Demon of the Air by Simon Levack is a mystery/crime novel set in the early years of the Aztec Empire. It won the Crime Writers' Association New Writing Competition and (I think) a Gold Dagger (?) award?

It's the first in a series of four "Aztec Mysteries" (so far).

I picked up the first title (Demon of the Air) but haven't read it yet. They come highly recommended though.


I'm also a big fan of Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series of historical mysteries set in Ancient Rome.

Dissolution by CJ Sansom is the first of several historical mysteries set in Tudor England. I liked it a lot. I've bought the second title for my Kindle, but haven't read it yet.

Zoo Station is another historical series set in pre WWII Germany. Good fun.

The historical mysteries (or so-called "Night Soldiers" novels) of Alan Furst are simply superb. He is generally considered one of the best historical/espionage writers around and these books have effectively redefined the genre. They are all very loosely linked (effectively stand alone with perhaps one or two subtle references to events in other books), the first of which is the simply wonderful Night Soldiers. Along a similar vein to Downing and Furst, Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir track the progress of washed up German police officer/private investigator Bernie Gunther from just before WWII to the fifties in South America. Very well written and well regarded.

Finally, there are some simply wonderful stand alone historical novels I cannot pass up the chance of recommending. The simply astounding Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is probably one of the best novels I have ever read. It tracks the early career of Thomas Cromwell as he rises from humble origins to being the most powerful man in Henry VIII's England. It justifiably won the 2009 Man Booker Prize. I've just started her A Place of Greater Safety set during the French Revolution and am very much looking forward to it. Mantel is a sublimely talented wordsmith.

Gore Vidal is famous for his historical novels, not least [Julian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_(novel) and more recently [Creation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_(novel). Allan Massie is famous for his historical ("fictional") biographies of Ancient Romans and Thomas Holt has written several historical novels (along with other works), my favourite of which is Goat Song and its sequel, The Walled Orchard (also the name of a subsequent publication of both novels combined).

Should I continue?

Obligatory wiki links: Dystopian Literature. Although, some of the titles listed don't seem to fit (The Dispossessed?). Nuclear holocaust fiction, and your general apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction.

Some of the better/more popular ones:

• Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang Kate Wilhelm.
  
  
• Eternity Road Jack McDevitt. Well written, but not very insightful.
  
  
• The Postman David Brin.
  
  
• Mockingbird Walter Tevis. Great read. Think Idiocracy, with a serious take. Humanity's totally run by robots, everyone's forgotten how to read and think for themselves, and the world population's dropped to almost nothing.
  
  
• We Yevgeny Zamyatin. The inspiration for George Orwell's 1984. Not the best read IMO, but some people claim it's better than 1984. It's possible I read a poor translation.
  
  
• Island Aldous Huxley. It's a utopian island surrounded by a dystopian world. Might not fit in this list, but it's a good read if you like Huxley. I think it was his last novel.
  
  
• 1984 George Orwell. One of my favorite novels. I have a bumper sticker with the quote "War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery", which is a slogan from the book. (Also, a sticker on my mirror with "Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me"). The link points to Animal Farm and 1984.
  
  
• Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury. Another must read. Very well written, thought-provoking novel. Is it still required reading in schools?
  
  
• Earth Abides George Stewart.
  
  
• Alas, Babylon Pat Frank. Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle. I'm grouping these two together because they're very similar, both in setting and politics. I didn't really enjoy either. The politics were not at all subtle, and the characters fit too neatly into stereotypes, and too obviously the writer's hero fantasy. Still, they're pretty popular, so try them out and feel free to disagree with me.
  
  
• Brave New World Aldous Huxley. Really just a utopia that's rough around the edges, if I'm remembering it correctly (also called an anti-utopia, thank you wikipedia). Another must read.
  
  
• A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter Miller.
  
  
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub Stanislaw Lem. Another favorite. I once created a text adventure based on this book. It was about as frustrating as that Hitchhiker's Guide game.
  
