the movie does the book justice

I'm not going to call any of them "literature", but I've read and enjoyed a bunch of new-ish books recently.

• Ready Player One
  
  
• Little Brother/Homeland
  
  
• John Dies at the End
  
  
• Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates (and pretty much anything else by Tom Robbins)

Nice! One of my old roommates is black and he bought me the book Stuff White People Like. Sometimes me and my friends will play a drinking game where we flip to a page and if we like the things listed we drink. That is a hard game to stay sober in

>but for any other activity that you normally do with other people in the same room: Wii-type multiplayer games, sports, movies, etc. I really don't see it happening because the headset cuts off your communication with everyone around you.

It doesn't have to. Small microphones are ubiquitous (e.g. built into laptops) and the ultimate headset would have integrated headphones. Current VR is just now getting enough attention and funding to play with different ideas. The Valve VR headset has front mounted pinhole cameras and two spatial recognition anchors (called lighthouses) to allow you to move in a 3D space. Imagine if watching a 3D movie with someone was less like watching a screen in a theater (even a virtual theater) and instead placed you IN the movie, letting you walk around the 3D animated people like a holodeck. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No. Unprofitable? Absolutely not. Technology is getting even more lightweight, so bulky, awkward plastic headsets will soon be able to slim to near-earbud level portability. And, once we can meet up both in person and over distance - as easily as we make calls at home and on foot - it may replace cell phones, Google Glass, VR headsets, and others with a sort of super-combine telecommunication.

For more on virtual worlds bringing people together: Second Skin

For more on Valve's VR Headset: Valve Demonstrates the Future of VR Better Than Anyone

For one possible future where VR is as I've described: Ready Player One

If you like to read I suggest Ready Player One

It's a bit heavy on the '80s 'members, but otherwise a fantastic adventure story.

Wouldn't it be funny is someone HAD a Ruger on their gift list? Wonder how that goes...

Anyway, I suppose of all the things on my list (besides the expensive stuff like mics and the Roku box) I really want to read Ready Player One so it's really desired. However, any of the 80 something albums I have listed are important too!

This is giving me major How To Invent Everything vibes. In a good way!

If a weird looking, weirdly speaking stranger came into your village and taught your tribe actual useful principles like modern crop rotation, germ theory, celestial navigation, and movable type... why wouldn't you think they were a prophet from God? For all practical purposes they would be!

The second time I met Victoria (/u/chooter), she recommended Ready Player One and The Room to me. I'm not sure exactly what that says about her, but it's something good, I think :)

I'm assuming that you're looking for stories set in a recognisable, modern or near-future setting, in that case:

• I enjoyed Gibsons other books; the remaining 2 in the Sprawl trilogy are great, there's also the Bridge trilogy and the Bigend trilogy (the last being in more or less modern times).
  
  
• You could try Halting State and Rule 34 by Charles Stross (we're reading Rule 34 in r/SF_Book_Club this month).
  
  
• Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley
  
  
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.
  
  
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
  
  
• The Dervish House by Ian McDonald

There should be 4 posts up there, but thanks for the advice. I'm in the middle of Ready Player One, and I'm feeling inspired to get back into writing... not sure why this didn't take off, but I had an outline with quite a few ideas to continue with.

The Knife of Never Letting Go and the rest of the "Chaos Walking" trilogy is an amazing read, with plenty of awesome combat. It also brings up many modern ethical questions. I loved it.

He might also like Ready Player One which I am not quite finished with yet, but has really sucked me in. Even though there are several pop-culture references from the 80s, the reader doesn't need to be familiar with any of them to enjoy the story. I was born in 1983 and was too young to really have experienced much of it, but I'm enjoying the heck out of the book. I believe there is one passage where the main character alludes to masturbating, but content-wise, that's the only thing that a parent might consider questionable that I've come across so far.

Both titles have teenage fighter-type males as protagonists.

I would recommend my two of my favourite books

Ready Player One By Ernest Cline

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

I hope that you find a book you enjoy. Because Bookworms rule!

and I assume you also use the amazon.com marketplace on audible? (ie audible.com and US dollars). If that's true I would guess your settings are set up for amazon.com kindle books too, if you can buy kindle books on .com and use the whispersync feature (again it would charge you in USD).

