(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best literature & fiction books

We found 87,456 Reddit comments discussing the best literature & fiction books. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 28,164 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

21. Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (FSG Classics)

    Features:
  • Farrar Straus Giroux
Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (FSG Classics)
Specs:
Height8.2677 Inches
Length5.9055 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateMarch 2007
Weight0.95 Pounds
Width0.86614 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

25. Replay

    Features:
  • William Morrow Paperbacks
Replay
Specs:
Height8.25 Inches
Length5.5 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateJuly 1998
Weight0.64 Pounds
Width0.8 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

27. BLINDSIGHT (Firefall (1))

    Features:
  • Tor Books
BLINDSIGHT (Firefall (1))
Specs:
Height8.25 inches
Length5.5 inches
Number of items1
Release dateMarch 2008
Weight0.73634395508 pounds
Width0.96 inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

28. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print

    Features:
  • William Morrow Company
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print
Specs:
Height0.7 Inches
Length8.1 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateApril 2004
Weight0.7 Pounds
Width5.4 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

29. The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (Chronicles of Amber)

Eos
The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (Chronicles of Amber)
Specs:
ColorBlue
Height9 Inches
Length6 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateMarch 2010
Weight2.65 Pounds
Width2.03 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

30. Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft (Commemorative Edition)

    Features:
  • Gollancz
Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft (Commemorative Edition)
Specs:
Height9.25 Inches
Length6.25 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateMarch 2008
Weight2.57279459754 Pounds
Width2.1 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

31. Penpal

    Features:
  • Used Book in Good Condition
Penpal
Specs:
Height8 Inches
Length5.25 Inches
Number of items1
Weight0.64 Pounds
Width0.63 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

32. Einstein's Dreams

    Features:
  • Explores the connection between science and art
  • Explores the process of creativity
  • Explores the fragility of human existence
Einstein's Dreams
Specs:
ColorOrange
Height7.85 Inches
Length5.17 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateNovember 2004
Weight0.25 Pounds
Width0.38 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

33. Wool

    Features:
  • Simon Schuster
Wool
Specs:
Height8.25 Inches
Length5.5 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateMarch 2013
Weight1 Pounds
Width1.3 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

34. The Sagas of Icelanders: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

    Features:
  • World Music / World
The Sagas of Icelanders: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Specs:
ColorBlack
Height2.23 Inches
Length8.44 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateMarch 2001
Weight1.99077422586 Pounds
Width5.7 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

35. Leviathan Wakes

Leviathan Wakes
Leviathan Wakes
Specs:
Height9.25 inches
Length6 inches
Number of items1
Release dateJune 2011
Weight1.56 pounds
Width1.5 inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

36. Cryptonomicon

Cryptonomicon
Specs:
Height6.75 Inches
Length4.19 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateNovember 2002
Weight1.19 Pounds
Width1.75 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

38. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel

    Features:
  • Tor Books
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel
Specs:
Height6.8401438 Inches
Length4.24 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateAugust 2006
Weight0.88184899041518 Pounds
Width1.629918 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

39. Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks Gift Set (Special Foil Covers Edition with Slipcase, Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, DM Screen)

    Features:
  • ALL THE TOOLS: The Dungeons & Dragons Core Rules Gift Set includes a copy of all three core rulebooks (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual) plus a Dungeon Master's Screen, all collected in a stylish slipcase. It's the perfect gift for any D&D fan.
  • PLAYER'S HANDBOOK: The essential reference for every D&D player, the Player's Handbook contains rules for character creation and advancement, backgrounds and skills, exploration and combat, equipment, spells, and much more.
  • DUNGEON MASTER'S GUIDE: Teaches how to run D&D adventures for other players and how to give them monsters to fight, mysteries to solve, and fantasy worlds to explore.
  • MONSTER MANUAL: Helps the Dungeon Master (the game's narrator) fill games with iconic fantasy creatures. Includes details and rules for over 400 monsters from goblins to dragons, with over 150 illustrations.
  • DUNGEON MASTER'S SCREEN: Helps the Dungeon Master keep die rolls and notes hidden from players. Plus, the inside is filled with quick references for the most commonly used in-game information to help keep things running smoothly..UNLEASH YOUR IMAGINATION: Dungeons & Dragons is a cooperative storytelling game that harnesses your imagination and invites you to explore a fantastic world of adventure, where heroes battle monsters, find treasures, and overcome quests.
Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks Gift Set (Special Foil Covers Edition with Slipcase, Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, DM Screen)
Specs:
ColorWhite
Height11.6 Inches
Length8.7 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateNovember 2018
Weight1 Pounds
Width3.05 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

40. Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H. P. Lovecraft

    Features:
  • Gollancz
Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H. P. Lovecraft
Specs:
Height9.5 Inches
Length6.5 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateMarch 2008
Weight2.85939553814 Pounds
Width2.25 Inches
▼ Read Reddit mentions

🎓 Reddit experts on literature & fiction books

The comments and opinions expressed on this page are written exclusively by redditors. To provide you with the most relevant data, we sourced opinions from the most knowledgeable Reddit users based the total number of upvotes and downvotes received across comments on subreddits where literature & fiction books are discussed. For your reference and for the sake of transparency, here are the specialists whose opinions mattered the most in our ranking.
Total score: 1,456
Number of comments: 591
Relevant subreddits: 16
Total score: 1,033
Number of comments: 261
Relevant subreddits: 5
Total score: 573
Number of comments: 163
Relevant subreddits: 5
Total score: 431
Number of comments: 129
Relevant subreddits: 7
Total score: 332
Number of comments: 180
Relevant subreddits: 5
Total score: 312
Number of comments: 142
Relevant subreddits: 1
Total score: 294
Number of comments: 241
Relevant subreddits: 4
Total score: 232
Number of comments: 223
Relevant subreddits: 11
Total score: 192
Number of comments: 159
Relevant subreddits: 9
Total score: 145
Number of comments: 145
Relevant subreddits: 12

idea-bulb Interested in what Redditors like? Check out our Shuffle feature

Shuffle: random products popular on Reddit

Top Reddit comments about Literature & Fiction:

u/ricctp6 · 1 pointr/Wishlist

I remember the Book Fair in my elementary school used to come on my birthday week, without fail. My parents at the time were very into the “no gifts” policy for birthdays, which was fine since I wasn’t a toy kid anyway. But luckily they never considered books to be “gifts” so my mom and dad would separately (and what they thought was secretly) slip me a little bit of money for the book fair around birthday time. It was such a magical feeling to see my library transform into something foreign and beautiful, and even now when I step into grade-school libraries I remember the smells of book fair day (bad popcorn, new printing, bubblegum crayons). Anyway, I hope that one day, if I have kids, there will still be some kind of honoring books in the way that you and I experienced, because it really was magical.

I’m not sure what kind of books you like, but if you like J.K. Rowling, I very much recommend her mystery series, The Cormoran Strike series, which she writes under her pen name Robert Galbraith. I haven’t read the third in the trilogy, but the first two had such amazing dialogue. I actually don’t usually like mysteries, but she has a way with words that makes reading seem both natural and pleasant. The third book is on my Most Wanted wishlist, but I definitely recommend starting at the beginning of the trilogy.

If you are looking for literary fiction, I would recommend anything by Yann Martel. I have many of his books on my Books wishlist, but my favorite book of his (besides Life of Pi) is called Beatrice and Virgil. It is...super weird, to be honest. But it has a poignant message while also just being an amazing story.

If you like fantasy, I recommend the Amber Chronicles. There are fifteen of them, and they are all amazing. I have the entire compendium (in one volume) on my Most Wanted Wishlist. It’s pretty cheap, and will keep you busy for hours! This is the one I put a link to, mostly because if I can only have one count towards the contest, I think I would choose this.

I also have a plethora of cookbooks and comic books that I love to recommend. I think the best cookbook I have on there is called Jerusalem. When I went to Israel, I have to admit I didn’t particularly like the food much because I didn’t have the money to cook for myself and I was basically thrust onto the coast eating terrible halumi salads. This cookbook, though, is both beautiful and gives homage to a great world of cooking that often goes unnoticed. For comic books, I recommend March. It is highly political and emotional, but, as with all great comic books, its message is one that will stand all tests of time.

I hope you have a very Happy Birthday and that so many books can become special to you and help you commemorate the day.

u/ExistentialistCamel · 8 pointsr/DestructiveReaders

Openings are hard as shit to do in sci-fi/fantasy. You have to basically lecture on the world without it sounding like you're lecturing them on the world: excuse me while I grab my smoke and mirrors. I'm not going to do line edits because it's view only. Instead you get my wall of text that I'm compiling on scifi/fantasy openings as I read more and more piles of it, when I should be reading something like literature (Idk, is that what the cool kids are doing?).

It's view only so my line edits will probably be limited, but I'll start with your opening two sentences.

>The café of 'Morl's Best Cuppa' was odd, green and uncomfortable to look at. It's rough exterior stood out against the trimmed vein of grey that was the rest of the city-block, like a bulb of gum beaten flat under step, ruining an otherwise pristine side-walk

Protag is looking at a building. I'm not as experienced in third person style narratives, but I'll do my best. If I was writing this in first person I'd be extremely leery of writing a description of the building for the begging portion. I do think you have an interesting world set out. There are genuinely funny moments, but it's packaged in a way that makes me want to put it down. I'd say this is due to an incomplete opening. You have characters and setting, but you don't have a problem for these characters to overcome (plot).I'm going to copy paste parts of a post that I did on sci-fi/fantasy openings that I made earlier, with significant modifications/additions (but the core idea is the same). If this is frowned upon, I'll stop. Disclaimer, I'm not saying that you should do any of these things that I suggest. This is merely my own opinions on ways to get over the initial hump that sci/fi fantasy stories face. These are some good resources/books that I've found.

In essence a good opening has three things

  1. a solid hook (I know it when I see it definition)
  2. introduction of problem (shit has to hit the fan in some way. "Walk towards bullets".)
  3. brief introduction of setting. Number three is the trickiest. Too much info and its boring, and nothing feels like its happening. It's listening to a lecture entirely on the structure of a building, with nothing about what's going on inside. Too little and it's cliche, you're just some fantasy/sci-fi hack.

    This is kind of vague and bullshitty so I'll use some examples.

    The openings in fantasty/sci-fi books are notoriously terrible. For instance, Red Rising, an otherwise half decent thriller book has the shittiest opening that I've read in a published work. But that didn't stop him from selling books out the wazoo and getting good blurbs ("Ender, Catniss, and now Darrow"), because he knows how to write a page turner later on (I'd still recommend it even though the opening is questionable, if you enjoy cheap dystopian thrills). But damn, did the opening want to make me throw the book against the wall. It's not that he doesn't do the three things that an opening should do, it's that he switches voices within it and had several narration snaps when it's clearly HIM speaking and not the main character. I'd also say that Patrick Rothfuss' opening is extremely shitty (and he says so himself), as he takes 50 pages before anything substantial happens. Thus he went back and added a prologue so the reader would feel some sort of plot in the story. Prologues are effective in scifi/fantasy for quickly introducing a problem, if your world takes awhile to build. For instance -- Harry Potter also did this to an extent, since it had the scene with his parents dying. Some openings, like the one that I'm about to discuss, have a really solid hook and immediately grab the reader. Am I saying that you should write a prologue? No , I haven't really read enough of your story to figure that out. I'm just offering a few nuggets of advice that I've seen authors use to get over the initial hump of creating the world.

    I think a solid example of a good opening in a sci-fi story, that I've read recently, is the story Wool (here's a link, use the look inside function). The hook is one of the better ones I've read, something along the lines of "Holston climbed his stairs to his death." Is it a cheap trick? Yes. Do I really care, and does it add tension to an otherwise monotonous climb up the stairs? You betcha! He explains certain elements of the silo as he gets to the different actions, e.g. "I put my hand on the guardrail, worn down one flake at a time by centuries of use." He doesn't just come out and say "HEY THE SILO IS OLD LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT MY CHILDHOOD IN THE SILO AND THEN GET TO THE PLOT DAMMNIT". In your case we see some characters mostly annoyed, bored, or not really doing much. Sure the setting is engaging, but the characters, in my opinion, aren't. The pro of an exposition opening is that you can fit a lot of information into a relatively small amount of space. The con is that it's hard to present in a way that doesn't create a POV snap, a boring tell instead of show description, and it's hard to create a problem if you're trying to be an omnipotent narrator. Dune does it, but it hasn't set a trend because it's hard as shit to do. Pride and Prejudice does it, but Jane Austen is incredibly good at writing in different tones. I'll stick to my nice comfortable first person narrative right now. I'm not a good mechanical writer, or a good writer at all yet, but I'm working on it. I do worldbuilding half decently (though I'm put to shame by the people on /r/worldbuilding)

    Another solid opening is "Mistborn;" (here's a link) a fantastic example of a dialogue driven opening. I'd say that if a dialogue opening is done right, its exponentially more interesting than an exposition opening. The problem is making the characters feel natural. I spent quite some time on my opening hammering out the robotic narration style, but I still had to go back and write a prologue because I didn't introduce the main problem of the story properly. I problem that I had is that my characters seem to stick their fingers up their butts and don't do anything. Basically a dialogue opening is harder to do, but it's well worth the effort if you can pull it off. Dialogue is also a good way to squeeze information out of your world. Want to have an explanation about scientist, well slap a scientist in there and have your protag ask some questions about it. Don't have random flashbacks in the very begging. Think about a movie that had someone fixing breakfast, and every time they did something relatively minor there was a flashback. E.g. poured some orange juice. That reminds me of my mentor who trained me in how to write a good sci-fi opening. Going to eat some Coco puffs, like me mum used to. But me mum beat me so I angrily ate the coco puffs.

    The best fantasy opening that I've ever read is Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I'd recommend taking a peek at it here. He casually just strolls in, quickly establishes two characters, a problem, and a setting in half a page. It's brilliant. I can't say I've read the rest of it though, but it's on my list of things to read. The only complaints that I've heard about Lies (aside from the usually fantasy grumbling about tropes), is that the heist narrative is too lowly for such a talented writer. I think that's a pretty good sign that hes doing shit right.

    In the words of Brian Sanderson "writing is all smoke and mirrors." In fantasy/sci-fi you have to set up scenes that are more or less infodumping segments that feel natural to the reader. E.g. travelling from town to town, "oh theres a ghost thing over there"
    "that's not a ghost its your mum!" laughter ensues
    On the bright side, it seems like you've done some good world building, so writing the segments shouldn't be too hard. I highly recommend watching Brandon Sanderson's lectures on the youtube channel "Write about dragons." Start with the first lectures he does, because they cover a lot of mistakes that people make.

    Also read this article on common mistakes that editors see (link) . Watching and reading just a little bit will help you from falling into a ton of pitfalls, like I did with my first story. I spent far too long on too little words, that were absolute rubbish. Now I've been able to get at least a consistent word count down every week, with mixed reviews (some chapters are better than others.) Basically, write consistently and read often. Potential and inspiration are bullshit. Hammer out some words, get it torn apart on this sub-reddit, pick up the pieces and repeat. Make sure to give back often, this place is awesome. I think one of my better experiences was posting a basically infodumpy chapter, and had some pretty positive reviews (aside from some pseudoscience that I quickly cut, and leapt back into the warm embrace of space opera).

    If you get past the opening hump, this article, is a fantastic way to plan how your plot is going to unfold over the course of a novel, in a concise fashion. I wish I'd found this resource sooner, cause my planning would've been much better. (I tend to discovery write, with minimal planning.)
u/pianocrow · 1 pointr/introvert

You're welcome. Having my own history of social anxiety and being hurt, I can see a little of myself in both of you which is why I want to help as well as I can.

Regarding the virtual hug thing, I'd say you're definitely overreacting. It might just be that he didn't want to just exactly copy you, as that might imply him not having his own personality. It might be that he does not really feel such virtual signs affection are that important, since they are nothing like the real thing but just pixels on a screen. What is a virtual hug, anyway? And don't you think him reciprocating a virtual kiss far outweighs him not reciprocating a virtual hug? How is a virtual kiss a way of holding back?

Don't focus on little things that might be missing (the virtual hug), but on the big things you do actually have. You two are in touch everyday. You are one of only very few people he confided his childhood trauma to (that he had for a very long time not even talked about to his mother) and he sought your emotional support when he had a bad day. Plus he actively reached out to you for that. Don't you think these are huge signs he feels really close to you, that you very likely already are the most important person to him? I see his opening up as a big step forward. Telling you how "fucked up" his life is already requires a lot of trust and your continued support and affection following his confessions will boost his trust in you even further. Do you also confide in him? That will show him that you trust him as well. I think it is important that he knows that he also is an important source of support to you.

About whether his feelings for you are of a growing and romantic nature: Of course you never "know", but as your relationship already has a physical intimacy component to it, I highly doubt he sees you as "just a friend". And I wouldn't share deep feelings with someone I don't feel very close to and also see being close to in the future, so I'd also rule out that he still sees you as a temporary dating partner. Maybe he is just as anxious to "seal the deal" with you but thinks he might seem too desperate coming forward too early. Maybe he first wants to make sure you know about his flaws before he's comfortable to do so, so that you know what you are "getting yourself into" and will not get the feeling of being tricked into something. I can imagine he would be just as destroyed if he was left by you, as you would be if you were left by him. So don't be afraid, but patient. Patient with him, patient with yourself. Take the time to reflect on your own feelings for him. What exactly are they enforced by? Is it genuine happiness you feel when being together, or is it only alleviation of pain? Do you want a relationship with him (and why him) or do you rather need it (a need that could just as well be fulfilled by someone else)? The better you understand your own feelings, the better you can deal with and act on them.

Of course you can't see the future, nobody can, and you might fear that one day he might not need you any more. Remember that he might fear the same about you (he probably does). And the only way out of this fear is to work on your relationship and, to that end, on yourselves. As I said, the most stable relationships are those that both partners don't absolutely need, but want anyway. That's what you (and anyone else, for that matter) should strive for. Right now you both desperately need each other and that is okay, but in the long term you need to think about the question: If we were both happy about ourselves and didn't need permanent validation and emotional support from each other, what would make us want to be together anyway? At the latest when you have helped each other to defeat your self-esteem issues your relationship cannot simply be based on helping each other in bad times, but will have to thrive on the good times: the fun you have together, the compliments for achievements, the interesting conversations. For that to happen, you need to know yourselves. Know what brings you fun, know your goals and work towards them, know your interests. And as I already said, as long as you do it for yourself and not for anyone else, working on yourself will pay off in any case. It will help you with relationships and it will help you when being rejected. You said that you already have great conversations with your partner, that you both have similar goals in life, and that you try to work on yourself in therapy. That's great! You're moving in the right direction.

Do you think philosophy might be something that could interest you? You seem to worry a lot about the feeling of being worthless, especially upon being rejected. For a long time, I thought it would be impossible to see my life as intrinsically valuable; I thought that I would always need validation by others to be able to enjoy life in the first place. Learning about philosophy has helped me with that. I'm not yet where I want to be, but I'm definitely less anxious. If you feel like you could be interested, you might give this playlist a try and/or read Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, a book written for young adults as an introduction to Western Philosophy. Another book I can recommend is Anne Frank's diary. Learning about her dreams and interests, her love of life and nature, and on the other hand her fears and her loneliness, and the sheer fact that she didn't get the chance to live the life she dreamed of, this all made my own problems seem somehow... less severe.

