Hi all.
Before last month, I never really read for pleasure. The last time before then that I read something that wasn't documentation or a requirement (for classes in college, etc.) was over 15 years ago, when I was 10 years old and going through Harry Potter.
But last month, on a long flight from NYC to Tokyo where I didn't have anything else to do, I decided to read The Three Body Problem. Couldn't put it down, and before the plane landed, I'd finished both it and its sequel, The Dark Forest.
Finished Death's End a day after I got back from Tokyo.
I adored these books. I genuinely never thought I'd be one of those people reading for pleasure, but these books showed me that that is indeed possible.
I can't quite articulate all of the reasons I loved these books, but if I had to try —
I love how they blend mystery, history, social psychology, game theory, and personal narrative to tell a beautiful, compelling, cosmic-scale story about humanity at its worst and at its best.
I loved the presentation of grand ideas that made me stop and think.
I found the writing and pacing engaging. At times it was dry and almost sardonic (e.g., when the author is describing the absurdity of the Cultural Revolution in the first few pages), at other times it was beautiful and evocative; sometimes it was somber, sometimes it was uplifting.
Please suggest other books that you think I might love if the only books I have ever liked are The Three Body Problem and its sequels (I also really liked Zero to One, Atomic Habits, The Little Prince, and The Lean Startup — but those probably won't be very useful to inform recommendations here).
Doesn't necessarily have to be sci-fi, but I imagine many of the more natural recommendations will end up being that anyway.
Please don't suggest anything by Ted Chiang or Asimov. I find Chiang's work to be largely insufferable (though one of his short stories did result in a pretty good film: Arrival), and I found Asimov's writing to be so boring that I used to despise sci-fi as a genre because I was forced to read some of his stuff when I was in school.
Also, randomly: I don't like things set in deserts. Something about imagining sand, aridity, etc. makes me feel a visceral reaction, and I don't like reading or watching anything with prominent desert settings.
Thanks in advance!
by Select-Bobcat2024