An easy way to check is to go to amazon.ca and see if you are able to buy a kindle book. My guess is, it wont let you and say you have to go to amazon.com (obviously unless you have been changing your country settings recently).

Because yes, I am very sure that it doesnt work with an amazon.ca account. The audible.ca rep I spoke to said as much... although I guess they dont always give customers the right information.

What I found out is you can change your country settings for Kindle though, in your amazon account management. And so I just had to give it a US address and it transferred my books over without issue. And because I already had the book on audible.com (I assume) whispersync started working. In the future if I want to use whispersync I will just switch my country back to Canada to buy the kindle ebook (so I pay CAD with no conversion fees) and then switch back to use whispersync. Unfortunately I think I would be stuck paying USD on audible though, from what I can tell.

Hopefully they do implement whispersync in canada, I think its a good feature and definitely a reason for me to buy kindle ebooks over kobo. But to be honest, unless its a quality narrator/cast for the audio book, with all the hassle that it took me I will probably just stick to ebooks and using my iphone's screen reading ability to read the book to me. Its not as good as an audio book but its a lot less hassle. Until they bring the whispersync feature to canada properly anyway.

I reference the character Raven in Snow Crash. He carries with him a nuke set to go off should he die. It's in the best interests of those around him to keep him alive.

As long as the US gov't is more fearful of the contents of that insurance file, they'll do everything they can to keep the nuke from going off. It's pretty safe to assume that Assange's "nuke" will go off if he fails to check-in to something periodically. The US is best letting him check-in.

It's roughly what happens in the first chapter of Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Good book, I recommend it :)

In California of the near future, when the U.S. is only a "Burbclave" (city-state), the Mafia is just another franchise chain (CosaNostrastet Pizza, Incorporated) and there are no laws to speak of, Hiro Protagonist follows clues from the Bible, ancient Sumer and high technology to help thwart an attempt to take control of civilization

Probably too late to this thread but relevant question:

Has anyone read Ready Player One? A friend recommended it for post-grad school applications fun reading but I made the mistake of starting it 2 days ago when apps are due this Friday and I'm so hooked I'm spending my lunch breaks reading it instead of editing my essays.

All three of John Hodgman's books (The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That is All) are fantastic almanacs of made-up facts.

Hodgman has a really unique voice that shines through in his writing, and his signature move of CAPTALIZING SOME WORDS for emphasis will always be funny to me - for example:


>DECEMBER 16 1936, PARIS: Walter Benjamin writes his seminal essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," in which he argues that ancient works of art, such as sculpture and pottery, have an "aura" that cinema and books, which exist only as copies, do not. Benjamin went on to claim that only he could see this magical aura, and when the time was right, he would tap its energy to fuel the massive PSYCHIC RESONATOR he was developing to halt the rise of the Nazis. IT WOULD HAVE WORKED, TOO, had the Nazis not destroyed his enormous cache of urns.

I think "More" is probably the best of the three, but they all have a through-line where Hodgman charts his path from unknown Apple commercial personality to reclusive millionaire, so the whole series is worth checking out IMO.

I'm going to have to recommend Ready Player One. The book was an AWESOME read!

If you like stuff like this, I recommend reading Ready Player One! by Earnest Cline (also available in audiobook read by Wil Wheaton).

Sure!

Cryptonomicon

Snow Crash

The Electric Church

Neuromancer

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

That should get you started. :)

I'm always happy to get any kind of roleplaying book. Would really enjoy this Pathfinder one.

Or, if you're wanting more traditional books, I really need to read Snow Crash.

Have you read Ready Player One? It is utterly un-put-down-able. I normally don't read for too long at a time but I couldn't put it down on a road trip!

It's about a dystopian future in which pretty much everyone just plays a virtual reality game. After the creator of the game dies his will says that whoever finds his three easter eggs in the game will inherit his fortune. + lots of 80's references.

Looking forward to reading Ready Player One, I've been wanting to read that one, glad it was picked. Amazon has it for sale here for only $8 dollars.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, No Country for Old Men, and The Princess Bride also all seem to be fairly cheap buys on Amazon.

Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams. Specifically, although the entire book is good, the chapter "Is There an Artificial God?" where DNA goes into a talk about God and why it is a artificially constructed idea. Also "Interview, American Atheists" is a good chapter.

Happy to!

Awaken Online is an awesome example.

You might have heard of Ready Player One - Spielberg is producing the movie. IMO that one is one of the best books (for nerds) ever, but it is only considered to be 'light LirRPG' book.

Just finished reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (awesome read btw) and that video makes it feel like the beginning of the Oasis. Looks pretty cool.

I love this book

Yeah, Mr. White! Yeah, science!

Trickle down DOES work, with 2 notations - first, it works if you consider the world's 7 billion people, not just the USA's 300 million - more people worldwide are rising from poverty, not sinking into it. second, it works for those who are employed.

Our high unemployment is NOT due to trickle down not working, it's due to the high productivity and efficiency of machines/robots, computers. Up until now it's been believed that computers have resulted in increased jobs, but we're at the point now where jobs are being eliminated:

http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-Machine-Accelerating-Productivity/dp/0984725113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332279589&sr=8-1

Let's assume in your jet example, that a jet can be manufactured TOTALLY by robots - who get's "trickle down"? - just one person/entity - the owner(s) of the jet factory.

Also a good read is a 1952 novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., "Player Piano" about a society where machines do ALL the work.

http://www.amazon.com/Player-Piano-Novel-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/0385333781/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332279705&sr=1-1

Nobody seems to be asking the BIG question: "what if we simply don't need everyone to work to provide ALL the goods and services needed and wanted by our society?" or "Why aren't we ALL working 20 hour workweeks"?

Nah, I've got a friend who calls herself that. I've also seen it used in Ready Player One, which is a great read, especially if you're old enough to remember the 80s.

That was one of my favorite scenes in Crooked Little Vein.

>"This is where we shoot salt water into your testicles."

>...

>It looked like someone had nailed a basketball to me.

>...

>My pants were, of course, built for a man with normal testicles. I sat down gently on the edge of the bed and tried very hard not to cry. With my testicles laying on top of my legs.

>...

>I found that I had to kind of limbo into my car, leaning back and almost heaving my hideous genital weight in ahead of me.

I think he's hilarious. His book, The Areas of My Expertise is an awesome read.

Shaw is a brilliant actor and makes the film, IMHO. it's a shame he died relatively young. btw, check out this book if you haven't already. it's a quick but fun read. based on your responses here, you'd probably like it.

I see you're in about half of my subreddits too. Have you read "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline? It's probably the best Scifi book I've read in 10 years. http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/030788743X

Well studied, good sir. I appreciate that you at show us a bit more sensitivity than others.

Others: Things White People Like

I know you specifically asked for not fiction, but the book Ready Player One is great, and people in the VR industry are working towards building similar worlds.

\> If you've ever read the book [Ready Player One (Book)] or the movie [Ready Player One (Movie)] then you can get a feel for what I am envisioning.

I can highly recommend [Snow Crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash) (Neal Stephenson, 1992). If you enjoy it you may also want to check out [Cryptonomicon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon) by the same author.

There's not nearly as many characters as Game of Thrones or Tolkien, so it's not that hard to follow the story line. But as TGSICaptain notes, it requires some extra 'commitment'. It's not a series you're going to read through quickly.

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is shorter and is lots of fun. The story is absolutely hilarious at times.

try Charles Stross' Atrocity Archives. fun stuff. :)

Relevant book: Ready Player 1

One of the main characters lives in an RV, from where she taps into the virtual reality universe.

It's one of the best scifi books I've ever read, btw. Highly recommended.

Can't blame facebook for trying to make the first go at a Metaverse or Oasis. There is like a 90% chance they either ruin the company or drive it straight into irrelevance, but I might be okay with the risk to reward ratio. Especially since other companies are coming out with VR stuff to compete (hopefully).

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling was very enjoyable. I binge read it and thought it was fabulous. I ugly cried at some parts.

and if you're in to Jodi Picoult type books, you should definitely read One Day by David Nicholls. It had a decent movie adaptation, but the book is so much better.

And American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield!


edit: ...why was this downvoted?

https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485409240&sr=8-1&keywords=ready+player+one
This is one of my favorite books and I think you would enjoy it.