In any case: Chin up! I'm optimistic things will work out for you!

u/ElementallyEvil · 2 pointsr/tabletop

Hi!

Being in /r/tabletop, I'm assuming that what you are looking for is a Tabletop RPG. I will go forward assuming that is the case, as I'm not a wargame player.

For anyone getting into RPGs (unless they have a very focused idea in mind already of what they want), I would recommend Dungeons & Dragons or a derivative. D&D is the Lingua Franca of RPGs, each of its editions have different leanings, and many people have made their own adaptations of various versions. The editions of D&D are varying levels of kid-friendly - the learning curve having shot up in the late 90s and is sorta coming down now.

Now, if you're wanting something more bordering the lines of power fantasy, sort of superhero-y, and very "Kill monsters, level up" as the baseline of the experience: Get the "Essentials Kit" for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. It's a very nice set and has everything you need for a good long while. This current edition is on the border of learning steepness, but with an adult to help along it wouldn't be too bad - especially with the Essentials Kit, rather than the full three core books.

If you want something with a more classic adventure feel (Maybe think Conan, The Hobbit, or even the Princess Bride), where survival is taken less for granted, there's some more challenge and some more creativity in solutions from players encouraged: You want something more in line with the 70s-90s D&D. It's still D&D - it still maintains that Lingua Franca status - it's just a bit different in terms of feel and can be a good deal less complex.

Down this line of thought, I usually recommend "White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game", which is a rewriting and modernisation of the original 1970s game. It's very easy to learn, runs very smoothly, and is great if you want that "Adventurer out to make a name and earn some treasure" feeling. It doesn't come with its own adventure like the 5e Essentials Kit, but it is compatible with basically any D&D adventure from the 20th century - and others written for games like it more recently - if you need one. If that's the case, for the purposes of a new player it pairs very nicely with "Tomb of the Serpent Kings" as a beginner's dungeon, and "Blackmarsh" as a premade setting (with its settlements, environments, and its own adventure prompts rounding out a nice adventuring sandbox for a campaign).

Everything I have mentioned here is absolutely free in PDF form, except the Essentials Kit - although the 5th Edition Basic Rules are also free.

If you like the rules of 5th Edition, but want more of the feel I described when laying out White Box - I would suggest checking out "Five Torches Deep" (Which isn't free, but here is an in-depth overview of it by its author).

Likewise, if you like the rules of White Box but feel that "actually it is a bit too lightweight even for my eight-year-old", perhaps check out its big brother: "Swords & Wizardry: Core Rules" (Its free PDF found separately here). It remains compatible with the same products as White Box.

u/scdozer435 · 10 pointsr/askphilosophy

The book I always recommend people start out with is Sophie's World, not because it's the most in-depth, but because it's the most accessible for a newcomer. It's also the most entertaining I've read. If you want something more in-depth, Russell's History of Western Philosophy is generally this subreddit's big recommendation, although I personally wouldn't say it's a great starting point. His reading of some thinkers is not great, and he's not quite as good at dumbing down certain ideas to an introductory level.

A good summary of philosophy will help you for a couple reasons. One, it will give you enough information to find out what thinkers and ideas interest you. If you're interested in a particular question or thinker, then that's obviously where you should go. Philosophy of religion? Logic? Aesthetics and art? Language? There's plenty written on all these topics, but it can be a bit overwhelming to try and just attack all of philosophy at once. Like any other field, there will be parts of it that click with you, and parts that don't really seem all that appealing. Find your niche, and pursue it. In addition to giving you an idea of where to go, a good overview will put ideas in context. Understanding Augustine and Aquinas will make more sense if you know that they're working with a foundation of the Greek thought of Plato and Aristotle. Descartes wrote his meditations during the enlightenment, and was a major contributor to much of the emphasis on reason that defined that era. Nietzsche and Kierkegaard's existentialist ideas become more powerful when you realize they're critiquing and challenging the technicality of Kant and Hegel. Ideas don't exist in a vacuum, and while you can't be expected to know all the details of everything, your niche area of interest will make more sense if you understand it's context.

As for easier texts that I'd recommend trying out (once you find an area of interest), here's a few that are pretty important and also fairly accessible. These are texts that are generally read by all philosophy students, due to their importance, but if you're just into this for personal interest, you can pick and choose a bit. Still, these are important works, so they'll be very good to read anyways.

Plato - Apology: not terribly dense, but an accessible text in which Socrates basically defends his pursuing philosophical thought. I'd recommend this as an accessible introduction that will get you to feel like philosophy matters; think of it as pump-up music before a big game.

Plato - The Republic: this is arguably Plato's most important work. In it, he talks about the nature of men, politics, education and art.

Aristotle - Nichomachean Ethics: a text that deals with leading a life in accordance with virtue. Aristotle's style is a bit dry and technical, but he's also very important.

Augustine - On Free Choice of the Will: a dialogue similar to Plato's in which Augustine argues that the existence of God does not conflict with man having free will.

Aquinas - Selected Excerpts: he wrote a lot, so you don't wanna try reading a whole one of his works. This selects his key ideas and puts them in bite-sized chunks. He's a big Christian thinker, arguing for the existence and goodness of God and related theological concepts.

Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy: Descartes uses reason to prove he exists, along with some other things. Pretty easy to read, although it sparked a revolution in thought, making epistemology a central problem of philosophy.

Kant - Grounding for Metaphysics of Morals: one of his easier works, but it's still one of the more technical works I'm recommending, in which Kant demonstrates that morals are a priori.

Kierkegaard - Fear and Trembling: one of my favorite books, Kierkegaard writes about the nature of faith using the story of Abraham and Isaac as his starting point. A huge critic of Kant's obsession with pure reason, he is generally considered to be the first existential thinker.

Nietzsche - Beyond Good & Evil: Nietzsche is one of the more controversial thinkers in history. Also a critic of Kant, he is one of the most profound critics of religion. This book is one of his more important, in which he talks about his problems of religion, the culture around him, and at times points us in the direction he wants us to go. Know that he doesn't write in a terribly direct manner, so if you choose to read him, come here for assistance. He's a bit different to read, and can be challenging if you're not ready.

This list is by no means exhaustive, and having a good reference to help you along will be very helpful.

u/BrentRTaylor · 3 pointsr/mattcolville

This is an idea that is dear to my heart and I'm looking forward to running a pirate/naval adventure myself. I've got some inspiration ideas for you!

Books


These books should need no introduction. These are the books that will truly inspire your game.

  • Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H. P. Lovecraft
  • Eldritch Tales
  • Conan the Barbarian - The Original, Unabridged Adventures of the World's Greatest Fantasy Hero
  • Grimms Complete Fairy Tales
  • Tales of Norse Mythology
  • Iliad and Odyssey

    TV Shows

  • Crossbones - This is one of the most underrated TV shows I've ever seen. It got canceled late in it's first season and so the finale was rushed, but despite that it's an amazing show. This show has political intrigue and adventure ideas abound. I'd argue it's damn near required viewing for running any sort of pirate campaign.
  • Black Sails - This amazing show is written as a prequel to the novel, "Treasure Island". It follows Captain Flint, and a young John Silver as they attempt to make an "honest" living while preparing to thwart the predicted demise of piracy. Swashbuckling adventures, intrigue and more adventure ideas here than I can count. The show is a hell of a ride and I can guarantee you'll get plenty of ideas watching this one.
  • Vikings - This show is the show that just keeps on giving. The first two or three episodes are a little slow to start, but you'll be on the edge of your seat every episode thereafter. While this show focuses on vikings, there's plenty here to inspire a pirate adventure. It will especially inspire the creation of your villains.
  • The Musketeers - This isn't that terrible (and oh so amazing) Disney movie from the 90's. This show focuses on the Musketeers you know of, and the Musketeers as a military unit during that time period. If you're focusing on adventures during something similar to the golden age of piracy, you need to watch this show. One of my favorites.

    Tabletop Books


  • The 7th Sea - I am not recommending this as the system you should use, I am recommending it strictly as inspiration for your setting. It easily has the most interesting setting I've ever seen and has some amazing ideas for adventures dealing with curses, the sidhe, naval campaigns, city adventures, etc. Whether this will be useful to you depends entirely on your setting. Are you playing D&D on the high seas? If so, this isn't going to be nearly as useful. Are you playing in a setting reminiscent of the golden age of piracy with some light magical touches (eldritch horrors in the deep sea, curses, magical fey creatures and low magic for the players)? If so, good lord is this book (and the Nations of Theah books) going to be useful to you.
  • Razor Coast - If you're playing D&D on the high seas, this is the book for you. It's a sandbox setting with a ton of adventures and adventure seeds. It is expensive, but it's worth every penny. Highly recommended.

    I can't recommend all of this enough. A lot of this will give you ideas and inspiration for all of your campaigns, naval/pirate or otherwise. Have fun!
u/grome45 · 2 pointsr/booksuggestions

I've fallen on a deep sci-fi binge, so I'm going to recommend what I've read so far (lately) and loved:

Ender Series: The sequels to "Ender's Game" are not on par with the first, but they're compelling nonetheless (except maybe Childrens of the Mind), and the Bean series (Ender's Shadow and the sequels) is GREAT. I would recommend reading the sequels, and if not, to stay with the same Ender's Game vibe, then at least read Ender's Shadow, as it opens up the story a lot more.

Foundation (Isaac Asimov): One of the groundbreaking sci-fi series. I've currently read only the first one (Foundation) and absolutely loved it. It takes up several character's point of view over the course of a lot of years. But don't worry, each character get their spot lights and they shine in it. And the universe he creates is one I'm anxious to get back once I finish with...

Leviathan Wakes (James S.A. Corey): This one I'm still reading, so I won't jump up and say: READ IT, IT'S AMAZING! But I will say this, it's long and full of twists, but it's two central characters are fun and interesting. Someone said it's like reading the best sci-fi movie there is. And it kind of is. It's full of action, suspense, some horror and fun writing. I would check it out if I were you.

Spin: I enjoyed this one. Not fanatical about it, but still enjoyable. It's a little bit too long, but the mystery around the event that occurs in the book is interesting and compelling enough to continue. The characters feel real, and the drama around it is fun.

A while ago I also read: The Forever War which I liked a lot. I like seeing humanity evolve, so this book was awesome. I hear it's a lot like Old Man's War, but I've heard better things from Forever War than Old Man's. Might be worth checking out.

Hope I was helpful!

u/KariQuiteContrary · 4 pointsr/TwoXChromosomes

I know some of these have already been mentioned, so just consider this a second vote for those titles. Also, my list skews heavily towards sci-fi/fantasy, because that is what I tend to read the most of.

By women, featuring female protagonists:

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

The Female Man by Joanna Russ

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Circus in Winter by Cathy Day (It's not entirely fair to characterize this as a book about women; it's really a set of interconnected stories featuring both male and female characters. On the other hand, many of the most memorable characters, IMO, are women, so I'm filing it in this category anyway. So there!)

The Protector of the Small Quartet by Tamora Pierce, beginning with First Test (Really, anything by Tamora Pierce would fit the bill here. They're young adult novels, so they're quick reads, but they're enjoyable and have wonderful, strong, realistic female protagonists.)

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer (Heyer wrote really fun, enjoyable romances, typically set in the Regency period, though These Old Shades is actually Georgian. This one is probably my favorite, but they're really all quite wonderful. Not super heavy stuff, but don't write her off just because of the subject matter. She was a talented, witty writer, and her female protagonists are almost never the wilting "damsel in distress" type - they're great characters who, while still holding true to their own time and place, are bright and likeable and hold their own against the men in their lives.)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Another young adult book. And, again, I think it's worth noting that L'Engle's books almost always feature strong and interesting female characters. This one is probably her most famous, and begins a series featuring members of the same family, so it's a good jumping off point.)

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi


By men, featuring female protagonists:

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (This is another one that is perhaps not a perfect fit for this category; the titular unicorn is female, but the book is as much about Schmendrick the magician as it is about her. However, there's also Molly Grue, so on the strength of those two women, I'm classifying this book as having female protagonists.)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Coraline by Neil Gaiman (It's a children's book, but there's plenty to enjoy about it as an adult, too.)

By women, featuring male protagonists

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

u/AdmiralCrackbar · 2 pointsr/tabletop

Buy some dice.

Buy some books.

Honestly, it depends what kind of game you want to play. I think here you're going to get a lot of weird niche games suggested but for starters you're better off sticking with the a more 'traditional' experience. D&D is an excellent starting point if you want to play a fantasy game, you can even pick up one of their adventures if you don't want to write your own material.

If you're unsure about spending that much just to get started you can pick up this starter set that will include the basic rules, a set of dice, some pregenerated characters, and a short adventure. From there, if you like the game, you can pick up the full rulebooks and some more dice and whatever else you like. Alternatively you can try out the free basic rules by downloading them from the Wizards of the Coast website. All you'll need is a set of dice to get started.

If you don't like or don't want to play D&D you can check out a bunch of other systems that will let you play other games or settings. [Edge of the Empire] (https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Edge-Empire-Rulebook/dp/1616616571/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=edge+of+the+empire&qid=1563883870&s=gateway&sr=8-1) is a really cool Star Wars game, but it requires custom dice. My personal favourite sci-fi rpg is Traveller though, and it has the advantage of only requiring six sided dice.

A lot of people really like Savage Worlds, it's fun, it's cheap, and it's generic enough that you can run almost any setting you like with it. Unfortunately there's a new edition due out really soon so take that in to consideration. If you want a more in depth generic system then I can recommend GURPS, although you'll also need the Campaigns book. This system is absolutely not beginner friendly, it slaps you in the face with tables and rules for all sorts of scenarios, but I adore it and it's not really all that hard to figure out.

If you want an alternative to D&D Green Ronin has the "Age" series of games, starting with Fantasy Age, continuing with Modern Age, and the recently released The Expanse RPG covers Sci-Fi. I will admit that I've not actually had a chance to play any of these games, but I've read the rules and like the system.

Honestly you can find a game to cover practically any genre you want, whether it's Grimdark Fantasy, Martial Arts, Space Exploration, Lovecraftian Horror, Anime Cyberpunk Space Opera, or almost any other thing you can think of.

Don't fall in to the trap of playing a game because someone suggests it's 'easy', play something that really grabs your interest and inspires your imagination.

u/JayRedEye · 6 pointsr/Fantasy

Age: b

M

I think they are quite different for the most part. You can usually tell a genre novel by it's cover.

Aesthetics do not overly influence my choice. I do like some covers more than others, but it will not prevent me from reading it's contents if I was already interested. When I was younger and aimlessly wandering around libraries, I would pick up and read a book if it looked neat. Lately, my tastes have been more defined and I have many recommendations to go off of, from this site and others. I usually have a pretty good idea whether I will like the book or not before I buy it, and the aesthetics are not a factor.

I do most of my shopping online, so the cover is not a big factor. I do like them to be consistent, however. I am sure others can share my frustration when a series changes it's style part way through...

I really like books that have illustrations. One of my all time favorites is Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess' Stardust. I think it would be great if more started adding more artwork as I feel it can enhance the story. At the end of the day though, it is all about the story, so if that is quality, I am content.

I do not know how much improvement there has been. I think there is room for it. I think overall they are a bit too busy. I prefer more a minimalist approach, personally.

Regarding the Movie Covers...is loathe a strong enough word? I am not a fan. However, even they are not a deal breaker. I own a few, and while I would obviously prefer them to look differently, I can and have enjoy the story.

I do not think e-books will affect it too much over all. For the people it matters to, it will continue to matter, no matter the format.

I think they may be, slightly. But I do not know by how much. Personally, I will take my story in whatever format I can get, be it paper, electronic or audio. I prefer physical books though.

For an example of what I personally consider to be an aesthetically pleasing book, take a look at Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The cover, the footnotes, the chapter titles, the scattered illustrations. All serve to heighten what is already a remarkable book.

u/MCJennings · 1 pointr/dndnext

I would suggest the essentials kits of Ice Spire Peak or Lost Mines of Phandelver - though probably the former over the latter.

If you want the full books though, I would suggest DNDbeyond. You'd need a subscription to manage your full party, but that would also be splitting the cost 6 ways, give access to the party entirely all the time, let the DM easily see his player's sheets, and it's very user friendly to certain classes that otherwise are not - such as the druid having to manage wild shape and prepared casting.

My last suggestion is to consider the free Basic Rules to see if it's sufficient for you and if you enjoy using a digital platform. Players can make basic characters this way on dndbeyond for free as well- it'll be restrictive playing free but would be enough to see if they enjoy using the platform. Be sure to use the webpage on whatever device you'd be using in play as well.

u/Eusmilus · 11 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Every time questions similar to this pop up, people recommend Neil Gaimen. Well, his book is not bad (I own it), but recommending it to a person asking for a detailed recount of the original myths is downright silly. It's a pretty short collection of myths retold into short-stories by Gaimen. They're well written and absolutely closely based on the original myths, but he still invents new stuff, and again, it's a novel-like retelling, not a detailed account of the actual myths. Here are some further suggestions:

Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R. Ellis Davidson is a great and thorough description of Nose myth and religion by an acclaimed specialist in the field. It's also laymen-friendly.

The Poetic Edda is arguably the single most important source of Norse myths. It's a collection of poems, written down in Christian times but many dating to well into the Pagan era. I've linked the new translation by Jackson Crawford (whose channel is great for learning about Norse myth, btw), but there are others.

Then there's the Prose Edda, which is likewise a very important original source. Whereas the Poetic Edda is a collection of poetry, the Prose Edda sees many of them retold into more consistent prose narrative (hence the title). As a source, however, the Prose Edda is less reliable than the Poetic, since the latter is a collection of actual Pagan myths, while the former is a compilation and retelling by an (early medieval Icelandic) Christian.

The Sagas of Icelanders important sources to Norse myth and particularly religious practice. The Sagas are actual prose stories (and good ones, too), written in the first few centuries after conversion. Figures from Norse mythology, particularly Odin, are often prominent, but the narratives tend not to primarily concern the mythology.

A notable exception is the Saga of the Volsungs, which is one of the most important narratives in Norse myth. Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's works were both heavily influenced by it. The Volsunga Saga features Norse gods, viking raids, dragon-slaying and much more.

There are more good books, but those ought to be a decent start.

u/furgenhurgen · 2 pointsr/booksuggestions

Among Others by Jo Walton

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I think the Dark Tower series is a must read. It starts off with The Gunslinger and continues. I think it is the best series I have ever read.

If you want to look other than fantasy/sci-fi...

Lamb by Christopher Moore is very funny, makes you think, and breaks your heart. I love it.

A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favorite books ever written. Everyone that I have given this book to has read it and bought it for someone else to read.

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins is Tom Robbins at his best. It's also one of the most polarizing books I have suggested to friends and people online. You will either love it and buy the rest of Tom Robbins's books or you will hate it and never listen to me again. I hope it's the first reaction.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an amazing book about life in high school. I haven't seen the movie yet because I enjoy this book so much that I don't want to get pissed off at a director ruining one of my favorite books.

Good Omens by Pratchett/Gaiman is certainly a pretty rockin book.

Hopefully this helps you find some new authors to enjoy!

Edited for: I will never forgive myself if I don't put in what I consider one of the best fantasy coming of age stories ever. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is the first of the series. Read it. Do it!

u/silvvy · 6 pointsr/dynastywarriors

After years of playing DW games, I finally did, and really enjoyed it. I read this abridged version (~$30) initially, and it was alright. Some pretty big pieces are cut out, although it does make for a considerably shorter read. However, if you really want the full experience, I'd recommend this 4-book set (~$25) that I picked up later. I can't really say if it's better or worse than others, as it's the only full copy I've read, but it seemed good to me, and I've seen it recommended by other people as well. You could also check out this website, which has the whole thing available to be read. I don't think I could manage that much reading online, though.

