Technology for Fun
-
I love to read. Last year, 2005, I read over a 100 books during the course of the year. It was a relaxing, enjoyable year where I reread a number of books from my youth, including almost everything by Robert Parker. He's one of the easy-to-read, laugh out loud authors I enjoy.
This year I'm slowly working my way through many fewer books this year with other more pressing matters at work, including writing my own book. So as I'm enjoying one of the few books I've tackled this year, I'm reading this very basic description on how someone logs into a computer. It was a mystery, but it struck me how far removed the technological part of the book was and it occurred to me that I haven't read any technical fiction in a long time. So here's the poll:
What's the best tech fiction book?
I'll let you decide what technical fiction is. I read Cryptonomicon a few years ago and loved it and I enjoyed the Kidd series by Sandford. Dan Brown's Digital Fortress was good and I know there've been a few other technical ones.
If I had to pick one, I'd say that I really enjoyed two from Crighton, State of Fear and Rising Sun.
So who do you like? Clancy? Cussler? Fleming? Or someone more obscure?
Steve Jones
-
I'm not very keen about this sort of books. I enjoyed a lot with King, Koontz. Aldous Huxley and his masterpiece new brave world.
-
Best technical fiction? The official Microsoft Word 6 VBA manual. Almost every method I used had the arguments listed in the wrong order, which was fun when writing automation code with VB3 (no Intellisense, no named arguments). I had a lot of laughs with that. Not.
-
man.... where do you take the time from?
Even here in London with the enormous amount of commuting hours the people have there is no way I could keep up with that!!! Sadly I get way too much entertained runing and partying around.... and working of course...
-
Michael Crighton's Prey was a good one.
-
Clancy.
-
Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"
--Vote Number 2.
Read this book as part of a CIS course in Wisconsin. It was very interesting yet quite easy to see the spiral we could all end up in. I would suggest anyone with a desire to further any technology should read this first.
-
I'm a HUGE Crichton fan...but I'm with the poster who voted for classics like "Brave New World"...still love rereading oldies like "1984", "Invisible Man" etc..
For a restful "lounging in the hammock" kind of a day I'd reread a Harry Potter..
Edited...that makes it vote #3 for Huxley!
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
Personally I couldn't finish Digital Fortress - having a supposed computer cryptography expert asking the most basic questions in order to educate the reader was stretching my disbelief just a little too far.
Of course it has to be Neuromancer for me...
-
Clancy -- "Without Remorse" is the one book that kept me up into the wee hours of the morning, I just had to finish it.
I've read all the Jack Ryan novels as well, but this one, which delves into the history and motivations of the mysterious and formidable "Clark", is my all-time Clancy favourite.
- Martin
-
I really enjoyed Crichton's State of Fear.
I just read my first Parker book last week and plan to read more. One of the things I liked about his work was that it was a quick, easy, enjoyable read which many fiction books seem to lack.
Scott
-
Michael Crichton is my all time favorite. But I don't really like it when I read "The State of Fear". Maybe I was having too much expectation on the book. "Air Frame" and "Disclosure" are my all time favorites!
I read all Dan Brown's. I like them all but by the time you completed all his creations, you feel like they are somewhat similar in the plots:
My least favorite would be Tom Clancy. I bought two of his books. Splinter Cell and Power Play. Honestly, I think the game is more exciting than the book (I watched other people played!). And I couldn't even finish Power Play, I stopped at the second chapter and simply couldn't continue!
-
I love the old classics from Jules Verne. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, written in 1870, talked of technology that was unheard and undrempt of at the time. H.G. Wells would be my next favorite, despite the dreadful Tom Cruise remake of War of the Worlds.
-
Personally I am not a great reader, I really cannot get into reading any type of fiction, text books and factual stuff I love but fiction nah, it just does not do it for me.
I went on holiday a year or so ago, supposed to be a relaxing one, so most of the party of 11 took books with them to read and swap during the holiday. I did take a book but nobody wanted to read it, no wonder when people found out it was a Datawarehousing book, but I loved it.
-
Growing up I read a lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs. John Carter of Mars, and other "serials." I think I read every reprint of the Doc Savage pulp era! But probably the Aasimov worlds are my favorites. The technology doesn't overwhelm the story, but its impact on the characters is usually central the the message! Happy summer reading!
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 33 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply