Asymmetrical Information

It's a hoary old chestnut, but Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire satisfied all your criteria for me. It could be titled "The Rise of Europe."

Hernando de Soto, "Mystery of Capitalism, why it truimphs in the west and fails everywhere else."
Fantastic insight into the importance of Property rights/property law, with good historical focus on America's early development. Uses recent case studies in 5 different developing countries around the world examining the mysetry of why capitalism works in the west.

"Down and Out in Paris and London" by George Orwell.

Also, I just read "Barney's Version" by Mordecai Richler (his last novel) and it was great.

"Crowds and Power" by Elian Canetti

Elian = Elias

If you are on a religious track these three books were cover-to-cover enjoyments:

The Sins of Scriptures, Spong: He is an Episcopal bishop that takes Christianity to task.

The Trouble with Islam, Manji: Manji does to Islam as Spong did to Christianity

The End of Faith, Harris: This has to do with religion in general and how it leaves behind rational thought. This abandonment of reason can lead to horrific consequences when you bring WMD into the mix

Chimpanzee Politics, by Frans de Waal.

Cryptonomicon

Gates of Fire

Modern Times

A History of the American People

both by Paul Johnson

I'm still thinking about these books weeks after I've read them:

The Dogs of Babel - the only mainstream novel I've read recently that was worth the time spent.

The Speed of Dark is much better than the (IMO, overrated) Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

Crowds and Power is a very good suggestion.

If you want a good meaty and important novel, there is always Dream of the Red Chamber, another old chestnut. The last time I bought it, it was in a new translation done on the mainland and some of the phrasing was a little awkward, but that improved th flavor. Great treatment of life in a wealthy family in the 1700's, I guess it was. Nice insights for foreigners into how family life trained men for political life in China. Kills that "cherry blossom" nonsense D-E-A-D. It takes awhile to get going, and parts either laze or lag, depending on your mood when you are reading them, but you will find parts you go back to for the rest of your life.

Art of War - Sun Zi Bing Fa - is pretty influential these days - lots of well-annotated version, since there is a big market for them.

I found The End of Faith superficial and beside the point. The author claims to be critiquing Christianity and seems to have only the faintest grasp of what it is. Who Stole Jesus is a lot better, Bruce Bawer.

The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (TRV Murti) is another one you might like - lays out Nagarjuna's development of the Madhyamika school that gave rise to the Mahayana schools. It also is the most goherent explanation of the core doctrines of Christianity I have ever seen. Blows St. Paul out of the water.

Politics: A Novel by Adam Thirlwell. Like Vonnegut, if Vonnegut actually liked people.

Stuff I've read lately and recommend:

The entire Baroque Cycle by Neil Stephenson (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World).

"The Road to Wigan Pier", by Orwell.

Chaos by Gleick

De Soto's Mystery of Capital, yes.
Robert Wright's Nonzero and The Moral Animal

Stephen Johnson's Mind Wide Open

And as a novel Connie Willis's Passage

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow

Fiction: War and Peace, Don Quixote, The Sun Also Rises, East of Eden, You Shall Know Our Velocity, Pafko at the Wall, Trinity, The Town and the City, Lolita

Non-Fiction: The Road to Serfdom, Homage to Catalonia, A Moveable Feast, Free to Choose, Politics and the English Language (essay), Crouching Towards Bethlehem, Coloring the News, The Progress Paradox

The Red and the Black (Stendhal)
Madame Bovary (Flaubert)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Murakami)
Platform (Houellebecq)

A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell

Last novel I read and really enjoyed was The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

For currently relevant nonfiction, I have to evangelize The Pentagon's New Map by Thomas Barnett. Most mind-changing book on foreign policy I've ever read.

NONFICTION

The Elegant Universe (Brian Greene)
Fabric of the Cosmos (Brian Greene)

Ripples of Battle (Victor Davis Hanson)
Soul of Battle (Victor Davis Hanson)
The Western Way of War (Victor Davis Hanson)

FICTION

The Black Company trilogy (Glen Cook)
The Amber Chronicles (Zelazny)
Accelerando (Stross)
Singularity Sky (Stross)
Iron Sunrise (Stross)

Together, I think those comprise all the best books I've ever read.

Oh, I should plug Drug Crazy by Mike Gray as well.

"Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977" (Ignatius Press), by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

An intellectual's Huck Finn adventure, the young Ratzinger starts out on a community raft in an administratively Nazi river in a historically Catholic land.

I think Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson was the most entertaining read I ever had.

Hmmm...

Along the lines of Science Fiction:

David Weber's Honor Harrington series (12 books I think) - an excellent Hornblower-like saga with starships. Very good character development, many interesting plot twists. Lead character is a female & has a quite varied set of adventures on her way from midshipman to high command & more.

Weber also has some very interesting alternate history novels with much food for thought: 1632, 1633 & 1634 (Hmm... methinks a theme si developing here..)

Also, anything by Elizabeth Moon or Mercedes Lackey, who have a variety of fantasy/magic novels that are real page-turners.

Harry Turtledove has a variety of alternate-history novels; the "worldwar" series (8 books?) has an alien invasion arriving in 1943, expecting humans to be much as they found them in the 12th. century. Everyone's in for a surprise! Many historical figures worked into the storylines.

John Ringo also has a series of books dealing with alien invasion (the "Posleen" series) that reads very well.

If you have any curiosity regarding the nature of people and leadership in combat, or just under extreme stress, "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young" is a stunning work.

I think I've mentioned it before, and I think you might have previously mentioned reading it, but "Heart of Darkness", in my opinion, is word for word the greatest novel written in the past hundred years or so.

If you have any affection for short stories, Elmore Leonard's collection, "When the Women Come Out to Dance" is terrific.

"Life at the Bottom" by Theodore Dalrymple

Just finished "Nature's Destiny" by Micheal Denton, and it's a mind-blower. His previous book was "Evolution: a theory in crisis", which kick started the ID movement back in the 80's. In this one, he changes tacks a little and offer a tentative theory (which is a sort of anthropic principle on steroids) for how the history of the universe can be completely materialistic (i.e., no continuing miraculous input or "special creation") and yet still exhibit design and purpose. A tough read, but worth it.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Bowling Alone

Our Man in Havana, Graham Greene
Monsignor Quixote, Graham Greene
USA Trilogy [The 42nd Parallel (1910's), 1919, and the Big Money (1920s)] , John Dos Pasos

"The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins is a great book on evolutionary theory, but you've probably read it already. :)

Ok, let's see.

Best sci-fi/fantasy books ever:
* Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
* The Diamond Age - Neil Stephenson
* Cryptonomicon - Neil Stephenson
* A Game Of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
* Atlas Shrugged (except for John Galt Speaks)
* Schroedinger's Cat - Robert Anton Wilson
* True Names - Vernor Vinge - dated, but good!

Non Fiction:
* Anything by Richard Dawkins
* The Gentle Art Of Verbal Self Defense - I forget

If you want mainstream - the best Stephen King book I've read is Bag Of Bones.

Non Fiction:
Warped Passages by Lisa Randall
The Reformation by Diarmud MacCulloch

Fiction:
Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons
The Knight and The Wizard by Gene Wolf
Sunne in Splendor by Sharon Kay Penman

Two books that no one else will mention:

The first is a terrific book about theories of mass extinction called Night Comes to the Cretaceous. (Alas, I forget the author. Somebody Powell?) It's really one long argument in favor of impact theories. I found it a fascinating illustration of the elaborate reasoning by which scientists argue for their favored theories.

