Slashdot Asks: What Are Your Favorite Technology Books and Novels? 175
It can be a nonfiction book, or a fictional narrative where technology plays a key role. I recently started to read 'The Rise of the Robots' by Martin Ford. It talks about how robots are threatening mass unemployment more than they ever did before. I also found Andrew Blum's 'Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet' quite insightful. I would like to read 'The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers'.
What are some of your favorite tech-centric books? And which book are you currently reading, or recently finished?
What are some of your favorite tech-centric books? And which book are you currently reading, or recently finished?
Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Daemon by Daniel Suarez (Score:5, Insightful)
Those books were garbage. I'm actually surprised anyone on slashdot liked them. Cheesy poorly written action books with all the tech so stupidly wrong it's offensive to anyone who knows how computers work.
I have a theory that power and accessibility in books are largely orthogonal. Power comes from having something to say that resonates with someone. Accessibility from from craft. Sometimes you read a book and it passes through your head effortlessly without making a ripple or leaving a trace. That's a very, well written book with nothing interesting to say.
When a book's message and themes hit you in the right spot, you can't see its faults. Lord of the Rings is a brilliant book, but it's a hot mess (with a sprinkling of sublime bits) all the way up to the Council of Elrond. That's painfully obvious for someone who is not getting into the book as he reads it. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is likewise a brilliant book with serious first-novel-itis. And we all know how dreadful the dialog and scene pacing in Twilight is -- but the people who love that book don't. And it's OK. Had Twilight been better written, it might have found a larger audience; but it found a large enough audience, and if they enjoy the book I'm not going rub their nose in its faults.
If there's one thing I can't stand, it's prigs who try to make people ashamed for liking things that they think are bad. If you read hard enough, everything starts looking bad. Someone in my book club recently disparaged a potential novel as "Gun sci-fi". I knew exactly what he meant, and I suspect that book is not for me; but there are people out there who want to read that stuff and if they enjoy it, good for them. Sure it looks better to them than it does to me, but there's stuff I like that they probably would find ridiculous too.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought Kill Decision was great, but Daemon and Freedom were only okay.
Neal Asher's Polity/Cormac Series (Score:1)
Neal Asher's Polity/Cormac Series starting with Gridlinked.
Physics books (Score:2)
Classic Sci-Fi Books .. but why just novels? (Score:3)
IMO modern sci-fi has been "dumbed" down to just action flicks. Originally, "classic" Sci-Fi dealt with the _social_ issues and problems that technology created. We got some amazing stories.
Everything by:
* Isaac Asimov -- especially Foundation series.
* Robert A. Heinlein
* Arthur C. Clarke
Is A+.
There are also plenty of Feynman videos on YouTube. Fascinating just to listen to him. He's the true skeptic -- an open mind and willing to _explore_ issues.
Buy why limit this to just novels though?? For modern decent sci-fi TV would include:
* Continuum
* Firefly
* Fringe
* Lost
* Star Trek: The Next Generation
* X-Files
Isn't that the whole point of good Sci-Fi -- to light our imagination with possibilities?
Not the "Time Travel' Deus Ex Machina so much modern sci-fi crap resorts to.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That pretty much describes all good drama, too. To me, science fiction is any story that uses an alternative setting that is different from our own so that it can deal with the question above in a way that makes people think rather than causing them to have a knee-jerk reaction that makes them stop thinking, as it would if the same story were set in the present universe and at the present time.
Addition
Re: (Score:3)
I particularly agree with your mention of Isaac Asimov in general, and his Foundation series in particular.
Recently I've been working on an extended project that involves reading a lot of quotes about science from a lot of people. The result of filtering through almost 10,000 quotes is a resounding +1 for Asimov. And G.K. Chesterton.
Re: (Score:3)
IMO modern sci-fi has been "dumbed" down to just action flicks.