If you do start reading, good luck. It can be quite a daunting task, as the scope and style of it can be off-putting. It took me a couple years of off-and-on reading to get through it, and I'm someone who enjoys reading (although I was younger at the time). Have fun with it though, it's a great read, and you'll likely have an easier time than most, as you're already familiar with many of the names.

Hope that helps!

u/Nuetrinostar · 13 pointsr/eroticauthors

There's a couple different routes you could go.

I've not used it myself, but Vellum is spoken of as the one of the nicest options. It's also quite pricey, but you could easily pay somebody to format it for you if you don't want to shell out the hundred or so bucks to have the program yourself.

Scrivener is another app that is spoken of highly. I've used neither of them personally, so take that with a grain of salt.

You could hand format it. Salacious Stories made a guide for erotica shorts, but I would imagine it would work for novels. It has the added advantage of Sal being a moderator on here who chooses to spend his free time being super goddamn helpful, and so if you have questions you can ask him directly.

The easiest route would be downloading it as a docx, ands chucking that into Kindle Create.

I'm not a formatting guru (though there are quite a few who hang out here), so I can only be of limited help, but that's the advice I'm capable of giving.

Congrats on getting your first novel done! Here's a celebratory tune I wrote just for you.

♪ Those smutbux will be coming round the mountain when they coooome ♪

♪ Those smutbux with be coming round the mountain when they coooome ♪

♪ Well enough with the chatter ♪

♪ Give me my happily ever after! ♪

♪ Those smutbux will be coming when they cooooooome ♪ ♪

u/Shagga__son_of_Dolf · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

Fantasy books, specifically from first person (she liked hunger games). She would enjoy Alexey Pehov's work. Chronicles of Siala is a great place to start.

I can't comment on how good the translation is, but Pehov is one of the best russian fantasy authors (really popular here). So if they did a decent job at translating his books - the stories will go great with her.

Also from a first person perspective (and really good) are the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Although this one might be a bit too dated for todays youth. A lot of characters smoke in it (I think all main ones smoke) and some of the descriptions are vague and abstract (almost surreal like) while others are clear and vivid.

And lastly (but not leastly?) I would recommend The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. First person perspective, fantasy, rich world, with a lot of intrigue. This might the most appropriate book, because even though the protagonist a boy, the novels were written by a woman (it has that vibe about them, a feminine quality). Also has a lot about interaction with animals if she's into that sort of thing (like certain people being able to communicate with them etc). Has a lot of romance elements too (not with animals, don't worry). I'm sure you can figure out if a book is appropriate by reading the synopsis.

I hope this helps. Have a glorious day!

u/textandtrowel · 3 pointsr/AskHistorians

This is a really great question, and I was hoping it might have attracted the attention of some of our better qualified respondents. Alas, my recent focus has been mostly on 8-9c archaeology, which means I'm not terribly current with the sagas and other Old Norse literature, most of which wasn't written until late in the Viking Age or even shortly thereafter. But I can point you in a few good directions!

First off, I'd recommend the short and sweet blog post by Marianne Moen on Dangerous Women. Since we actually have very few surviving stories from a Norse perspective during the Viking Age, Moen does a good job bringing archaeological evidence to bear for demonstrating how powerful Viking Age women could be—as well as discussing why at least some archaeologists have been reluctant to do so.

Among the sagas, two characters who I can think of offhand are Aud the Deepminded and Melkorka. As I recall, you can read about them both in the Laxdæla Saga. It's available free online although it might be worth paying for a modern and more readable translation. There's an edition out by Penguin, which should be easy to find or order, and I think the same translation got used for the robust collection Sagas of the Icelanders (sorry: Amazon link).

And if you're up for a bit more, check out Nancy Marie Brown's The Far Traveler (also Amazon) about Brown's pursuit of information about the Viking Age woman Gudrid. Gudrid's story is exciting, and Brown's research techniques are interesting, so they make a useful pairing in this book. I think it does a good job bridging the textual and archaeological evidence for what life was like for women in the Viking Age.

u/starzphalling · 3 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I cheated and picked three...I couldn't stop I'm sorry, please forgive me.

  1. Dr. Sleep - I picked this one because it is on your wishlist and I have been dying to read it, so I decided you must be also

  2. John Dies at the End - Another one from your wishlist. This one I picked because it is odd, wonky, weird, and wonderful. After stalking you a little, mostly I mean looking at what you have on your wishlists and seeing that we have a lot of common interests I really think you would like this one.

  3. Fooling Houdini - This one was not on your wishlist, but like I said above we do have a fair number of common interests I believe. I have been recommending this book since I read it because I loved it. It is a fantastic mix of psychology, magic, logic, awesomeness, and humor. It was a fast read for me and I found it thoroughly enjoyable and made me want to research more into things he mentioned.

    Have fun on your trip! Hope you find a fantastic book to get you through the flight!
u/sylvar · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

At a 24-hour-long party that my friends throw every year, a gorgeous woman walks in on crutches and I'm thinking "holy crap, she'd never be in my league if she didn't walk funny". I offer to bring her a plate of food and we start talking. She wants to teach French and learn Basque; my BA was in linguistics. She has more favorite books than favorite movies; we discover we have a mutual top-ten favorite other than HHGTTG. We talk all night, crash on adjacent parts of the living room (if anyone stayed up past 3am, they were quieter than our exhaustion would wake us to), continue the conversation during breakfast, and I blurt out something like "You're smart, you love languages, you love books... this may be a bit premature but will you marry me?" >><<recordscratch>><<

...a pin drops and everyone hears it... and the living room was carpeted...

She handles it like a champ, says "Well, we just met, you should probably wait at least a year."

We keep in touch by email. I drive a few hours across the state to pick her up for a weekend (because she doesn't know how to drive) and show her my city. Within a few months she moves in and we're loving it.

At the same party, one year later... well, would YOU have waited any longer than necessary?

TLDR: Later this month we'll celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary. If I can afford it, her anniversary present is going to be hand controls for our car so that she can learn to drive. Life is sweet.

u/Anticode · 1 pointr/INTP

Book:

Blindsight + Echopraxia by Peter Watts!

Deep, dark, Sci-fi. The only two books that I've ever read more than once in a year. (Re-reading the two for a 4th time currently).

Snippet from amazon:

>^^Send ^^a ^^linguist ^^with ^^multiple-personality ^^disorder ^^and ^^a ^^biologist ^^so ^^spliced ^^with ^^machinery ^^that ^^he ^^can't ^^feel ^^his ^^own ^^flesh. ^^Send ^^a ^^pacifist ^^warrior ^^and ^^a ^^vampire ^^recalled ^^from ^^the ^^grave ^^by ^^the ^^voodoo ^^of ^^paleogenetics. ^^Send ^^a ^^man ^^with ^^half ^^his ^^mind ^^gone ^^since ^^childhood. ^^Send ^^them ^^to ^^the ^^edge ^^of ^^the ^^solar ^^system, ^^praying ^^you ^^can ^^trust ^^such ^^freaks ^^and ^^monsters ^^with ^^the ^^fate ^^of ^^a ^^world. ^^You ^^fear ^^they ^^may ^^be ^^more ^^alien ^^than ^^the ^^thing ^^they've ^^been ^^sent ^^to ^^find―but ^^you'd ^^give ^^anything ^^for ^^that ^^to ^^be ^^true, ^^if ^^you ^^knew ^^what ^^was ^^waiting ^^for ^^them. ^^. ^^. ^^.

They contain tons of memorable (and quotable) quotes, such as:

>^“Not ^even ^the ^most ^heavily-armed ^police ^state ^can ^exert ^brute ^force ^to ^all ^of ^its ^citizens ^all ^of ^the ^time. ^Meme ^management ^is ^so ^much ^subtler; ^the ^rose-tinted ^refraction ^of ^perceived ^reality, ^the ^contagious ^fear ^of ^threatening ^alternatives.”
^― ^Peter ^Watts, ^Blindsight

or...

>^“Fifty ^thousand ^years ^ago ^there ^were ^these ^three ^guys ^spread ^out ^across ^the ^plain ^and ^they ^each ^heard ^something ^rustling ^in ^the ^grass. ^The ^first ^one ^thought ^it ^was ^a ^tiger, ^and ^he ^ran ^like ^hell, ^and ^it ^was ^a ^tiger ^but ^the ^guy ^got ^away. ^The ^second ^one ^thought ^the ^rustling ^was ^a ^tiger ^and ^he ^ran ^like ^hell, ^but ^it ^was ^only ^the ^wind ^and ^his ^friends ^all ^laughed ^at ^him ^for ^being ^such ^a ^chickenshit. ^But ^the ^third ^guy ^thought ^it ^was ^only ^the ^wind, ^so ^he ^shrugged ^it ^off ^and ^the ^tiger ^had ^him ^for ^dinner. ^And ^the ^same ^thing ^happened ^a ^million ^times ^across ^ten ^thousand ^generations ^- ^and ^after ^a ^while ^everyone ^was ^seeing ^tigers ^in ^the ^grass ^even ^when ^there ^were`t ^any ^tigers, ^because ^even ^chickenshits ^have ^more ^kids ^than ^corpses ^do. ^And ^from ^those ^humble ^beginnings ^we ^learn ^to ^see ^faces ^in ^the ^clouds ^and ^portents ^in ^the ^stars, ^to ^see ^agency ^in ^randomness, ^because ^natural ^selection ^favours ^the ^paranoid. ^Even ^here ^in ^the ^21st ^century ^we ^can ^make ^people ^more ^honest ^just ^by ^scribbling ^a ^pair ^of ^eyes ^on ^the ^wall ^with ^a ^Sharpie. ^Even ^now ^we ^are ^wired ^to ^believe ^that ^unseen ^things ^are ^watching ^us.”
^― ^Peter ^Watts, ^Echopraxia

Or perhaps one that might resonate with many INTPs...

>^“I ^really ^wanted ^to ^talk ^to ^her.
^I ^just ^couldn't ^find ^an ^algorithm ^that ^fit.”
^― ^Peter ^Watts, ^Blindsight

In fact... Here is a repository of some fun Watts quotes. I have this page bookmarked since I read it so often. If any of these appeal to you, read the books! Blindsight is even free on his website.

_

Anime:

Shinsekai Yori (From the new world)

The link has a nice description, but the entry into this universe was a strange one for me. It starts as so calm and Utopian, but everyone has cool powers (which is based on science so advanced that it appears as magic)! More is revealed about the world, interesting details and insights, but eventually something dark is slowly realized. My favorite anime series of all time - With art design as beautiful as any Miyazaki film and a storyline as fascinating as a science fiction novel, I would recommend this to anyone.

_


Music:

Dryft - No vocals, but rich stories. Complex but ambient, like relaxing by a waterfall on an artificial habitat in outer space as you watch the stars through the dome above you.

u/ngoodroe · 3 pointsr/writing

Here are a few I think are good:

Getting Started

On Writing: This book is great. There are a lot of nice principles you can walk away with and a lot of people on this subreddit agree it's a great starting point!

Lots of Fiction: Nothing beats just reading a lot of good fiction, especially in other genres. It helps you explore how the greats do it and maybe pick up a few tricks along the way.

For Editing

Self-Editing For Fiction Writers: there isn't anything in here that will blow your writing away, land you an agent, and secure a NYT bestseller, but it has a lot of good, practical things to keep an eye out for in your writing. It's a good starting place for when you are learning to love writing (which is mostly rewriting)

A Sense of Style by Steve Pinker: I really loved this book! It isn't exclusively about fiction, but it deals with the importance of clarity in anything that is written.

Garner's Modern American Usage: I just got this about a month ago and have wondered what I was doing before. This is my resource now for when I would normally have gone to Google and typed a question about grammar or usage or a word that I wasn't sure I was using correctly. It's a dictionary, but instead of only words, it is filled with essays and entries about everything a serious word-nut could spend the rest of their^1 life reading.

^1 ^Things ^such ^as ^the ^singular ^their ^vs ^his/hers

Publishing

Writer's Market 2016: There are too many different resources a writer can use to get published, but Writer's Market has a listing for Agents, publishers, magazines, journals, and contests. I think it's a good start once you find your work ready and polished.

There are too many books out there that I haven't read and have heard good things about as well. They will probably be mentioned above in this thread.

Another resource I have learned the most from are books I think are terrible. It allows you to read something, see that it doesn't work, and makes you process exactly what the author did wrong. You can find plenty of bad fiction if you look hard enough! I hope some of this helps!

u/alsoathrowaway · 2 pointsr/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu

Gender Identity Disorder is still listed in the DSM as a mental disorder. I think there are arguments to be made both ways about whether that's more a good thing or more a bad thing (realistically it's probably some of both).

As far as I understand, it's not at all a disorder in the sense that most psychological disorders are. The issue is that the "disorder" (the dysphoria - a sense of overwhelming wrongness and badness, contrast with "euphoria") is generally caused by a mismatch between a psychological property (the individual's gender) and a set of physical properties (the individual primary and/or secondary sex characteristics) as well as a social property (how the individual is seen and treated by society at large).

So, there is a disorder in the sense that, and to the extent that, this mismatch causes a great deal of suffering in someone's life. But let's take a hypothetical person who was assigned male at birth, who has a penis and male secondary sex characteristics, but who has a female gender. Again, the psychological component of this "disorder" is the female gender - but can we really call having a female gender a mental illness? (Of course, as sexist as our culture can be, perhaps some would like to.. but that's sort of tangential.) And the difference between this "disorder" and at least the vast majority of psychological disorders is that it is, I believe, largely fixable - my understanding is that most trans folks who transition experience are much, much happier afterward; the "disorder" is pretty much solved. And it's important to note that the fix for this is a physical fix, not a mental one - from what I've seen, if you asked most trans people "Hey, if you had a magic wand that would allow you to live your life comfortably as the gender you were assigned at birth, would you use it?" the most common answer would probably be something like "No - why would I want to change who I am?".

Further factors of course include the fact that "mental disorder" is a pretty stigmatizing term, and has a set of connotations that don't really make sense for this issue, and the history of access to hormones and surgery being contingent on the diagnoses of psychologists, some of whom would (and in some places still do) dick people around if they don't hear exactly the narrative they're expecting to hear. On the other hand, I've heard concerns voiced that were it removed from the DSM, it might be harder for trans individuals to get the treatments that they needed, for insurance reasons.

(You can read more on this subject here.)

> Anyway, I was hoping maybe someone could shed a light on what exactly it means to be a "girl" or a "boy"? Is it based on likes/interests/personality/tendencies? I mean, personhood is pretty hard to define already, so how do you define a female person?

That's a tough one to get at, because I think you pretty much have to rely on people's own self-reported experiences, and nobody can get at what other people's experiences are. I can't really answer this one clearly (shit, I'm struggling with my own gender identity as it is), but I can highly recommend to you, if you're interested in reading further on the subject, the book Whipping Girl by Julia Serano. It gets into a lot of stuff about trans issues, the way our culture defines and interacts with gender, the "scapegoating of femininity" (as she puts it), etc. It's also available in Kindle form if you want to pay a little bit less or if you're worried about people asking awkward questions about what you're reading (I read it on my phone, personally, for that reason).

> Will we eventually be recognizing people with multiple personality disorder as multiple people stuck in one body in society?

I doubt it. As far as I've heard, psychology in general isn't even really sure that Dissociative Identity Disorder is a thing at all - it's sort of elusive and hard to demonstrate, and some (maybe a lot?) of people who ostensibly had it turned out to be faking it (see Wikipedia).. On the other hand, if it is a legit thing? Yeah, I think that would be a fair way to treat it. (If that's a subject that interests you, and if you're into hard, gritty sci-fi, allow me to recommend Peter Watts's excellent book Blindsight, which features among other things a character who does indeed have multiple personalities, who are pretty much distinct people.)

u/serenityunlimited · 6 pointsr/booksuggestions

Is there anything in particular you're leaning to?

Author Cherie Priest has a couple excellent books.

  • Boneshaker, first book in her Clockwork Century series. It's a steampunk setting with zombies and all sorts of wonderful stuff. This book is actually on sale through the end of the month for $2.99.
  • Bloodshot, first book in her Cheshire Red Reports series. It's about a vampire gal who is a thief-for-hire.

    The Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher, is a wonderful series. It's about a wizard-for-hire in the modern world, and delves into the wonderful magic environment that Jim has created. Jim likes to put his characters through trouble and turmoil, and it's good for character development! The series starts off with Storm Front.

    The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is another great series. It's a post-apocalyptic/oppressed setting, centering around something called 'The Hunger Games' - an annual battle that captivates the capitol and all twelve remaining districts. There is a movie releasing next year, as well.

    The Name of the Wind is a terrific book by Patrick Rothfuss, the first entry into his series The Kingkiller Chronicles. It's a fantasy setting, and is about a character named Kvothe recounting his life. The writing style has an absolutely artistic writing style that is captivating to read, and such interesting and progressing events that make you eagerly turn the page. I have not yet read the sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, but I'm told it's even better in every way.

    Terry Pratchett is an amazing and renowned author. He has been knighted, an event for which he created his own sword for by hand, battles against Alzheimer's in a most respectable and commendable way, and has created such an interesting and provoking world that provides a lot of laughs and curious perspectives on matters. Where you start is a more difficult choice. A couple choice options might be as follows (I haven't read others yet, so I can't attest to others, but there are many!).

  • Guards! Guards! which is the first installment to the City Watch sequence.
  • The Reaper Man trails after Death, after he has been fired from his job.

    I haven't started this book yet, nor looked into it, but I have heard terrific reviews. The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch, is his first book in his Gentleman Bastard Sequence series.

    And of course, if you haven't entered George RR Martin's world of Westeros, the series A Song of Ice and Fire could be a wonderful read. It's very complex and very long and not yet complete (five books so far). It starts off with Game of Thrones, which is what the recently-aired HBO series was based upon.

    In the science fiction sphere, I would recommend Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's the first in his Ender's series, and there are quite a few books set in the world. I have only read the first one, and it was an excellent read, insightful and thought-provoking.