The second book is called Science and Relativism by one of the most prominent philosophers of science of the past 30 years, Larry Laudan. It takes the form of a gracefully written four-way dialogue, each character representing a different view as to the nature of science's cognitive achievement. Each view is taken very seriously, but also put through the wringer. (Some views fare better than others.) This is the book that smart people interested in the science wars should have been reading.

I'm really enjoying "Victory" by Joseph Conrad-- it helps to have read "Falk" for some insight into Schomberg, who returns to Conrad's pages.

Also, if you're reading "Down and Out in Paris and London" by Orwell, recommended above, I also recommend his "Burmese Days." It's perhaps a lot like "A Passage to India," but a really good read.

Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann.

Principles of Economic Policy by Kenneth E. Boulding.

Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

An extraordinary book about an extraordinary man.

Best book I've read in a while, not Literature but a LOT of fun, while superbly plotted and written, from the point of view of a cranky female protagonist:

Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald (fiction)

I highly recommend this meditative work to people who love walking, history and philosophy.

Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed.

Gotta Agree with those who nominated Ender's Game, Crytonomicon, Life at the Bottom, & Godel Escher Bach.

I'll add:

Non Fiction:
The Evolution of Cooperation - Robert Axelrod
Innumeracy - John Allen Paulos
Summer of the Gods - Edward J. Larson
The Beast in the Garden - David Baron
The Blank Slate - Steven Pinker
Complexity - M. Mitchell Waldrop
Among the Thgs - Bill Buford
As Nature Made Him - John Colapinto
The Rise and Fall of the American Tennager -
Thomas Hines
Anything by Henry Petroski

Fiction:
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournell
Sock - Penn Jillette
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell
Anything by Carl Hiaasen

At least that's what I liked. :)

Science Fiction:
Either The Engines of God or Deepsix by Jack McDevitt. Engines introduces us to the heroine Priscilla Hutchins (aka "Hutch") in a pretty heady tale of interstellar archeology and science on a vast scale, while Deepsix is just a tightly plotted disaster mystery where Hutch and party are desperately trying to escape a doomed world before it's too late. Both were high on the "Wow" scale and were very hard to put down.

Nonfiction:
Flight: My Life in Mission Control by Christopher Kraft gives an insider view of the 1960's space program from an engineer's point of view. It's not the tales of bravery and adventure. It's the "Damn... how are we supposed to make this stuff work?" tale of going from unreliable unmanned missiles to Tranquility Base.
Eniac, by Scott McCartney tells the tale of worlds first computer, from its inception, through its creation, and just who really deserves the credit.

teh jack aubrey novals by patrick o;brian. not just good genre novels but like rely actualy damn good novals peroid. also rely funy.

teh c prorgramign laguage by kernihan an richie is les of a pageturner but i swear it chagned my life an saved my marage. it has made me a much more spiritual person.

Turning 34 in January, I decided I was close enough to middle age to sit down and start reading Proust's "In Search of Lost Time." I planned to set aside a year to this project, but got so swept up in the book that I read it over the course of 5 months.

It was stupid of me to put it off so long. Proust is an absolute joy, but I'm weird, I guess.

I'm rereading Don Quixote now to "get ready" for an upcoming trip to Spain for a pharma chemical conference.

Of recent vintage, the two books I've enjoyed most were Gould's Book of Fish and Carter Beats the Devil.

Without a doubt, Pale Fire by Nabokov.

The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card is his 2nd Best book, (Ender's is #1 and Lost Boys is #3, IMHO). The best Sci-Fi I've read recently is Altered Carbon and Broken Angels by Richard K Morgan. Both in the William Gibson style of Sci-fi. Scalzi's Old Man's War is a nice bubble gum version of Star Ship Troopers.

Just a few off the tippity-top of my head:

Popular Science: Richard Dawkins The Blind Watchmaker

Popular Business: something by Michael Lewis. Depending on what you're in the mood for, Liar's Poker (financial markets), The New New Thing (Silicon Valley during the internet boom), or Moneyball (baseball) are all equally compelling reads, IMO.

History: Jack Weatherford The History of Money

Contemporary Fiction: Jay McInerney Ransom - McInerney's sophomore effort, as good as Bright Lights Big City (which I also recommend), but not his typical milieu of coked-up '80's yuppiedom.

Historical Fiction: Ken Follett The Pillars of the Earth - absolutely wonderful big fat novel set in turbulent 12th-century England. Another writer far from his usual territory (spy thrillers)

Short Story: read the prologue to Don Delillo's Underworld, a breathtaking piece set in and around the Polo Grounds on the day of the most famous home run in history (Bobby Thompson's '51 "shot heard round the world"). The remainder of the novel is all downhill, 800+ ponderous and nearly plotless pages filled with "slices of life" that I suppose are intended to capture the totality of modern American existence. Also a lot of abstruse dithering about garbage (probably some kinda metaphor about how careless and wasteful our capitalist existence is, yawn).

Science Fiction/Fantasy: killing two birds with one stone, I'm currently enjoying a highly-acclaimed novel (Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun) that's sort-of both. It's set in the distant future, where most or all of humanity has reverted to a kind of medieval existence, but there are remnants of a highly advanced civilization that are treated as more-or-less magical. It's a tetralogy now available in two paperbacks, the first being Shadow and Claw.

the border trilogy by cormac mccarthy.

in fact, the biggest disappointment of my recent move was that i could not find this in any of my boxes. :(

baudolino, a midieval shaggy dog story. what's not to like?

fiction: Sarah Waters, Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, incisive social comment dressed up as sci-fi/fantasy humor (an easily acquired taste)
Brust and Brill, Freedom and Necessity (19th century mystery in which Engels plays a key role)
Dorothy Dennett's two early Renaissance series
Zenna Henderson's "People" stories
Ayn Rand's Fountainhead has held up better than Atlas Shrugged, since an America in which there is no air travel is now an alternative history

Non-fiction:
Charles Murray, The Bell Curve; well, Losing Ground and In Pursuit are good too, but they've already exploded. The fuse on The Bell Curve is still burning.
Arthur Jensen, The g Factor
Steven Jay Gould, with the exception of The Mismeasure of Man, which is a political rather than a scientific book. Especially, the Structure of Evolutionary Theory.

Oh, this is more space than I should take.

Jane, I sent you an e-mail with a serious answer to this question. I think that you`ll be pleasantly suprised unless you already knew about it, in which case, "never mind".

I would be surprised if you haven't already read it, but Freakonomics is great: fascinating, as well as informative. My only complaint is that it is too short.

History - A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954 -1962 by Alistair Horne. Also The Price of Glory, Verdun 1916 by Horne, or any of his other books of history. He's a wonderful writer.

Fiction - The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
Fiction - In Search of Lost Time, by Proust - best read if you have a long train commute: after 10 years and 3 or 4 false starts I finally read it in 4 months when I got a job which required an hour commute by train. (also at about 34: maybe that's the correct age)
Fiction - Anything by Ruth Rendell AKA Barbara Vine for mysteries
If you really feel up to it Ulysses by james Joyce is an infuriating complex puzzle. Best read with a deadline of Bloomsday (june 16th)

W.E.B. Griffin's wonderful trilogy HONOR BOUND, BLOOD AND HONOR, and SECRET HONOR. This from the best chronicler of the U.S. military ever to put pen to paper!

Fiction:

Mistress of Mistresses, by E.R.Eddison
Heavy Weather, by P.G.Wodehouse
Pigs Have Wings, by P.G.Wodehouse
Expedition to Earth, by Arthur C. Clarke
Retief: Galactic Diplomat, by Keith Laumer
Retief: Envoy to New Worlds, by Keith Laumer
The Honor Harrington series, by David Weber
In Death Ground, by David Weber and Steve White
Beowulf, the Seamus Heaney translation
Bag of Bones, by Stephen King
Dolores Claiborne, by Stephen King

Non-Fiction:
How to Cook a Rogue Elephant, by Peter van Rensselaer
American Cookery, by James Beard
The Long Fuse, by Laurence Lafore
A Wonderful Life, by Stephen J. Gould
The Mismeasure of Man, by Stephen J. Gould
The Last Lion, by William Manchester
Marlborough: His Life and Times, by W.S. Churchill
The World Crisis, by W.S. Churchill
How I Won the Second World War, by W.S. Churchill
The Guns of August, by Barbara Tuchman
The Peloponnesian War, by Donald Kagan
The Immobile Empire, by Alain Peyrefitte

Historical Fiction: The Radetzky March - Joseph Roth

Regular Fiction: Immortality - Milan Kundera

I agree with the poster who recommended Victory by Joseph Conrad, but IMHO "Nostromo" and "The Secret Agent" are both better. The latter can be read in an evening.

Off the wall: have you ever read the entire Bible, straight through? Very few people, even few churchgoers, have done so. Find a translation you like, and a commentary ditto, and work through it over a few months. You'll be surprised at how much understanding of Western culture can be gained.

On the modern fiction front, I recommend "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth.

On the fun historical novel, "The Long Ships" by Frans Bengtson. Great, humorous novel of the Viking Age, famous in Sweden but barely known in the US.

Fiction:

"The Life of Pi", by Yann Martell. Exquisitely written, utterly engrossing and ultimately shocking story of a boy trapped on a life boat with a Bengal tiger.

"The Golden Age" trilogy by John C. Wright. One of the most richly imagined sci-fi works in the last decade. A million years from now, humanity has built a perfect society based on libertarian principles. But there is one flaw that threatens to bring it down...

Non-fiction:

"Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides. An account of an amazing raid to rescue U.S. POWs held by the Japanese in the Philippines. It is impossible to exaggerate how well-written and structured this book is. I read it more than two years ago and still think about it often today.

"Masters of Doom" by David Kushner. This story of the two programming geniuses who created the hit video game "Doom" works on a variety of levels. It is a great profile of the distant and bookish John Cormack, and his flamboyant, rockstar-esque partner John Romero. It is an illustration of how a new business model -- shareware -- turned a couple of young guys into millionaires. And of course it relates the impact of one of the most important video games in history.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Unputdownable.

On The Origins Of War by Donald Kagan.

I like Six Great Ideas by Mortimer J. Adler. The 6 ideas are Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Liberty, Equality and Justice. It is an overview of western philosophy.

I also like the classics: The Oddyssey, Gilgamesh, Beowulf. (These are especially well suited to books on CD.)

If you want some medium light reading - I like just about anything by Marion Zimmer Bradley, but especially the Darkover series, and Ghostlight series.

I've got to second :
Ghost Soldiers
Victor Davis Hanson
Theodore Dalrymple
Orson Scott Card's The Worthing Saga

and most highly second
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
an essential read, and re-read

Fiction:
UK Leguin: The Disposessed
a dystopian tale of 2 utopias, or is it a utopian tale of 2 dystopias?

Stanislaw Lem: Fiasco
his masterpiece, (far better than Solaris or The Cyberiad, which are usually referenced) not really science fiction per se.
best if read after Tales/More Tales of Pirx the Pilot which introduce one of the characters.
Another good choice would be The Invincible.

Cities in Flight by James K. Blish

The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson

NonFiction:
history

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix
both h/t http://faroutliers.blogspot.com/
A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Greenfield

cooking

classic French
Escoffier: Le Guide Culinaire
Larousse Gastronomique

Appalachian
Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, &Scuppernong Wine by Dabney
The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cooking
How everyone on my mom's side of the family cooked until the 60's. Mom was 14 when they got indoor plumbing. Sure, stoves were wood-fired, but that was a big step up from cooking in the fireplace, like my great-grandmother grew up doing.

Money
Ben Stein: Yes, You Can Time the Market
John Mauldin: Bull's Eye Investing

Sociology
Charles Murray: Human Accomplishment

Since you also appeared in your previous post to make a video game recommendation, perhaps you could indulge me? I can only assume you've played Civillization II since you're playing III. If you haven't come across Alpha Centauri, which is a bit older the Civ III, you shouldn't play any Civillization game again until you give it a chance. It's the REAL sequel to Civ II, done by the same guys under a new company...Same basic concept on an alien world with vastly more flavor and depth and awesome gameplay. Civ III never struck me as more then a half hearted gloss over of the masterpiece II, where as AC really takes it to a higher level, a completely new experience that still preserves the brilliant simplicity and replayability.

Dalrymple's book is excellent. Very challenging to conventional thinking on poverty.

For fun, try Michael Chabon's _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay_, and Susanna Clarke's _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel_.

Hegemony Or Survival, Chomsky.

This is a great book for the times. To see Iraq attempting to stand on it's clay feet and to have some idea of what this is really ABOUT .. it's fantastic.

The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell.

Still the best fiction I've ever read (and I've read a lot of it). It's like she wanted to write this novel for her entire life, and threw in every idea that had ever occurred to her about religion, evolution and technology, and ultimately, humanity. The most under-rated book of all time.

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance / by Robert M. Pirsig.

Fiction:
Atlas Shrugged AND The Fountainhead;
the Honor Harrington series;
To Sail Beyond The Sunset (Heinlein)

Non-Fiction:
Kindly Inquisitors by Jonathon Rauch
(absolutely uncompromising defense of the scientific method);
Silent America by Bill Whittle

Anything by Dorothy Dunnett

_Curse of Chalion_, Lois McMaster Bujold.
_The Dragon Never Sleeps_, Glen Cook (good luck finding a copy).
_Bridge of Birds_, Barry Hughart.
_The Princess Bride_, William Goldman.
_The Game of Their Lives_, Geoffrey Douglas (warning: contains soccer).
_On Food And Cooking_, Harold McGee (or, surprisingly, any of the Alton Brown books).
Hayek, DeSoto, Vargas Llosa, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Surprised there's not more Heinlein on this list... still a lot of good suggestions here. All I want to add is: Stranger in a Strange Land.

Save Toby

If you allow yourself pass the introductory "graphics," this paperback is sure to bring out the briar rabbit in all of us.

Going Native by Stephen Wright (not the comic). This writer is my favorite; youll love him; "a mescaline slasher classic"

Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate. An excellent book which shows how science is supporting that genes have more effect than environment.

Neuromancer by William Gibson.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett

A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram.

The 'shadow' Ender's series beginning with Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card.

It would be interesting to know which recommendations you choose and watch it affect your thinking. But how will you choose?

I'm not sure how to make this stand out, amongst all the others, but I'd suggest the novel Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. It's so beautifully written that it's worth reading for the writing alone; but you're a New Yorker, and it's about New York, so you'll likely enjoy it even more. I'd also recommend reading it in winter, but that's just me.

Montana 1948 by Larry Watson. Read it in one sitting on a flight from NY to San Francisco. Couldn't put it down.

Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter Edmunds

The best English language novel of the 20th century is Lolita by Nabokov. I would recommend the annotated version because there is a lot there that most people miss.
The best history of the 20th century is Modern Times by Paul Johnson. This is a good antidote to the lefty version of history that most "universities" propagandize.

Just like the rest,

Cryptonomicron, Neal Stephenson

I remember you like W.E.B Griffin. If so, you may enjoy Tom Clancy. I'd recommend the older series: Patriot Games, Hunt for Red October, Cardinal of the Kremlin and Clear and Present Danger.

As for non-fiction, The Double Helix is a pretty good read, even though it does, as others have suggested, fall under the category of 'I'm great, Francis is pretty smart and the rest of you are idiots.'

"Ayn Rand's Fountainhead has held up better than Atlas Shrugged, since an America in which there is no air travel is now an alternative history"

Actually, I'd have to go with Atlas Shrugged over The Fountainhead. Dominique has to be the most exasperating protagonist of all time. Atlas, on the other hand, is a good slow-motion disaster novel along with a whole bunch of other things.

I'll second the nomination for Lucifer's Hammer (aka "Civilization! #*(*@ yeah!"). The ending has the most elegant refutation of the "no blood for oil" nonsense I've ever seen.

Also good picks: The Mote in God's Eye, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Here's some that I don't think anyone else will have on their list - and if they do, I'd love to hear from them:

Hence, by Brad Leithauser. Might be out of print. An odd Nabokov-like novel written in the early 1990s but set in the late 1990s, presented as a reprint issued in about 2030.

Germans by George Bailey. A unique tangled mix of history and personal memoir. Bailey was in the psychological warfare game during the Second World War and married into a German publishing family. A wonderful book that I have from my father's collection, and I've never met anyone else who's even heard of it.

The Big Bonanza by Dan de Quille. Written by a contemporary of Mark Twain's who never quite made it big. This is a history of the Comstock Lode in Nevada, and is fascinating to dip into a chapter or two at a time. There's a terrifically funny section set at a local carnival that should be better known.

And some novels that people have heard of:

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. I've probably read this eight times over the last twenty-five years, and it moves higher up my list each time. For late Amis, try The Old Devils.

Money by Martin Amis. His talent for fiction seems to have deserted him, but this is his peak. Vulgar and hilarious.

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. My favorite of his works, an endlessly entertaining and tricky work. Seems to be a favorite of Mickey Kaus's as well, since he occasionally drops references to it.

Two books that are out of print, both by D. W. Brogan: Politics in America and The French Nation. The first is dated, but interesting for that very reason. And Brogan's writing is vivid: here's how he begins the second paragraph of The French Nation: "It was obvious that no one could replace Napoleon. It was desirable that no one should."

Another out of print book is the best that I have read on journalism, Edward Epstein's Between Fact and Fiction.

Albion's Seed, of course. Although I would warn anyone not to read it straight through. Instead, just dip into the chapters that interest you and compare the four groups.

I love all the Roadside Geology books, especially when I am traveling. If you have any taste for dinosaurs at all, you will love Bakker's Dinosaur Heresies. (Some are no longer heresies -- as I understand it.)

As for science fiction, in general the golden age stuff is better than more recent works. I don't know whether you read it, so I'll just mention one recent book, Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky.

And since several people have mentioned classic murder mysteries, I would suggest looking for them in their Library of America editions, which are great bargains. For example, one Raymond Chandler volume I have includes, for a list price of 35 dollars, his early stories, The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, and The High Window.

Derek -- our taste in fiction is very similar. I really liked all 3 novels you listed. Pale Fire is one of the best I've ever read and Money is one of the most entertaining.

Well, normally when I hear a request for reading suggestions, unless it's for a specific topic, I suggest George RR Martin's "A Game of Thrones"/"A Song of Ice and Fire" series. On account of your great reading tastes, you've already beat me to it.

So here's something I've not seen suggested for you yet, Jane.

Read them again.

If you enjoyed them the first time, they only get better on a re-read. The genius of the series, the intricacy, the subtle hints of what was coming were there all along, but get glossed over in the hurry of the reader to get further into the story.

Really, read it again. :)

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. Published in 1961, it still has a lot to tell us about what makes urban life tick (or not). I re-read this one every few years.

The sections about the "great gray zones" of cities are particularly relevant here, because she could be describing most of non-crescent New Orleans. It should be required reading for anyone who seeks to manage the rebuilding of New Orleans, especially those who want to "remake" the city.

I read mostly science fiction, with good adventure/mystery and the odd romance thrown in the mix. I agree with a lot of what's been tossed out so fa, but I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Miles Vorkosigan series written by Lois McMaster Bujold. Category: science fiction.

Just finished a book, and I will be printing these comments off for ideas.

Anyway, the book I just read is The Fate of Africa by Martin Meredith, recounting the post 1950 history of Africa in brutal, relentless detail. Very, very readable and unforgiving.

You might have an interest in the consistent failures of marxism/socialism on the continent. The subtitle of the book could be The Road to Serfdom Runs Through Addis Ababa.

Schier's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and The Rising Sun by Toland are also two WWII books that should be read by everyone.

Not much to add since most of my faves have already been posted (I thought I'd get to add the Bujold Vorkosigan series but I got pipped out just at the end of the thread!), but I really like Robert Mueller's "Capitalism, Democracy, and Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery", which, of course, you've probably already read...

I'd also recommend Martin Amis' "Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million", perhaps the best short synopsis of the horrors of Stalinism (and brilliantly written). Also recommended (though somewhat uneven: heart-rending in places, slightly tedious in others): Stefan Zweig's personal memoir, "The World of Yesterday".

The Flashman Series by George MacDonald Fraser--11 or 12 books now. Start with Flashman and try to read in order. Good stuff, informative and entertaining and no strain on the brain.

In college I decided to read a book a week my Sophomore year and the only ones I read that matched your description are "Of Human Bondage" ,and "The Razor's Edge" both by Somerset Maugham, and "Viper's Tangle" by Francois Mauriac. Fifteen year later I no longer read much fiction but those are still the best novels I have ever read.
As for nonfiction am sure you have read "The Rise of Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris and "Witness" by Oswald Chambers, but if you have not they are fabulous.

Second on Dorothy Dunnett... every word she's ever written. Start with "The Game of Kings" and finish the Lymond Chronicles, then go forward with the (slightly related) House of Niccolo series.

Further second on "Winter's Tale" by Mark Helprin. Continue on with "A Soldier of the Great War."

I think you'll get a kick out of reading the (free and portable thanks to Gutenberg and a PDA) novels of Thackeray and Wilkie Collins. Don't miss. :)

The Red, Blue & Green Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson are three of my favorite Sci-Fi books. I'd put them up there with Orson Scott Card's books.

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is up there too.

Faith of a Heretic by Walter Kaufmann.

Post-Christian morality and ethics. This one totally blew me away and still does (from time to time).

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand - my introduction to heresy, that is, thinking clearly about things that most prefer to not think clearly about.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig - showed me new horizons.

