Hey everybody, I've been trying to get back into reading and I love sci-fi and fantasy stuff but I feel like at this point in my life I don't want just entertainment for entertainment's sake anymore. I start reading things and I feel like they don't add much value to me. I recently enjoyed Three Body Problem because it showed me fascinating aspects of science that I never thought of before, so it felt meaningful to read. I need more things like that, that are fun but also add some value to my life. I wish I could cite more things that I like but I haven't read books in so long I don't know my tastes anymore, but I used to like magic stuff, medieval stuff, even murder mysteries.
by Curse-of-omniscience
3 Comments
Arthur C Clarke’s Rama series is a recommendation. It has a multi-century storyline that features among other things: First Contact with aliens, continued relationships with alien species, how religion and science can harmoniously bled.
The Chronicles of Amber is my fave fandom. It starts off as a sort of noir novel, and the reader learns about the world and the character as the main character Corwin does. Despite all the high-level high-fantasy setting and power levels, it’s mostly a story of a dysfunctional family and the fallout of a narcissistic, manipulative father figure’s failures. The books are very much in the Game of Thrones way, with all the scheming and plots-within-plots. A friend of mine who’d read it for the first time on my recommendation has likened it to Tolkein.
I think you should check out **Project Hail Mary** by Andy Weir. It’s narrated by a hilarious, lovable nerd who wakes up with no idea who or where he is. He soon discovers/remembers that he’s been sent on a suicide mission to another star to try to save humanity.
It’s really fun and funny, but it’s written by an optimist whose faith in humanity’s best characteristics – curiosity, ingenuity, friendship, empathy, believing in something greater than self – shines through on every page. The author is also a big science nerd, and the book has really creative and original problems and solutions rooted in real science.
Weir also wrote **The Martian**, which is sort of similar except instead of going to another star, the MC is trapped alone on Mars. Some people don’t like it because it gets a little further into the weeds with science and math (again, really interesting problems and solutions), but I think it’s really fun.
Project Hail Mary, The Terraformers, Ancillary Justice (series), Wayfarers (series)