Book Recommendations for Break?

[Robotengineer]

In the interest of not spending my entire break playing chess, KSP, and Civ 6 I need book recommendations. I just finished reading Ancillary Justice (very good) and The Three Body Problem (also great). I prefer sci-fi, but will read anything if its good enough (I may need a bit of a break from SF actually). Something humorous would also be good.

[Bill Phil]

Hitchhikers Guide. All 5 of them. It's a great trilogy.

Asimov's Foundation is pretty good.

[James Kerman]

Funny - anything by Terry Pratchett: He creates some very strange worlds with some very real world problems.
Adventure - Patrick O'Brian: the Aubrey/Maturin series - Swashbuckling at it's best.

I mostly Read non-fiction;
Into the Black - Rowland White: About the first mission of the space shuttle.
Being a dog - Alexandra Horowitz: Disolves a lot of the myths about canines.
A brief history of everyone who ever lived - Adam Rutherford: Geneology on the species scale.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx.

[Dman979]

18 minutes ago, James Kerman said:

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx.

Love the Groucho quote.

"My god, don't you ever stop talking? You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle!"

 

If you're into history (American military) I have a ton of suggestions. I don't know if you want them, though.

If you haven't read The Martian yet, you should.

Since you're looking at humor, I enjoyed Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!). Fair warning- it's not for everyone.

 

Edited December 10, 2016 by Dman979

[pTrevTrevs]

As someone who has read this book once a year for the last five years (and counting) I can say you won't regret it.

[Elthy]

Terry Pratchetts Diskworldstuff is awesome, just a bit hart do get into, since the chronological order can be confusing. Its so funny you will start to giggle even in public, at least i did.

And in case you didnt read it, "The Martian" is a must-read for any KSP fan.

[Robotengineer]

1 hour ago, Dman979 said:

Love the Groucho quote.

"My god, don't you ever stop talking? You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle!"

 

If you're into history (American military) I have a ton of suggestions. I don't know if you want them, though.

If you haven't read The Martian yet, you should.

Since you're looking at humor, I enjoyed Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!). Fair warning- it's not for everyone.

 

I've read the Martian, I really wish there was a sequel or something really close to it in terms of realism and humor. I like Colbert, so I'll look into the book. I'd be glad to hear your history book suggestions. 

33 minutes ago, pTrevTrevs said:

As someone who has read this book once a year for the last five years (and counting) I can say you won't regret it.

 I really do need to finish this... I tried reading at a few years ago and made it to the part in Two Towers where it's just Frodo, Sam and Gollum for (what felt like) a hundred pages or more. 

1 hour ago, James Kerman said:

Funny - anything by Terry Pratchett: He creates some very strange worlds with some very real world problems.
Adventure - Patrick O'Brian: the Aubrey/Maturin series - Swashbuckling at it's best.

I mostly Read non-fiction;
Into the Black - Rowland White: About the first mission of the space shuttle.
Being a dog - Alexandra Horowitz: Disolves a lot of the myths about canines.
A brief history of everyone who ever lived - Adam Rutherford: Geneology on the species scale.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx.

I will check out Discworld.

2 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

Hitchhikers Guide. All 5 of them. It's a great trilogy.

Asimov's Foundation is pretty good.

I got to the 3rd book (IIRC) in both Foundation and Hitchhikers Guide. I may go back and finish them.

[pTrevTrevs]

Just now, Robotengineer said:

 I really do need to finish this... I tried reading at a few years ago and made it to the part in Two Towers where it's just Frodo, Sam and Gollum for (what felt like) a hundred pages or more.

I love the series but that part of the book is absolutely painful to read sometimes. After the first part of the Two Towers, reading about exciting characters such as Aragorn and Legolas and the adventures they have in Rohan, Helm's Deep, etc. going to the second part is sort of like coming off a sugar high.

Best thing to do is just power through it. Read as much and as fast as possible, and soon you get to Return of the King, where it picks back up again.

[Dman979]

Just now, Robotengineer said:

I like Colbert, so I'll look into the book. I'd be glad to hear your history book suggestions. 

 

He wrote another book, America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't. I also recommend America: Democracy Inaction, by Jon Stewart.

 

As for military history books:

A Guadalcanal Diary, by Richard Tregaskis

The Liberation Trilogy, by Rick Atkinson

The Yom Kippur War, by Abraham Rabinovich

Grant, by Jean Edward Smith

 

These are all fairly long books, but they're all very well written and interesting.

[0111narwhalz]

5 hours ago, Dman979 said:

Since you're looking at humor, I enjoyed Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!).

2 hours ago, Dman979 said:

He wrote another book, America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't.

These titles are so gloriously confusing. I approve.

As for the Hitchhiker's Guide series: I enjoyed the beginning, but as it got on towards the end, it got a bit...Vonnegut-ey, I suppose. I blame time travel.

As for my recommendations: I've enjoyed The Expanse (Corey) so far. Waiting on the next book in a series is a new thing for me; most of the authors I read are either long-dead, or I can't afford enough books to catch up with the backlog. Suppose that's the e-book thing. Also, the Silver Ships (Jucha) are pretty good. There's a Lovecraft collection for c.1USD, if you want that. I think it's published by xist or xlst or something. Lost Starship (Heppner) series has been enjoyable so far. Bit shallow if you ask me, but pretty good reading all the same. I've read all but one of Vinge's books (at least those on Amazon as of several months ago), and enjoyed them wholeheartedly. If you haven't exhausted Verne's works, you should, and Clarke's Space Odyssey series is wholly underappreciated. Nobody seems to know about the sequels!

[Gianni1122]

https://www.bustle.com/articles/128238-10-books-to-read-if-you-liked-the-martian

http://www.tested.com/art/465755-if-you-liked-martian/

http://gizmodo.com/the-24-best-books-ever-written-about-space-travel-chos-1613568481

http://www.space.com/28973-best-space-books.html

Starship Troopers is a classic but quick read for the military/sci-fi fan. I've heard nothing but good things about Enders Game.

[pTrevTrevs]

Oh yeah, here's one more suggestion if you're interested in the American Civil War or time travel:

https://www.amazon.com/Guns-South-Harry-Turtledove/dp/0345384687

In short, the book is about how a group of white supremacists go back in time to 1864, where they offer to supply the Confederate army with AK-47s so they can win the war (thereby ensuring the existence of a country that shares their ideology). It sounds stupid at first, like some cheap 80s action film, but if you read it, it actually becomes really interesting. It eventually describes how the Confederates realize the time travelers have their own agenda and that they don't want anything to do with them.

But whatever, it's basically a book about the Civil War with assault rifles...

[razark]

18 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

I love the series but that part of the book is absolutely painful to read sometimes. After the first part of the Two Towers, reading about exciting characters such as Aragorn and Legolas and the adventures they have in Rohan, Helm's Deep, etc. going to the second part is sort of like coming off a sugar high.

Best thing to do is just power through it. Read as much and as fast as possible, and soon you get to Return of the King, where it picks back up again.

It took me many years and many attempts to finish the books.  I've recently restarted it, though.

The organization of The Two Towers is odd.  Telling the entire story of one party before switching to the other party makes a large divide in it.  Perhaps it would have been better if the stories alternated by chapter, or some other way.