Hello again,
I need specific suggestions for "easy reading" as per criteria below.
Currently reading "The Martian" and it's fantastic.
I'm bored of "SAS Fiction" which has been my go-to genre for mindless trash reading the last few years (MacNab, Ryan, Leather) and find the technical science nature of the fiction in The Martian captivating, so is there a selection of similar of books here that you could suggest I try?
Maybe could be described as "NASA fiction" I guess, or something in that vein.
Needs to be relatively easy reading as I always have a "Serious book" on the go as well.
Thanks,
Adrian.
Last edited by ach5; 26th June 2016 at 16:57.
Try 'Arc Light' by Eric L Harry. Available (used) from 1p on Amazon. One of the most thought provoking books I have ever read, the SS-18 warhead detonation sequence (from page 104) is the most technically chilling part of the book.Originally Posted by ach5
Hi maybe not so technical but some interesting ideas of how another planet may evolve similar to earth, and the effects of long term space travel- The Legacy of Heorot by Larry Niven
Look at the Arthur C Clarke's RAMA series.
Asimov's Foundation,
Huxley's Brave New World
While they are Science Fiction, none are really "out there." They are well written, but little more than chewing gum for the mind.
If you like a little more detail, Neale Stephenson's Cryptonomicon might do the trick.
Thanks for the suggestions this far.
I should add, I prefer books set in the upto-the-minute science world, not that of the 1940's or 1970's etc
The Martian seems to be the perfect example of what I'm after.
Am looking at Arc Light now KavKav; although I don't know if it's exactly what I'm after, it does look really good! I went through a zombie fiction phase and I think apocalyptic world books do interest me a lot, so it's in my basket pending being purchased once a Few more suggestions come in!
Last edited by ach5; 24th June 2016 at 17:46.
Try 'Moonseed' by Stephen Baxter.
If you like science based fiction, stock up on Michael Crichton's back catalogue. Not set in space as such but all are a really interesting read. I'd recommend Prey particularly.
If you fancy another stab at the Hero wins the day stuff. Have a look a Lee Child's stuff.
Not science fiction by any stretch, but try " one fourteenth of an elephant"
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Entertaining, cleverish, reasonable use of language and in Kindle form. Clovenhoof. The devil is cast out and made to try and survive in suburban Sutton Coldfield.
Ready Player One
Virtual Light
Robopocalypse
s
Another vote for the Rama series.
Thanks for the suggestions folks! Will check them all out!
Peter F Hamilton
Superb Sci fi writer..not sure I would necessarily call it easy reading but it's very absorbing.
I would say start off on the Void Trilogy..big books,plenty to read.
The Expanse novels are set in relative near future sci-fi and are excellent. But don't discount a lot of the 70s/80s stuff - some of the ideas are still revolutionary today. Rama is a good one and Fountains of Paradise.
One of my absolute favorites is The Forever Wars - if you want something taking the ideas of relativity into account.
For proper sci fi opera try Iain M. Banks.
Red/Blue/Green Mars trilogy Kim Stanley Robinson
Altered Carbon and sequels by Richard Morgan ( although its more cyberpunk hyperviolent thriller it has spellbinding tech and hardware )
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson is one you'll enjoy I feel , Also Snow Crash by the same author is packed with ideas.
DragonFly (factual but good)
Voyage by Stephen Baxter
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Eon by Greg Bear ( hate the sequels though)
The Forge of God by Greg Bear (alien invasion but very plausible , smart Independance Day)
It's fact rather than fiction but Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane is hilarious.
Time ships by Stephen Baxter gets my vote, and I thought that the Martian was a great read, and I too enjoyed the science angle! Film was pretty true to the book I thought, except for cutting the last journey details...
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Hi this reply is aimed at seikopath, if you like books about jungle warfare you should read The Jungle is Neutral by F.Spencer Chapman a fascinatingaccount of one mans war in the malaysian jungle. In my humble opinion the author was an amazing character, just have a look on wikipedia to get an idea of his life
Apologies op for thread hijack
Don't discount Arthur C Clarke just because it was written decades ago. Very technical in places and the Rama books are pretty timeless. The Sands of Mars is good too as is A Fall of Moon dust.
Yes, read that a few years ago and absolutely loved it - must dig it out of storage and read it again! I emailed the author afterwards via his website and he actually replied (Personally) and we had a few email exchanges, including about the NASA supplied watches. I think he was being polite, so I didn't want to push it, but I'd have loved to have chatted to him more. He had heard every question I asked about 10,000 times already but was still very gracious. Had completely forgotten about that! Thanks for the reminder!
I don't know if it's stood the test of time but I really enjoyed 'Airframe' when it came out.
Read that a few years ago. I'd say it's still pretty current. Might re-read the two Jurassic novels again now!
Going slightly left-field here. 'What if?' by Randall Munroe is a great read. OK, so it's non-fiction (for a very loose definition of non-fiction), but he *was* an engineer at NASA!
The book describes itself as 'Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions'. Many of the questions relate to space flight and astrophysics. Others are just plain nuts. Question like can you imitate a jetpack by firing machine guns downwards, if everyone on Earth fired a laser pointer at the moon would it change colour, when will the internet's bandwidth surpass that of Fed-Ex and how much force power can Yoda output?