  
• The Road Cormac McCarthy.
  
  
• Philip K. Dick It's hard to keep track of PKD's novels, but some of them are dystopian, all of them worth reading. Favorites: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (also known as/inspired Blade Runner), Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, The Man in the High Castle.
  
  
• The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood.
  
  
• Y: The Last Man A graphical novel/comic collection. Decent art, great story.
  
  Zombies: World War Z, Raise the Dead, Marvel Zombies, Zombie Survival Guide, Day By Day Armageddon, I Am Legend.
  
  Also, just for kicks, some of my favorite dystopian movies:
  Brazil, Soylent Green, 12 Monkeys, Blade Runner, Akira, Children of Men, Dark City, A Boy and His Dog, Logan's Run, Idiocracy, Equillibrium.

She probably has all of the books you've mentioned if she really likes them, bookish people usually do... A special edition might be an idea, but I won't be able to help you with that, I go for cheap paperbacks due to money ;)

I'm tempted to recommend "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, it's not sci-fi classic per se, but it's a dystopian classic, she would probably like it if she likes Brave New World, but again, she might already have it. Still I'm sure she'd be thrilled to get a thoughtful thank you gift from you, even if she's read it before or even has a copy... Here's a link to that book on amazon, if you want to have a look: amazon link

If she does like classic sci-fi, here are some old-school, hard sci-fi (but it's not all just spaceships and aliens) that she might enjoy and possibly even not have, since a couple of the authors aren't from English speaking countries:

• Stanislaw Lem "Solaris" amazon link
  
• Arkady and Boris Strugatsky "Roadside Picnic" amazon link
  
• Artur C. Clarke "Childhood's End" amazon link
  
• Walter M. Miller Jr. "A Canticle for Leibowitz" amazon link

Classics: Tristram Shandy, Moby Dick, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, The Grapes of Wrath. All wonderful in their own ways. Tristram Shandy is very 'post-modern' in feel depite being from the 1700's

I'm also rather fond of 'classic' short stories, so I can reccommend various collections like this or this or this - all collections I've read and enjoyed. Cheever, O'Hara, Chekov, Carver are all well worth your time.

Borges is fascinating and strange - a great conversation starter.

Mystery/Thrillers: James Ellroy's LA Quartet, George V. Higgins (The Friends of Eddie Coyle, etc.), Chandler's The Long Goodbye, Ross MacDonald's The Chill, Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me...

There's loads of great sci-fi out there - start with a Gardner Dozois "Best of" and branch out. Philip K Dick (Ubik is a good start). Charles Stross Accelerando. William Gibson. Collections of short stories are great: Rewired, Mirrorshades, various 'best of' collections. Swanwick, Sterling, Egan.

As mentioned Douglas R Hofstadter's stuff is great non-fiction (philosophy? linguistics? cogsci? AI?) with a decidedly playfull streak that makes it a joy to read.

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is a great urban fantasy story that takes place in the unseen world below London and includes some magic, adventure and a great mystery.


If you haven't read the Chronicles of Narnia try those. After you get past the Christian allegories in the first book the series is enjoyable. If you have read them check out His Dark Materials. Another great book that has been called the atheists' response to Narnia.

China Mieville's Perdido Street Station would be a good one too. Definitely darker than the fantasy in Harry Potter but well written and a great story.

The Hunger Games trilogy has been mentioned a few times and is enjoyable. It is more Science Fiction than fantasy but is a great dystopian story. Written for YAs, like Harry Potter, but enjoyable for just about anyone.They're making a Hunger Games movie now so you'll be able to say you read it back before it was cool.


Edit: Forgot to mention The Dark Tower Series. A great series by Steven King that combines fantasy, western, science fiction and some horror. That sounds like a hodgepodge but the series manages to walk the line so well you end up staying awake until 2am reading to find out what happens next.

