Top 20 "geek" novels

[mason55]

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2005/11/09/top_20_geek_novels_the_results.html

Which of these have you read?

[StevieG]

Only 10.

And how is Arthur C. Clarke missing from the list?

If Pratchett makes is, how is The Hobbitt not there?

[Chobohoya]

I'm pretty surprised more people haven't read Illuminatus!, that was a great book. Schroedinger's Cat was awesome too.

[Paluka]

I have only read 8. How lucky.

[mason55]

Ask The Guardian, not me.

Personally, I've only read 1984. I was never into reading Novels. I think I discovered the internet before I would have been interested in any of these and just read all the random [censored] on the internet that I could find.

[diebitter]

I was sweating cos it was 'yes' for the first 9. Didn't have any more after that though.

Does that mean I'm not a geek?

[phixxx]

I don't think Brave New World and 1984 are 'geek' novels at all..maybe that's just me.

Put the LOTR books in there : )

[mason55]

I didn't make this list.

[IndieMatty]

Only one for me, Brave New World because we were forced to read it in High School.

[hobbsmann]

I /images/graemlins/heart.gif Phillip K Dick

and this might be one of my favorite books: The Illuminatus! Trilogy

[samjjones]

Watchmen is excellent. I heartily endorse.

[Georgia Avenue]

I've read all except the last...Wyndam? G00t?

Missing: Jack Vance, Richard Bachman, Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Sterling, Larry Niven... (less Anglocentric!)

[Paluka]

[ QUOTE ]
Only one for me, Brave New World because we were forced to read it in High School.

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[asofel]

nice poll....i almost bought the latest stephenson novel in the airport the other day, but saw it was part of a trilogy....has anyone read the first couple books and have any thoughts? i really liked cryptonomicon....

[durron597]

I'm very surprised there are as many noes as there are for a lot of these, particuraly the Stevenson stuff, plus Neuromancer is a pretty well known classic.

[Jack of Arcades]

I, Robot and American Gods are must reads.

[Georgia Avenue]

I love 'em...but I'm a Geek. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

It's pretty much Cryptonomicon in the 1700s. If you hate loose ends, vague mysticism, and anachronisms, avoid. If you like long, windy and hilarious writing, dig in. I would start at the start, it's pretty complex. <3 Enlightenment...

[Dominic]

I haven't read 4 of them - guess I'm a geek.

[mmbt0ne]

Wow. 0/20. But I saw the I, Robot movie!!

I guess that makes me cool? Well, maybe not the movie part...

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
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Only one for me, Brave New World because we were forced to read it in High School.

[/ QUOTE ]

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[/ QUOTE ]

What confused you?

[WDC]

only 1984 and brave new world both of which i had to read for class.

[SomethingClever]

I've read 9. Now I'm going to seek out the other 11. Thanks, OP!

[SomethingClever]

[ QUOTE ]
nice poll....i almost bought the latest stephenson novel in the airport the other day, but saw it was part of a trilogy....has anyone read the first couple books and have any thoughts? i really liked cryptonomicon....

[/ QUOTE ]

The first one in his latest trilogy starts slooooow. But it seemed to pick up about halfway through. Then I had to return it to the library. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

Diamond age is awesome. So is Zodiac. And obviously Cryptonomicon.

[Chobohoya]

I'm almost done with the first book, and I've gone ahead and bought the second. I don't like it as much as Cryptonomicon, but it has a lot of the same appeal. Witty dialogue, cool (to my nerd sensibility at least) allusions and events.

I'm 13/20 on this list btw. Might have to check out some of the missing stuff.

[hobbsmann]

Excerpt from Illuminatus!:


" ``Very nice,'' I said. ``But why did you bring me up here?''

``It's time for you to see the fnords,'' he replied.

Then I woke up in bed and it was the next morning. I made breakfast in a pretty nasty mood, wondering if I'd seen the fnords, whatever the hell they were, in the hours he had blacked out, or if I would see them as soon as I went out into the street. I had some pretty gruesome ideas about them, I must admit. Creatures with three eyes and tentacles, survivors from Atlantis, who walked among us, invisible due to some form of mind shield, and did hideous work for the Illuminati. It was unnerving to contemplate, and I finally gave in to my fears and peeked out the window, thinking it might be better to see them from a distance first. Nothing. Just ordinary sleepy people, heading for their busses and subways. That calmed me a little, so I set out the toast and coffee and fetched the New York Times from the hallway. I turned the radio to WBAI and caught some good Vivaldi, sat down, grabbed a piece of toast and started skimming the first page.