Dune, Frank Herbert - the litany against fear.

The Story of Civilization, The Durants - gave me perspective.

And must not leave out Steinbeck's Cannery Row - never laughed harder in my life than over the great frog hunt.

A few things I noticed which were not covered by others,

I just read "The Time Traveler's Wife" by a female author whose name begins with an "N" which I enjoyed and found interesting, although it was not great literature.

I love anything by Bill Bryson, especially "A Walk In The Woods" and "A Sunburned Country"

A long way from any kind of slasher -- The Botswana novels of Alexander McCall Smith, for a calm and humane oasis. Simple, affecting, delightful to those with a taste for it.

Trollope (digital like Thackeray), especially the hilarious Barchester Towers.

The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard, for the perfectly-formed heart-shaking novel.

The Advent of the Algorithm: The 300-Year Journey from an Idea to the Computer, to sample David Berlinski's antic philosophical science and math.

Pictures from an Institution, Randall Jarrell's comic now fly-in-amber "progressive college" tour de force.

Especially agree with A Dance to the Music of Time. A whole world.

Thanks for all the other suggestions.

Anything by Jacqueline Carey

Particularly, Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, and Kushiel's Avatar.

Just about anything by David Weber, if you are into Military Sci-Fi populated by really strong female characters.

Books that really made me think, or changed my worldview, that haven't already been mentioned above:

C.J. Cherryh: The Cuckoo's Egg, Forty Thousand in Gehenna. Both about how accidental interactions between cultures change them. Science fiction.

I recently enjoyed reading "The Children", a non-fiction book about the civil rights movement in the U.S. during the 1960s: the student sit-ins, the bus riders, the march on Selma Alabama, etc.

And if you have read Ender's Game and liked it, go read Ender's Shadow. Not a sequel, not a prequel, sort of a simultaneous companion novel but I liked it even better than the original.

I have to show off my obscure literature/brainy nonfiction credentials here, too...

Fiction:
* The Dumarest of Terra books by E. C. Tubb.
* The Adolescence of P1 by Thomas Ryan - I read it a long time ago and remember liking it, but not everyone enjoyed it...

Nonfiction:

* Judgement under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases - this is a great book on how people systematically make bad judgements.

My selection for your autumn reading would include:-

The Summer's Day is Done by Robert Tyler Stevens

Westbound, Warbound by Alexander Fullerton

H.M.S. Ulysses by Alistair MacLean

One Shot by Lee Child

enjoy!!!

* The Dumarest of Terra books by E. C. Tubb. -- did he ever finish that series?

I've always wanted to finally read the last one.

E-mail me if you have a title.

Well, I’m an avid reader of lots of different things; I’ve tried to arrange these from easiest to hardest reading. All of them were interesting reads, of the “I have to finish this” kind, and all of them affected my thinking and metaphors. If they are short stories or essays, I didn’t necessarily have to finish the book, but I did have to finish the story.

The Chronicles of Prydain, Lloyd Alexander; a wonderful children’s/YA fantasy based on Welsh mythology, about a boy learning that heroism is not showing off and honor isn’t based on birth. The 4th book, Taran Wanderer, is my favorite.

Kipling—any of his writings for adults. Particular favorites depend on what I read most recently, but include Dray Wara Yow Dee (a story told by a man, mad with anger and exhaustion, hunting his wife’s lover), A Sahib’s War (the Boer War, with the recurring refrain, “All these disasters happened because revenge was not properly taken”), The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows (opium addiction, told by an addict), The Courting of Dinah Shadd (my favorite of Mulvaney’s stories), On Greenhow Hill (the only story told by Learoyd), The Village that Voted the Earth Was Flat, and On the Gate (Heaven and Hell during the War, imagined as a bureaucracy); also the poem The Supports. All his works are available free at this Kipling site.

The Song of Ice and Fire series, amply recommended above.

Lanterns on the Levee, William Alexander Percy. The autobiography of a Mississippi Delta planter, in 1941; familiar and surreal at the same time. A window into the deepest of the Deep South, just before desegregation became a national issue.

The Affluent Society and The New Industrial State, John Kenneth Galbraith. The best exposition of social-democratic economics I’ve read; read it with the next recommendation for best results.

Free to Choose, Milton Friedman. The case for libertarian economics, by one of its best exponents.

The Bell Curve, Charles Murray. Skip the one chapter on race and intelligence, if it's too dangerous. The basic message--that intelligence matters more and more in our social structure, and that policies designed to work for the intelligent (who are often designing policy) may work badly for the less intelligent--is very relevant.

Leftism; from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddhin. The best exposition of individual liberty (as opposed to democracy or group-based polities) as a rule for government; also an argument for the Austro-Hungarian empire. It permanently affected my view of tolerance and its meaning and importance, and my understanding of history, especially Central European history. There is an updated version, Leftism Revisited, which I haven’t read.

Sowell's "Knowledge and Decisions" kept me up until 2:00am, only to awaken at 7:00am to go straight to book to finish by noon.

Anything by Michael Connely (Bloodwork, The Closers) or Laurie R. King (The Beekeeper's Apprentice, A Monstrouis Regiment of Women).

Harry Potter...

Hope Muntz - The Golden Warrior

This is a truly great example of the historical novel, which, for some reason, has fallen from favor (it was on the required reading list for EngLit 101 when I was in college, back in the dark ages). It's the story of Harold and William and the events leading to that little skirmish in 1066. The use of language is amazing, in that she manages to construct easily read contemporary english sentences which leave the impression of having perused an ancient saga. It's out of print, but worth looking for.

email is human readable - out loud.

I'm sure you've heard of these, but they bear repetition:

Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
The Diamond Age (Neal Stephenson)
The Dark Tower (Stephen King, yes all 7 books)

Jack Vance's "Lyonnesse" trilogy.Start with "The Green Pearl" and you'll be hooked.Vance has been described as a cross between Lord Dunsany and Franz Kafka and I heartily agree.

That's really cruel! I've been advertising on your blog for months! If you'd enjoy a story that champions free-markets and self-determination, read "The Third Revolution," by Anthony F. Lewis. And please tell all of your friends!

The Diamond Age (which I see a couple of others have recommended). I've read that book three times and I have notes in the margins. It's a book that is gripping, entertaining, emotional, and quite profound. I couldn't recommend it more. I would also recommend (and I am currently reading) the Cryptonomicon, by the same author, Neal Stephenson.

I see someone else has also mentioned The Gates of Fire. This appears to have been a bit of a sleeper, but I see more and more references to it in blogs, conversation, etc. It's a very well written historical fiction of the battle at Thermopylae and is a very good read at many levels.

I second "Barney's Version" - a master's masterpiece, and also nominate John Ralston Saul's "Voltaire's Bastards," a book that ambitiously attempts to re-order the intellectual, political and economic landscapes of the west. You might not agree with a thing he says, but considering Saul's intelligence and argumentative acuity, that might be the best reason to read it.

If you have an interest in air travel or airplanes, I would highly recommend "To Conquer the Air" by James Tobin, which chronicles the race to build the first airplane. Fascinating, indeed.

MR

Re Bud's historical novel recommendations, most of Cecilia Holland's couple of dozen novels are top notch. Any commenters agree?

There are a lot of books I would second here, particularly the Conrad and Stephenson books mentioned.