Walter Moers

Given the massive success of Adams, Pratchett and others, the rave reviews of everything in Moers' ever-expanding Zamonia series, the fantastic illustrations and the riotous and creative writing I cannot believe so few people have read these books.

These books have some deep social and psychological analysis alongside absurdity, humor, violence, love and adventure.

Reference books, chronologically:

• The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear
  
  
• Rumo
  
  
• The City of Dreaming Books
  
  
• Alchemaster's [sic] Apprentice
  
  Editorial reviews:
  
  
  >“Cheerfully insane. . . . Remains lively and inventive right through the final heroic battle between good and evil.”
  
  —The New York Times Book Review
  
  
  >“Moers’s creative mind is like J.K. Rowling’s on ecstasy; his book reads like a collision between The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the Brothers Grimm…. What a delightful book.”
  
  —Detroit News and Free Press
  
  >“An overstuffed confection… Cross The Lord of the Rings with Yellow Submarine, throw in dashes of Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Shrek, and The Princess Bride…That’s the sort of alchemy in which this sprawling novel trades.”
  
  —Kirkus
  

I'm sticking to short books that may be slightly above her reading level, but to be honest I think most kids read "up" anyways, and if she's bored she might like the challenge. These are all fast-moving, narrated by a first-person narrator with a great voice that hooks you, and they all have that "what happens next?" quality I think is really valuable in keeping you turning pages.

True Grit - yes, it's a Western, but it's a fast, funny book that is narrated by a 14-year-old girl who is a total badass. I didn't expect much from it and it hooked me like heroin.

Kamikaze Girls - a translation of a Japanese book about a super-high-fashion girl stuck in the sticks and her biker gang best friend. Really mean, really funny, and totally different from what you'd expect. The world it takes place in is so real, so detailed, but so alien to the US (but also kind of familiar - we all sometimes hate our hometowns) that it sucks you in.

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - I agree with the other poster who says this is a good one. It's really sad, but the story sucks you in.

The Fault In Our Stars - great YA book that is funny and sad and all about cancer which feels Very Important to read about when you're 12. But super-gripping and the narrator has a great voice.

There are some great popular anthropological works that attempt something of this sort. For a book that jumps across continents and cultures and, as you want, "highlights the truly astounding human achievements of a given society compared to the other societies existing on the Earth that didn't achieve that particular success and why or why not," I'd recommend something like Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. I can highly recommend this book if that is what you are looking for.

There was also, at one point, a whole school of historical scholarship called Universal History. You can still find these books coming out today, but they are less common within the history profession, which tends to focus on more finite questions. For more info on universal history, click here - that should help you get started. Also, here is a running list of published universal histories. I don't tend to read universal histories, so I can't recommend any particular one, though apparently Isaac Asimov dabbled in this at one point and his work, found here has some good reviews.

Good luck!

When the Lights go out Tanith Lee was a book that made a very strong impression on me.

The tombs of Atuan by LeGuin was another book I kept on rereading as a teen.

The Woman who Loved Reindeer by M.A. Pierce I only read once as it got knicked from my library. Over 15 years later I still carry it with me, or at least the feeling I got from from it.

I'm also slightly thinking The Darkangel trilogy by Pierce as well. Another series that got read, re-read and re-re-read.

Come to think of it, I think a lot of the books that really got to me as a teen were the fantasy starring alienated but strong teens and women.

Nowadays I think one of my favourite books are The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, which, aside from being absolutely awesome scifi, I guess also touches on the topic of strong but misfitted women.

Barbara Tuchman was brilliant writer of history.

Albert Camus was a brilliant absurdist philosopher and novelist.

Jared Diamond has written some brilliant books at the intersection of anthropology and ecology. Another good book in this genre is Clive Ponting's A New Green History of the World.

Gwynne Dyer is an acclaimed military historian turned journalist on international affairs who has written a number of very engaging books on warfare and politics. His most recent book Climate Wars is the ONE book I would recommend to someone, if so limited, on the subject as it embodies both a wonderful synopsis of the science juxtaposed against the harsh realpolitiks and potential fates of humankind that may unfold unless we can manage to tackle the matter seriously, soon. Another great book on climate change is Bill McKibben's Deep Economy.

