The book survey

[mithriltabby]

Since daehith put me up to it:

1. Total number of books owned: Roughly 3000 fiction (counting graphic novels and tankouban), 1000 nonfiction, 500 gaming. These are wild estimates based on checking the book density of a few shelves and multiplying by the number of shelves. And this doesn’t count obsessivewoman’s collections of mysteries and cookbooks.
2. Last book I bought: I could list the whole batch, but I think I’ll just mention the hardcovers: C J Cherryh’s Destroyer, the latest in the Foreigner sequence, and Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Crystal Soldier, the latest in the Liaden tales.
3. Last book I read: Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds.
4. Five books that mean a lot to me:
   • “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character, by Richard P. Feynman et al. — showed me that omnivorous curiosity and eccentricity were no bar to achievement.
   • The Chanur Saga (The Pride of Chanur, Chanur’s Venture, The Kif Strike Back, Chanur’s Homecoming), by C J Cherryh — she does a damn good job of making her aliens alien.
   • Crazy Wisdom, by Wes Nisker — makes metaphysical sense of the universe for me.
   • The Annals of the Kencyrath (God Stalk, Dark of the Moon, Seeker’s Mask), by P C Hodgell — highly original fantasy.
   • Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, by K Eric Drexler — the first milestone on a very interesting road that should eventually lead to kicking the legs out from under the status quo and creating a very interesting future.
   • Honorable mention to the role-playing game Ars Magica, which got me hooked on going to historical sources for research.
5. Tag 5 people and have them fill this out on their LJs: I insist that all memes must undergo ruthless selection. If you’re reading this and feel inspired to blog about your book collection, go ahead and propagate the meme. (If you’re curious about memetics, I recommend Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene and Susan Blackmore’s The Meme Machine.)

Comments

[trogula.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong to admit that I lust after your book collection? ;-)

A question for you: I've read a lot of hard SF, and have recently veered off into fantasy (with Pratchett in his own category, because to not read a Discworld novel is just wrong - I am compelled to read them). Do you have any recommendations on fantasy authors and books that aren't just "Warmed over Tolken, Part XXXIV"?

[mithriltabby]

There is a lot of good stuff out there that isn’t Extruded Fantasy Product. Off the top of my head:

• P C Hodgell, God Stalk, Dark of the Moon (collected together as Dark of the Gods), Seeker’s Mask
• Tim Powers, The Anubis Gates, On Stranger Tides, Last Call
• Martha Wells, The Element of Fire, Death of the Necromancer, Wheel of the Infinite
• Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana, A Song for Arbonne
• J Gregory Keyes, The Waterborn, The Blackgod
• Fritz Leiber’s “Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser” tales are classics that are very non-Tolkienish.
• Roger Zelazny’s Amber books are classics, and if you like Zelazny, try Steve Brust’s Vlad Taltos books. (Brust’s Khaavren romances are an homage to Alexander Dumas, set in the same world as the Vlad Taltos books, and a different kind of excellent read.)

If you want to borrow some, come on over some evening and you can meet the fluffs.

[wyvernwell.livejournal.com]

I lust after "Engines of Creation" by K. Eric Drexler.

Do you think I could find this at the library? I can't really afford to buy the book right now.........but it really sounds like my kind of deal.

Related Nanotech fiction: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. If you haven't read this yet, you should.

[mithriltabby]

It’s been out for ages and is pretty common in used book stores. It would really depend on the library as to whether it’s the sort of thing they would have.

The Diamond Age was good; did you try Snow Crash? Charlie Stross’ Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise are excellent.

[wyvernwell.livejournal.com]

I did this meme recently and SNOW CRASH was in my list of 5! :D