For sci-fi fans, another novel and author well worth checking out is Perdido Street Station by China Meiville. I think he is fast becoming an important science fiction author, and his stuff is not your typical high tech space opera, but rather a slightly different world full of rich characters, not all of whom react in human ways.

And since no one seems to have mentioned it, The Kite Runner by Housseni is a startling tale of life in pre-Soviet and Taliban Afghanistan. It's well worth reading for those who haven't had a chance to get to it yet.

I just want to make sure that Megan knows that we are just listing the highlights from our individual favorites! If I listed every author and/or book that I've enjoyed and think is (1) worth re-reading, (2) saving the book foreverm, or (3) worth recommending to a friend, I would spend a couple of hours listing them. Some books are worth re-reading at different times during your life, because the book takes on new meaning because of your intervening life experiences. So, Megan, in addition to the interesting recommenations you've received from your readers, you should consider re-reading books you haven't read since your teens or early twenties.

Well... it`s not a book but the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner were penned today, Sept.14, in 1814.
You can read it Here

Try some Alan Furst. He writes well-researched novels about European espionage between 1933 and 1945. His writing puts the reader in the moment, particularly when the spy is a Soviet vassal marked for death by his own masters. Feels very European to this reader, and of course most noir.

I'd recommend starting with Night Soldiers (takes a little while, not long, to catch that wave) and the continuing to Dark Star.

Emergence by Steven Johnson.
The story from the discovery that slime mould, a collection of single cells, could find their way through a simple maze, through the way termite nests, cities, the human brain and the internet organise and grow, from the bottom up rather than a central command, by means mostly of feedback.
Fascinating and relevant to how our future will evolve.

"The Year of the French" about a rebellion in Ireland, late 1700s. One of the best historical novels ever written.

Just finished 'The Stars, My Destination' by Alfred Bester. It's sci-fi with a decidedly libertarian bent to it. Dunno how you feel about fiction or sci-fi but it's definately top tier.

Agree with Eric that Curious Incident of the Dog was overrated. Will second or thrid the nomination of Barney's Version.
Here's a few that I've liked
Chrestomathy- Mencken (a collection of some of his best pieces)
Coming Up for Air- Orwell (If you liked Barney's Version you'l probably like this too)
Phantom Soldier-- HJ Poole (for military history buffs. Poole has some interesting insights I hadn't read anywhere else.)
Gatekeeper -Terry Eagleton (I don't agree with his politics but this is a very readable memoir )
Witness- Whittaker Chambers
Selected Speeches-Thomas Maccaulay ( Came across this while browsing through the library stacks. Maccaulay was a genius . His speeches should be required reading for anyone who wants to learn how to argue)
Boyos-Richard Marinick
Ascent of Rum Doodle --not sure of author (satirical account of mountain climibing expedition)
My Early Life- Churchill
Dark and Stormy night series- compiiledby Scott Rice (the winning entries from the worst opening sentence contest. Definite ROFL material)
Anything with Mulliner in its title by Wodehouse
And now the sports stuff:
Distant Replay- Jerry Kramer (an account of a reunion of the Green Bay Packers from the Lombardi era)
Last Night of the Yankee's Dynasty- Buster Olney
Summer of 1949 , October 1956 and the Amateurs all by David Halberstam
A Civil War -John Feinstein (an account of the Army-Navy football rivalry)
True Believers-Joe Queenan (an examination of the psychology of the sports fan)

Fiction:

Everything by Robert A. Heinlein, but standouts are "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress."

Any of Orson Scott Card's Ender books, though I really liked the 2nd, "Speaker for the Dead."

And since others keep mentioning Neal Stephenson, and he's considered one of the wonders of "cyberpunk", you ought to read the original, the true master, Alfred Bester: "The Stars My Destination" and "The Demolished Man."

"Jennifer Government" by Max Barry; excellent satire, reads like a fast-paced movie.

Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander" series. Imagine my surprise in discovering that in "Far Side of the World" they're not chasing a French ship, but rather an American frigate! Slight change for the movie....

"V for Vendetta" by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. A graphic novel of an alternate Earth where England managed to survive a nuclear war in the early 1990's, only to become a fascist state. Codename V is an anarchist willing to do anything to cause the government's collapse.

Non-fiction:

"The Inland Sea" by Donald Richie. Sort of a travel guide for Japan in the 60's, so it's dated, but it's also about personal discovery. There are parts I'm always turning back to.

"Project Orion" by George Dyson. The sub-title, "The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship", says it all.

"Love, Poverty, and War" by Christopher Hitchens. A collection of essays and other writings.

"1776" by David McCullough. A marvelous picture of a crucial year in the history of the United States. Surprisingly relevant to today.

"No Downlink" by Claus Jensen, about the Challenger accident. Slow in spots, but when he gets to the investigation, it causes your eyes to bulge and your jaw to sag.

Two Memoirs:
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight : An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller (2003)

The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost (2004)

Fiction: Memoirs From Antproof Case by Mark Helprin. Best work of fiction I've read in the last decade.

Nonfiction: The Te of Piglet, believe it or not. But probably I've led a life rather more sheltered from The Way than others have.

Someone above mentioned "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell," a lovely longer diversion with some laugh-out-loud moments that I always cherish in books. I don't claim it's great literature, but you have lots of recommendations along those lines above, and most likely from many a teacher and professor through the years.

Also, for a very, very quick read that, for some reason kept me thinking of much blog commentary (no one in the present audience, am sure) and so might prove enjoyable for you, Harry Frankfurt's "On Bullshit."

I'm a book-aholic so it's hard to choose just a few. Here are a few of the more recent ones:

Fiction: The novels of the Liaden Universe by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller:

"Local Custom" and "Scout's Progress", also available as one volume entitled "Pilot's Choice", "Agent of Change", "Carpe Diem", "Conflict of Honors" available as one volume in the "Partners in Necessity", "Plan B", "I Dare".

I read "Agent of Change" and "Carpe Diem" when they first came out in 1988 and 89 then haunted the book stores looking for more until "Plan B" was finally published in 2002 (somehow missed "Conflict of Honors").

Non Fiction:

"Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell
"Charles Keralt's America" (current read)
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Hardcover)
by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
"The Pig and the Python : How to Prosper from the Aging Baby Boom" by David Cork, Susan Lightstone (Wife and I are the tail end of that generation - b.1951)
"Salt: A World History" by Mark Kurlansky

Audio (I have subscription to Audible.com and have the non-abreviated versions):
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (the readers they chose for clare and Henry were excellent)
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and "The 8th Habit" by Stephen Covey.
Both books read by the author. He has extra stuff in "The 8th habit" not in the book. Usually just a word or two for clarification. For instance, when discussing the challenge of a knowledge worker working for a company with the "thing mind-set of the industrial age (where workers are a replaceable liability, not an asset). He states:

"The point is, if you neglect any one of the four parts of human nature, you turn a person into a thing, and what do you do with things? You have to control, manage and carrot-and-stick them in order to motivate them.

On the audio he adds "The Jackass theory of Management".

Priceless!

One of the better quotes from "The Eighth Habit" was about how if you learn from a mistake, it's not a mistake but a learning opportunity! So your whole life consists of successes and learning opportunities. I've had a LOT of learning opportunities.

NOT ENOUGH WOMEN WRITERS!!!

