Top 20 geek novels

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Lobolover

haven't read any of those,though 1984 shouldn't realy be up there.

Sure it should! That's geek material if there ever was any!

Personally, I challenge the sense of the date applied, since it removes the work of H.G. Wells from the list, and I would have included Time Machine and War of the Worlds. (But it wasn't my list...)

My score was 9. We should spin part of this thread off into "top 20 geek TV shows!"

[RWood]

I read a solid 7, maybe more, not sure. No Buffy.

For TV there was always Space 1999. Dr. Who I can take or leave (and leave is the most used term for me about that show.)

[tompe]

Originally Posted by RWood

For TV there was always Space 1999. Dr. Who I can take or leave (and leave is the most used term for me about that show.)

I watched Space 1999 as a kid and thought it was very good. Then I made the mistake of watching its as a grown up and it was slow and very bad. Doctor Who survives the viewer getting older much better.

[jmorton]

:::sigh::: I've 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,13,15,16,17, and I have #9 on my Reader right now. I'm a bigger geek than I realized.

IMO, no list of geek novels is complete without Gravity's Rainbow. Why isn't it there? Perhaps because nobody can finish it?

I agree with Jack Schofield that Stand on Zanzibar belongs on the list (yeah, read that too). And, I like Buffy. Jeez, I'm just a big fraggin' geek.

Jim

[mazzeltjes]

OOOppppsss
I read 18 out of 20

10 and 12 I'll go looking for now
5 of them are on my reader
Maybe the wife is right after all
she calls my reader a geek machine

It awfull not to be understood

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by mazzeltjes

It awfull not to be understood

On the contrary... I think your wife understands you very well...

[Taylor514ce]

The original list. BOLD the books I've read. RED the one I wish I hadn't.

1. The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams 85% (102)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell 79% (92)
3. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley 69% (77)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick 64% (67)
5. Neuromancer -- William Gibson 59% (66)
6. Dune -- Frank Herbert 53% (54)
7. I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov 52% (54)
8. Foundation -- Isaac Asimov 47% (47)
9. The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett 46% (46)
10. Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland 43% (44)
11. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson 37% (37)
12. Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38% (37)
13. Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson 36% (36)
14. Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks 34% (35)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein 33% (33)
16. The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick 34% (32)
17. American Gods -- Neil Gaiman 31% (29)
18. The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson 27% (27)
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23% (21)
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham 21% (19)

I agree with the original article/author: Neal Stephenson is awesome. The Baroque Trilogy should be on the list, as well as the entire Neuromancer series from Gibson.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

The original list. BOLD the books I've read. RED the one I wish I hadn't.

Copying your style, I shall do similar....

1. The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams 85% (102)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell 79% (92)
3. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley 69% (77)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick 64% (67)
5. Neuromancer -- William Gibson 59% (66)
6. Dune -- Frank Herbert 53% (54)
7. I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov 52% (54)
8. Foundation -- Isaac Asimov 47% (47)
9. The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett 46% (46)
10. Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland 43% (44)
11. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson 37% (37)
12. Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38% (37)
13. Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson 36% (36)
14. Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks 34% (35)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein 33% (33)
16. The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick 34% (32)
17. American Gods -- Neil Gaiman 31% (29)
18. The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson 27% (27)[/B]
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23% (21)
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham 21% (19)


I've silvered Cryptonomicon to highlight that I started to read it, but soon lost interest. It is one of the few books I have ever started but not finished. Neal Stephenson's popularity hasn't been lost on me, and it is probable I will try something else of his, but it would have to be good for me to consider trying again on Cryptonomicon.

I should also mention that though I haven't read American Gods, I have read Anansi Boys and if that is anything to go by I am at this stage extremely discinclined to read anything else by Neil Gaiman.

Cheers,
Marc

[Sparrow]

I'm very surprised to see Wyndham's 'Trouble with Lichen' in the list.
It's not one of his best (in fact I think it's pretty feeble SF, and seems very dated now).
But also, it doesn't seem particularly geeky.
Was there some sort of voting campaign to get it on the list; and if so - why??

[mazzeltjes]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

I'm very surprised to see Wyndham's 'Trouble with Lichen' in the list.
It's not one of his best (in fact I think it's pretty feeble SF, and seems very dated now).
But also, it doesn't seem particularly geeky.
Was there some sort of voting campaign to get it on the list; and if so - why??

See :
The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
It's a conspiracy

[ElTorito]

1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 15

Do I get bonus geek-points for reading all the Foundation books, all the Dune books, and Stranger in a Strange Land at least 6 times.

[TheEternalVortex]

1. The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams 85% (102)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell 79% (92)
3. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley 69% (77)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick 64% (67)
5. Neuromancer -- William Gibson 59% (66)
6. Dune -- Frank Herbert 53% (54)
7. I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov 52% (54)
8. Foundation -- Isaac Asimov 47% (47)
9. The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett 46% (46)
10. Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland 43% (44)
11. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson 37% (37)
12. Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38% (37)
13. Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson 36% (36)
14. Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks 34% (35)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein 33% (33)
16. The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick 34% (32)
17. American Gods -- Neil Gaiman 31% (29)
18. The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson 27% (27)
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23% (21)
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham 21% (19)

So I've read 13/20. I liked them all, including American Gods. I started to read Dune but found it boring and have no desire to do so. I don't have much desire to read the others either, except maybe Microserfs.

Also, I think BNW and 1984 are not really the best dystopian books. I enjoyed This Perfect Day a lot more, and it's "geekier" automatically because it has programmers.

[Taylor514ce]

I loved first three books of Dune, read the rest of Frank Herbert's after that out of loyalty, the first of his son's Dune books out of curiosity, the second out of sick fascination and revulsion, and refused any more out of not wanting to contribute to the desecration of his father's work.

[bbusybookworm]

Well 1,2,7,8,9,12,15 &17 for me. Never could stand to go all the way through Dune unfortunately.

Have read almost all of Asimov, Heinlein, Adams & Pratchett's work.Dont't know if that counts for bonus points.

And have to agree that the 1932 date is a bit of a pain as it does leave out the works of Wells and Verne who I personally would consider writes of some of the greatest geek books.