fun books

I like to read, I always have. I started off as a kid reading an entire Encyclopedia set. I can't recall why but I seem to think that S and G were my favorites. S probably for space related stuff. G, I am not sure...

I am an avid reader of primarily science fiction. Heinlein absolutely rocks. A great amount of my thinking and outlook on life is inspired by his work. If you think you know Heinlein from a movie... You don't, the movies all sucked compared to the depth and thought in the books. I am wondering if it is too difficult to turn a Heinlein book into a movie due to the depth of background he has. You really do enjoy Heinlein more and more as you read all of his books and put all of the characters together in context. He in fact has one line of books called Future History in which he has a whole galaxy's accomplishments time-lined out.

At any given moment I will usually have 2,3, or more books in the state of being read. They will be sitting in different areas of the house. Kitchen, next to the bed, living room, etc. There will usually be one fun book and a couple of techie books. 

 

anything by robert anson heinlein

I started reading Heinlein books a long long time ago. I started with Methuselah's Children, I believe I got this book and The Caves of Steel from my Uncle Rick when I was "knee high to a grasshopper" and they started me down the road of sci-fi/fantasy reading.
Robert Heinlein wrote some of the most incredible stories, I have read and reread nearly everything he has written. Some books I have reread 25+ times. Rereading his stories is like visiting old friends. I like Heinlein's ideas and personal values and not much care that he was the "dean of sci-fi". I also don't much care what he did for the genre (which I understand is a great deal) as much as what he did for me; he set a lot of my personal value systems into place by forcing me to think of my responses to actions ahead of time which more often than not has given me the appearance of being a bright quick thinking individual.

Heinlein is the mind behind many things we see and hear today; for instance he invented waterbeds in Stranger in a Strange Land. He is also the father of the term "free-fall" and "tanstaafl - there ain't no such thing as a free lunch". He treated women as equal to men and in some cases superior far before it was truly acceptable other than through lip service to do so. All of his books tend to have strong female characters as well as strong male characters.

One of things I find so interesting about Heinlein books is that you will be reading and then flip to the cover to find out when it was written, then flip back to the story and start reading again and be amazed that he was writing this stuff 50 years ago even though you would think it was just written. For info on Heinlein, check out the Heinlein Society at http://www.heinleinsociety.org

If you don't read his fiction, at least search the web and pick up quotes from his books - check out http://www.quotableheinlein.com.

You will find such gems as:

"To be 'matter of fact' about the world is to blunder into fantasy... and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful"

"Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat."

Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.

History does not record any where a religion that has any rational basis.

Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.

Love doesn't subtract -- it multiplies! The more you love, the more you can love."

Stupidity is the only true capital crime. Stupidity, if left untreated, is self-correcting.

The fact that a debt is amortized over the years doesn't stop it from being a debt.

There is an unnumbered throng of religions, each with its creation myth -- all different. Shall one of them be taught as having the status of a scientific hypothesis merely because the members of the religion subscribing to it can drum up majority at the polls, or organize pressure group at a state capital? This is tyranny by the mob inflicted on minorities in defiance of the Bill of Rights.

I've never understood how God could expect His creatures to pick the one true religion by faith - it strikes me as a sloppy way to run a universe.

The Ten Commandments are for lame brains. The first five are solely for the benefit of the priests and the powers that be; the second five are half truths, neither complete nor adequate.

Happiness lies in being privileged to work hard for long hours in doing whatever you think is worth doing.


Which Heinlein is my favorite? Hard to tell, however I have mostly reread the Future History line of stories which includes: Methuselah's Children, Time Enough for Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, The Man Who Sold the Moon. This is followed by Stranger in a Strange Land and then by the The Door into Summer. A couple of books written by Heinlein were adapted into movies. I would like to say they were good adaptations but I won't because they weren't. These movies were "The Puppet Master's" and "Starship Troopers".

most anything by isaac asimov

Now I would be lying if I said I read most everything Sir Isaac has written. This man was a prolific writer and I don't believe he slept; he wrote far too much to have slept more than 20 minutes a day. I enjoyed very much his Robot Series books and many of his non-fiction as well as fiction works. The books from Asimov that I have reread the most are the R. Daneel Olivaw Robot Series books and those are The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn, Robots and Empire. I tried and failed to read the foundation series when I was in high school, it was just to much for me at the time; I intend to try that series again some day.

most everything from douglas adams

If you haven't read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series or the Dirk Gently Books you need to go get them and read them. They are hilarious, great British humour. This quote gives you a great feel for the hitchhiker series...

"You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die from asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."

"Why, what did she tell you?"

"I don't know, I didn't listen."

most everything from dan brown

I think I have read everything from Dan Brown. That is some really good stuff, The DaVinci Code isn't even the best of the bunch. Very exciting reads, all of them.

mary stewart - the merlin series

This is another great series. Starts with The Crystal Cave with Merlin as the bastard of a princess of a small inconsequential king and finds that he is the son of the true King of all England but destined to never have the kingdom himself but instead to help forge the greatest king of all time - Arthur, son of King Uther who was Merlin's uncle.

ann rice - vampire series and the mummy

Yes, The Vampire Lestat has gotten into my blood. I think Ann did a great job with these stories.

niven and niven/pournelle collaborations

Niven's Ring World series is outstanding. I have reread those many many times but not nearly as many times as the Heinlein books. One day while in Border's Books I happened to see the Niven/Pournelle Book The Mote in God's Eye and started reading it; I ended up buying it and taking it home. This also occurred with Lucifer's Hammer.

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