Modern sci-fi is not entirely dumbed-down action flicks; you just have to be a little choosy and spend some time looking. I loved the book The Martian, which has a lot of technology in it (the movie was a bit dumbed down compared to the book, but not entirely). A little older, I also liked Mars Crossing, another sci fi novel about Mars with a lot of realistic details.
Other than those, check out the revelation space series by Alastair Reynolds, an astrophysicist who writes mostly space-opera material, but
Re: (Score:2)
I loved the book The Martian, which has a lot of technology in it (the movie was a bit dumbed down compared to the book, but not entirely).
My only problem with "The Martian" is that the premise for him being marooned on Mars (at least in the film) is completely bogus. Mars has 1% of the atmospheric pressure of earth, there's absolutely no way that a dust storm could cause anything like the effects it had in the movie. It certainly could not lift rocks, never mind knocking over a rocket.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
<quote><p>I loved the book The Martian, which has a lot of technology in it (the movie was a bit dumbed down compared to the book, but not entirely).</p></quote>
<p>My only problem with "The Martian" is that the premise for him being marooned on Mars (at least in the film) is completely bogus. Mars has 1% of the atmospheric pressure of earth, there's absolutely no way that a dust storm could cause anything like the effects it had in the movie. It certainly could not
Re: (Score:2)
The author (Andy Weir) acknowledged that the dust storm wouldn't have had the effects it did. He said he had to have a way to strand Watney, and chose a dust storm as the only plausible way to do so. Also, the ending scene you mention actually did have issues with too much atmosphere, that was the whole reason that the MAV didn't reach the right speed and missed the rendezvous.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd also add "The Expanse" to this list, both the TV Series and the novel series, and don't forget the new Battlestar Galactica.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't that the whole point of good Sci-Fi -- to light our imagination with possibilities?
That's true of all fiction. The problem with science fiction is that its fans lose track of the "fiction" part and start thinking what they read is real or possible.
Re:Classic Sci-Fi Books .. but why just novels? (Score:4, Interesting)
Take a look at the Honor Harrington or Lost Fleet series. They try vey hard to get the physics perfect, but it's all about the human/social issues. The Troy Rising trilogy by John Ringo is also excellent and very much about the people.
Re: (Score:2)
Aside from the new Battlestar Galactica (2004) [imdb.com] or Continuum (2012) [imdb.com] I haven't seen any _good_ Sci-Fi. Pickings have been pretty slim.
Definitely going to check out recommendations. Thanks !
Re: (Score:2)
I think I'd rather read Hornblower despite it lacking the magic cat.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
* Isaac Asimov -- especially Foundation series. * Robert A. Heinlein * Arthur C. Clarke
Is A+.
I read them as a child. I recently started rereading some of them and noticed/remembered a couple of things...
Heinleins politics were questionable in some places and awful in others. Despite, for example, Startship Troopers, Red Planet and Number of the Beast approvingly showing un-admirable traits, I enjoy them and recommend them to all.
Asimov wasn't so political but he did seem to unwittingly subscribed to US "Manifest Destiny" and rarely considers any other parts of humanity except, perhaps, a British
Re: (Score:2)
When I read Starship Troopers, I took it as mostly a parody. I don't think that he was seriously glorifying the military mindset offered in the book.
Re: (Score:2)
Just like the (first) movie then.
Re: (Score:2)
IMO modern sci-fi has been "dumbed" down to just action flicks. Originally, "classic" Sci-Fi dealt with the _social_ issues and problems that technology created. We got some amazing stories.
You might enjoy 2312 from Kim Stanley Robinson.
You might enjoy the previous books from the Red Mars trilogy as well, but I've been having some hard time with them. I'm definitely recommending 2312, but somehow, at least reading them in this order, I feel that the trilogy feels like plethora of extras in a good movie. A history of sorts, of how the stage for 2312 was built.
Iain M. Banks also would fit the 'light our imagination with possibilities' theme. Perhaps not so much with social issues.
Re: (Score:2)
"IMO modern sci-fi has been "dumbed" down to just action flicks. Originally, "classic" Sci-Fi dealt with the _social_ issues and problems that technology created. We got some amazing stories."