For social activists interested in ending world hunger and abject poverty, I can recommend: Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen's Development as Freedom; Nobel Prize winning micro-financier Muhammad Yunus' Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism; UN MDG famed economist Jeffrey Sach's End Of Poverty; and Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea

For anyone of Scottish heritage, I heartily recommend Arthur Hermann's How The Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It

For naval history buffs: Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought.

Last, but not least: Robert Pirsig's classic Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Enjoy!

In Search Of Schrodinger's Cat by John Gribbin is a very readable physics and quantum physics history sketch. Might be slightly dated now, although I can't think of anything directly contradicted by recent work. Then again, I'm not actually a physicist :)

The Quark and the Jaguar is quite a bit more complicated, but still quite accessible to the layperson and has a lot of interesting stuff.

Slightly less sciency, more maths/logic/computation is Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

A Guinea Pig's History of Biology is pretty much what the title says, although there's an awful lot about fruit-flies too. Quite a good review of the history of biological experimentation, especially genetics.

H2O: A Biography of Water from a previous editor of Nature, covers water across a variety of fields. The second half of the book is mostly a rant about cold fusion and homoeopathy though, from what I recall, but the first half makes up for it.

Most general-audience things by Richard Feynman are well worth the read. He's got some great physics lectures, and his autobiography (Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman?) is fun, but more for the anecdotes than the science.

Those are off the top of my head. If its something in a particular field, I might have some other ideas I'm currently forgetting.

I am glad I am able to expose many of you to these as I have been. If I had to briefly describe them I would have to say satisfyingly dark, plenty of violence and great fight scenes. The characters is what makes this stand out though. Hate them or love them they are truly unique and greatly enjoyable, the perspectives change from chapter to chapter so you never get bored. Everyone is out for themselves and there are no good guys, many betrayals and twists. This is truly the most entertaining books I have read.

Here is the amazon link for those interested in more reviews.

After the trilogy takes place there are 2 stand alone novels taking place in the same world. The first roughly 4 years after the trilogy titled Best Served Cold, the second roughly 8 years after the trilogy is The Heroes.


If you are someone that has been searching for that truly violent epic that doesn't hold back, with a cast of amazing characters and a non stop energy that just flows through the entire set then check these out, It will not disappoint!

Use of Weapons and, everything else by Iain M. Banks. Amazing stuff. Trust me.

The Blade Itself and the rest of that series by Joe Abercrombie.

Altered Carbon and the rest of that series as well as Thirteen and The Steel Remains, and it's sequel (still waiting on book 3) by Richard K. Morgan. He's pretty amazing.

That would keep you busy for a long time and are all pretty amazing. Seconding Dune, which is amazing, and the Name of the Wind which is great but very popcorn.

But really, if you were to read everything by Iain M. Banks you would be a better person.

Edit: The Sparrow

If you liked 1984 (or Brave New World) you should check out "We". It was the book that inspired both 1984 and Brave New York. It's fantastic and you can see where a lot of elements from both other books got their inspiration.

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.

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

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

Snow Crash

Diamond Age

A few good Italian authors that wrote prose are as follows:

• Italo Svevo (Zeno's Conscience)
  
  
• Italo Calvino (if on a winter's night a traveler)
  
  
• Elsa Morante (History: A Novel). I haven't read this, but I have heard great reviews.
  
  
• Tommaso Landolfi (Gogol's Wife and Other Stories) A pretty good collection of short stories.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Neil and Terry are actually friends. I read the story of how they met once but I can't quite remember all the details. I think they were on the same train to London or something. Neil is also friends with Tori Amos which is kind of interesting. He has sequestered himself away to her different homes in the past so he can quietly write his books. Terry and Neil even wrote a book together (Good Omens), to be honest it's not my favorite but I would definitely recommend you take a look at Neil Gaiman.