It's not exactly what you were asking for but Randall leads you through the answers one step at a time and illustrates them in his own unique style. It also demonstrates that fact is often a lot stranger than fiction.
Some examples can be found at https://what-if.xkcd.com for example this one.
Couple of the early Dan Brown's should hit the mark: Digital Fortress and Deception Point
Space, easy reading, not fiction, not up to date, fascinating book The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe.
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Sounds like you have the exact same reading tastes as myself - everyone a strong recommendation. Stephen Baxter in particular... all his books are very thought provoking and good enough to re-read. I'd add Titan by SB as well.
If you liked Altered Carbon there are a couple of sequels and a five book omnibus of Richard Morgan's SF work is available for the Kindle. You may also like the Kentisbec trilogy by Jon Wallace. The books are Barricade, Steeple and Rig. I've only read the first one and it was OK, but not great. It was on spesh for 99p though.
If you just want some Sci-Fi crossed with a bit of Lovecraft then Charles Stross' Laundy Files books are excellent, especially if you're a Unix sys admin like me.
Arc Light ordered as per first suggestion, and am searching and saving the others in my wish list on Amazon.
Have managed to eke out The Martian and am still reading it after 2 weeks as its so good I don't want it to end! Otherwise I think it's a book you could read in a solid weekend.
Last edited by ach5; 2nd July 2016 at 12:00. Reason: spelt eke "eek"! dummy.
Black Man by Morgan is also pretty good. I'm not mad on his fantasy stuff but I'm not mad on fantasy generally.
Laundry Files are good , some of Stross other works are great too.
CJ Cherryh aliance/union series are good hard tech space pera.
Walter Jon Williams : Dread Empires Fall series is good for that too. ( his other novels are worth a read too if you like lyrical scifi)
Neal Asher is very similar to Iain M. Banks , Gridlinked being the first one to check out in the polity series
And of course anything by William Gibson.
It's been a few years since I have read it but Michael Crichton's Andromeda Strain might be worth a look.
Going off topic but the mention of Arc Light made me think of Arc Light One. I stumbled upon the story on YouTube https://youtu.be/cvUgy9s1vfM
Last edited by Matt London; 2nd July 2016 at 12:02.
Just started it this morning.... (I listen to books on the rower each morning). Bloody marvellous. In fact so good it was distracting me from the task in hand - rowing that is before you get any ideas ;-) I was 10% down on my normal distance; kept on slowing down to concentrate more on the book :-)
David Van Dyke - Stellar Conquest series is excellent
Cheers..
Jase
I like Hamilton too, but you can't start with the Void trilogy, it follows on from the Commealth Saga i.e. "Pandora's Star" and "Judas Unchained" :)
Iain M. Banks "Culture" books are an abolute must for Sci-Fi fans, and "Dune" by Frank Herbert is truely awesome!
Agree with Banks, Niven etc. Also look at Alastair Reynolds, they are deep, well thought out technical stories. Don't bother with the latest one though ( medusa chronicles) written with stephen Baxter, as it's a tedious 'pot boiler ' . Something his agent made him push out imo.
I'm a big fan of Neil Asher, great interwoven space opera full of decent characters.
Well I finished the Martian a few days ago and it was just fantastic.
Now reading Arc Light as per first suggestion on this thread. So far it's more political thriller than technical space book (so not what I wanted) BUT it's actually a really good read so far and I look forwards to getting back to it each evening.
Robopocalypse and ready player one are both great
You could try some classic SF
I would recommend
Planet of Adventure series (4 novels) by Jack Vance
The Riverworld series (5 novels) by Philip Jose Farmer
The Green Odyssey - Philip José Farmer.
His first novel, but one of the best.
Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster is also worth a read.
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle has plenty of hard science as well.
Yeah Neil Asher is about as close to Iain M Banks in terms of world building as you can get . ( I was surprised by how upset I was when Iain Banks died I have to say, never felt that way anout an author dying before).
Not to do Neil a diservice but his novels are well worth reading on their own terms.
Written some time ago but gripping stuff
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Third-World...M5AFRV042KC2GS
suddenly looking quite appropriate again
B
Ready Player One is an excellent book. Apparently the second book "Armada" isn't anywhere near as good though
Vessel.
Read this on your recommendation and liked it alot. Reminded me of "Red Storm Rising" (particularly the tank sections) by Tom Clancy, which being earlier involves the USSR rather than Russia.
Ready Player One was great fun, as a reader in my late 30s, this hit the spot :)
I am currently on "Seveneves" by Neal Stephenson and so far (170 pages in to a THICK book) it's exactly what I was looking for in my OP.
Having bought it from Amazon based solely on the description & reviews there, I think I've been lucky. I just didn't expect it to be so thick!
That at looks good...I will also give it a whirl. This thread has thrown up a couple of suggestions I have noted. I am currently reading Altered Carbon and can recommend that one.
I haven't read this book, but the TV series was excellent, and it's got good reviews on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Space-Odyss.../dp/0563521546
The sequels are easily as good if not better than the first one. Black Man is good too.
http://deadline.com/2016/08/altered-...es-1201798410/
tv series version seems to have gone a little soapy but still sounds interesting.
Thank you kind sir. I had forgotten about Arthur C Clarke for a very long time. Nice to refresh old memories!
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