Then I saw the fnords.

The feature story involved another of the endless squabbles between Russia and the U.S. in the UN General Assembly, and after each direct quote from the Russian delegate I read a quite distinct ``Fnord!'' The second lead was about a debate in congress on getting the troops out of costa Rica; every argument presented by Senator Bacon was followed by another ``Fnord!'' At the bottom of the page was a Times depth-type study of the growing pollution problem and the increasing use of gas masks among New Yorkers; the most distressing chemical facts were interpolated with more ``Fnords.''

Suddenly I saw Hagbard's eyes burning into me and heard his voice: ``Your heart will remain calm. Your adrenalin gland will remain calm. Calm, all-over calm. You will not panic. you will look at the fnord and see the it. You will not evade it or black it out. you will stay calm and face it.'' And further back, way back: my first-grade teacher writing FNORD on the blackboard, while a wheel with a spiral design turned and turned on his desk, turned and turned, and his voice droned on, IF YOU DON'T SEE THE FNORD IT CAN'T EAT YOU, DON'T SEE THE FNORD, DON'T SEE THE FNORD . . .

I looked back at the paper and still saw the fnords. This was one step beyond Pavlov, I realized. The first conditioned reflex was to experience the panic reaction (the activation syndrome, it's technically called) whenever encountering the word ``fnord.'' The second conditioned reflex was to black out what happened, including the word itself, and just to feel a general low-grade emergency without knowing why. And the third step, of course, was to attribute this anxiety to the news stories, which were bad enough in themselves anyway. Of course, the essence of control is fear. The fnords produced a whole population walking around in chronic low-grade emergency, tormented by ulcers, dizzy spells, nightmares, heart palpitations and all the other symptoms of too much adrenalin. All my left-wing arrogance and contempt for my countrymen melted, and I felt a genuine pity. No wonder the poor bastards believe anything they're told, walk through pollution and overcrowding without complaining, watch their son hauled off to endless wars and butchered, never protest, never fight back, never show much happiness or eroticism or curiosity or normal human emotion, live with perpetual tunnel vision, walk past a slum without seeing either the human misery it contains or the potential threat it poses to their security . . .

Then I got a hunch, and turned quickly to the advertisements. it was as I expected: no fnords. That was part of the gimmick, too: only in consumption, endless consumption, could they escape the amorphous threat of the invisible fnords. I kept thinking about it on my way to the office. If I pointed out a fnord to somebody who hadn't been deconditioned, as Hagbard deconditioned me, what would he or she say? They'd probably read the word before or after it. ``No this word,'' I'd say. And they would again read an adjacent word. But would their panic level rise as the threat came closer to consciousness? I preferred not to try the experiment; it might have ended with a psychotic fugue in the subject. The conditioning, after all, went back to grade school. No wonder we all hate those teachers so much: we have a dim, masked memory of what they've done to us in converting us into good and faithful servants for the Illuminati."



completely wierd, but great at the same time.

[SomethingClever]

Ok, I'm buying that book tonight.

[Paluka]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Only one for me, Brave New World because we were forced to read it in High School.

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

What confused you?

[/ QUOTE ]

why would you have to be forced to read such a book

[Chobohoya]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, I'm buying that book tonight.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's about a 2 on a scale of 1-Weird as presented in that novel.

[Georgia Avenue]

I loved that book when I was 15. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

It is pretty awesome, but take it with a oversized grain of seasalt... It is 99.9% BS. A fun novel, not non-fiction or literature.

Still, any book that introduces the Fugs as minor characters is ++good in the scheme of things.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Only one for me, Brave New World because we were forced to read it in High School.

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

What confused you?

[/ QUOTE ]

why would you have to be forced to read such a book

[/ QUOTE ]

I was 14 -15?, who the hell wants to read when they are that age? All I wanted to do was get up Salllys shirt at the ice skating rink, or sneak out some of my dads Molsen Canadian.