Oh... one more, you should read Neverwhere.

Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

Both cover some of the same concepts as GG&S, but in a much more rigorous fashion. Both are better reads with a less self-congratulatory tone and much more interesting information. GG&S is a kids book compared to these works, which is fine because GG&S is a great introduction to these sorts of concepts. Now you can get down to reading the good stuff.

Oh, I would definitely NOT start with American Gods. It's good, but it's a bit of a bear to get through at times. Neverwhere or Stardust for Gaiman, for sure. I have a beat up old copy of Neverwhere that tends to live in one of my purses most of hte time. It is one of my very favorite books. You can read the first bit of it for free on Amazon using the "look inside" thingie.

http://www.amazon.com/Neverwhere-A-Novel-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0060557818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397008517&sr=8-1&keywords=neverwhere

Oh god I love this question. I've got some fantastic recommendations:

Fantasy Series:

• The Gentleman Bastards Sequence
  

  by Scott Lynch
  Book One: The Lies of Locke Lamora
  
  Simultaneously one of my top 5 favorite fantasy novels, and my favorite Heist story of all time.
  Suspense, Intrigue, Visceral action, and some of the wittiest, best-written dialog I've ever read in fiction make this series simultaneously dark, tense, and hilarious.
  Thank god Lynch was wondering what a swords and sorcery take on Ocean's Eleven would look like, because the thought never occurred to me before this.
  
  

• The Mistborn Trilogy
  

  by Brandon Sanderson
  Get the boxed set. Just do it.
  
  Sanderson is perhaps best known for being chosen to continue the Wheel of Time series after the passing of Robert Jordan; and this is very unfortunate. I would take Mistborn over WoT any day.
  The author's passion seems to be exotic settings, and unique magic systems with a solid set of rules. You get so attuned to what Mistborn's Allomancy can and can't do, that it seems as fundamental as gravity by the end. And speaking of endings, this one is Incredibly well thought out.
  
  -----------------------------
  I've got stuff to do, so I'll cut it off here for now, but seriously, check them out. And Please don't ask me which I'd recommend more, I don't want my head to explode.
  
  More to come, if I'm not too lazy. I'm full of these.

As a lover of science, history and a special interest in WWII, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes is hands down my favorite non-fiction work.

It also won the author the Pulitzer.

Anything by Simon Singh is worth reading. In addition to what others have recommended, these books are good:

[The man who loved only numbers](http://www.amazon.com/MAN-WHO-LOVED-ONLY-NUMBERS/dp/0786884061/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254333710&sr=8-1
)

Flatland

Prisoner's Dilemma

A mathematician reads the newspaper

A mathematician plays the stock market

Innumeracy: mathematical illiteracy and its consequences

Also, while not exactly about Maths:

Surely you are joking, Mr Feynman

What do you care what other people think?

The Art of Computer Programming

[If on a Winter's Night a Traveler] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0156439611?pc_redir=1409922838&robot_redir=1) by Italo Calvino is an absolute delight to read. Its told in the not very common second-person and that alone I think makes it worth checking out. Beyond that it's a meditation on the joy of reading and engaging with a book and it's author. (But it's much more than that!) And really it's like 10 different books in one.

In my humble opinion If on a Winters Night is a book lover's book. I defy you to read the first ten pages online and not go out and pick it up!

I reread "If on a winters night a traveler" by Italo Calvino every year once the weather has become decidedly wintery. It's a wonderful book: It describes the tale of a person (yourself, actually) attempting to finish reading a book they began but could not continue due to a printing error. Every odd numbered chapter is written in the second person and details the efforts you make to continue your read while every even numbered chapter contains another excerpt from the next book you reach in your attempt to finish the original book. Charming and witty, it's one of my favourite books and I implore you to try it - everyone I've convinced to do so has been thrilled by it.

I love Terry Pratchett, and Good Omens was a fun read.

I lend:

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

Songmaster by Orson Scott Card

and Still Life with Wood Pecker by Tom Robbins

I am 33 pages into this right now!

I've read 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 within the past year, and so far I'd say this compares very favorably. The tone, for some reason, reminds me a lot of Flatland.

And! I just bought Player Piano, which is mentioned in the article as being a derivative, so my next couple of weeks are looking pretty solid.

This book seems to have the best reviews on Amazon (of similar books).

Also, I couldn't let it pass...check out Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a great work of fiction.

• David Eddings: "The Belgariad" (volume 1 and volume 2) and "The Mallorean" (volume 1 and volume 2) - these are two story arcs told across multiple novels in each volume, both are related and follow each other.
  
• Terry Goodkind: Sword of Truth - 9 book epic fantasy, completed a couple of years ago (Books 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9)
  
• Brandon Sanderson: Mistborn Series (The trilogy and the new spinoff)
  
• Brandon Sanderson: Way of Kings (book 1) - This is a new series, book 2 is expected late in 2013 (grrr!)
  
  
  But by far, my favorite series:
  
  
• S. M. Stirling: Nantucket Trilogy (book one, two, and three)
  
• S. M. Stirling: Emberverse (amazon list of the 8 books so far)
  
  The first trilogy follows the Island of Nantucket, which is thrown back to the bronze age and loses access to high-energy physics. The Emberverse is the rest of the world (though mostly the US) who stay in present day, but also lose access to high-energy physics.
  
  If you want to go more Sci-Fi, I'm currently reading and enjoying:
  
  
• David Weber: Honor Harrington (Honorverse) Series (Amazon List, 22 books!)
  
  Also on my list to read:
  
  
• Eric Flint: Ring of Fire/The Assiti Shards Series (link)
  
• Roger Zelazny: Chronicles of Amber (link)
  

I always recommend "Bridge of Birds" (a novel of ancient China that never was) by Barry Hughart. There's two good sequels but the first one is IMHO the best.

(edited to add link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345321383?ie=UTF8&tag=wishease-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0345321383)

Have you read Flatland?

It's a novella, so it's less than half the length of a novel. It's about a 2D world and its reaction to the introduction of a three-dimensional object. Lots of math and philosophical stuff.

I've never read it, since I'm not into those topics, but I've heard plenty of people say that it's good. It's in the public domain, so you should be able to find it free online.

The Abhorsen trilogy is some great YA fiction that I'm sure your son would enjoy. The books are about a decade old, and are available as a cheaper box set - but admittedly the covers on these might not be as intruiging to a 7th grader.

The Mistborn Trilogy is also great, but might be a little difficult for a 7th grader to get through. Regardless, I'd get him these if you feel that he's up to the challenge.

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

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

Jared Diamond - Collapse and Guns, Germs and Steel

Both are great. Not at all boring. Both are favorites of mine.

I find things like About a Boy by Nick Hornby or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time nice uplifting books. I think the innocence of children is always loveable. I would prefer the latter, so if you haven't read it give it a read.

http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Incident-Dog-Night-Time/dp/1400032717/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292773290&sr=1-1

For a more sci-fi feel check out the expanse series by James S.A Corey,
also the long price quartet by Daniel Abraham, is pretty neat as it is fantasy that isn't centered around Europe.
I would also recommend checking out the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie

the links are in order

• http://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-Expanse-James-Corey/dp/0316129089/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375548738&sr=8-1&keywords=leviathan+wakes
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Summer-Long-Price-Quartet/dp/0765313405/ref=pd_sim_b_2
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Itself-First-Law-Book/dp/159102594X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375548876&sr=1-1&keywords=joe+abercrombie

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hogart. I can't come up with a description that will do it justice... it's just a really fantastic and wonderful book.

The (mostly complete) collection of works by Mary Roach. They're pop science, but great reads.

Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. Both great books on how different cultures either became more or less powerful than others (how come large civilizations took longer to rise in sub-Saharan Africa than in Europe) and why some societies just failed completely (Easter Island).

Lies My Teacher Told Me. It shows a lot of details that a typical high school American History textbook just glosses over or ignores.

Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance

It took me three months the first time I read it; it required a highlighter and notes in the margins.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a deeper understanding of values.

In the words of the author, "[This book] should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either."

John Reader's Africa: A Biography of the Continent is the book I turned to when I decided that I didn't know enough about the place. It's a good foundation on which to start towards a number of Africa-related topics. I'd recommend starting with something like that, then branching out to more specific locales, time periods and events.

I love music, so my favourite one was Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. A history of electronic music which gave me a real in-depth appreciation of the electronic music scene now.

I also really liked A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and Flatland (not exactly non-fiction, but extremely interesting).

Sanderson's Mistborn Trilogy is what got me back. Giver er a run, she'll treat you real nice.

I would recommend the Zamonia series by Walter Moers; Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures, The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear and The City of Dreaming Books. It's incredibly imaginative and great story-telling.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0060589469/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418000780&sr=1-1&keywords=zen+and+the+art+of+motorcycle+maintenance

Do not look upon work as something that is outside of you, or a chore. Your labors must be of you, and include your mindset, because the end result is almost wholly dependent of the mindset of the laborer.

Among other philosophies and tenets of Quality...

And another book that may be a bit simple in its approach, but still has some important ideas, Fuck It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way. http://www.amazon.com/It-The-Ultimate-Spiritual-Way/dp/1401927599

There's something very freeing about being able to just say "fuck it" about something that's giving you frustration. I've found that after saying it, and really meaning it, the true solution becomes apparent.

Off the top of my head, I'd recommend "Einstein's Dreams," by Alan Lightman. You may also like Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities" and "If on a winter's night a traveler."

Try The First Law series. Great characters, fun adventures, and it's not too fantastical. I'm just finishing up book 3 now, and I'll be sad not to be reading it.

[Blow Up: And Other Stories by Julio Cortazar] (http://www.amazon.com/Blow-Up-Other-Stories-Julio-Cortazar/dp/0394728815/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331377282&sr=1-1)
Strange, sometimes surreal but beautifully written.

Short stories by Jorge Luis Borges. [Can be found in this collection] (http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Fictions-Jorge-Luis-Borges/dp/0140286802/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331377800&sr=1-1)

Totally. I liked Rumo: And His Miraculous Adventures even better.

I'd also recommend We. Both Brave New World and 1984 were influenced heavily by it

As abovetheroses said: Godel Escher Bach: Eternal Golden Braid. If I was only allowed to read one book over again, that'd probably be it.

To quote it's Wikipedia, which has a wonderfully short summary:
> Through illustration and analysis, the book discusses how self-reference and formal rules allow systems to acquire meaning despite being made of "meaningless" elements. It also discusses what it means to communicate, how knowledge can be represented and stored, the methods and limitations of symbolic representation, and even the fundamental notion of "meaning" itself.

Just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Interesting perspective, but the lack of emotion made it hard for me to really invest my own emotions and kept me from really loving the book.

I usually have at least two, one being fiction and the other nonfiction. Currently reading The Ethical Brain and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. Great thesis on why different human societies have developed so differently.

• Breaking The Spell by Daniel Dennett
  
• Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman
  
• The End of Faith by Sam Harris
  
• The Elegant Universe by Briane Greene (about string theory)
  
• Just Six Numbers by Martin Rees
  
• Before The Beginning by Martin Rees
  
• Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter
  
• The Demon-Haunted World by Sagan
  

Ahhh, well.. if you're a Pratchett fan than the obvious starting point is Good Omens which is co-authored by the both of them. If you like that I would either go to American Gods if you like the reworking old myths angle or Neverwhere if that 'london' writing feel does more for you. Any way around it you can't go wrong really. I've read everything he's written outside of a few short stories and not a word has been bad.