All is not lost. Neal Stephenson still lives.
Re: (Score:2)
You might want to check out SevenEves, Stephenson did a pretty good job in taking today's technology, and expanding it a bit to write a great story.
Some of his other books though can be pretty hard to get through, such as the Baroque Cycle, but I really enjoy Cryptonomicon and Diamond Age.
The Martian movie was pretty good when put next to the book. There of course isn't as much explanation of what is going on, but they get it pretty right. I would recommend seeing it, it was worth the cost to me, and my k
Old, but great read (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Nonfiction (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I loved the Kidder book. I was a customer of Data General during that time and the book captured the development of the MV-series beautifully.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Stephensons (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
His image of the various vehicles representing OSes is indelibly burned into my brain, as is his vision of Apple as a sort of free-thinking "commune populated by sandal-wearing, peace-sign flashing flower children" that turns out to be a facade, run by a bunch of control freaks who want to dictate your every move. (And before some Apple defenders get ready to attack me, note that Stephenson insults just about everybody in the essay. But th
Cybersecurity Canon (Score:2)
If you're just looking for something to read that is technical, the folks at Palo Alto have put together a good list of books as "canon" for the security industry. Worth a look anyway.
https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/threat-research/cybercanon
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Reamde is great. He totally overcomes his inability at pacing, and this story of a problem that just keeps getting worse and bigger is his first "page-turner" since Snow Crash.
Re: (Score:2)
+1 for Cryptonomicon. It's magnificent.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
IMHO it would need a TV series since a major point of it is that there is so much going on and connections between the things. Cutting it back into a movie would mean throwing a lot away.
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (Score:2)
Martian Chronicles (Score:5, Interesting)
Millenium tetralogy, by far (Score:2)
The Way Things Work (Score:3)
https://www.amazon.com/Way-Thi... [amazon.com]
Originally published in 1988, it was one of the books that sparked my interest in engineering and science as a child. The illustrations were both fascinating and informative without being too technical, and at times funny.
I vote for The Cuckoo's Egg (Score:5, Interesting)
Cliff Stoll's account of how he tracked the CCC hackers is a very good read.
The Soul of a new Machine (Score:3)
Tracy Kidders book is most memorable.
Re: (Score:2)
Germa, Guns and Steel (Score:2)
History of Bell Labs and Intel (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Richard Stallman (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Richard Stallman (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Physics, math, Social (Score:3)
Chaos [amazon.com]
One of the inspirations for me in pursuing education in Chaos Theory (and applications of course).
Time Travel (Score:2)
"Timeline" Michael Crichton - One of my favorites. Enough tech to properly suspend disbelief, coupled with good midieval historical content and great plot line. Movie sucked but book is a must-read.
The Mythical Manmonth (Score:2, Insightful)
Its still Mythical after all these years and ten major releases of Microsoft Project.
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Will (Score:2)
Ra, a hard science fiction book about magic (Score:2)
https://qntm.org/ra [qntm.org]
The Sun in the Church (Score:2)
The Drift Wars by Brett James (Score:2)
Creepy futurism buried in intense action:
https://www.amazon.com/Drift-Wars-Brett-James/dp/0985086424/
Culture books from the late Iain M Banks (Score:4, Interesting)
Basically daunted by the topic, but I read a lot of books. Started with classic SF such as Heinlein and Asimov, but trying to pick the best is an overwhelming challenge. I do see mention of those two above, but Iain M Banks seems to be missing. His Culture books are ultimately optimistic about the future in the same way that Star Trek is. Too well written to dismiss as space opera, though grandiose enough.
The Expanse series (Score:2, Informative)
I didn't think good sci-fi was getting made anymore until I came across The Expanse [wikipedia.org]. The novels are terrific (especially the 5th novel) and Syfy's TV adaptation is surprisingly good as well. Both are worth a look.