[jokerthief]

This is easily one of the best polls of the year for OOT; good job Mason. This has reminded be to read some books I've been meaning to read for years but have neglected.

Is the Illuminatus Trillogy about the secret society Illuminati? If so I might have to check it out. I got into researching the illuminati after playing deus ex and it is really an entertaining thing to read about online. At first I thought that there just might be something to it and there may in fact be a secret society controlling the world. Then I found sites that claim that the illuminati can control hurricanes, shape shift into reptiles, control boths sides of every war, and my personal favortite plan all their terrorist acts based on an occult numerology. What's funny about the last part is that if you follow the logic by the conspiricy theorists ANY date would have significance to them. They have a set number of significant numbers then numbers that fall outside that set can still count if any of the significant numbers is a factor of said number or if any other mathmatical permutation can break the number down into two or three of the "occult numbers". These idiots don't realise that they are defining every single known number as being significant.

[SomethingClever]

[ QUOTE ]
That's about a 2 on a scale of 1-Weird as presented in that novel.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope. I still can't figure out what you mean by this.

[imported_anacardo]

12/20. I guess I'm a D- member of the club.

[ QUOTE ]
I was 14 -15?, who the hell wants to read when they are that age?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would say I've spent over an hour reading for over 90% of the days that have passed since I was like three years old. While you were gettin' high, I was readin' books.

[Lazymeatball]

1984 is standard high school reading. intellectual, clever, and appreciated by geeks, but one does not need to be a geek to appreciate it.

[diebitter]

[ QUOTE ]
1984 is standard high school reading. intellectual, clever, and appreciated by geeks, but one does not need to be a geek to appreciate it.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not a geek book. It's an intelligent person's book. Easy call.

[Chobohoya]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
That's about a 2 on a scale of 1-Weird as presented in that novel.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope. I still can't figure out what you mean by this.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's a lot of really crazy [censored] in that book. That's all.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
12/20. I guess I'm a D- member of the club.

[ QUOTE ]
I was 14 -15?, who the hell wants to read when they are that age?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would say I've spent over an hour reading for over 90% of the days that have passed since I was like three years old. While you were gettin' high, I was readin' books.

[/ QUOTE ]

huh? who said anything about drugs? The books on this list never interested me because they are nerdy. I hate science fiction, role playing and any of that lameness. So, at 14/15 I would need to be forced to read them. When I was younger I just perferred reading sports books (old haberstam type stuff) and Stephen King. Now, I don't have much time to read actual books, between my job/poker and social obligations.

[imported_anacardo]

Bitchin'. I love Halberstam. I left my second edition copy of The Breaks of the Game at a fencing tournament AUUUUGGGGHHH. Stephen King is of course eminently readable. (I didn't really mean "you" per se by the "gettin' high" comment, just flaming youth in general.)

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
Bitchin'. I love Halberstam. I left my second edition copy of The Breaks of the Game at a fencing tournament AUUUUGGGGHHH. Stephen King is of course eminently readable. (I didn't really mean "you" per se by the "gettin' high" comment, just flaming youth in general.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Fencing tournament? Who are you flaming? /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Soul Daddy]

Regardless of your actual reasons or actions, it is likely you were doing drugs while anacardo was reading.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
Regardless of your actual reasons or actions, it is likely you were doing drugs while anacardo was reading.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, considering the time difference, and the fact I didn't have fencing as a way to keep me off the streets,I would say this is entirely true.

[Soul Daddy]

I took a fencing class in college. My friend and I went while high once. Not very fun.

And just so I get something on-topic in this thread, I've only read 1984 and Brave New World.

[imported_anacardo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bitchin'. I love Halberstam. I left my second edition copy of The Breaks of the Game at a fencing tournament AUUUUGGGGHHH. Stephen King is of course eminently readable. (I didn't really mean "you" per se by the "gettin' high" comment, just flaming youth in general.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Fencing tournament? Who are you flaming? /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, back the [censored] up off me, sucka. I was a black belt. I was an o-lineman. I was a... baritone. /images/graemlins/blush.gif I have had many faces. Fencing rules. Contact sports in which the unathletically-gifted-yet-clever can win rule. I highly recommend it to all you card players out there. I renounce my thread hijack.