The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges. Actually anything from the Collected Fictions would be excellent.

I finished the Mistborn Series recently, and it has a very strong female lead.

Everyone should do themselves a favour a get a copy of this book.

My two favorites are Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff.

Not quite in the same vein—perhaps bordering more on magical realism—is Lewis Shiner's Glimpses.

The Blade Itself (The First Law trilogy) - Joe Abercrombie

7.5/10

Low Fantasy

Exciting and fast paced with strong character building. Lacks the world building of other longer fantasy books, but it's very intriguing. Can't speak for the rest of the trilogy.

Amazon

Guns Germs & Steel by Jered Diamond

For some physics :
Penrose - Road to Reality

Gleick - Chaos

Some math/philosophy :
Hofstadter - Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Anything early by Dawkins if you want to avoid the atheist stuff though his latest is good too.

Anything by Robert Wright for the evolution of human morality.

Pinker for language and the Mind.

Matt Ridley for more biology.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I think he might enjoy The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. The teenaged protagonist has Asperger Syndrome and I think his sometimes frightening experiences in the story will resonate with anyone who has ever felt themselves to be different, or a member of a minority.

Bridge of Birds.

Buy it. It's apparently only eight bucks on amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Birds-Novel-Ancient-China/dp/0345321383

Here is the Amazon link.

Neverwhere

Stardust

Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman.

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0060589469

However long the list, make some room for anything by Jorge Luis Borges.

For a really short list: Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis, Tertius.

If you have more time: Collected Fictions.

Try, If on a winter's night, a traveller by Italo Calvino

Dreadnought. It's a history of the naval build-up prior to WWI. And it's sequel Castles of Steel about the naval history of WWI coincidentally.

http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552

He used a lot of info from this book too.

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter

http://www.amazon.com/dp/076536543X/

The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

Read We then next.

We

You could always try the second Gentlemen Bastards book, Red Flags Under Red Skies. Not to mention his third book is supposed to be released in February in the UK.

If you like Scott Lynch and want to read a completed series try Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy. Its well written, finished, and has elements of all the authors you named. He also has written 2 stand alone novels in the same universe following the events of the trilogy so if you want more you can read more without being left without closure until the next release you can.

Gödel, Escher, Bach (Amazon, Goodreads, Wikipedia )

That thing is half typography, font, indentation, ... puns and metaphors. For example this holism/reductionism joke: http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l76/orestesmantra/MU.jpg

I can't think of a way that could work on Kindle. You could try, and some things might not make sense, and some you might miss altogether, just because the font is different.

I guess based solely off of my name:

The Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson - I believe this will go down as one of the, if not the best fantasy series of our time.

Hard to choose just one favorite, so here are a few of mine:

• Ficciones (Collected Fictions) by Jorge Luis Borges
  
• The Stories of Paul Bowles by Paul Bowles
  
• Night Shift by Stephen King
  
• The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories by Gene Wolfe

A quick warning first - this genre tends towards long-running series, and these are no exception (nor are many of them yet complete). However, they're well worth trying:

PC Hodgell's Godstalk series. This is a sadly underappreciated series, but is IMHO one of the best fantasy series ever. The worldbuilding is phenomenal, and the protagonist, Jame, is one of my favourite characters in any novel.

GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire been mentioned (and is excellent), but in a similar vein (dark and gritty high fantasy) check out Joe Abercrombie's First Law series. This is similar Martin with the cynicism turned up even further. Where Tolkein is more or less black and white, this is very dark grey vs black (and it's not entirely clear which side is which)

Thirdly, check out Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series. Vlad is (initially) an assassin and later mob boss in a fantasy empire where magic is commonplace. Unlike the others I've mentioned, you can probably start with any book as they're mostly self-contained (though there's an ongoing story), and the chronology tends to jump around a lot anyway. The one exception is Teckla, which is much weaker than the rest.