The premise is a near-future sci-fi setting with as little magic tech as possible. Almost all sci-fi tech in the story consists of reasonable derivations of current technology. Newtonian physics in space is respected. There's no inertial dampeners. There are no relativity-busting star drives. Gravi
Re: (Score:2)
You really should read the Culture novels.
Gödel, Escher, Bach (Score:3)
By Douglas Hofstadter.
Dune (Score:3)
It's a unique work regarding tech because of its absence. The entire society could have incredible technology, but they choose not to. It's Amish, for lack of a better way of describing it. They know it exists, but they decided that they didn't want it. With only a few exceptions. Dibs and dabs of incredible tech such as interstellar travel and sheilding technology and poison snoopers, but for the most part they eschew the rest and try to develop people rather than machines. A totally unique approach to technology in the future. What if it gets bigger than we're comfortable with, and we simply decide to do away with it for our own good? I think Frank Herbert was the first person to really explore that question in depth.
How 'Bout Sci-Fi Romance? (Score:2)
algorithms to live by (Score:2)
Godel Escher Bach : hofstadter (Score:2)
My favorite book
Re:Godel Escher Bach : hofstadter (Score:5, Interesting)
Yet another vote for Gödel, Escher & Bach. I was blown away when I read it. It is now my favorite non-fiction book by far. I go back and re-read at least one chapter every year just for fun.
Nanotechnology? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I really enjoyed Eric Drexler's seminal work, "Engines of Creation," even if he was off the mark about timelines and how nanotech would evolve.
His second book, Nanosystems, has a lot more realism in it.
Cory Doctorow (Score:3)
Umm (Score:2)
The story about PING, what else ? (Score:3)
The Education of a Computer Guy... (Score:2)
One Jump Ahead (Score:2)
It is the story of the developer of the checkers program that beat the world champion and the story of the matches between them.
A very interesting read.
Surely You Must Be Joking Mr. Feynman (Score:5, Interesting)
An entertaining book on Richard Feynman's pranks and interests.
Re: (Score:2)
An entertaining book on Richard Feynman's pranks and interests.
Yep, that along with What Do You Care What Other People Think? and Tuva or Bust!. Plus James Gleik's Genius about Feynmen. I also liked Gleik's Chaos and am currently reading his The Information.
For fiction, I like Alastair Renolds' House of Suns and Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep.
Do Novellas count? True Names by Vernor Vinge (Score:2)
True Names [wikipedia.org] is an amazingly prescient work.
It clearly presents full-blown world-wide Internetworking, Virtual Reality, A.I. agents, hacker/cracker cabals, cyberwarfare, and a number of other important concepts (one of which I won't mention to avoid a major spoiler) - as the fundamental and necessary background for a rollicking good story.
Published in 1981!
Here is mine. (Score:2)
Teaser available here. [telephonecollectors.info]
All the IPv6 books.... (Score:3)
Culture novels (Score:2)
Iain M. Banks
We're talking Tech, not Science, right? (Score:4, Interesting)
And not literary sophistication, right?
If we're talking pure joy of tech, for me it has to be EE Doc Smith's SPACEHOUNDS OF THE IPC [gutenberg.org], originally published in Hugo Gernsback's AMAZING STORIES in 1931.
Now remember for readers in 1931 radio was high tech. Ever build a crystal radio set? Did you wonder what the point was? Well if you were a kid in the early 20s, with a wooden plank, a spool of wire, and a hunk of galena, you could build yourself the most advanced, high tech communication instrument on the planet. When the story was published in 1931, the hottest new tech was the vacuum tube radio. This took a few more premanunfactured parts -- the vacuum tubes obviousl, but still if you were ambitious and clever with your hands and could solder wires and cut and bend sheet metal, you still could build the most sophisticated communication receiver on the planet.