    ...anyway, that should be a few to peek at!
u/andro1ds · 1 pointr/MedievalHistory

And on vikings - primary sources though not all of battles - here’s a quick overview of sources https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/professions/education/viking-knowledge/archaeology-and-history/written-sources-for-the-viking-age/

They may be found around the web but here are links to a few to buy

I can recommend the
Icelandic sagas, personally I find them great fun lots of skull bashings - you may have to buy them.

at least some are here https://sagadb.org Or here https://archive.org/details/sagalibrarydonei01snoriala


Icelandic sagas
https://www.amazon.com/Sagas-Icelanders-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0141000031/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=icelandic+saga&qid=1559118780&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Saxo gramattucus or Saco’s saga (13th century danish ‘history’ of kings
https://www.amazon.com/Saxo-Grammaticus-History-English-Commentary/dp/0859915026


Snorris saga
https://www.amazon.com/Sagas-Norse-Kings-Snorri-Sturluson/dp/8209101730 - not sure if there is a newer more comprehensive translation as I read in original language

and the Eddas

Younger Edda
https://www.amazon.com/Edda-Illustrated-Snorri-Sturluson-ebook/dp/B00NCCEJ6O/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=edda+saga&qid=1559118593&s=gateway&sr=8-6

Elder Edda
https://www.amazon.com/Elder-Edda-Viking-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140435859/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?keywords=edda+saga&qid=1559118649&s=gateway&sr=8-11


And on vikings - primary sources though not all of battles

I can recommend the
Icelandic sagas, personally I find them great fun lots of skull bashings - you may have to buy them.

at least some are here https://sagadb.org Or here https://archive.org/details/sagalibrarydonei01snoriala


Icelandic sagas
https://www.amazon.com/Sagas-Icelanders-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0141000031/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=icelandic+saga&qid=1559118780&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Saxo gramattucus or Saco’s saga (13th century danish ‘history’ of kings
https://www.amazon.com/Saxo-Grammaticus-History-English-Commentary/dp/0859915026


Snorris saga
https://www.amazon.com/Sagas-Norse-Kings-Snorri-Sturluson/dp/8209101730 - not sure if there is a newer more comprehensive translation as I read in original language

and the Eddas

Younger Edda
https://www.amazon.com/Edda-Illustrated-Snorri-Sturluson-ebook/dp/B00NCCEJ6O/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=edda+saga&qid=1559118593&s=gateway&sr=8-6

Elder Edda
https://www.amazon.com/Elder-Edda-Viking-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140435859/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?keywords=edda+saga&qid=1559118649&s=gateway&sr=8-11

u/SklavosChara · 2 pointsr/eroticauthors

> Anyone have tips for formatting?

Oh boy do I! Honestly, for the first few months of shorts, I just did things on Google docs then uploaded a docx file to Amazon. That worked fine and looked okay and let me focus on what was important: writing more shorts.

If you want to get fancy there's a bunch of way to go: you can use Scrivener, apparently, as you're doing. If you have a Mac and want them to look really pretty you can get a program called Vellum (there are ways to get it on your PC, too, by simulating a Mac, if you really want Vellum). The two programs I've heard mentioned for Windows (or Mac) are Jutoh and Sigil.

Finally, if you want to invest a fair amount of time learning stuff, don't get frustrated very easily, and want complete control over your books, you can do something called hand formatting. That's where you go in and use HTML to make your manuscript look nice. I just learned how to do this and find it quiet satisfying. Check out A Filthy Book in a Fancy Dress by Cooper Kegel and Zen of eBook Formatting by Guido Henkel. Henkel also has a series of blog posts if you want a quick overview of what you're getting into. Both of the books are free to read with Kindle Unlimited though, I believe, and you can get a free month of KU if you're not already signed up. It's quite useful for doing market research anyway.

But, anyway, if your just getting started I'd say: just make it look nice in a Word doc and upload that.

P.S. I don't really know what I'm talking about. Just repeating what I've learned so far.

u/SaintSorryass · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

The King in Yellow was arguable Lovecraft's biggest influence.

Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books might be a good fit.

Haruki Murakami in my opinion does "dreamlike" better then anyone else I have read. The Wind up Bird Chronicles, might be a good start.

For something like Stardust, I would recommend John Crowly, particularly Little Big, Winters Tale, and maybe Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

I think Clive Barker hits the tone you are looking for sometimes, but not in all of his work, maybe someone who has read him more can give a better recommendation.

If you have not read China Miéville Perdido Street Station would be a good start.

I just started The Drowning Girl so can't really give a full review, but so far it seems like it would also be a good fit.

For something that is not really what you asked for, but is a fun read for a Lovecraft fan I would recommend Charles Stross' The Laundry Files Series, Starting with The Atrocity Archive A semi comic story about the bureaucratic side of the secret agency that deals with the impending lovecraftian nightmare apocalypse, a little pulpy, but lots of fun.

u/nomoremermaids · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

China Miéville's Un Lun Dun. It's a kids' book, but it's fantastic. Miéville turns a lot of the standard fantasy tropes on their heads, with thoroughly enjoyable results.

Dathan Auerbach's Penpal. Horror/suspense, written by a redditor, and debuted on reddit. The Kindle version is less than $4. Seriously creepy but totally worth it.

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. I have never laughed so much while reading. It's phenomenal.

Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. What happens to poor people once nanotechnology can be used to make anything? It's my favorite of the Stephensons I've read, but it still ends like a Neal Stephenson novel. :|

Cory Doctorow's Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. It's about the first-born son of a mountain and a washing machine. It's also about setting up wireless networks. Also: it's FREE.

Hope you enjoy some of these! :)

u/mcrumb · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

A couple quick thoughts:

1> You have to really commit to your story. We're talking marriage level commitment here, none of this half-hearted crap. Treat your characters like they are real. Tell them that their story is worth telling, and promise to tell it for them. This is, of course, only necessary if you're really serious about writing a book. Otherwise it's just silly.


2> Set a daily quota. 1000 words a day. On days that you can't find any new words for your story, write notes about your story. This means writing when you don't feel like writing. This means closing your browser.


3> You can learn how to write a book. Natural talent is important, but your work ethic is much more important. There are more than a few instructional books out there that are very good. I recommend starting with Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. It's exceptional, and the chapter on active voice versus passive voice is critical to effective storytelling.


Best of Luck to you. Looking forward to reading more.

u/Snietzschean · 10 pointsr/booksuggestions

For future reference, /r/askphilosophy exists for these kinds of questions.

Now, if you're looking for something more narrative that will allow you to get your feet wet, you have a few different options.

Sophie's World is really quite enjoyable, though I suppose its intended audience is probably younger than yourself.

If you're looking for something more mature, you might try philosophical fiction like Camus' The Stranger or Sartre's Nausea. Both are a great way to get into something philosophical without having to worry too much about terminology or technical language.

If you're looking for something more analytic (logic, phil math, phil science, etc.), you might try something like Russell's The Problems of Philosophy. It's a pretty good read and it's short.

If you're looking for a general introduction to philosophy, something more mature than Sophie's World but focused on the history of philosophy as opposed to a particular area, you might want to look at something like Russell's The History of Western Philosophy. If you do get more involved in philosophy, you'll discover that the book has its flaws, and Russell was wrong about several of the philosophers that he discusses, but it's a good introduction to the history of philosophy that is easily accessible if you have the time to sit down and read it.

In terms of which one's are more fun to read, I'd say the philosophical fiction and Sophie's World are at the top, as the other two books are a bit more dry, but if you're looking for something substantive and not too technical, then all of these might serve your purposes.

I hope that helped in some way, and in future, if you have any philosophy related questions, don't hesitate to ask over in /r/askphilosophy.

u/ghick · 1 pointr/Fantasy

Leviathan Wakes should be mentioned.

The Night Circus has gotten a lot of praise. I haven't read it yet, but I'm aware of it's growing fan base.

I'm sure 'The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making' is a great story but it's a pet peeve of mine to include Children and Young adult books in a 'best of' list. This is probably a result of seeing Harry Potter Book 4 win a Hugo award.

u/ebooksgirl · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I'm currently reading Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and am LOVING it. I'm pretty close to the end, though, and I'm worried that not much is going to be wrapped up in this volume. D-:

The book before that was The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian and...I didn't finish it. One of my few 'abandoned' books. Had to read it for a book club, even, and couldn't bring myself to finish.

Before that was...I think Alif the Unseen? AMAZING book. Won the World Fantasy Award the year it came out, and is an amazing fantasy book that takes place in current-day 'unspecified middle-eastern country.' Highly recommended to any fantasy readers out there.

Oh, and Suki: A Like Story was adorable for the manga folk out there.

u/Khuff540 · 2 pointsr/DMAcademy

The same thing happened to me just a couple of months ago. We are having our 4th session coming up. I was gifted the players handbook, dm's guide, monster manual, and dm screen which were all very helpful when deciding how to go about this. ( I never played anything beyond a oneshot basically at this point. As a player not dm no less.) So the idea of a continuous campaign was intimidating. I've watched alot of Matt Colville's running the game series, dm tips from geek and sundry, and another amazing tool is Piper (link below). Though Piper has alot of other resources the link I have on hand is if you decide to make your own world and not use a campaign setting. I still feel like a dog with protective goggles on at times "I have no idea what I'm doing". Though, my players are having fun and tell me they are excited for the next session. So remember to plan just enough to feel comfortable but not too much to overwhelm you and HAVE FUN it's a game still. Both going with a campaign setting or beginning your own world are great ideas. I chose my own world I've heard many other start with a campaign and go just as great.

Obviously as other people have said their is a free PDF on WotC website for starter set or you could purchase the hardcover.

This is a set that has the players handbook, dungeon master guide, monster manual, and a dm screen. It's not necessary for everyone but for me it was a huge boon. https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Rulebooks-Slipcase-Handbook/dp/0786966629/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=dungeons+and+dragons+core+rulebook&qid=1558880532&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Piper. http://www.welshpiper.com/hex-based-campaign-design-part-1/

And last piece of advice is this! Session 0 checklist https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/601awb/session0_topic_checklist_and_guide/ this was huge in setting everyone on the same page.

u/JaskoGomad · 20 pointsr/rpg

Hi!

Most importantly - don't panic! It's OK. Every experienced RPG player was new once.

If you have a local RPG group - that's great. Do they play at a store? At someone's house? A community center? If it's a store, then you can just go to the store instead of to the group because - hey, they're a store - their whole job is to get you comfortably into the hobby so they can sell you stuff, right?

Also - just to be clear: There are many tabletop RPGs, not just D&D or D&D + Pathfinder. There are literally thousands of games available today. I mention this because "D&D" is kind of like "Kleenex" - sometimes one brand gets used to refer to the whole range of options. So you should know that there are LOTS of choices. And many of them are less about giving experienced players advantages than D&D / Pathfinder are.

If you want to learn and play D&D, that's great. Here are a few things I would point you towards:

  • The D&D Essentials Kit is designed to get you playing without any prior experience, and only requires ONE other player. It has everything you need except a pencil - it even has the dice! You could read the rulebook and be ready to play with your local group, or recruit a friend and jump right into the fun of being the DM!
  • The Basic Rules are free to download and have the real meat of the game. What you won't get are all the variants that the main rule books have - but the basic rules will let you understand all those variants. If you read just Part 1 (making a character) and Part 2 (playing the game) you'll have done more homework than most 1st time players do before they show up to play. These rules are fully playable, but you'll need dice at least.

    If you want to play TTRPGs but not D&D, then there's a whole world of games out there for you to choose from, but that's kind of a larger discussion.

    Welcome to the hobby!
u/randomneopian · 20 pointsr/nosleep

You have so many good stories on your list, I'm excited to read the ones I haven't heard of! May I also recommend a few stories? /r/nosleep was my first subreddit and I spent a long time here before making a reddit account. These are just a few off the top of my head. Not sure if this is appropriate for this post (maybe you're trying to bring attention to posts which others may not have read, some in my list were/are very popular) but these stories are just amazing imo. I don't remember enough details from each to do a good job summarizing them (it's been years for the first two), but all these stories left lasting impressions on me and I would definitely read each one again.

u/OneCritWonder · 1 pointr/DnD
        • -

          I highly recommend the Starter Set. It's $15 on Amazon, has the core rules, a set of dice, premade characters, and an adventure that will last you a half dozen sessions or so. It's a great place to start--go figure--and is designed for brand new players and brand new DMs.

          The Essentials Kit is another great resource. It's usually $25 but looks like it's currently on sale for $16. It's full of all sorts of handy stuff like GM Screen, items/rules cards for quick reference, dice, and has an adventure that plays from level 1-6. It and the Starter Set take place in the same area of the game world and the kits work very well together actually.

          This unboxing video compares the content of the two boxes, notes the different style of the adventures, and might help you pick one if funds are tight.
u/AnOddOtter · 2 pointsr/IWantToLearn

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is hands down the best book I've read for creative writing.

Stephen King's On Writing is also very good, but about half of it is a biography more than writing lessons; still interesting though!

Otherwise the best things you can do are to write more, read more (think like a writer though - why did they choose the words they did, the order they did, the perspective, etc.), and seek critique for your own work.

For more formal writing, the most important part is keeping it organized. For example, once you get comfortable with the 5-paragraph formula, you just modify it to fit your need each time and you can pound out an essay in no time once you have your research on hand.

u/ridik_ulass · 39 pointsr/DnD

I'm with you buddy, I used to tease my friend for playing, calling him a nerd and a dork, and so on... but once I played I haven't missed a game in 10 years.

There is firstly Leagues, D&D adventure leagues, they are often hosted at conventions or in stores that sell the material, either of those locations regardless of the league should have ideas, information, or social media social groups for which you can find out.

there is also /r/LFG

you might want to grab Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set

Its cheaper than buying the books individually, cheaper than buying 2 books.


There are also other games, /r/rpg is a place for things that are not just D&D, vampire games, robots, D&D in the future (shadowrun) war-hammer fantasy and 40k...battle tech, exalted, traveller.... many many games. Some might be more or less for you than others.


D&D is the most popular by far, games everywhere, its easier to find groups, get material, use digital resources all kinds of stuff.


you might want to get your own dice too, you can get plastic, metal, rare metal, rare stone dice, all kinds.



You can even play with your friends online, using online group meet -up's


I played D&D first on skype and IRC, There is a thing called D&D beyond but its a bit pricey for not giving physical copies of the material. Roll20 is another (but the owners are assholes) and some others people might know of. I also played starwars edge of empire on google hangouts for a year, it had a dice roller app, and we displayed our digital character sheets as out profile picture.

u/SuperSecretSmut · 2 pointsr/eroticauthors

Vellum is insanely easy to just jump into using. Yes, it's got a stiff price tag, but I think it's just one of those "the cost of doing business" things. Plus it's obviously a professional write-off (so is a laptop or whatever you write on). The books come out looking beautiful, and all the research I've done has Vellum at the top for best KENP count.

That said, hand formatting allegedly can get you a little more if done correctly. I don't at all have the time to get into learning it, but if I did, I'd probbly go with /u/salaciousstories 's book on how to do it. I know people who've read it and rave about his guide.

But yeah, Vellum if you just want to click and go. It's so damn easy, the books look incredibly professional, and your KENP is basically the best you can get.

u/DarkDeliverance · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I've been trying to get my hands on a kindle for a very long time. Personally, I LOVE reading (my mom's an english teacher) and frankly my list of books-to-read is never less than a dozen books long. However, after having to pay a lot of money for recent unfortunate unforseen circumstances, I can't afford to buy all the physical books I want to read anymore. I can buy one or two a month from the secondhand store but that's all. The reason I want a Kindle is because in the long run it would be a lot cheaper and allow me to get back into my passion for reading. For instance, I've been wanting to read The Name of the Wind forever. Everyone on reddit keeps talking about how amazing it is but I haven't been able to buy it. Anyway, thank you so much for the contest and the opportunity and happy gifting! :)

u/JustHereForTheTips · 1 pointr/cigars

'Einstein's Dreams' by Alan Lightman.

It's a fictional book that itemizes Einstein's dreams leading up to his creation of the theory of relativity. It's a really fun read and gets your head thinking about time and what time is. It's short, with each "dream" lasting only a handful of pages. It's been one of my favorite books to come back to anytime I can.

You can read reviews on Amazon as well as read the first few pages. Clicky for Amazon.

Once you read this you'll probably find that you want to read more of Lightman's books in the hopes of finding other really enjoyable reads. While his other books are good, they're not the same. I haven't found anything that's quite like this book so far, which is a shame. Would love to hear suggestions from folks who have read this and found other books similarly enjoyable.

u/kylesleeps · 3 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Swan Song - Robert McCammon Of the books I read last year this was my favorite.

Old Man's War - John Scazi - It's a pretty fun Military Sci-fi series

Leviathan Wakes - S. A. Corey - Near space, space opera.

Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson - Epic Fantasy with an interesting magic system, good place to start with a popular author

The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie - "Grimm Dark" fantasy, he does an interesting thing by playing with a LotR style quest.

The Black Prism - Brent Weeks - Interesting Magic system, one of my favorite ongoing fantasy series. Much better than his first trilogy IMHO

Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovitch - Funny urban fantasy series that takes place in London

His Majesty's Dragon - Namoi Novik - Napoleonic* war + dragon's, fun quick reads.

Sevenes - Neal Stephenson - Stand Alone sci-fi novel about human's trying to survive in space as the world ends.

I can suggest more if you want, and I assume you've probably read at least some of these. Hope you enjoy some of them at least though.

u/hAND_OUT · 7 pointsr/ChapoTrapHouse

I'll add my two cents since this is something I've put some thought into, and will point to some other works you can check out.

I'll go a step beyond McCarthy here by saying I'm a fan of Zapffe's idea that self-awareness might be a mistake, a evolutionary trap:

>Such a ‘feeling of cosmic panic’ is pivotal to every human mind. Indeed, the race appears destined to perish in so far as any effective preservation and continuation of life is ruled out when all of the individual’s attention and energy goes to endure, or relay, the catastrophic high tension within.

>The tragedy of a species becoming unfit for life by overevolving one ability is not confined to humankind. Thus it is thought, for instance, that certain deer in paleontological times succumbed as they acquired overly-heavy horns. The mutations must be considered blind, they work, are thrown forth, without any contact of interest with their environment.

>In depressive states, the mind may be seen in the image of such an antler, in all its fantastic splendour pinning its bearer to the ground.

I am very interested in the historical cases of feral children, and the reports of the attempts to re-integrate them after years away from other people. It seems there is a age past which the mind loses a certain plasticity of infancy and learning speech is no longer possible. Though of course the cases are rare and the reports often hobbled by the perceptions of their time, it is also of great interest to me that these children appear to stay at about the same general level of intelligence as the animals that raised them for the rest of their lives (if they were rescued after a certain developmental period). I wonder about the relationship between language and self-awareness and to what degree they depend upon each other. You could learn so much with just a handful of EXTREMELY UNETHICAL experiments.

Other fun notes:

Peter Watt's Blindsight is a recent sci-fi novel with aliens who work entirely "subconsciously" (without self-awareness) and are able to be much more efficient as a result.

People who speak languages with more colors are able to distingush more colors

There is a ton of interesting work out there that has been done about the ways that limited language can lead to limited thought, if you're interested.

I also recommend The Spell Of The Sensuous if this is interesting to you. One of my favorite books. Hopefully we can get to it in the book club some day.

u/cyanicenine · 2 pointsr/childfree

Glad you liked it. Echopraxia is the sequal to his book Blindsight, which is a story about aliens, vampires and post singularity humans. Because Peter Watts is a biologist and only a somewhat recent author his sci fi writings reflect that. His perspective as a biologist yields impressive insights, and surprisingly beautiful prose, often philosophical in nature yet somehow not preachy.

Starfish is also highly enjoyable if you like deep ocean stuff. Peter Watts does what great sci fi authors are capable of, they take known concepts turn them on their head and allow you to look at them from a completely new perspective.

u/Moose_Gwyn · 1 pointr/books

Here's another great series/book you should check out if you enjoyed Dune: The Great Book of Amber, by Roger Zelanzy. It's actually 10 books they combined into one for the Great Book. Really interesting mind-bending mystery sci-fi, plot points to keep you guessing until the end, and written during the same general time period as Dune (1970-1991). It's a wild ride! Plus, you know, the philosophical musings on humanity that we all love so much in our sci-fi/fantasy :)

u/ConanofCimmeria · 14 pointsr/MedievalHistory

My area of particular interest is Old Norse stuff, and as far as I know there's little about band of criminals there, probably because of how their justice system worked. The sagas, though, represent a treasure trove of legal ideas, especially concerning what is to be an outlaw, and have all kinds of exciting juicy fighting bits. I'm going to link to to a few relevant sagas, but the translations are all from the 19th century (and thus in the public domain,) so they frequently are translated differently than they would be now. If you're interested enough, I recommend you buy The Sagas of Icelanders for some really top-notch modern translations.

u/Createx · 1 pointr/books

Not exactly sure what you mean with Dystopian/Futuristic... Dystopian in the sense of 1984 or Brave New World? As in organic transition to near-future dystopia?