"Memories of a Catholic Girlhood" and "The Group" by Mary McCarthy
"Black Lamb and Grey Falcon" and "The New Meaning of Treason" by Rebecca West
Anything by Flannery O'Connor
"Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" by Annie Dillard
--Janet
PS my e-mail is wrong because your web-site won't accept numbers in the e-mail address.

More women writers? Anything by Connie Willis. Georgette Heyer. Laurel K. Hamilton. Lois McMaster Bujold. Elizabeth Moon.

Stephen,

I couldn't find your email.

As far as I know, the series ends with Dumarest arriving in Earth orbit. I haven't found a copy of the last book, yet, though...

Other authors:

Julian May - sci-fi about families with strong mental powers.

Anne McCaffery - the dragonriders of Pern books are good, but she's written so much more than just those. Her stuff is good, though probably geared for a slightly younger audience. I still find them enjoyable.

For modern thrillers, I like Robert Crais, Jonathan Kellerman, John Sandford, David Baldacci, and Iris Johansen. All of them have written a number of novels in a series, so if you find one and like it, there will be more you like as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed and bought as Christmas presents, "Colossus: The Price of America's Empire" by Niall Fersuson

Heart of Darkness

Crime and Punishment

The Outlaw Sea

If you like Ira Levin, give William Goldman (Marathon Man, Princess Bride, Magic) a try. His best books are good all round, but I find even his weaker books enjoyable because of his prose style. For some reason, his writing reminds me of Levin, although I can't put my finger on why.

I'll second Julian May in sci-fi, particularly her four-parter beginning with The Many-Colored Land. A little bit fantasy a little bit sci-fi; aliens, monsters, psychics, time travel, political intrigue all filtered through the lense of Celtic mythology - what's not to love?

Other authors you may enjoy:

Carol O'Connell (crime thirllers: the Kathleen Malory series, Judas Child)

Robert Harris (historical thrillers: Fatherland, Enigma, Pompeii)

Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child (horror/sci-fi thrillers: The Relic, Cabinet of Curiosities)

"Fear and Trembling" by Soren Kierkegaard.

Best. Book. EVER. A must for any libertarian...it will affect your metabolism, and change your life...

"Blood Meridien" by Cormac McCarthy. The Trilogy series was terrific, but this is the masterpiece, and might be the Great American Novel, putting the usual contenders in some serious shade. It will haunt you.

"Lucky Jim," by Kingsley Amis. One of the funniest novels ever written--and it's funny each time you read it.

"From Dawn to Decadence" by Jacques Barzun--puts life in perspective. Barzun is a treasure.

Anything by P.G. Wodehouse--but he's best on tape (the best reader is Jonathan Cecil; try "The Code of the Woosters" to make a long road trip worth repeating).

"Eye in the Sky," "Ubik," and just about anything else by Philip K. Dick.

"Snowcrash" by Neal Stephenson. His newer stuff is unreadable. Or maybe Neal's just too lofty to get the editing he sorely needs these days.

JohnW: "[David] Weber also has some very interesting alternate history novels with much food for thought: 1632, 1633 & 1634 (Hmm... methinks a theme si developing here..)"

Actually, that series is Eric Flint's, though Weber was coauthor of 1633, and will be co-author of the sequel, one of several 1634: [Title] books.

Recommendations: several books by Jane Jacobs, Downfall: the End of the Imperial Japanese Empire by Richard B. Frank.

Washington's Crossing

Women writers? Since most of what I read is science fiction, fantasy and mystery might I suggest C.J. Cherryh? Kim Harrison's series that begins with Dead Witch Walking is fun. Another reader mentioned Connie Willis and is right about her work. Besides Passage her best known book is probably The Domesday Book. And then there's Kate Wilhelm who has not only written SF but mysteries as well.

I also recommend Peter F. Hamilton's books, the most recent of which is Pandora's Star. I also recommend the Uplift War books by David Brin and the Mars books by Kim Stanley Robinson.

In mysteries I've really enjoyed the Sir John Fielding mysteries by Bruce Alexander, the books that David Liss has written so far especially his first, A Conspiracy of Paper and there is the sad case of Kate Ross who produced four excellent mysteries featuring the character of Julian Kestrel before succumbing to cancer.

I'll echo Julian May's _Saga of Pliocene Exile_ quartet, Hofstadter's _Godel, Escher, Bach_, Heinlein's _Stranger in a Strange Land_ and _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_, and Neal Stephenson's _Diamond Age_.

Also, _Housekeeping_ by Marilynne Robinson -- an extended, sorrowful, transcendent poem of a novel; ostensibly about a pair of orphaned sisters growing up under the care of a succession of female relatives, but really about the tension between transience and permanence: If nothing in this world lasts, why are we so surprised that it doesn't?

Anything by G.K. Chesterton -- anything at all, fiction or nonfiction, but especially _Everlasting Man_.

"Gulag" by Anne Applebaum

* Random Acts of Senseless Violence, by Jack Womack [or any of the books in his Ambient series, for that matter];

* Any short story collection from Alice Munro, Canada's national literary treasure;

* Lives of the Monster Dogs, by Kirsten Bakis

* Independence Day, by Richard Ford

1.The Iliad and The Odyssey, Robert Fagles translation. Don't skip the introductions.
2. Opening the Dragon Gate, Chen Kaiguo and Zheng Shunchao, trans. by Thomas Cleary. Subtitled "The making of a modern Taoist wizard."
3. The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff. Much better than The Te of Piglet, the follow up book.
4. The Aubrey/Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian. The series is just one big, big novel.
5. Annals of the Former World, John McPhee. Really, anything by John McPhee. I don't read him much anymore, because I need to sleep sometime.

Ooh, good call on Connie Willis-- she writes on the soft side of SF, but her stories and characters are top-notch. "Passage," and the time-travel pair, "Doomsday Book" and "To Say Nothing of the Dog" (both of which will have you giggling while the books adhere to your hands).

I just read a brilliant non-fic book, the story of the Battle off Samar, part of the WWII Battle of Leyte Gulf. It's called "The Last Stand of the Tin-Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfischer, and I've never ever been so engrossed in a history book. The level of research is amazing, and the story of the battle is almost terrifying-- an escort-carrier battle group, armed only to support MacArthur's invasion of Luzon and not to fight any ships, is attacked by over a third of the Japanese Navy, including one ship that's nearly as large as their entire force. It was a real nail-biter at times.

Yes, lots of Willis is good, but Megan asked for the brain bending ones. Bellwether is a good short lightish one too, though it has some depth to it.

Which reminds me, Stephen Baxter's Manifold: Time is the most thought provoking hard SF I've read in a long time. Gets into the real implications of quantum physics and other mathematical views of the world.

And how could I forget Neal Stephensons pseudonymous politcal thrillers Interface (as Stephen Bury) and The Cobweb.

I'm of course assuming you've already read Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

I second the second-commenter's vote for "Down and Out in Paris and London" by Orwell. Used to own it in a suitably bulky volume of Orwell's short stories which included many others such "Shooting an Elephant".

Also, I recently picked up a copy of Clive Cussler's (creator of Dirk Pitt®) latest, "Lost City" (with Paul Kemprecos)... a few days before Hurricane Katrina hit, believe it or not. (The "lost city" in "Lost City" is an archaeological site underwater). Nice yarn, easy reading. I'm also rereading "The Art of Cross Examination" by Francis Wellman in a rather vainglorious crime-of-attempt to relive the old days at lore school.

