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We have the Ben Bova Tour books. Some he liked, some he didn't. The Bova books he didn't like dealt with that religious cult.
He didn't like Ringworld, the Puppeteer and Kzin were too weird to suit him, so I didn't bother with any more Niven.
Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars were too political.
He's reading some Sheffield now, but says the books are "unfinished" and need another chapter.
I've got most of these except Dune. That wasn't to my taste.
I've tried Poul Anderson, Murray Leinster, and Asimov on him - he's not impressed.
I don't have any Soldier of Fortune or glorified war books. - not my taste.
He has read most of my geology books on the Colorado Plateau. Maybe that's what he's expecting in a story about Mars. We do watch most of the documentaries on space exploration and he might be looking for those real descriptions from Cassini and Huygens in a book. I've been trying to get him to read "Sojourner" and "Roving Mars" - real non-fiction histories of Mars Rovers. He'd understand all the engineering discussions. It's a no-go.
No-go for him -
any novel that has mostly politics with a space exploration background. The same for religious. War for war's sake is also out. Incidental attractions between protagonists OK, just not as the main theme of the book. I'm not sure how he feels about bug-eyed monsters. Dystopia is also out.
He really liked the Martian - I haven't read it yet, but from what I gather it was man against terrain, and that might be the conflict he likes.
The other books he liked were by Tony Hillerman. We've prowled around that territory for years so he has no trouble imagining it.
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