Recommended Reading
I’m an enthusiastic reader of science fiction and fantasy novels. I pick up non-fiction for fun (or for class), and I periodically poke into other genres.
Below, you’ll find a list of a few of my favorites. Head over to my blog to recommend your own favorites!
Remember to check back for new books!
NON-FICTION & SCIENCE
- Susan Blackmore – Consciousness: An Introduction
- Valentino Braitenberg – Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology
- Gerald Edelman & Giulio Tononi – Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination
- Dean Hamer – The God Gene
- Jeff Hawkins & Sandra Blakeslee – On Intelligence
- Douglas Hofstadter – I Am a Strange Loop; Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
- Eric R. Kandel – In Search of Memory
- Mario Livio – The Golden Ratio
- Jonathon Katz & Yehunda Lindell – Introduction to Modern Cryptography
- Alva Noë – Action in Perception
- Henry Plotkin – Darwin Machines
- Edward Reed – Encountering the World
- Lawrence Shapiro – The Mind Incarnate
- Stanislas Dehaene – The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics
Books I plan to check out:
- Robert Frank – Winner Take All Society
- Richard Joyce – The Evolution of Morality
- Pattie Maes (Editor) – Designing Autonomous Agents: Theory & Practice from Biology to Engineering and Back
- Donald Normal – The Design of Everyday Things
- Robert Pirsig – Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
- Neil Strauss – Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life
FANTASY
- Carol Berg – Rai-Kirah saga (Transformation, Restoration, Revelation)
- Jacqueline Carey – the Kushiel books (Kushiel’s Dart, Kushiel’s Chosen, Kushiel’s Avatar, Kushiel’s Scion, Kushiel’s Justice, Kushiel’s Mercy)
- Neil Gaiman – Coraline, Stardust, Neverwhere
- Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett – Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter
- Robin Hobb – Farseer trilogy (Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin’s Quest), Liveship Traders trilogy (Ship of Magic, The Mad Ship, Ship of Destiny), Tawny Man trilogy (Fool’s Errand, Golden Fool, Fool’s Fate), The Rain Wild Chronicles (Dragon Keeper, Dragon Haven), Soldier Son trilogy (Shaman’s Crossing, Forest Mage, Renegade’s Magic)
- Gregory Maguire – Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
- Juliet Marillier – Sevenwaters Trilogy (Daughter of the Forest, Son of the Shadows, Child of Prophecy)
- George R. R. Martin – A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows)
- China Miéville – Perdido Street Station
- Tamora Pierce – The Song of the Lioness quartet, The Immortals quartet, The Protector of the Small quartet
- Terry Pratchett – Discworld (The Color of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, and many, many more)
- Jennifer Roberson – Tiger & Del novels (Sword Dancer, Sword Singer, Sword Maker, and so on)
- Brandon Sanderson – Mistborn trilogy
- Roger Zelazny – The Chronicles of Amber
Books I plan to check out:
- Anne Bishop – The Black Jewels Trilogy
- Susana Clarke – Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
- Stephen Donaldson – Illearth War, White Gold Wielder series
- David Eddings – The Belgariad; The Redemption of Althalus
- Neil Gaiman – American Gods
- Scott Lynch – The Gentleman Bastard Sequence
- China Miéville – The Scar
- K. J. Parker – The Engineer’s Trilogy
SCIENCE-FICTION
- Isaac Asimov – I, Robot
- Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
- Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- Alfred Bester – The Stars My Destination
- Lois McMaster Bujold – Cordelia’s Honor, the Vorkosigan Saga
- Orson Scott Card – Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, Ender’s Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant, Wyrms, Treason
- Peter Dickinson – Eva
- Frank Herbert – Dune
- Lois Lowry – The Giver, Star Split
- China Miéville – Perdido Street Station
- John Scalzi – Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, Zoe’s Tale
- Kim Stanley Robinson – Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars
- Vernor Vinge – Fast Times at Fairmont High
- Scott Westerfeld – The Risen Empire books
- Robert Charles Wilson – Spin
Books I plan to check out:
- Robert Heinlein – The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
- Sharyn McCrumb – Bimbos of the Death Sun
- China Miéville – The Scar
- Larry Niven – Ringworld
- Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle – Lucifer’s Hammer
- Richard Powers – Galatea 2.2
- Neal Stephenson – Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle
- Vernor Vinge – Rainbow’s End
- Peter Watts – Blind Sight
GENERAL FICTION
- Jane Austen – Pride & Prejudice
- Lewis Caroll – Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
- James Clavell – Shogun
- Nicole Krauss – The History of Love, Man Walks Into a Room
- Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner
- Kazuo Ishiguro – Never Let Me Go, The Remains of the Day
- Vladimir Nobokov – Lolita
- Chuck Palahniuk – Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Choke, Haunted, Rant
- Mary Renault – The Persian Boy, The Mask of Apollo
- Gail Tsukiyama – The Samurai’s Garden
- Anthony Swofford – Jarhead
- Thorton Wilder – The Bridge of San Luis Rey
- Virginia Woolf – To the Lighthouse, The Waves
Books I plan to check out:
- Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns
- Nicole Krauss – Great House
- Kate Mosse – The Winter Ghosts, Labyrinth
- Elizabeth Peters – Crocodile on the Sandbank
- Antoine de St. Exupery – The Little Prince