Jane! Where did you go? You're not actually reading all of these are you?

"The Black Book of Communism" Stephane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, et al.
Harvard Press 1999, original French publication Editions Robert Laffont 1997
After reading this book anyone who can profess to be a socialist in any form only demonstrates their psychopathic pathology.

I second whoever recommended Mortimer J. Adler's "Six Great Ideas", it's really a timeless piece of work. If you've never read William Golding's "Lord of the Flies", it's a great book to read or re-read. In light of recent events in NOLA, I think the author's statement about how thin the veneer of civility in most of us really is still proves timely today. If you want lighter reading, Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" is a good, fast read and certainly a different take on global warming. Happy Reading ;)

You have made a very interesting observation. I am sure many people will be benefitted by this. Reading books is always constructive, and also a great source of knowledge.Keep up the good work.
Amber

Amber ... hmm ... "Nine Princes of Amber" by Zelazny ??

Jonathan Burdick,

Sorry to disagree with a fellow commenter on something as individual as the selection of reading material for a third party, but your selection of Cussler's work struck an odd chord of memory as far as I recall! In my own little blog http://mikesbooksandthinks.myblogsite.com/blog/_archives/2005/6/30/985833.html I'm afraid I was distinctly uncomplimentary about this book, as well as Clive Cussler's later works, and I thought that as Jane might actually read some of the comments, she might be aware that not everyone agrees with all of the choices!

"How We Die" and "How We Live" by Sherwin B Nuland
"Modern Times" by Paul Johnson
"Upgrading and Repairing PC's" by Scott Mueller
"Phantoms in the Brain" by V.S. Ramachandran
"The Blank Slate" Steven Pinker

I found "How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed" by Slavenka Drakulic fascinating. I read it in one sitting, couldn't put it down.

OK a couple more - I can't resist.

Two Russian novels:

Brothers Karamazov. Very simple story-line, archetypal but real characters, masterfully written. A little dense in the middle, but beginning and end are very readable. The final scene may be the most touching and beautiful literature I've ever read. Brought bittersweet tears to my eyes - cannot remember the last book to do that.

Life and Fate - Vasily Grossman

Recommended by a Russian emigre friend of mine, considered by some to be a 20th cent War and Peace (Grossman had this goal in mind when he titled the book). Takes place around the battle of Stalingrad, with dozens of interwoven stories and characters, each one very well fleshed out. Brief chapters that almost stand by themselves as short stories. Nearly every page contained some image or line that had me murmuring admiration. Grossman's life was also very interesting (and sad).

Highly, highly recommended. (I'd love to hear if anyone else here has read it)

Someone needs to collate and pare down this list, then post it on their blog. Hmmm, maybe I'll try...

Mike,

Happy to disagree with your disagreement. I'll read your blog as soon as I finish this comment, then comment here on your blog post if warranted.

In sixth grade, I once approached a scholarly classmate in the library and asked her why the hell she was reading a Dr. Seuss book. Gist of her response? "Mrs. Carlson told me that every once in awhile we need to set aside the tough stuff and read something easy, just for fun."

Normally, my combination playboy-penthouse and psywar-lab (uh ... "Hey, Jane ...") is strewn with legal and technical books and research papers gleaned from the far corners of the Web (as now). But I feel the urge to read something easy now and again. That said, I started reading Tom Clancy multi-moons ago, and my best-bud Naval aviator friend ("Aitch Pea") turned me on to Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt® as "an author Tom Clancy likes." Aitch Pea's words were: "Hey, if you like Tom Clancy, you GOTTA read Clive Cussler." And because a Tom Clancy comment had turned me on to (Sir) John Keegan's oeuvre (on the "hairy" side), I thought I'd investigate the hearsay recommendation of Cussler a la the "light" side. I've happily modeled my life after Dirk Pitt ever since.

In fairness, we can't all work for NUMA, traipse around the globe catching terrorists, make out with supermodel-rocketscientists, and live in a cool airplane hangar filled with luxury autos. But I did work for the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution back in '86-'87, just before I went to law school, in '86 they (WHOI) discovered the Titanic and the town partied bigtime. I made friends with lots of neat scientists there. So, when Cussler writes about MBL and WHOI in "Lost City" it really brings back some fond memories. Sorry you can only share them vicariously.

JB

My recent favorite is The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker. Both meticulous and engaging, it makes me ashamed to recall that I used to go around slandering people who would even address the question on nature vs. nutrure.

Any thing by
Laurell K Hamilton
Mary Jane Davidson
Kelly Armstrong
Lois Mc Master Bujold
Christpoher Stasheef
Bernard Conwell is excellent

but the best book ever writteb is

A Connecticut Fashionista In King Arthur's Court
by Marianne Mancusi

A very quick and insightful read is "The Cube and the Cathedral," by George Weigel.

Given that only those books with multiple backers are likely to get Megan's attention, I'll second the following, in no particular order:

- William Gibson, especially the trio started by 'Neuromancer', also 'Burning Chrome'.
- 'Pale Fire'.
- Alan Furst.
- William Goldman (agreed re the 'minor' books - I really liked 'Edged Weapons').
- Philip K. Dick (I think 'Martian Time Slip' dislocated my brain).
- 'Crime and Punishment'.

And now some other books/authors that I don't think have been mentioned and aren't (I don't think) too obvious:

- Knut Hamsun, especially 'Mysteries' and 'Pan'. My favourite author.
- Paul Theroux's non-travel-literature. ['My Secret History', 'My Other Life', 'Picture Palace', 'Hotel Honolulu', 'Sir Vidia's Shadow'...]
- Anything by Bruce Chatwin, esp. 'In Patagonia' and 'On the Black Hill'.
- 'The Road to Oxania' by Robert Byron.
- 'The Sense of Things' by Alison Dye. I mention this because a couple of people above said they found '..Dog in the Night-Time' disappointing. This is also narrated from a very particular viewpoint, and is a much more affecting book.
- Haruki Murakami. Anything and everything.
- 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion' by Yukio Mishima.
- 'The Burn' by Vassily Aksyonov.
- the Culture novels of Ian M. Banks.
- 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe.

And finally a few thrillers/adventure stories. These get their own category because I noticed that Megan likes Nelson de Mille. When I was a boy I read 'By the Rivers of Babylon', and still remember (spoiler warning) being traumatised by the death of Nathan Brin.
Anyway:

- Robert Wilson's series of thrillers set in West Africa, eg 'Blood is Dirt'.
- James Sallis: chiefly his Lew Griffin series (eg 'Black Hornet'), but also 'Death Will Have Your Eyes'.
- 'Hell Hath No Fury' by Charles Williams. Source for the underappreciated Don Johnson flick 'The Hot Spot'. I loved the film, then read the book and thought it was even better.
- Jim Thompson, eg 'Heed the Thunder' and 'The Killer Inside Me', 'After Dark, My Sweet' and 'The Grifters'.
- 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre' by B. Traven.

I really should read more non-fiction.

For an apreciation for those who have fought, and in some cases died, so we can be free:

- A Bridge Too far, Cornelius Ryan
- Citizen Soldiers, Stephen Ambrose

And for an interesting biography of 5 people you've probably heard of who have helped shape our country during recent times:
- The Nightingale's Song, Robert Timberg

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