If you mean postapocalyptic, I am just going to quote myself...
Post-Apocalyptic I recommend two things:

>A Canticle For Leibowitz Brilliant novel consisting of slightly linked chapters from shortly after collapse up to new civilisational heights. Don't read the sequel, it's a bad Western.

>Wool by Hugh Howey. Really gripping, believeable world-building and decent characters. Sequels are ok, but if you can stand not getting proper conclusions stop after Wool :)

>EDIT: Aaaah, I forgot one of the most important ones - The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Depressing, low-key, believeable. The prose is stunning. If you read anything read this.


Futuristic is pretty broad, I guess you mean SciFi? Alastair Reynolds is always a good recommendation - it's kind of plausible Science Fiction on a big scale. He is pretty good at characterization, keeps the plot in sight and there are still epic space battles. Good starting point is Revelation Space.

u/ImTryingSheesh · 1 pointr/DnD

Well, make sure you have enough dice but that's a given.

Since you're running two people in a premade module, you're probably going to need to nerf the encounters a bit, as they're designed for 4 players.

The wotc dm screen is pretty nice, it has a bunch of lists and tables. If you don't already have a rulebook set, I'd recommend this one, it's at $90 right now and includes a dm screen, the player's handbook, monster manual, and dungeon master's guide. It's totally up to you if you want to get it, the basic rules will work fine.

If you don't want the books the dm screen is like $15 on Amazon.

Also, something really nice to have is a dice tray to keep your dice from rolling off the table and under something.

Regardless of the above, I bet you'll do fine.

u/Callicles-On-Fire · 7 pointsr/printSF

Interesting - but a "strong sign" of what? A strong sign that it is not a good book, or worthy of award recognition? There is a strong horror element to the book that would turn off those who dislike disturbing reading. Maybe 20%? Regardless, whatever we might suppose "worthy" to be, I think we can agree that it means something other than popular.

For comparison, Blindsight by Peter Watts is often trotted out as one of the best in the sci-fi horror genre. It has a similar profile - arguably slightly less positive, with 29% at 3 stars or fewer.

I'd say they are somewhat similar novels - well written, imaginative, original takes, genre-bending, and just not everyone's cup of tea.

u/NerdyLyss · 2 pointsr/FanFiction

Off the top of my head, I tend to refer to these four the most:

Self-Editing For Fiction Writers -- When it comes to editing, this book is what helped me break things down and showed me how to get the most out of my writing in a way that clicked.

Alan Moore's writing for Comics -- Nifty if you're really into comics or want to write your own. Spotted this in a thrift store. Best $1.00 I ever spent.

On Writing Horror -- Writer's Digest has quite a few of books on writing. And they all have exercises and excerpts, but out of the small collection that I have this one is my favorite. Kind of gave me an idea of what to watch out for. It's like reading bits of advice from different authors.

The negative Trait Thesaurus -- Actually, I love the entire series as a resource. The kindle has to be good for something. (Much cheaper) But it helps keep my traits together and my character's reactions from getting stale. Out of everything I'm always pulling these books out.

*Started with three, but I really had to mention the trait thesauruses.

u/RealityApologist · 4 pointsr/askphilosophy

Peter Watts' Blindsight and *Echopraxia are among the best philosophically-oriented novels I've ever read. As long as you're comfortable with fairly hard-core science fiction, they're very worth reading. They touch on issues in everything from ethics and political philosophy to artificial intelligence and philosophy of mind. They're great fun, and very, very smartly written. Blindsight is up for free here.

u/leafyhouse · 2 pointsr/Lovecraft

Like other people said, Call of Cthulhu is the only one with Cthulhu. It's a great read, but kinda fun to save for when you've read more.

The first story I read was Shadow over Innsmouth, which is fantastic but long. The Hound isn't his best, but it's my favorite. /u/Zaldarr said Dagon, which I agree with. I'd wait a while before Mountains of Madness, as it does kind of take some of the mystery out.

His most famous, outside of CoC, is The Music of Eric Zann and Pickman's Model.

This edition of his short stories is neat because it has a lot of his stories and just looks cool. I use it as a coffee table book.

u/JustTerrific · 3 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Despite the fact that it's got comedic elements, there are plenty of parts in John Dies At The End that are pretty wonderfully creepy.

House of Leaves always needs mentioning, it works its magic on numerous levels.

The absolute scariest ghost story I've ever read, and I never hear anyone talking about it, is Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel.

You can't go wrong with Stephen King, but if you haven't cracked into his books yet it can be a daunting task, he has a huge bibliography. For me, IT, The Shining, Salem's Lot, and Pet Sematary are some of the scariest, plus pretty much any of his short story collections are golden. In fact, any one of his short story collections might be the best place to start with King, I would recommend Skeleton Crew.

And while I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as strict "horror", one of the books that's scared me the most is Alan Moore's graphic novel From Hell. It's an absolute beast (and it's pretty much nothing like the film adaptation with Johnny Depp, so don't let that color your perceptions).

u/shamalamastreetman · 2 pointsr/Norse

The best FREE online source (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ice/)

The most important works on the subject are the EDDAS, the poetic and prose and your collection cannot be called complete without them (http://www.amazon.ca/The-Prose-Edda-Mythology-Classics-ebook/dp/B002RI9HRU/ref=pd_sim_kinc_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=0M032MEETG0CVXAT539W) (http://www.amazon.ca/Poetic-Edda-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-ebook/dp/B00LKGBK1Q/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CGS5F6Q2WWB3HR2DKFR)

Sagas of the Icelanders is a pretty comprehensive book and an easier than scholarly text read (http://www.amazon.ca/Sagas-Icelanders-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0141000031/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425947217&sr=1-1&keywords=sagas+of+the+icelanders)

A great historical (a little mythology) view of the Vikings in John Clements the Vikings (http://www.amazon.ca/Brief-History-Vikings-Jonathan-Clements-ebook/dp/B00AJN9KHC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1425947425&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=the+vikings+john+clements)

A great dictionary/listing of Viking myths can be found in Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth & Legend (http://www.amazon.ca/Cassells-Dictionary-Norse-Myth-Legend/dp/0304363855/ref=sr_1_cc_8?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1425947500&sr=1-8-catcorr&keywords=dictionary+of+norse+myths+and+legend)

A great source for the kings of Norway and their (mis)adventuires would be the Heimskringla but there isn't as much mythology in there, more historical (http://www.amazon.ca/Heimskringla-History-Norway-Snorri-Sturluson/dp/0292730616/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425947617&sr=1-1&keywords=heimskringla)

There's a bunch of other sagas you may want to sink your teeth into: Njal's, Grettir's, etc... If you want to listen about some Viking sagas via podcast, I'd recommend Saga thing, both entertaining and informative (https://sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/)

u/SalaciousStories · 3 pointsr/eroticauthors

I totally recommend Notepad++. It's free! If you want to learn hand-formatting, Guido Henkel has a nice write-up. I wrote a step-by-step book called A Filthy Book in a Fancy Dress which is aimed at erotica and romance authors looking for a fast and free mass-production workflow. Those are the two best options I've seen, even though I know the latter is entirely self-serving. :)

I write in Google Docs and then copy/paste everything to Notepad++. I have a bunch of macros set up for adding paragraph tags, curly quotes, emdashes, etc. Takes ten seconds! Then I just copy/paste in frontmatter and backmatter and add in a few HTML bits for things like scene breaks, images, chapter headings, etc. I'm done in ten or fifteen minutes depending on the complexity of the novel.

But if you want to shoot for Jutoh, it'll give you results I would call average in terms of KENPC, but it'll definitely look nice across devices (even legacy devices). Plain, but nice enough.

u/ANGARRC · 1 pointr/KingkillerChronicle

I recommend the book Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell to anyone who likes deep fantasy. This book, however, is really not for you if you love action scenes, or descriptive violence. This book has a big, big weird world. It's influenced by "faerie" stuff and lore. It's not a black and white morality book like a lot of fantasy.

Mostly, it's totally interesting, and weird, and funny, British dry-humoury. I recommend it if you like fantasy, but not necessarily traditional tropes of sword-carrying, dragon-slaying heroes.

EDIT: Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell-Novel/dp/0765356155
The first review is pretty helpful to get a gauge on how you'll like it (or not!).

u/QueenAtziri · 3 pointsr/MedievalNorseStudies

Here's two off the top of my head that are pretty great:

Viking Age Iceland is a GREAT primer on, well, Viking Age Iceland :)

The Sagas of Icelanders is a nice entry level compilation of sagas and thaettir (excluding the amazing Njal's Saga unfortunately) that got me into the Icelandic sagas.

u/FarmerGiles_ · 5 pointsr/Lovecraft

Yep, I enjoy looking for unique editions -especially for horror and weird fiction. Here are some cool editions in the basic price range shown above:

  1. The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Nice cheap edition. Honestly, this is the best thing about Lovecraft and Weird Fiction anthologies -there are sooo many. And many cheap editions.

  2. Great Tales of Horror Edition A bit more expensive, but sweet looking book.

  3. Necronomicon Edition. Again way expensive... but, there is a paperback that also looks nice for around 18$

  4. The Mammoth book of Cthulhu This is a collection of Lovecraft inspired stories, and is not authored by your Faithful Uncle Theobald (HPL). However. there is no need for cannon purity, in my opinion. And what a gorgeous, very cheap book

  5. I'm adding this anthology: Awaiting Strange Gods to my book self. Though it is more non-Lovecraft Lovecraft.

  6. For no reason, other than pure random wonderful weirdness, check out wilum pugmire on Youtube.


    Edit: trying to get format correct.

u/catladyfromhell · 3 pointsr/eroticauthors

I use /u/SalaciousStories' hand-formatting book, A Filthy Book in a Fancy Dress. It's great! I highly recommend it.

There are a couple of things to be aware of. Calibre no longer automatically generates a mobi book when converting your zip documents to epub. You need to do this manually. If you don't want an extra TOC at the end of your book, make sure to check the "Do not add Table of Contents to book" option on the Mobi Output tab.

I have bad news about clicking an image in a mobi ebook. From what I can find, Mobi does not support that option. I tried everything I could to get it to work, then searched the net and discovered it isn't possible. You need to add a text link before or after the image with instructions to click there. It sucks, but that's the only way I could get it to work.

If anyone knows a solution to this problem, please share!

I don't know if you can use hosted images in an ebook. I wouldn't recommend it. What if something happens and the link doesn't work, or if the reader isn't connected to the net? I read most of my ebooks offline, so that would certainly be a problem for me.

I recommend embedding the image in the ebook itself. I use the "Save for Web" feature in Photoshop to reduce the size of my files if size is your worry. I don't know what software you're using, but check to see if it has a similar feature. I use <img src="image-name.jpg" alt=""/> to embed my images. Just make sure all images are included in the zip file you hand off to Calibre.

Hope this helps. Best of luck!

u/iceontheglass · 1 pointr/books

Roger Zelazny - The Chronicles of amber -Get all the short novels in one book as The Great Book Of Amber

  • quick fun read. Great ideas, Great Characters.
  • "Meatloaf"


    Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen

  • Holy stack of doorstopper books batman! Long and "Meaty" indeed.
  • "10 Course steak dinner"
  • start with book 2, and if its not your thing, then that book stands alone fairly well.

    Gene Wolfe - Book of the New Sun

  • After years of being badgered by friends to read this, i am well into the first book, and its really interesting. Gene Wolfe has a very "Epic" style of writing.
  • Book 1 and 2
  • "4 course Sable fish dinner"



u/Darth_Dave · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

What about checking out some of Arthur C. Clarke's stuff? Rendezvous with Rama and 2001 spring immediately to mind, although I'm quite partial to A Fall of Moondust. It doesn't have any aliens, but it is one of the most intense sci-fi books I've ever read.

Maybe check out Leviathan Wakes by a couple of writers going under the pseudonym James S. A. Corey. It's pretty good with the science, is set in our solar system in the near future, and features a weird alien attack. It also has a bit of a Firefly vibe, I thought, so if that's your thing I'd heartily recommend it.

There's always the Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton, starting with The Reality Dysfunction. They're big space opera books, although it's obvious Hamilton knows a bit about physics, and they can get very creepy. Probably one of the best written and enjoyable series I've ever read, although the ending is a bit flat.

Finally, I'd look at Midshipman's Hope by David Feintuch. It's been a while since I've read it and it's basically a Napoleonic era battleship setting transferred onto a spaceship, buy I recall that the second half of the book was one of the most exciting and nail-biting examples of trying to save a damaged spaceship all alone in space that I'd ever read. Anyway, give it a go, I suppose.

u/johnnyboy182 · 1 pointr/PS4

Many people have already answered but I’ll just chime in that the Necronomicon is what I have and it’s great. Haven’t read all the stories yet though. Also Barnes and Noble have multiple (faux) leather bound Lovecraft collections.

Someone elsewhere in the thread recommended Uzumaki by Junji Ito. I’d also recommend Tomie by the same author. It’s not necessarily cosmic horror but it’s definitely an interesting take on horror and it was his first work. Both Uzumaki and Tomie can be found on amazon in a full hardback collection as well as some of his other works.

u/mrsfizzleworth · 2 pointsr/eroticauthors

Hey! Thanks for the heads up about the promo info! :) You've convinced me to set up at least a couple now. Very glad I didn't hit publish yesterday!

I have zero experience with hand formatting. But I just finished reading /u/SalaciousStories' book about it. I'm enrolled in KU so it's "free" for me to read, but even the price point of $2.99 is worth the information in my mind. It really looks pretty straightforward, just need to take the time to do it. It takes some extra time in the beginning to set up (which you only have to do once), but then it looks like it really does get easier from there. And ALL the programs they use are free (except photoshop for covers, but I use GIMP, which is also free). I'm going to take a stab at it today and will report back!

u/PM_ME_UR_FAV_RECIPE · 1 pointr/Omaha

As others mentioned videos are great. Wizards has some good resources. https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules For campaigns to start with, I really liked the one in the starter kit https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Wizards-Team/dp/0786965592/ They also released https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Essentials-Kit-Boxed/dp/0786966831/ which I haven't played through the campaign yet but it looks promising. There are also tons of materials for purchase and some for free on the Dungeons Masters Guild site https://www.dmsguild.com/
Any questions, feel free to ask in this thread or dm, otherwise r/dnd may be a better subreddit to answer.

u/Unikatze · 2 pointsr/Pathfinder2e

I dunno. The D&D gift box I'm talking about is this one
https://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/dd-core-rules-gift-set

It has 3 books in it as opposed to Pathfinder's 3.
It retails for $169.00 but Amazon has it for $117
Couldn't find the Retail price for the special edition one, but it's $200 on amazon and looks amazing. I'd love for Pathfinder to have something like it. (Other than the deluxe editions I mean)

I made a mistake though, it doesn't come with a battle mat or dice.

(https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Rulebooks-Slipcase-Handbook/dp/0786966629/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=d%26d+gift+box&qid=1562353036&s=gateway&sr=8-1)

u/MyCoolYoungHistory · 12 pointsr/scifi

Oh I hope Leviathan Wakes wins best novel. If anyone hasn't heard of it now's the best time to start. Quite a great read and the sequel comes out this summer.

u/notawerebear · 2 pointsr/eroticauthors

I write in VIM hand-formatting as I go. Before I start a story I run a custom bash, script story.sh, that builds a cast, outline, blurb and story file. The story file populates with a pre-formatted table of contents and chapters in html.

After I'm finished I run another script that builds epub's, mobi's, pdf's for all platforms as well as shrinking my cover file into various size jpg's for all platforms. It populates front and backmatter based on pen name (stored in seperate folders), with unique backmatter for each storefront.

The same script uses pandoc to convert to doc, docx for nook and d2d. Still tweaking to get clean documents that can be uploaded directly to nookpress.

Not an ex-coder, just a hobbyist but if you're interested I'd be happy to send it over. It's taken the P out of PITA when it comes to actually publishing and once I have a book ready it takes about half an hour to publish it.

epubs throw no errors on kobo or google play. That took a looooong time to figure out.

I love the dark comfort of the command line and love vim. I know there's a VIM vs. EMACS flameware that's been raging for centuries but have not had time to delve into it. Care to elucidate the difference?

Also, props to /u/SalaciousStories book Filthy Book in a Fancy Dress . That really helped me get my css act together.

u/Humphrind · 11 pointsr/zelda

I'm upvoting you because I don't think you deserve to be downvoted into oblivion. But, c'mon. Compassion. Link is a cool name stand-alone and it's a good reference. Especially to all us Zelda fans in this subreddit. So now you get a story about names.

When my wife was pregnant, and we were thinking about names, I wanted to have a story behind the name. I wanted some meaning and eventually, I would like my child to ask me why I named them what I named them and I would like that to start an adventure of learning. I chose philosophy because I feel it is important. So I went after all my favorite philosophers and chose 2 names that I liked, Soren and Hobbes. Sure I like other guys, but I didn't like any names I could have chose from St Thomas Aquinas. (Tom never hit me as a good name)

My wife balked. She said we would never name our child after a comic strip. Though I am a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes, that's not the origin of the name and I really do like Hobbes as a name.

It ended up being a moot point because we had a girl. We named her Sophia after another philosophical reference. It's a very informative book that I read for a college philosophy course. I guess I figured that if I couldn't name her after a philosopher, I would name her after ALL THE PHILOSOPHERS.

Point of the story is this. Link's a cool name. We threw a lot of names out there all the while when she was pregnant. Another boy's name I considered was Nathan Jr as a reference to Raising Arizona (my name isn't Nathan)

u/Rocketpotamus · 1 pointr/dndnext

I'm assuming you're young, since just the PHB is an acceptable expense (in my opinion) to begin as a player. As of right now it's not even $50, which was the typical price when I began playing in 3.5. So might I suggest this as a birthday or other holiday gift if you're not able to get together the money?

I'm definitely not digging on your for not being able to afford it, that's fine and people have reasons. I'm just saying, $30 entry point is damn good and there's so much meat in this game that I'd pay $50 gladly for the core book.

​

In addition, if you and your gaming group would go in on the core rule set, it's 50% off currently on Amazon, so you're getting each book for effectively $27.50 with a free DM screen.

​

PHB: https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Dungeons-Dragons-Wizards/dp/0786965606/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=players+handbook&qid=1564688516&s=gateway&sr=8-2

​

3 Book Core Set:

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Rulebooks-Slipcase-Handbook/dp/0786966629/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=players+handbook&qid=1564688680&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFSNDJCRjExRFA0UkkmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTEwMDQwMzU2OUtKM1Y0MjRQRUcmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDQ5MDAwNDhJSUVBQTU2T0ZPUCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

u/Straightouttaangmar · 5 pointsr/harrypotter

i mean, i say give the books another shot because i can't imagine enjoying the movies but not the books. but to each their own. if you don't want to go down that road, what do you mean things that might interest you? do you mean in the harry potter universe? if so, the other stuff is fun but the original seven are her magnum opus IMO and to get my fix, i had to go outside the Harry Potter universe.

some books that I just inhaled and read in one sitting will sound super corny, but...

  • The Sookie Stackhouse novels. Wow. I am embarrassed at how fast I read these books. Edward Cullen can screw off. Eric is way hotter.
  • the Da Vinci Code. Not the best writing. not the most factual history. don't care I blasted through that book.
  • Ready Player One

    If you just want some good fantasy that isn't just Lord of the Rings rip offs, these are the ones I like.

  • Gormenghast
  • King Killer Chronicles
  • Wheel of Time
  • Game of Thrones
  • The Blade Itself
  • The Crystal Cave
u/ides205 · 5 pointsr/eroticauthors

OK, I'll start things off. I had a pretty good week - sales picked up from the previous week, and my latest stories are doing pretty well.

The most important thing though is that yesterday I successfully hand-coded an ebook! Using the great guide "A Filthy Book in a Fancy Dress" as well as Guido Henkel's guide, I was able to reformat an existing book, add in all the backmatter, convert it to an epub file, upload it to Amazon and test it out on my new Kindle - and it looks great! I strongly recommend both those guides to anyone who is thinking about starting hand coding. I was helped by the fact that I'm very computer savvy, but I think anyone could get the hang of it with some practice!

So this week the goal will be to reformat a bunch of my existing books, starting with the newest books and the top sellers. Extra smutbux, here I come!

u/marinafanatic · 6 pointsr/dynastywarriors

This translation seems to be a bit awkward personally. Although this is good if you just want to get the basics of the story, if you want to own and truly enjoy the book I strongly recommend buying a Moss Roberts unabridged translation. Absolutely stellar, flows and reads as if it was in English originally. My version also came with citations and a large section of notes at the back of each book that has a lot of helpful information to understanding the many obscure references the character's make, among other helpful information. It also includes maps and other illustrations throughout the book which makes it a lot more easy to understand and just enjoy.

u/sakuratsuji · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

123

My goal is to find the proper doctors so I can fix my depression. I'm doing my best to keep my head up (even bought myself a mala to meditate and keep positive) but it's a day to day thing. I'd like to feel normal for once sometime in the future :)

Forgot to link amazon items, derp! This or [this](http://www.amazon.com/Saga-Vol-Brian-K-Vaughan/dp/1607066017/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2WSLHM9JYNVDB&coliid=I2YG8R3KXF2ZDR] or this would be lovely :)

u/Amy_Ponder · 4 pointsr/todayilearned

The best sci-fi book series to come out in a very long time! The first book is Leviathan Wakes; five more have been written so far, and three more are scheduled to come out over the next three years (and the authors have been pretty good about keeping to that schedule, unlike a certain fantasy author we all know and love).

If reading books isn't your jam or you don't have time, there are also audiobooks some fans swear by. There's also a TV show which just wrapped up its second season, which you can get on Amazon Prime in the US and Netflix everywhere else.

If you like sci-fi that does its best to stick to actual science, space battles, political intrigue, and likeable characters who grow more complex with every book, I highly reccommend it!

u/LifeinParalysis · 6 pointsr/selfpublish

It's super easy to learn, honestly I would recommend anyone who self publishes to learn this part of the process because it is best to have fine control of it.

So learn up on some basic CSS, read this book but instead of doing all the stuff she says about formatting the text in word (search and replace), copy and paste your word document into this tool and let it do allll the work for you.

Otherwise, play with different CSS on your title pages (look at other authors for ideas), learn to embed custom fonts (fancy), and learn how to code a TOC from scratch (not hard! it's basic css).

I use Sigil personally because it gives me fine control of everything. You can use Calibre as she instructs, but Sigil is XHTML and will get pissed off if you screw anything up so it's a bit safer to me.

Why hand formatting instead of just grabbing Vellum and formatting for people? Vellum doesn't teach you shit, and you'll give people a better KENP by doing handformatting. You can do all that fancy Vellum shit with handformatting, and you can squeeze more pages out of it which is what everyone wants. How many more pages?

Some more schmuck uploaded this long ass story from a word document to Amazon and got 200 pages out of it. Using proper formatting, it went to 600+ pages. That is an uncommon example, but handformatting is nearly always better.

u/Tendaena · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

You should read Wool I can't even describe how awesome this book is. Over 7,000 people have reviewed it and most of them loved it like I did. Everything by Hugh Howey that I've read I've loved. I'd like this book which is also a dytopia type book which is what Wool is. Thanks for the contest.

u/MesozoicMan · 1 pointr/books

This is the collection I ended up with. It doesn't have everything, but it has all of the best stuff. EDIT: plus these Gollancz collections are the prettiest. There are a couple of Conan ones that I highly recommend.

This is another good one. It's a collection of stuff that edited, reworked or completely rewrote for other authors, so there's a lot of his voice in it, only with a wider range of styles and themes.

u/slightlyoffki · 1 pointr/kungfu

Oh man, I could recommend so many.

Kung Fu and Taoism:

The Making of a Butterfly is one of my favorite books. It is about a white kid who starts learning Kung Fu out of a Chinese master's basement back in the 70s, well before Kung Fu was popularized in the West.

Chronicles of Tao by Deng Ming Dao is excellent, a narrative perspective of how Taoism intertwines with the life of a Kung Fu practitioner.

American Shaolin by Matthew Polly is an entertaining and illuminating story that disseminates a lot of the mysticism surrounding the Shaolin Temple.

The Crocodile and the Crane is a fun fictional book that is basically about Tai Chi saving the world from a zombie apocalypse.

My next goal is to tackle The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Of course, I highly recommend the Tao Te Ching and the Art of War as well.

Buddhism: I highly recommend anything Thich Nhat Hanh. Anger and Peace is Every Step are two of my favorites.

Karate and Japanese Arts:

Moving Toward Stillness by Dave Lowry is one of my favorite books, taken from his columns in Black Belt Magazine over the years. A really excellent study on Japanese arts and philosophy.

Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings by Kenji Tokitsu is wonderful. It includes the Book of Five Rings as well as some of Musashi's other works, including many of his paintings.

The 47 Ronin, by John Allyn, a dramatization of the Genroku Ako Incident, is still quite poignant in 2016.

u/haloshade · 2 pointsr/CasualConversation

Favorite book? As of recently it would have to be Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's a fictional book, but the author, Watts, uses the situation of fist contact to explore many ideas of philosophy of mind, such as what makes a conscious being conscious? And the impact of transhumanism upon our culture/ lifestyle.

Series: The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. I've never read a book series so fun and adventerous, with the story taking the reader along with the characters into strange twists right when you think you've begun to follow the story. It's a story about a gunslinger named Roland, and his quest to get to an ominous tower known as The Dark Tower, or simply The Tower. Along the way he has to jump universes, save small towns from mysterious robots on mechanical horses, and encounter the god of their worlds himself. It's a fun adventure series that never gets boring, and if you ask me the opening line of the first book, The Gunslinger, is the best opening line of all times: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

u/SandSword · 19 pointsr/Fantasy

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill is pretty creepy. Also, Horns - it's not really scary, but it is slightly disturbing, and very good to boot.

I think The Painted Man by Peter V Brett might actually be a pretty great book for reading around Halloween time.

Obviously, Stephen King must be mentioned: one of his lesser knowns, From a Buick 8, certainly had its moments for me. Probably, Pet Cemetary is scarier, but I haven't read that one yet.

HP Lovecraft's Necronomicon has some weird and disturbing stuff in it.

I haven't read it myself, but the TV show is turning out pretty good: Guillermo del Toro's The Strain.

And of course Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Bram Stoker's Dracula, the classics. Perhaps something from Edgar Allen Poe (The Raven?), or Charles Dickens' Ghost Stories.

u/selkiee · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Sophie's World

Not only does it have TWO strong female characters, but it contains a huge fantasy element. Oh and not to mention a nearly complete history of philosophy disguised as a fantasy novel. One of my favorite books of ALL time.

ETA: A post-apocalyptic short story that is AMAZING and guess what? It's online so you don't even have to buy it. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison. Enjoy!

u/derioderio · 1 pointr/rpg

Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). This was originally a d20 Modern game run by Ty Franck as a play-by-post game called 2350.

There are some differences, obviously, but most of the original crew and a good amount of the plot are pretty much taken straight from the original game.

u/ToastLord78 · 1 pointr/dndmemes

Running the Game by Matt Colville is a great place to start. He explains generally what the game is, how to run it, builds an adventure for you, and then spends the next 80 or so videos going on beautifully long tangents about things mildly related to D&D. But the first few episodes are a goldmine for a beginner, if you ever feel compelled to take the spotlight and be a DM. Which if you ever want to start playing with friends, you likely will have to do.

Another option if you don’t want anything to do with that DM business for now is head to your local tabletop gaming shop. Not Target (although they actually do sell some relevant stuff I’ll mention later), I mean a shop specifically built to sell games like Magic the Gathering and D&D. They probably sponsor games you can join and get a taste of how the game works.

Or yet another option, buy the Starter Set which has everything you need to get started. I haven’t played the Essentials Kit but it also seems useful.

However you go about it, I highly recommend starting!

u/xamueljones · 6 pointsr/rational

Changeling Space Program (My Little Pony) - the changelings are attempting to be the first on the moon. It has realistic depictions of rocket research and the author is basing the characters' progress on his ability to build a rocket on the Kerbal space game. It's a great read and hilarious. But the updates are on the order of months in between.

Replay (Original) - it involves a man repeating his life with the repeats getting closer to his death date each time. It's not what I consider rational in the character's investigation and use of the power, but his emotional struggles were very vivid and well written.

The Red Knight (Harry Potter) - A great story where Ron goes back in time to his birth, but the world he is reborn into is an AU so he has no idea of what to expect from the future.

Forged Destiny (RWBY) - It's a re-imagining of RWBY as an RPG-like world where everyone is a gamer character and the plot of RWBY is dramatically different as a result. I would recommend anything written by Couer Al'aran. He's a brilliant writer.

Auburn (RWBY) - RWBY with Jaune, Weiss, Blake, and Ruby on a team together. The author Super Saiyan Syndaquil has written some other good fanfics, but Auburn's my favorite.

u/DangerDarth · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

American Gods by Neil Gaiman... gawsh just anything by him is really good, but this book is the best match that I've read at least. You know he does good graphic novels, but his books are excellent as well. Stardust, in constrast, takes a more light hearted, fantasy side.

Greywalker by Kat Richardson is about a modern day private investigator who gets dragged into the world of the bizarre. Well written and suspenseful, I think it'd keep you on the edge of your seat.

If you like absurd, check out John Dies at the End by David Wong... before a movie ruins it.

If you want a classic, check out Ferenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I was skeptical of reading sci fi in high school. Well, this book changed my mind.

u/dvsdrp · 46 pointsr/Parenting

Why on earth would you send him to a therapist? Seems like a perfectly reasonable question to me, and I'm sure many kids would think about it at one point or another. Philosophers have been thinking about the nature of reality for thousands of years. Have you seen The Matrix? :)

A thought provoking question like that ought to start an interesting conversation and should be encouraged.

Can I recommend Sophie's World, which is a great book all about philosphy? It'll be too old for your son, but perhaps you'd like to read it yourself and in a few years, if he's still interested, pass it on to him.

u/blue58 · 4 pointsr/booksuggestions

That's a deep rabbit hole, if you allow it.

There are different books for different parts of writing. Some focus on plot [Story Engineering], others talk you out of blocks [Bird by Bird]. Some deal with immersion [Wired for Story], others warn you of newbie errors [edit yourself]. Some only talk about the first page. [Hooked]

If you specify what you want the most, I can probably get more specific. The best way to deal with grammar, other than the dry "Elements of Style", is to take a free Cousera course, or OWLs online and test yourself. I also love this blog for crazy awesome advice both current and in her backlog.


Edit: Also too: Might as well hang out at /r/writing and pop in from time to time at /r/grammar

u/G-Riz · 1 pointr/creepy

There used to be some great ones, but a lot of them were removed when the authors decided to get them published.

This was probably the best one I read on there, and it looks like the guy has done pretty well for himself

u/pwlim · 1 pointr/cigars

I'll read whatever I'm interested at the moment. More often than not, space operas such as the Vorkosigan Saga or popcorn novels such as Ready Player One.

If you are into sci-fi, I would highly recommend the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. You're going to need this chronological order or books when buying, and a lot of them are contained in various omnibuses. The Expanse by James S.A. Corey is another phenomenal read and is an equally amazing Sy-Fy Network show. I'd recommend reading the books first then watching the show.

If maybe you like dystopian futures, I'd highly recommend the Silo Series by Hugh Howey or The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey.

u/carmenqueasy · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Fiiiinally it's the weekend!! I've been looking for something new to read that's fun, and I think this fits the bill perfectly :) Thanks for the contest, you're awesome!

u/avenirweiss · 7 pointsr/books

I know I must be missing some, but these are all that I can think of at the moment.

Fiction:

Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges

The Stranger by Albert Camus

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

White Noise by Don Delilo

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot

Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by DFW

Infinite Jest by DFW

Of these, you can't go wrong with Infinite Jest and the Collected Fictions of Borges. His Dark Materials is an easy and classic read, probably the lightest fare on this list.

Non-Fiction:

The Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy

Chaos by James Gleick

How to be Gay by David Halperin

Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

Secret Historian by Justin Spring

Of these, Secret Historian was definitely the most interesting, though How to be Gay was a good intro to queer theory.

u/disgustipated · 1 pointr/Browns
  1. If you haven't already, check out The Expanse on Syfy. It's based on a series of books by James S.A. Corey (pseudonym). The first in the series is Leviathian Wakes.
  2. Just got SiriusXM for my Jeep GC. Any hidden gems among the stations? I'm really enjoying the hard rock channels.
  3. Been putting it off, but yeah, think I'll watch Deadpool this week.
  4. Who's up for a Browns meetup at Yellowstone National Park? I'm pretty sure Pabsty's headed this way. You're all invited, but room space is limited. We were shooting for the end of June, but honestly, as busy as the park is this year, September would be much better and less crowded.
u/Adam-O · 3 pointsr/TheDarkTower

You should check out Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It's got magicians, but more in a real life sense. Has been described to me as a more sophisticated and grown up version of Harry Potter. It's long, has great characters, and the epic cranks out more and more as the book progresses. I loved it.

u/acepincter · 1 pointr/AskReddit

This book is exactly that story, in multiple threads of time. I thought it a good read, although it hovers between Sci-Fi and romance, it was an amazing thought experiment.

Basically, he takes one life and becomes an amazing investor and gambler-millionaire (a la "Grey's sports almanac-style prediction). He ends up repeating another life and swoons the girl that got away. In his third life he retires to the farms of Oregon and lives in solitude. Then, he begins to notice that the history he remembers is not what seems to be happening, someone else is changing history alongside him - and that's when it becomes really fascinating.

u/neoman4426 · 4 pointsr/DnD

In addition to what others are saying about the SRD and basic rules versions being free to use, next month a gift set containing the core three books (Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, and Player's Handbook) along with some other goodies is coming out. It's a decent chunk of change, but if you guys decide you like the free version enough it might be something to save towards https://smile.amazon.com/Core-Rulebook-Gift-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966629 (or if you have a local gaming store sometimes they're cheaper there, and some are getting an exclusive version with some pretty sweet alt cover art). You can get a decent starter set of dice sets for pretty cheap, https://smile.amazon.com/Wiz-Dice-Bag-Devouring-Role-playing/dp/B01KP4T6TQ (20 complete 7 die sets for ~30 USD, might be a bit overkill for starting out) https://smile.amazon.com/Smartdealspro-Colors-Dungeons-Dragons-Pouches/dp/B01ABST9S4/ (5 complete 7 die sets for ~10 USD, might be a bit more reasonable)

u/TheWizardsVengeance · 3 pointsr/AskHistorians

Just want to give a little bit more detail!

> Lu Bu was considered a good warrior, although I don't remember reading about him slaying 1000 people per battle.

While Lu Bu's actual legacy does not include killing thousands or defeating multiple generals in duels, he was still known as incredibly strong, with especial prowess in archery and horseback riding.

>Cao Cao was not viewed, as I read it, as particularly more evil than anyone else.

Definitely not, the only truly evil thing Cao Cao did was the slaughtering of Xuzhou citizens when he was seeking revenge for his father. Arguably you could say Cao Cao controlling the emperor was "evil" but the Emperor was fair game during these times.

>Sima family (Sima Yi being most prominent in the game and the novel) eventually replaces the Cao family and creates their own dynasty, Jin.

More specifically, Jin wasn't founded until well after Sima Yi's death, when his grandson Sima Yan founded Jin just before conquering Wu.

>I highly recommend both Records and Romance of the Three Kingdoms if you're into that era.

If anyone is interested in reading ROTK, I highly recommend the Robert Moss translation. People tend to read the free version online which is not translated as well.

u/quick_quip_whip · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I'd really enjoy this book, Replay, bought used to save money

And I'm also pretty happy! Aside from tons of tests and essays due this week that are crunching my time, I have a few fun things planned this week, and my Dad is officially coming home for Christmas!

u/RhinoWithaGun · 2 pointsr/aznidentity

Outlaws of the Marsh (This was a very fun read back when I was in highschool, there's a bit of dark humor too. Of the books listed here Outlaws of the Marsh is the funniest and very epic)

https://www.amazon.com/Outlaws-Chinese-Classics-Classic-Volumes/dp/7119016628/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=outlaws+of+the+marsh&qid=1558135198&s=gateway&sr=8-1

​

Romance of the Three Kingdoms (The novel is intriguing and epic but might get too confusing depending on the age and person reading it- lots of characters and politics both personal and national)

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Kingdoms-Chinese-Classics-Volumes/dp/7119005901/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3Q6KP7GL4E200&keywords=romance+of+the+three+kingdoms&qid=1558135222&s=gateway&sprefix=Romance+of+the+three%2Caps%2C205&sr=8-3

​

Journey to the West (The Monkey King. I admit I personally don't like the Monk & Su Wu Kong chapters and mostly enjoyed the Su Wukong's creation, desk job in heaven chapters and his rebellion. My man Su Wukong should've rebelled again, screw working for a living in heaven and their stupid workplace bureaucracy)

https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Chinese-Classics-Classic-Volumes/dp/7119016636/ref=sr_1_4?crid=C0DF58D83YS3&keywords=journey+to+the+west&qid=1558135303&s=gateway&sprefix=Journey+to+the+west%2Caps%2C201&sr=8-4

​

There's also Dreams of the Red Mansion but I never finished it so can't really recommend it.

u/JDRSuperman · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I've read that The Thinking's Woman's Guide to Real Magic is like an adult oriented Harry Potter book.

The Night Circus is a fantasy romance novel involving magic and a circus. This is set in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Monstrumologist and its' sequels are really interesting monster hunting novels. This is set in the late 1800s.

Have you read the Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman yet?

Jonathan Strange & Mr.Norrell was a great read. It's another book about magic. I have a copy and I really like it.

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/AskScienceDiscussion

> Could you recommend something covering the history of earth in general.

I recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's a great read, easy to follow, and gives a pretty decent overview of, well, everything. If you want details on the math and physics, look elsewhere as this is not a textbook. But it's a nice intro.

I think of it as the Sophie's World of science. (Another great book i'd highly recommend.)