[tdarko]

douglas coupland has rocked for a very long time.

[Chobohoya]

You were O line and a fencer? I just pictured you stabbing Sup Bro right through the face mask, and now my co-worker is wondering what's so funny /images/graemlins/blush.gif

[vulturesrow]

I read 13 of them.

[ChipWrecked]

12

Half-assed geek. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Snow Crash > Cryptonomicon > any Gibson

I was pleased to see many props for Ender's Game in the comments.

[benza13]

[ QUOTE ]
12/20. I guess I'm a D- member of the club.

[ QUOTE ]
I was 14 -15?, who the hell wants to read when they are that age?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would say I've spent over an hour reading for over 90% of the days that have passed since I was like three years old. While you were gettin' high, I was readin' books.

[/ QUOTE ]

I also try to read at least a little bit every day and have since a young age. Of course, I still find plenty of time to get high.

[Shajen]

[ QUOTE ]
12

Half-assed geek. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Snow Crash > Cryptonomicon > any Gibson

I was pleased to see many props for Ender's Game in the comments.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, if they wanted real geek they'd have much different books in there. Where the hell are the tech manuals? Teh Guide to Teh L00nix and [censored]?

Geek my ass. This is a dork poll, not a geek poll.

[imported_anacardo]

Heh. Sup Bro would eat my ass up. We played in perhaps the toughest 4-A district in Texas, yet had linemen you'd see on a 2-A squad. I played at like 5' 11", 190, and was one of the bigger linemen on the team. Our center was 6' and usually around 150 by the end of the season. Not good times.

I SWEAR TO GOD THREAD HIJACK OVER.

[Amid Cent]

13 for me as well.

Big fan of Stephenson but having a hard time with the latest trilogy.

Also, I second the motion to put Ender's Game on the list. I might also add Farenheit 451

[wayabvpar]

I have only read 7- I think mostly because there is a heavy bias toward sci-fi on the list, and I read far more fantasy than sci-fi. There are definitely a few on the list that I will read eventually, however.

[Paluka]

I think The Foundation is the best thing on this list, with 1984 and Brave New World being the other stand-outs.

Where's the love for Stranger in a Strange Land? Heinlein rules.

[swede123]

[ QUOTE ]
I think The Foundation is the best thing on this list, with 1984 and Brave New World being the other stand-outs.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd definitely put 1984 and then Brave New World way above the rest on this list in terms of "mainstream" popularity and recognition. I do agree the Foundation trilogy is good, particularly the first two books. My total was seven or eight.

Swede

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
I was 14 -15?, who the hell wants to read when they are that age?

[/ QUOTE ]

Me?

~D

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I second the motion to put Ender's Game on the list. I might also add Farenheit 451

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean Ender's Starship Game Troopers?

~D

[MonkeeMan]

5, but it's only 2:42.

[astroglide]

0. i never read anything.

[masse75]

Should I feel good about myself that I've only heard of 3 of those?

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
Should I feel good about myself that I've only heard of 3 of those?

[/ QUOTE ]

It really depends on where you live. I hear that ignorance is a virtue in most of the world.

~D

[ethan]

I've read 16/20. The results so far seem pretty much in line with what I'd expect. I thought the numbers for Snow Crash might be a little higher, and American Gods is far too low. I know geeks and non-geeks who like Neil Gaiman, and he's among my favorite authors.

[d10]

I voted no on all of these. Also, I've never even heard of most of these books. I might be illiterate.

[CCass]

Only 2. Both of the Asimov books. I Robot is a great collection of short stories.

[masse75]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Should I feel good about myself that I've only heard of 3 of those?

[/ QUOTE ]

It really depends on where you live. I hear that ignorance is a virtue in most of the world.

~D

[/ QUOTE ]

Oooh...snap!!

[ethan]

[ QUOTE ]
Should I feel good about myself that I've only heard of 3 of those?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope those three are the first three.

[Brain]

[ QUOTE ]
Only one for me, Brave New World because we were forced to read it in High School.