Oh my Deer God, I've been waiting to post this book somewhere, sometime. Company by Max Barry is the book you're looking for. Look no further.

P.S. Praise Deer God and his antlery wishes

You might like this
then, it's the entire history of the universe as a facebook feed like this

you can preview the first few pages of books on amazon, that's why I linked there, I'm not a spam account I swear.

I just read the book How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by Ryan North.

It addresses the same kind of thing.

Highly suggest this book, its humorous twist makes it a fun read and it covers how to set up civilization when you (the time traveler) get stranded back in history!

There is a stand-alone dystopian novel called ["Ready Player One"](http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426611964&sr=8-1&keywords=ready+player+one_. Recently read it and pummeled through it in under a day (which is rare for me). I can't explain too much without giving a whole lot away and I haven't read the books that you have enjoyed, but I would recommend it!

Charlie Stross' Laundry series (The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue and The Fuller Memorandum) are available on Amazon as Kindle downloads, and I highly recommend them, being a witty and amusing blend of Mythos and James Bond.

"Ready Player One" is an awesome book - I couldn't put it down!

This would be my choice!

If you liked this video, you'd probably enjoy the book Ready Player One.

If you guys like the idea old school games and easter eggs (and love to read), check out the novel [Ready Player One by Ernest Cline] (http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline-ebook/dp/B004J4WKUQ)! Basically a dystopian sci-fi novel set in the future, but has all the 80's gaming pop culture references you can imagine. Very similar to Ender's Game. I couldn't put it down.

edit: formatting

Just finished Orwell's 1984 about a month ago and I'm close to finishing Ready Player One. Both have been really great. As far as spiritual reading, I'm always reading something by St. Josemaría and am currently reading Chesterton's St Francis.

Ready Player One is a good one if you've got an interest in video games and like pop-culture references. It's a dystopian one, so feel free to ignore if that isn't your thing.

Found it. It was The Onion Book of Known Knowledge: https://www.amazon.com/Onion-Book-Known-Knowledge-Encyclopaedia/dp/0316133248

Thanks for your help everyone!

Here are the ebook versions!

Ready Player One

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - FREE

No Country for Old Men

Princess Bride

Annnnd here we go again. I'm doing this with all books, just because.

Allegiant

Berenstain Bears

Calvin and Hobbes

Dune

Edgar Allen Poe collection

Fahrenheit 451

Gulliver's Travels

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

Julie of the Wolves

Kite Runner

Little House on the Prairie

Machine of Death

Neverending Story

Omnitopia Dawn (The book I'm reading now, actually!)

Pilgrim's Progress

Quarter Share (Also available free as a podiobook!)

Room

Snow Crash

[Tell-Tale Brain](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=tell-tale brain&sprefix=tell-tale%2Cstripbooks%2C222&rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3Atell-tale brain&ajr=2)

Uglies

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Watership Down

Xenocide

Year Zero

Zen and the Art of Knitting

Gotta love Bo Burnham! if you want his book you can get it here

You guys should check Ready Player One. It is essentially somewhat of a depiction of this picture. The world has gone to shit and they use video games and virtual reality to go to school and pretty much live a second life. The book is amazing in my opinion and written very well.

to anyone really interested in VR and the future you really must read "Ready Player One" - http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448

I'd toss in a few plus add links for those who have Kindles

• The Name of the Wind The Kingkiller Chronicle Book 1 by Patrick Rothfuss
  
  
• Black Company by Glenn Cook
  
  
• [Gentlemen Bastards by Scott Lynch] (https://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Bastard-3-Book-Series/dp/B00PL9LM48)
  
  
• The Belgariad by David Eddings
  
  
• The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson
  
  
• The Elenium and The Tamuli series also by David Eddings - personal favorites but not on kindle :(
  
  
• Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser books by Fritz Leiber
  
  
• Conan by Robert E Howard
  
  
• The Grey Bastard by Johnathan French 1/2 orcs on big pigs!
  
  
• Silos series by Hugh Howey not fantasy but that's okay its a great book series!
  
  
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
  
  
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas classics are such for a reason

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

From Amazon:

> It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

>Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

>And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

> For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century.

This book because people on RAoA had lots of good things to say about it.

