[dlgn]

Hello, everybody! So, basically, this is a (non-nonsense) thread for recommending books! I'll start out with my favorite book: Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.

GEB is basically a book about how systems such as the human brain can become sentient. That said, it's much more than that. It delves deeply into a huge variety of topics, from number theory to logic to art to music to Zen Buddhism in both its many chapters, and the witty and amusing dialogues in between the chapters, consisting of Achilles and The Tortoise, as well as their friends and acquaintances (Mr. Crab, Dr. Anteater, The Sloth, etc.). It isn't fiction, but it's a fantastic book that does an amazing job of illustrating how systems can become self-referential through "strange loops", as the author calls them, and how Godel's Theorem (all formal number-theoretical systems are essentially incomplete) and strange loops become relevant to things as widely varied as poem translation, Bach's music, Escher's art, and more. I would certainly recommend it to anyone curious about logic, self-contradictions, intelligence, and the philosophy of self-referentiality.

Now, go read GEB and recommend books for everyone else to discover!

~dlgn

[Meowrocket]

Pssh. I recommend The Fireside Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge.
Have you ever wondered how to rig up a telegraph or how to create your own battery? Poof.
All that knowledge is right there.

-Meowrocket

[Joey791]

magyk in the septimus heap series, fav book

[mitchman04]

Into Thin Air is a great book.

[TechnoProdigy]

Artemis Fowl (Series)

[Infamouspally]

Game of Thrones series is a great one

[monkeychunks]

Finally someone made this. I was going to make this for Summer Reads

[EpicBros]

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is the best book I've ever read.

The first 3 Game of Thrones books are incredible.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is one of the most fascinatingly innovative books I've come across, it's very good.

[dlgn]

I'd like to check out all these books, but sadly I cannot, nor can most of us. It would be excellent if you all could give descriptions of the books, perhaps? Genre, basic plot/subject (no spoilers!), intended readership? I don't expect you all to write a whole paragraph like I did but a bit of context would be nice.

Also, lovers of fantasy fiction really ought to check out Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series. It currently has 20-30 books in it, set in various time periods of the world it occurs in. Lots of magic and morality and stuff. Also, it's quite feminist, as are most of Lackey's books. The style is very readable, and the characters are very complex and sympathetic. They're funny, exciting, etc. If you like fantasy fiction, it's an excellent series to check out.

I'd recommend starting with Arrows of the Queen, as that's the first in the intended reading order, although the first trilogy in the series (it's divided into a bunch of trilogies mostly, as well as some standalones, that all occur around the same place, with lots of references to things that occur in the others (evil returns through the ages!)) is slightly cheesy. It's quite difficult in any case to understand what's going on in any other books if you haven't read the Arrows trilogy first, as it's meant as an introduction to the world. That said, if you're reading the first trilogy, and it gets too cheesy for you (and it may not; it really only is in comparison to her other writing) just finish the trilogy and start on the next, which is much less so.

TL;DR: Check out the Valdemar series, and if you find the first trilogy a bit cheesy, don't worry, it gets better. Also, including descriptions with your books would be fantastic.

~dlgn

[hippoface]

Maximum Ride Series- A few kids with bird wings because they were test subjects go on adventures.

Warm Bodies- Just go read the description for the movie.

Graceling Series (Graceling Realm/Seven Kingdoms)- People have powers kind of like of superpowes when they're born. It takes place in a sort of back in time world. Somebody's grandfather goes missing and the main characters go on adventure to figure out why. It's alright, not the best I've ever read.

The Giver series- Pure aweso-- I mean, best thing you'll eve-- err, it's about a world with sort of different standards. Each person, at the age of twelve, is chosen for a job to do for the rest of their lives. That's only the first book, if I described the next ones, it'd be spoilers. Each book jumps around on the timeline, filling in gaps in the story as it goes. It's really flipping awesome, I suggest this most out of any.

Divergent series- A dystopian world where people are seperated by their personality.

TWILIGHT- AI MEEN ERMAGERD ITS SU GÜD AI WANTA MERRY EET EET WUZ JIST SU GRET!!!!!111!!!11oneoneeleven!!1