Bill Bryson also has some other books covering various topics (mostly travel and history). I haven't read them all, but the ones i have are excellent.

u/Kaelosian · 7 pointsr/booksuggestions

One of the best books I've found for introducing people to philosphy is Sophie's World. There is a lot of justifiable criticism of this book, mostly because it tries to be a novel and does just an ok job and it tries to be a philosophy text and also does an ok job at that too. However, it's easily digestible and does a pretty good job of giving you a really brief introduction to a lot of classical philosophy.

u/FLYBOY611 · 1 pointr/Games

I found myself asking the same question not too long ago! His best writing is the series of short stories he wrote for magazines that we collectively know as the Cthulu Mythos. You'll want to check out Necronomicon, which is the compilation of the best and most famous stories.

https://www.amazon.com/Necronomicon-Best-Weird-Tales-Lovecraft/dp/0575081562/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537458514&sr=8-1&keywords=necronomicon&dpID=51We1j8PEkL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

​

Personally, I got myself the audio book version which is fantastic if you love scary stories. I listen to it in my kitchen while doing dishes. Great stuff. :)

https://www.audible.com/pd/Necronomicon-Audiobook/B00MNQKYNC

​

Oh.....and fair warning. H.P. Lovecraft was kinda racist and it shows in some of his writing. =/

u/ChristophColombo · 1 pointr/DnD

There are tons of premade campaigns out there. I'd recommend kicking off with either the Starter Set or the Essentials Kit. They include basic rulesets, dice, and a short campaign. You can get started with just one of these sets just fine.

If you want to get more into the rules, I'd strongly suggest picking up the Player's Handbook at a minimum - it goes more in depth on the rules and lays out more race and class options for your players than the limited ones in the starter sets. Next priority would be the DM's Guide, which gives tips on how to run the game, random tables for lots of stuff (items, encounters, etc), and suggestions on how to make your own world if you're interested in that in the future. If you do get into homebrew or other published campaigns, you'll also want the Monster Manual- the starter set rules only include stat blocks for the monsters that they use.

Edit: D&D is more than semi-scripted storytelling. Encounters (both combat and non-combat) are generally scripted in the sense that they will occur when certain conditions are met, but the outcomes are dependent on more than just the dice. D&D is a roleplaying game, which means that you (the DM) and the players are playing characters. You play all of the NPCs, and it's your goal to try to understand their motivations and thought processes and have them do what they would do in a given situation. A published adventure might have some scripted outcomes in the event that your players take a predictable course, but if they decide to do something off-the-wall, you'll need to improvise. And of course, you can always tweak the published material if you're comfortable doing so. It's not like Wizards of the Coast is staring over your shoulder making sure that you follow the text to the letter.

u/_Captain_ · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I LOVE your penny book contests!!! Cryptonomicon is the book I'll choose for this one. Looks super interesting. Thanks so much for the contest! Gimme a book, Pancakes!

u/Santa_ · 3 pointsr/TreesFortress2

I am currently reading the Necronomicon and plan on following it up with Dune (as per thecutout's suggestion :D)

Favorite smokespot? Probably my room since I haven't smoked outdoors in months. The ideal would be a cabin in the middle of nowhere next to a lake surrounded by redwoods, looking up would leave you speechless, the lack of light pollution alone could get you high ;o)

Best advice I have gotten: Probably something along the lines of the work you put in will be the work you get out; it's like conservation of energy but with life and shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitt

Advice I have to give? Adults don't know everything, the younger you are at heart, the further you will go in life. The ability to suspend yourself in a plane of illimitable creativity, the way a 5 year old can, not only opens your mind to more obscure possibilities, but flexes it in a manner few other activities can.

u/emalf31 · 3 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Have a look at this

There is a collection of Lovecraft Stories called Necronomicon. I nearly bought it myself, it's a great looking tome. I actually have the Conan Books in the same series.

​

This is the one I ended up buying I found it was a more complete collection and in chronological order of when they were written.

​

Amazing stories from an amazing writer. Enjoy!

u/Tigrari · 2 pointsr/Fantasy

There are a ton of different editions and compilations of the Amber books. It might be useful to poke around at the different editions if you're looking for a bargain.

Some potentially helpful links:

If you think you might want to read all of the Amber books and not just Volume 1, you may want to consider purchasing (or borrowing, whatever) The Great Book of Amber which is vol. 1-10 bound together. It's a doorstopper, so be forewarned. I do not think it's available electronically as an omnibus. Amazon link: https://smile.amazon.com/Great-Book-Amber-Complete-Chronicles/dp/0380809060/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1501692577&sr=8-2&keywords=nine+princes+in+amber

Secondly, for just Vol. 1 Nine Princes in Amber, for some reason the listings for the paper copies and the electronic copies aren't linked up very well.

Paper/Audible (the Amazon link GR provides): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380014300/ref=x_gr_e_nl_general_sin?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_e_nl_general_sin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0380014300&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

Kindle edition (Amazon link): https://smile.amazon.com/Nine-Princes-Amber-Book-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B011MYPIY0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501692577&sr=8-1&keywords=nine+princes+in+amber

u/Parrk · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Michio Kaku does a great job of explaining advanced concepts of physics in layman's terms. He describes 14 dimensions in the book.

read this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Hyperspace-Scientific-Odyssey-Parallel-Universes/dp/0385477058/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1291998866&sr=8-3


DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK FROM AMAZON!
get it elsewhere please.


edit: OOH! since you mentioned time. This will help you learn to conceive alternate states of such....and is a really kick-ass book.


http://www.amazon.com/Einsteins-Dreams-Alan-Lightman/dp/140007780X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291999070&sr=1-1

DON'T BUY THIS ONE FROM AMAZON EITHER! plz.

u/whimsyNena · 2 pointsr/WritingPrompts

Where do you live (State / Country)?
Indiana

Male, female, other?
Female

How long have you been writing?
If you count the really weird book my friend and I typed up on WordPad back in 1999, it's been 18 years.

What is your writing motivation?
I would love to one day find an agent who can get a book with my name on the cover in physical bookstores across the world.

What programs do you use to write?
Microsoft Word... and also a really battered journal.

How fast can you type?
77 WPM (4 errors, adjusted to 73)

Want to share a photo?
It's up, at the very bottome :D

Promotions

r/whimsywrites

My favorite author

My favorite writing book

My other favorite writing book

None of those are affiliate links. And if you can, buy them in print from an actual bookstore!

u/beeblez · 2 pointsr/reddit.com

In the modern literature category

Dave Eggers - What is the What. Or A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius by him is also pretty good.

A.S. Byatt - Possession

Also, someone else mentioned Neal Stephenson, I cannot second this recommendation strongly enough! Very fun reads that don't shy away from intellectual engagement. I read Cryptonomicon by him recently and loved it.

I also note you don't mention Don DeLillo although you mention many of his contemporaries. Check out White Noise by him and go from there.

I could probably make some more suggestions, but it depends what genre's and styles you're really into? Do you want hugely post-modern? Do you enjoy the classics? (I notice your list had no Shakespeare, his tragedies are as famous as they are for good reason)

u/jaydoors · 5 pointsr/crypto

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson is a classic. Takes in Bletchley Park, among much more. It is a novel, not a text book, so it won't actually teach you anything as such - but crypto is running through the book, along with much other tech stuff, plus it is a brilliant story. Not really "light" but I wish it took me longer to read I enjoyed it so much.

u/st3v3n · 2 pointsr/AndroidGaming

Well, fair warning I did read them 12-13 years ago when I was 14-15, so I've forgotten quite a bit, not to mention a lot went over my head at that age.

I loved them. They were truely an epic, and the ebb and flow of the kingdom over the years was great to follow. Also, seeing where a lot of the stages and characters from DW "started" was fantastic.

This is the one I bought, if you are interested.

u/BrokenClockwerk · 1 pointr/todayilearned

It's hard. I would probably compare it to the Iliad and the Odyssey, but those books together cover about 20 years with a few hundred characters. Three Kingdoms spans about 110 years and has a few thousand characters. There are parts where the writing is dry, the ridiculous attention to detail means that every significant event from history (as well as folk stories that didn't actually happen) is described and contextualized in great detail, and it totally loses steam at the end when the most interesting people are basically all dead.

That said, I'm clearly a huge fan and would recommend it to anyone who has the patience to get through it and an interest in the subject matter. Although there is a more recent translation by a different translator, to my knowledge, this is still the gold standard for the English translation, and it's not super expensive. You could probably also find a copy at your library, although you might have to settle for an abridged version.

u/hulahulagirl · 2 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Not a specific recommendation, but see if your local library has access to the Overdrive app which will allow you to read ebooks from them for free.

Wool by Hugh Howey is a sci-fi-ish book you might like. Quick and easy read with a compelling plot.

u/JakeEkiss · 1 pointr/DnD

Sidekicks are paired down helper NPCs that you can find either in the new Essential's Kit that was recently released (as well as on D&D Beyond, where you can pay a discounted price for *just* the sidekick options) or you can use the slightly less streamlined (but free) rules from unearthed arcana that were the prototypes for the essentials kit versions.

Basically sidekicks are like a monster statblock, but friendly, and designed to be helpful to players, but with fewer options to keep track of.

You *could* make them as full characters, but if so I'd make your sidekicks a level or two lower than the party. That said, a full PC character is a lot of detail to put in for a character that is only there in a support role.

u/vondahl · 1 pointr/AskWomen

Oh gosh, I'm actually kind of horrible about reading! Some of my favorite little books are:

  • Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. It's a bunch of short stories about different universes based on some of Einstein's theories. For example, one of them is kind of like, "In this universe, time flows backwards. A woman picks a moldy peach out of her trashcan, puts it on her counter to ripen..." They're really interesting! It's a quick and wonderful read.

  • Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman is similar to the aforementioned book. Short stories about different afterlives. It's not a religious thing though. I was actually rereading it this afternoon! Really interesting ideas, some romantic, some ironic, cute, sad, etc. I think it could spark some great conversation.
u/YesterdayIBuiltToday · 1 pointr/eroticauthors

> A Filthy Book In a Fancy Dress, will help you format your ebooks and make them more appealing: https://www.amazon.com/Filthy-Book-Fancy-Dress-Formatting-ebook/dp/B00WIPMMEC

I'm planning on buying Vellum before my next book, and I'm hoping that will take care of formatting for me. Maybe wistful thinking...

> https://www.amazon.com/Naughty-Ink-Erotica-Publish-Successful-ebook/dp/B00L8ERJVU

I'll read through this. I'm only in Amazon, so some of the information might not be relevant, but I always find a few gems of info. Great that it's in KU!

Thanks for the links.

u/Slims · 5 pointsr/askphilosophy

I'm going to recommend something perhaps lighter and easier than the other posters so far (who have recommended great stuff): Sophie's World. It's a fiction novel that will also give you a crash course in the history of Western philosophy. I always recommend it to people who are just getting into philosophy but don't want to read the dense stuff. It's a wonderful book and it's fast and easy to read.

u/HereForInspiration · 3 pointsr/DMAcademy

This is an awesome surprise, he's going to love it.

The Essentials Kit has everything you need and is like $16 on Amazon. It has rules for just one DM and one player (sidekick rules), a map, complete adventure, magical item and quest cards, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Essentials-Kit-Boxed/dp/0786966831

u/workpuppy · 2 pointsr/booksuggestions

You might enjoy The Golem and the Jinni...It's set in turn of the century New York, and has strong cultural and religious overtones. The magical aspects of it are quite secondary to everything else.

A Winters Tale...the movie apparently sucked, but the book has stuck with me for quite some time. It's a lyrical piece of magic realism, much stronger on the realism. Another book on turn of the century New York.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell may be a bit more magic than you'd like, but it's astonishingly good. It's what Jane Austen would have produced if she'd decided to write a fantasy novel.

The Night Circus is good.

u/Frigorific · 3 pointsr/Fantasy

You can find physical copies of most older books on amazon for like $4.

Half price books, abebooks, thrift stores and shopping around for ebooks are all also options.

If you are looking for specific books there are some pretty reasonably priced compilations out there.

The Belgariad volumes one and two can be gotten for around $14.

All ten volumes of The Chronicles of Amber can be purchased for about $12.

All three volumes of the Dark Elf Trilogy can be purchased for around $12.

If you look around there are some pretty great deals out there.

u/Scrivver · 2 pointsr/Firearms

Not a pagan, but I have read the Poetic Edda (Hollander's edition) after being inspired by the works of JRR Tolkien and his son Christopher's excellent commentaries on them. The Edda is really awesome.

There is also the Prose Edda, and I would recommend The Sagas of Icelanders

u/Boutros2x · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Replay by Ken Grimwood.
I really enjoy time travel movies in general, and this book has a fairly interesting twist on that premise. I definitely recommend the book, and would love to see it as a movie.

u/PhilipMoon · 39 pointsr/writing

Hello, Cracked writer here.

I understand some of the frustration you feel, but I don't fully agree with your conclusions. I have done the Cracked list and it is a great launching off point for writing.

The format may be similar, but because it is popular and smarter than Buzzfeed or the many Buzzfeed knock-offs, it opens a lot of doors. I used my Cracked resume to get into contact with Fox Studios, and as a result I have had two seasons of a college sports web series called Suit Up, the second season now airing on DirecTV's Audience Channel.

There are several writers for the site who have gone on to be published. Among them

u/Kariolization · 1 pointr/AskScienceFiction

Awesome! If it's your first Lovecraft story you're in for a treat. No one captures the fear of the unknown like Lovecraft did. He writes of entities unnameable and indescribable, hidden horrors so far beyond our comprehension that we are left to imagine (if we even can) what grotesque forms they could take. Expect to encounter ancient forgotten civilizations, cosmic monstrosities, alternative planes of existence, extradimensional deities, all of the above.

Lovecraft never wrote any novels, mostly poems, short stories and a novella. A great thing about them is that they are all interconnected. You would be best off buying an anthology. I highly recommend these two:

Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft

Eldritch Tales: A Miscellany of the Macabre

u/abplayer · 2 pointsr/books

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean is really good and set very much in the modern day (ignore the crappy cover). I am pretty sure it was part of the whole Terri Windling gang.

Also, it's not a fairy tale exactly, but Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke is one of the best books I've read in the last several years. It's awesome.

u/GaiusOctavianAlerae · 5 pointsr/DMAcademy

Check out Running the Game, Matt Colville's YouTube series. You don't need to watch the whole series of course, but the first few videos will help you out a lot.

Your best bet if you're starting out is to get either the Starter Set or Essentials Kit. Both have everything you need to get started, and while I personally like the Essentials Kit more, either will work.

u/onomato-poetic · 3 pointsr/eroticauthors

I think the standard rec for hand formatting is sal's Filthy Book in a Fancy Dress...

There are also free ebook templates on the web, all you need to do is ask Google. But... if it gives you such a headache, why are you messing around with HTML in the first place?

Any particular reason why you don't want to upload your file as doc/docx?

Alternatively, there are plenty of free formatting options - like using Calibre, a plugin for Open Office (like Writer2Epub), an add-on for Sigil, or online services like Reedsy.

u/beastgp · 3 pointsr/DnDBehindTheScreen

This immediately made me think of the fantastic novel by Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell wiki
I don't want to go into detail because spoilers. I think I can get away with saying that someone is half-given to a faerie who transports the person magically every night - they end up sleep deprived and no-one can understand why they are so tired and lose all strength to live with. You could certainly spin it around some similarly dark invisible drawback.
I HIGHLY recommend the book. It's also available in a well regarded TV series
Perhaps the pixie might even pass on her 'ownership' as a gift to a higher ranking and more powerful fae Lord or Lady?

u/CoyoteGriffin · 1 pointr/AskReddit

http://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1314657462&sr=8-1

From Publishers Weekly
This long, dense novel, a bestseller in the author's native Norway, offers a summary history of philosophy embedded in a philosophical mystery disguised as a children's book--but only sophisticated young adults would be remotely interested. Sophie Amundsen is about to turn 15 when she receives a letter from one Alberto Knox, a philosopher who undertakes to educate her in his craft. Sections in which we read the text of Knox's lessons to Sophie about the pre-Socratics, Plato and St. Augustine alternate with those in which we find out about Sophie's life with her well-meaning mother. Soon, though, Sophie begins receiving other, stranger missives addressed to one Hilde Moller Knag from her absent father, Albert. [...] Norwegian philosophy professor Gaarder's notion of making a history of philosophy accessible is a good one. Unfortunately, it's occasionally undermined by the dry language he uses to describe the works of various thinkers and by an idiosyncratic bias that gives one paragraph to Nietzsche but dozens to Sartre, breezing right by Wittgenstein and the most influential philosophy of this century, logical positivism. Many readers, regardless of their age, may be tempted to skip over the lessons, which aren't well integrated with the more interesting and unusual metafictional story line.

u/mx_hazelnut · 6 pointsr/books

I haven't read much of it, but I bet you'd like the Dresden Files series. The plot and characters are compelling and evocative, but the series doesn't take itself too seriously. There are lighthearted moments, and humor that doesn't break your immersion or seem out of place. I hear similarly good things about John Dies at the End.

u/MarquisDesMoines · 1 pointr/read_more

Your milage may vary in terms of what you find "weird," but off the top of my head here's a few that fall all over the weird spectrum

1)The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. Deals with drugs, conspiracy theories, and the occult blended with a strong sense of wit and cynicism. Imagine Dan Brown but with a much stronger sense of humor.

2) VALIS by Philip K. Dick. Really anything by Dick could deserve a place on here but VALIS is my personal favorite. A group of misfit adults all struggle to piece together a series of odd occurrences that just may be a message from the god of the Gnostics.

3) Spacetime Donuts by Rudy Rucker. If the above are a bit too heady for you, then this might be more up your ally. Weird theoretical math is explored through the travels of an elderly, weed and acid loving guy who lives in a world controlled by a mostly benevolent supercomputer.

Edit: Forgot a couple!

4) John Dies at the End by David Wong. A great story about two slacker guys who stumble upon a "drug" known as Soy Sauce that opens up other words both literally and figuratively. A wonderful combination of dick & fart humor and deep meditations on the horrors of our universe.

5) The Time Machine Did It by John Swartzwelder. I have never laughed so hard, so consistently at a book. John is a writer from the golden age of the Simpsons and his unique sense of humor is on display here. He's got a bunch of books out and I admittedly have only read this one so far, but based on it the rest of his works are definitely on my must-read list.

u/Johnletraingle · 1 pointr/writing

There's no shortage of both paid and free resources.

​

I would recommend:

​

  1. Robert Mckee's "Dialogue". The definitive tome on writing dialogue.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455591912/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

    ​

  2. "Self -editing for fiction writers". All-round comprehensive book on craft. Covers all aspects of writing, with clear straightforward advice.

    https://www.amazon.com/Self-Editing-Fiction-Writers-Second-Yourself/dp/0060545690/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_pt_BR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=self+editing+for+writers&qid=1563126077&s=books&sr=1-1

    ​

  3. "Helping writers become authors" podcast. Heavily focused on craft and technique.

    Listen for free here:

    ​

    https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/podcasts/
u/aahe42 · 2 pointsr/totalwar

For more about the time period read the book romance of the three kingdom https://www.amazon.com/Three-Kingdoms-Chinese-Classics-Volumes/dp/7119005901/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 or try watching the 2010 tv show Romance of the three kingdoms its really good if you can deal with subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcZ2zq82ebA&list=PLQgby8Rb0ImEP4108x04Feg2dBvuDADJG, there is also some youtube videos from kings and generals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOGkH_8K_xg, Three kingdoms oversimplified by Oversimplified https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=26EivpCPHnQ. Cody Bonds channel has overview of all the starting characters in the game with some historical context heres one of them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZOfQAAnSKU I'm sure there is a lot more other could suggest.

u/kimmature · 2 pointsr/books

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I'm a fan of time-travel, and history, and I was completely sucked into it. She's got a number of books in the same universe- some comedic, some very dramatic, but The Doomsday Book is my favourite.