[/ QUOTE ]

[masse75]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Should I feel good about myself that I've only heard of 3 of those?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope those three are the first three.

[/ QUOTE ]

You got it...DAMN!!! How did "Dune" sneak in there? Make it four. [censored]! I'm a journeyman dork now.

[ethan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Should I feel good about myself that I've only heard of 3 of those?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope those three are the first three.

[/ QUOTE ]

You got it...DAMN!!! How did "Dune" sneak in there? Make it four. [censored]! I'm a journeyman dork now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was slightly curious how you'd managed not to ever _hear_ of Dune. Again, to the people who haven't read (or heard of ) most of these, I'd still recommend Neil Gaiman. American Gods or Neverwhere would both be good places to start.

[ChipWrecked]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Also, I second the motion to put Ender's Game on the list. I might also add Farenheit 451

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean Ender's Starship Game Troopers?

~D

[/ QUOTE ]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

A little Heinlein goes a long way, I'll admit.

"The Forever War", the hippy anti-'Troopers', is a Hugo winner and another classic. Interstellar war complete with time dilation and a 1500 year old protagonist. Sweet.

[Dr. Strangelove]

10/20. Also, I've read Cryptonomicon, the first two of the prequels and ~500 pages of the third. I guess I just got bored 2000 pages in and never finished. The prequels hit some really high points though.

[doughhater]

Ok, so I want to read the Neal Stephenson books, but I'm unsure where to start. What is the correct order of books?

[ChipWrecked]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, so I want to read the Neal Stephenson books, but I'm unsure where to start. What is the correct order of books?

[/ QUOTE ]

Cryptonomicon is a stand alone, but it introduces characters that continue in the Baroque Cycle, which begins with Quicksilver.

If you haven't read any Stephenson at all, start with his award winners Snow Crash and The Diamond Age.

[ethan]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, so I want to read the Neal Stephenson books, but I'm unsure where to start. What is the correct order of books?

[/ QUOTE ]

Snow Crash first, then probably Diamond Age. Past that, give Cryptonomicon a shot and see if you want to read his more recent stuff. If you want things less cyberpunk then skip SC, and probably DA. But you'll be doing yourself a disservice.

[doughhater]

Would you strongly recommend reading Snow Crash and Diamond Age prior to Cryptonomicon or do they not really interact?

[ethan]

[ QUOTE ]
Would you strongly recommend reading Snow Crash and Diamond Age prior to Cryptonomicon or do they not really interact?

[/ QUOTE ]

There's no interaction between the first two books you mention and the third. Or, for that matter, between the first two. But they require less committment to read and they're both excellent. They are more...cyberpunk. But there's going to be some suspension of disbelief in all of these books. Cryptonomicon basically abandoned the cyberpunk genre and went towards historical fiction.

So, SC/DA aren't connected to his later books, but I'd still recommend starting with them.

[doughhater]

Thanks for the info. Luckily, suspension of disbelief is one of my strengths.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon are my favorites.

[mason55]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
12

Half-assed geek. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Snow Crash > Cryptonomicon > any Gibson

I was pleased to see many props for Ender's Game in the comments.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, if they wanted real geek they'd have much different books in there. Where the hell are the tech manuals? Teh Guide to Teh L00nix and [censored]?

Geek my ass. This is a dork poll, not a geek poll.

[/ QUOTE ]

Like I said, I just copied it from the Guardian and made a stab in the dark that it would generate good discussion on this board.

If I made a list of "geek" books I've read it would include "Programming Linux Device Drivers," "Advanced Operating System Development," "The x86 Architecture Reference Guide," and "PCI Specification v2.1"

[masse75]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Should I feel good about myself that I've only heard of 3 of those?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope those three are the first three.

[/ QUOTE ]

You got it...DAMN!!! How did "Dune" sneak in there? Make it four. [censored]! I'm a journeyman dork now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was slightly curious how you'd managed not to ever _hear_ of Dune. Again, to the people who haven't read (or heard of ) most of these, I'd still recommend Neil Gaiman. American Gods or Neverwhere would both be good places to start.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had. Just missed it the first time, which is why I'm up to 4.