IM Banks - Consider Phlebas

Sprinkles!

Thank you.

The Martian: A Novel - Sci Fi about a man stranded on Mars and his struggle to survive and be rescued.

Ready Player One - Sci Fi about a virtual world/video game scavenger hunt with the winner becoming the new ruler of the virtual world.

He's also written a couple of book, Crooked Little Vein and Gun Machine. Really liked CLV, a detective noir story in Ellis's f'ed up world that we happen to share, and I've just started reading GM, so far I'm digging it...

It'll be easier if I just link you to the collection of message board posts, that have been formatted for easier reading;

http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958

There’s a pretty cool book on exactly this subject.
How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveller

Wacky Waving Inflatable Tube Guy
Pretty sure this is the same one... I think I’m about to spend $12

Ready Player One It takes place in a bunch of places, but it's fast-paced and lots of fun.

The Ender sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) and The Mote in God's Eye all have a lot of soft science. This is probably true for a lot of stories involving first contact.

Edit - Snow Crash deals a lot with linguistics as well.

It's a fucking awesome book

http://www.amazon.com/Onion-Book-Known-Knowledge-Encyclopaedia/dp/0316133248

Well amazon (Canada) have some of the hardcover with the red cover 1st edition : Ready Player One https://www.amazon.ca/dp/030788743X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_pNR.AbYKK38MT

If anyone thinks this sounds cool, and can read, you should immediately get a copy of "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. One of the best reads I've had all year.

This might help ease the transition for you

I put this book is in the restroom at work. [The Onion Book of Known Knowledge] (http://www.amazon.com/Onion-Book-Known-Knowledge-Encyclopaedia/dp/0316133248) It's one of the best toilet readers I've ever had.

Whoa what a strange comment to read. Im currently sitting next to my co-worker talking about this new book im reading, Player Paino, depicting a dystopia future due to automation and how it made everyone a slave to the system.

The book was recommended to me after I asked reddit if there were any books that dealt with the subject posted in this comment, if anyone is interested.

I felt like I just stumbled through a glitch in the Matrix...or Morpheus was trying to talk to me...when I read this comment, while I was talking about this new book I was reading, and pulling up that reddit comment to show him how I stumbled across that book.

Edit: Now this article is on the front page...

Sounds like the Maxx Barry book Company

An interesting read if you're into that sort of thing. (Reading, that is...)

This comes used for cheap! Otherwise, just surprise me. But that's what I'd love the most. I spent all my Turking savings on stuff to eradicate the fleas from my apartment that came outta nowhere, so my cat has a wishlist too if you'd rather get him something nice - mother and son are both stressed the hell out.

Make me smile, Rasta!

I mostly get audio books.

The books this year.

• 7 Halo books
  
• 1 mass effect book
  
• 5 Star Force books
  
• Ready Player One
  
• For The Win & The Makers by Cory Doctorow
  
• Into the Black: Odyssey One
  
• Redshirts
  
• The Black cloud by Fred Hoyle
  
• City of Golden Shadow (Otherland, Volume 1)
  

Well, my favorites are

The Moviegoer

The Road

A Confederacy of Dunces

Rendezvous with Rama

Watchmen

Snow Crash

Slaughterhouse-Five

Cat's Cradle

The Big Sleep

The Maltese Falcon

American Gods

A Clockwork Orange

Preacher

Fahrenheit 451

1984

Akira

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Lolita

Love in the Time of Cholera

Naked Lunch

Animal Farm

The Sandman

At the Mountains of Madness

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Brave New World

We

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

I think you're taking his words out of context and/or not understanding the full context. He's very controversial which can be seen by his book name, so I'd take his words with a grain of salt. Before you actually try to claim he's such and such you should read his book. Even in his book (which I proudly own), he says he likes to piss people off, he goes on to say that gays used to push social taboos, now they're just normal people. I'll find the exact quote from his book if you'd like.

The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, and more of a fun one Ready Player One

It was also mentioned in Ready Player One, in a key part of the story. Great read btw.

Yea, this reminds me a lot of that book "Ready Player One". Great read by the way.

Say Something by Christina Aguilera and Great Big World

Burn by Ellie Goulding

Hey Brother by Avicii

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