If you're at all interested in high fantasy, I'd recommend either Tigana or The Fionovar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. You either love his prose style or hate it, but if you love it, it will definitely take you away.

If you like SF and haven't read them, I'd try either Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos, or David Brin's Uplift Series (I'd skip Sundiver until later, and start with Startide Rising.)

If you're looking for more light-hearted/quirky, I'd try Christopher Moore- either Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal , or The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror. If you're into a mix of horror/sf/comedy, try John Dies at the End. They're not deep, but they're fun.

Non-fiction- if you haven't read it yet, Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air is very difficult to put down. If you're travelling with someone who doesn't mind you looking up every few pages and saying "did you know this, this is awesome, wow-how interesting", I'd go for Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants or Bill Bryson's At Home: A Short History of Private Life. They're all very informative, fun, interesting books, but they're even better if you can share them while you're reading them.



u/Jjex22 · 1 pointr/history

Well it follows an interpretation of compounded tales, mentions and claimed relations of Ragnar Lodbrok. In terms of accuracy we don’t actually know if he even existed at all with any certainty.. and if he did, we equally have no idea how much or any of the original tales, legend and documented record would actually refer to him or to each other, so go from there.

It’s very likely to be more accurate than any Robin Hood or King Arthur show basically.

But they’ve done a good job I think in making a show that’s entertaining, revived interest in the old Norse sagas (instead of just focusing on a few bits of Norse mythology as was common before), history and awareness of the period, and has a good portrayal of some aspects of life at the time, even if in a very HBO kind of way.

For the actual history of the times, history text books, the history channel are really the place to go, but if you want to know more of the Saga’s this book is great place to start:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0141000031

u/ZangTumbTumb · 1 pointr/books

Necronomicon: the Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft was probably my best buy, ever. It's a beautiful book with all the best stories (in my opinion). If I were you I'd start with that. You can't go wrong!

u/AmusementPork · 1 pointr/NoMansSkyTheGame

Definitely "Blindsight" by Peter Watts. It's about as hard as sci-fi can get, but it's one of those rare books that can completely blow your mind. It's a First Contact story with a really fascinating take on the evolution of consciousness, with profound implications for human cognition. Watts just released a sequel, "Echopraxia," which is equally great.

u/MicahCastle · 6 pointsr/horrorlit

Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft (Commemorative Edition)

I've read it a few times through, and it's still great every read. As a bonus, the book looks cool too.

u/CaptainRallie · 1470 pointsr/AskReddit

Penpal. Originally published on /r/nosleep by /u/1000vultures. Absolutely terrifying.

Footsteps

Balloons

Boxes

Maps

Screens

Friends

*Edit: Holy cow this is easily my most upvoted comment ever. Glad you guys are enjoying the creepiness. As several other people have pointed out, /u/1000vultures has actually published this as a full-length book, with some new stuff added in and edits as well to make it all flow better. If you enjoyed his stories for free, please consider buying them!

u/Cdresden · 2 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Wool by Hugh Howey. First in a trilogy. You can download the first part for free to see if this is for you.

He has another good book that might be a bit easier to read, called Sand. The first part of that is also a free download to try.

Half a King + sequels by Joe Abercrombie.

u/WeWillFallTogether · 2 pointsr/Lovecraft

I know you already picked one, but I got the hardcover version of the Necronomicon compilation, and I absolutely love it. It's beautifully bound and embossed. I got into Lovecraft not too long ago, and I'm still working my way through it.

u/MeekTheUndying · 21 pointsr/DnD

A few particular items of interest from Amazon :

u/keele · 1 pointr/scifi

Zone One is my favorite Zombie Novel. It actually has some character development. I found this on my public library's Overdrive ebook collection.

Tooth and Nail was also a fun read.

Krinberry mentioned Wool below, that was also pretty engaging.

u/DownAndOutInMidgar · 1 pointr/medicalschool

The best fantasy book I ever read was Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It's a slow burn, but the world building is second to none. There was a BBC miniseries as well. I haven't watched it but it's well-reviewed.

Some others I really like:

Hoity toity literature: Moby Dick (way more fun than it's reputation lets on), Notes From the Underground by Dostoevsky.

Non-fiction: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (chronicles the building of the World's Fair in Chicago alongside HH Holmes building his Murder Castle), The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddartha Mukherjee (history of cancer).

Great sci-fi: Dune, Canticle for Leibowitz, Fahrenheit 451.

Books that are really fun to read: Anything by Neil Gaiman, Dresden Files series.

u/exodusmachine · 6 pointsr/dresdenfiles

If you're looking for something really dark I'd suggest Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces series. The first one is Child of Fire. I really enjoyed it and Jim Butcher has also recommend it. Keep in mind there are only 3 books and 1 prequel that Harry self published due to his publisher dropping him.

If you're looking for something stupid and funny I recommend John Dies at the End and it's sequel This Books is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It. I have to admit I'm a bit biased on those though, I won a free signed copy of TBiFoS by participating in an alternate reality game around the time of its release.

u/Zoobles88 · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Morthy demands:

old posh Englishman: old posh Englishmen like to write, right? (Writing Stuff)

Never seen in public: these slippers would look ridiculous in public (Other Stuff)

Most phallic: this is the best I've got(Other Stuff)

Akeleie demands:

Most geeky: probably my Adipose toy (Other Stuff)

Achieve a goal: I would love to be a writer (Writing Stuff)

Deserted island: who doesn't need a ukulele on and island? (Other Stuff)

Thanks for the contest!! :D

u/Fishbowl_Helmet · 2 pointsr/writing

Just start. You read mass quantities as broadly as possible, you read as much in your genre--or genres--of choice as possible, and you write as often as possible. You finish what you start, you revise what you've finished, and you read the final result with a critical eye in the hopes of improving your craft. It's simple. The shit just ain't easy.

Start simple. Pick your favorite genre. Write some short stories in that genre. Use either first person ("I shot the sheriff") or third person ("He shot the sheriff"). And use past tense ("He shot the sheriff") instead of present tense ("He shoots the sheriff"). You can branch out from there once you get the basics down.

Grab a few of the best how to books in your genre(s) of choice, but don't stop writing as often as possible, and don't just keep on reading every how to book ever published.

One of the best books is a general reference, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers.

But really, it comes down to read, read, read, and write, write, write.

u/Unkie_Fester · 2 pointsr/Lovecraft

This it's not the complete collection of HP Lovecradt. But it has all of his best works. And that paper quality is great

Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft (Commemorative Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0575081570/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_aFYDAb4MPCH1J

u/cellarduur · 1 pointr/CGPGrey

If anyone else happens to like those short-format thought collection-style books, two other interesting ones that I really like are:

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

I come back to both of these books repeatedly for creative inspiration, I like them so much. I have yet to read Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, but from what Grey said, I feel like the two that I mentioned might be a little bit more in-depth and may require a bit more work to understand in some cases.

u/Laibach23 · 1 pointr/Showerthoughts

I would highly recommend a book I'm currently reading, Echopraxia
Even though it's 2nd in a series to another (equally great) book of Peter Watts' called BlindSight

some of the best Hard Science Fiction in recent decades, IMHO..
and it goes into precisely those speculations that stimulated your post.

If you like SciFi, do yourself a favor and pick it up right now..
If you're not that into SciFi, this might just get you into it more.

u/THE_reverbdeluxe · 2 pointsr/CasualConversation

Well if you're in to horror/ sci-fi, you need to check out a book called John Dies at the End. Best book I've ever read. Horror, sci-fi, comedy, action, all executed perfectly. The sequel is even better.

u/The_Level_15 · 1 pointr/RyzeMains

Book one

Book two

Absolutely incredible short story

Book one had such an uncomfortable start for me, felt too tropey and overdone, but I'm glad I stuck around and got into it because it really picks up into an amazing couple of books.

I just really hope book three is released during my lifetime.

One of the character's names is Ambrose.

u/andwithdot · 11 pointsr/sciencefiction

Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds

or

Blindsight by Peter Watts

Depends on what sort of stuff you like, Blindsight is darker and pretty philosophical, focusing especially on consciousness and perception, while Pushing Ice is more classical sci-fi on a grander scale with a good helping of technical stuff and character drama/politics.

u/Grays42 · 13 pointsr/nottheonion

I don't read much fiction anymore, but by far my favorite fantasy series of all time is Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. My alias for the past 15 years (Grays) is derived from that series.

It's a crossover between modern world and fantasy realm fiction. The series is split cleanly into two story arcs, each five books long. It's short--the ten book series is only 1200-ish pages, and compiled into a single volume at a very affordable $16. Very little "scenery"; his descriptions are short and use language very well to imply details of a setting while he focuses on characters and rapid dialogue.

Read the first chapter on Amazon. If you like it, get the whole thing.

u/mswas · 3 pointsr/booksuggestions

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!

u/girkuss · 2 pointsr/rpg

Devil in the White City- By Erik Larson A fantastic nonfiction that reads like fiction.

Anything by HP Lovecraft for a dose of Horror. I think the story, "Horror at Red Hook" and "Lurker in Darkness" have more of an adventurer GM theme to them than others. Fair bit of warning, when reading his stuff have a dictonary pulled up on your phone. Since it's older material there are a lot of anitquated words in there. Don't worry about learning every new word for future reference. Your brain will pick a couple.
My favorite collection.

I have used some history books about WWI and WWII to make campigns for Iron Kingdoms.

I'm a fan of varied mediums, if you haven't done graphic novels before, maybe look into one that could strike your fancy. Hellboy, Batman-The Long Halloween, most titles by Allen Moore, Superman-Red Son.

Also sneak some poetry in there. Even light stuff like Shel Silverstein was helpful to me. It helps you think of how to use words in new ways.

Edit: Formatting

u/IndigoMontigo · 2 pointsr/babylon5

If you like the show, I recommend you check out the book series it's based on, by James S.A. Corey. The first book is Leviathan Wakes.

The show looks like it will be good. The books have already proven themselves to be good.

u/samiiRedditBot · 2 pointsr/philosophy

I also enjoyed The Passion Of The Western Mind by Richard Tarnas. Personally, I think that Tarnas did of better job than Russel at giving context to the philosophical frameworks that these guys were working within, but that's just my opinion (I've read both books). Russell comes across like a professor giving you his specific interpretation - hence the bias slant - where as Tanas seems able to give you a little more perspective - not that I'm attempting to claim that he is completely without bias, himself.

You might also what to look into Sophie's World.

u/MerroStep · 1 pointr/DnD

Awesome advice, thank you.

In regards to which books to invest in, do you think I, as a "player-first, potential DM second," I should just stick with buying the Player's Handbook now? Especially since I would only be DMing new players almost exclusively for the near future?

Or should I buy the Rulebook Gift Set which is cheaper on Amazon right now for about $8 less than the 3 books separately?

u/MagnusMagi · 7 pointsr/Norse

This is where I usually send people looking into the Sagas for the first time. It is a compilation of the more popular Sagas, and the translation is in a moder, easy to understand format. The only downside is that the book is like 5 inches thick! So it's not really the best for bed time reading.

The Sagas occasionally reference one another, or overlap in their details, but they are not linear, and can be read in any order.

Good luck!

u/faloofay · 2 pointsr/goth

Anything by H.P. Lovecraft <3 I absolutely adore the shadow over innsmouth and the colour out of space... If youre into video games they have one based on the shadow over innsmouth with themes from the call of cthulhu and its just amazing... Its called "Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth"

Edit: I bought a lovely volume of almost every story by him from barnes and noble for 40$ AND it doubles as a weapon ;) (http://www.amazon.com/Necronomicon-Weird-Lovecraft-Commemorative-Edition/dp/0575081570/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397318203&sr=8-2&keywords=necronomicon) I just realized you could find it on amazon for thirty... ;-; sadness...

u/rexlibris · 5 pointsr/CasualConversation

The Chronicles of Amber- Roger Zelazny, you can get it in a towering omnibus here. Still some of the best sci-fi fantasy authors and works ever, though highly under rated. Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll, Parallel Universes, high fantasy kings and blood feuds and swords and castles. His book of short stories are impeccable too IMO

He won more than a few Hugo awards for his work. In particular outside of Amber, I would recommend his short story 24 Views of Mr Fuji


For /r/worldbuilding I'd put him much higher than F. Herbert and George RR Martin.

u/The_Dead_See · -1 pointsr/AskScienceDiscussion

I've no answer to your question (if I did I'd be God), but I just want to share a book that you might be interested in - Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. It considers time from a lot of different, fascinating angles.

u/DarthContinent · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

If you post the URL like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Einsteins-Dreams-Alan-Lightman/dp/140007780X/

You can still get to the item minus any referral codes, but I guess you'd need to clear cookies and revisit the page if you're intent on not wanting someone to get an affiliate credit. Or, you could optionally add ?tag=Reddit-20 to have that credit apply to Reddit when you buy that or whatever else.

u/Peteyklop · 0 pointsr/rpg

I know you said no D&D, but 5th edition is definitely the easiest one to understand. The D&D Starter Set or the D&D Essentials are both good places to start.

u/enigmo666 · 5 pointsr/Lovecraft

I got the Gollancz collection (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0575081562). It's not a complete anthology, but does include a map of Arkham, a biography, and by far looks the best in my shelves, and the few stories that are missing are not the best. For a complete set of works, you can either get another book to complete the Gollancz set (Eldritch Tales: A Miscellany of the Macabre), or as I got for general use, the Red Skull Publishing HP Lovecraft Complete Collection. The end of story facts in that one are short but interesting, shedding some light on inspiration and setting.

u/Savage_TaktiX · 1 pointr/DungeonsAndDragons

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Rulebooks-Slipcase-Handbook/dp/0786966629/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=D%26d&qid=1567754912&s=gateway&sr=8-4

This is a great deal which gives you everything you could possibly want to play and run a game!

If he already plays a lot then he may already have these and in that case I would search for supplemental books, cool dice, and miniatures to add to his game!

u/cphuntington97 · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

I should also mention that Eric Whitacre spent nearly half his lecture preaching about how great the Cryptonomicon is and turned me into a huge Neal Stephenson fan.

He was also (this is 10+ years ago...) really excited about his opera. If it ever opens in NYC, I'll go see it!

u/LimpsMcGee · 4 pointsr/writing

Please Read: John Dies At The End.

It is a book where completely insane things happen to two guys, and a lot of it just doesn't make sense. It is still a great book, and an inspirational example of successful self-publishing. (He started out by publishing chapters online. It went viral, and has sense been made into a movie.)

Don't discount your work because it's weird. Some people like weird.

u/psyferre · 7 pointsr/WoT

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.

u/stellalugosi · 3 pointsr/Norse

The Icelandic Saga Database
The Sagas of the Icelanders

I have a huge copy of the entire collected sagas entitled "The Icelandic Sagas", but I can't find a link to it online. While it may not be a "book" per se, they are out there as collected works in various forms and editions. Considering that many of the sagas demonstrate various values and traditions of the Norse culture, as well as giving some insight into the relationship between humanity and the gods, I think dismissing it as "low-context folk belief" is to ignore the importance of these "folk beliefs" to the overall world view.

u/EasilyRemember · 4 pointsr/KingkillerChronicle
  1. Chronicles of Amber (series) - Roger Zelazny
  2. Books 1-5: 10/10 | Books 6-10: 9/10
  3. Fantasy
  4. One of my first forays into fantasy; I was probably around 13 or 14 when I first read these books, and I come back to them every couple of years. The Corwin cycle (the first five books) are probably my favorite fantasy books of all time. The writing is great -- fast-paced, clever, descriptive, enthralling, and stylish. Simply put, this is an essential series for any serious fantasy reader's collection.
  5. Complete 10 book series in paperback on Amazon for $16. Read more on Wikipedia.
u/tominmoraga · 1 pointr/exmormon

I think I understand how you feel. Looking past Mormonism, it's easy to question the existence of God. I think we need to examine everything in a critical manner. I believe that God gave me some direct answers to direct questions that happened to conflict with things being taught by the LDS church. I felt that I'd had an epiphany of sorts and understood that God just wants us to help and love others. I think you do need to study, but more of the classic philosophers and less of the scriptures. I think you would really enjoy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718

u/kinkgirlwriter · 4 pointsr/eroticauthors

You can use Amazon's preview as you publish, but the best way to get a clean finished product, IMO, is converting everything to .mobi before you upload. You just get so many chances to look at it as the reader will see it.

I use a combo of what I've learned from Guido Henkel, u/SalaciousStories' A Filthy Book in a Fancy Dress, and my own experiences and techniques, but the last step is always to open it up in Kindle Previewer and see exactly what the customer will see.

u/WillieConway · 2 pointsr/askphilosophy

Have you read Confucius and confucianism? That's really where this stuff gets treated philosophically.

If you want a philosophical idea of childhood and consent rooted in Western philosophy, then you've got to read diverse thinkers of the past three centuries. John Locke has a lot to say about children, so maybe start there.

Also, I might be presumptuous, in which case I apologize--but are you a teenager? If so, you might benefit from reading a good introduction to philosophy. You can find several if you use the search bar, but I always recommend the novel Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It is a story designed to introduce philosophy to teenagers.

u/Cupcake_Kat · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

First off, THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL CONTEST!!!

If I won the kindle, I would read the crap out of it! I currently have a very good library in my house, but I have gotten to the point where I have no room! My husband actually said, no more books! I am heartbroken! I have been borrowing from friends like mad and am rereading series (which I do any ways). I do have an Amazon Prime account, so If I had the Kindle Fire, I would be able to "borrow" books from Amazon for free, which would be a big difference in my checkbook. I don't own any sort of Kindle as of this point, and have always wanted one. I will add a Kindle Book to my wish list, since right now, it wasn't worth having one on there. Thanks again!

u/the_itch · 6 pointsr/NoSleepOOC

There is a list of authors with Amazon pages on the NoSleep authors' non-nosleep pages.

If it needs to be updated, then just let /u/ALooc know.

Also, I was just looking at buying a bunch of these to support the nosleep community. I know the following authors have pages as well (links go to amazon, not their reddit profiles):
/u/bloodworthOOC
/u/1000Vultures
/u/theworldisgrim
/u/AsForClass
/u/The_Dalek_Emperor

Anybody wanna sign a copy for me? :)

u/NorthAtlanticCatOrg · 10 pointsr/SubredditDrama

No, it is just long. A little over 2000 pages. The text is pretty straightforward and all third person. The link below is for the set I have. The translation is solid but the only issue is the spoilers at the start of every chapter.




I honestly wouldn't bother with it unless you are into Chinese history and culture or liked the games though.

Three Kingdoms (Chinese Classics, 4 Volumes) https://amazon.com/dp/7119005901/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_sId4Cb73PP05H

u/cuchoi · 7 pointsr/books

Sophie's World is a novel about philosophy, great place to start

>A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print.

http://www.amazon.com/Sophies-World-History-Philosophy-Classics/dp/0374530718/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324856789&sr=8-1

u/Letheron88 · 1 pointr/writing

I'm not sure about what questions you could ask a coach, but any information i'd ever want to learn about writing can be found in the following books:

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444723251

Stein on Writing
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0312254210

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0060545690

Maybe some questions you can answer for us? Why have you sought out a writing coach? What kind of writing do you do? How long have you been writing and at what level?

You may get some better responses after these questions. :)