The story takes place in a high tech future that seems plausible for someone in '31. There is regular spaceliner service between Earth and Mars. Interesting side note -- these spaceliners operate by a kind of remotely broadcasted power, and use that to power their reactionless drives. If you were *very* sophisticated at the time, you would realize this avoids all the rocket equation related implausibilities of ships that have to carry the reaction mass to maintain constant acceleration. The ships are guided by beacon stations (radio of course!), but the station keepers have been getting sloppy, so the line sends their best computer (a *person* of course!) to pin their ears back.
The liner is attacked by an alien spaceship, cut apart, and towed in pieces to Jupiter.It is built in many small airtight compartments (like an OCEAN liner) so most of the people are still alive, including our hero who is stuck in small piece with a beautiful (yay) rich (double yay) girl. He manages to escape (I forget how), and they crash on Ganymede, which turns out to be just like Earth but with lower gravity.
Now here's the problem: the line is building a new supership; if they only knew everyone was being held at the moons of Jupiter they could rescue them. But as far as they know the liner just disappeared.
So what our hero and is lovely, plucky helpmate must do is something familiar to every red-blooded Depression era nerd: BUILD A RADIO SET! Only they've got nothing; they've got to work their way up from paleolithic tech all the way up to (their) present, figuring out how to smelt metal, blow glass, generate electricity, and reverse engineer the very latest high tech vacuum tube.
This kind of story represents a way of imagining the future of tech that we we never be able to believe in again; one in which a single heroically brilliant nerd can really master everything from banging the rocks together all the way up to the very cutting edge. You can imagine the hero of this book figuring out how to melt silica and blow glass, but you couldn't imagine him improvising a chip fab.
Rationality from AI to Zombies (Score:2)
My favorite new tech book is Rationality from AI to Zombies by Eliezer Yudkowsky:
https://intelligence.org/ratio... [intelligence.org]
(or as a usable but not always perfect TeX document: https://github.com/jrincayc/ra... [github.com] )
Commodore books (Score:3)
The Commodore 64 User's Guide - taught me my first programming language.
The Commodore 64 Technical reference guide - a riveting sequel.
The Art of Computer Programming (Score:2)
Non fiction? (Score:2)
In non fiction, Horowitz & Hill: The Art of Electronics. I got the third edition recently (the only edition I own) and it's just fantastic! Mackay's information theory and inference book is also a great fireside read. Despite it's many detractors, I've always been partial to numerical recipes as well. All those three are great books in a conversational style aimed at technical types but without assuming any particular expertise in the field.
Surveillance and climate (Score:2)
Spook Country by William Gibson (fiction)
Dragnet Nation by Julia Angwin (non-fiction)
also...
Under A Green Sky by Peter D. Ward, Ph. D.
This one is paleontology, non-fiction about the greenhouse effect and the Permian extinction. A good read!
The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Score:2)
Gibson & Stephenson (Score:2)
The Books by William Gibson and Neal Stephenson make for good technology novels and giving some insights into the present and near future.
From Gibson I'd recommend the Bridge Triology [wikipedia.org] and the Neuromancer/Sprawl Triology [wikipedia.org].
From Neal Stepheson I'd recommend Snow Crash [wikipedia.org], The Diamond Age [wikipedia.org] and Reamde [wikipedia.org].
I keep a list :) (Score:2)
I try to update this regularly.
* The Hyperion series by Dan Simmons is AMAZING. I think my favorite.
* The Martian by Andy Wier. MacGyver on Mars. What's not to love? Actually pretty technically accurate, near-future Mars mission goes bad, one crew member is left for dead and stranded.
* Peter Watts writes some good hard scifi...the Rifters series is pretty awesome, dealing with psychologically damaged people whose trauma makes them adapted for deep-sea work, and Blindsight, which has a crew led by a genetica
Re: (Score:3)
And I notice you need to post as AC to plug the loser.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh yeah that is a good one! I've got a very old edition now too (2nd?) it's still good enough that there's not a real need to get a later one (I don't know if there are later ones).
Re: (Score:2)
SeveneveS just recently came out, it is a pretty good read as well.
Re: (Score:2)
Not really sharp, no.