Rich's Reco's
There are a handful—if you have large hands—of books that I heartily recommend. Start anywhere, dig in, and enjoy.
Altered Carbon
I love this series and this book. It's a hard-boiled detective thriller with an awesome anti-hero protagonist. The tech of the future in this series is what I want from Sci-Fi: really advanced shit…
Broken Angels
As much as I loved the far-future Earth, I welcomed the second book taking place on another planet in the far-flung universe of this series. The main character is still the flawed anti-hero, just in…
Consider Phlebas
This was my first Culture series book, and is so far is still my favorite. It's a far-reaching novel with a protagonist you really want to root for, even if you don't fully understand his…
Daemon
Daemon rocked my world when I first read it, and still holds up to this day. Action-packed story that intertwines a number of character arcs as things just go off the rails in the modern world. It's…
The Diamond Age
One of my favorite stand-alone sci-fi books. I don't love everything Stephenson writes, but I loved this one. It's a great look into the future. This book explores the possibilities of how technology…
Ender's Game
I consider Ender’s Game to be the single greatest leadership book ever written. Yet it’s sci-fi. And about children. WTF? Once upon a time I aspired to be a leader like Ender. After experimenting…
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In the summer of 2018, I re-read the entire series (the Stephen Fry version, not the Jim Dale reading on Audible). As I undertook the endeavor, I wondered what my favorite book would be. The "easy"…
House of Suns
John Lee narrating an Alastair Reynolds space opera sci-fi book. It doesn't get better than that. One of my all-time favorite stand-alone novels, I heartily recommend this to anyone. I've read this…
Judas Unchained
The conclusion and the reveal at the end of this book was so incredible, I couldn't wait to get and read it again. As I said in the review of the first book in the series, Pandora's Star, Hamilton…
The Name of the Wind
I love this series so much I don't even know where to begin. Let's get one thing out of the way, the books are very long. This one clocks in at over 27 hours, however, it's more like two distinct…
Pandora's Star
Peter F. Hamilton creates vast, imaginative worlds filled with well-written characters on seemingly separate paths and lives.... until they all come crashing together. His plots and subplots are so…
Revenger
When I picked this up, I was expecting something along the lines of Reynolds' other books such as House of Suns (one of my all-time favorites) and the Revelation Space series. What I got was so…
Series Review: Machineries of Empire
When I set out to catalog my library, I couldn't wait to write this series' review. This series is unlike anything you've ever read. It's 100% sci-fi but the technology almost seems magical in its…
Series: Commonwealth Saga
Though this series is contains two massive tomes—and apparently a third that just came out in 2016—it is absolutely worth the read/listen. Peter F. Hamilton is one of my favorite authors, and John…
Series: Daemon
If you play video games, you must read this series. Only two books long, but absolutely required reading for my fellow gaming geeks out there. It's a highly plausible future with great characters,…
Series: Harry Potter
All of these reviews are for the Stephen Fry recording, not the Jim Dale version on Audible. That version on Audible is complete shit. I downloaded the Fry version years ago—around 2007—and recently…
Series: Hyperion Cantos
What starts out as a grouping of short stories in the first book evolves into one of the greatest space operas of contemporary Sci-Fi. Books two and three are the strongest, and book one is probably…
Series: Takeshi Kovacs
I can't say enough good things about this series. Each book is distinct and different, yet the threads between them are strong enough to weave a greater narrative. Takeshi is the ultimate anti-hero…
Start with Why
An absolute must-read. There are very few non-fiction books I recommend unequivocally, and now that I think about it, this might be the only one that I recommend without preamble or qualification. I…
Startup Communities
Ah, the "Boulder Thesis". Startup Communities is essential reading for anyone in the startup world, especially if you're in the startup world outside of the Bay Area. I've read this book quite a few…
The Lean Startup
Reading this for the first time in 2013 felt like reading the secret code for how all businesses will be run in the future. And it is. It's a must-read for the startup world. It's such an important…
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
There were times during this book where I thought I was listening to a self-aggrandizing autobiography, and just as I was judging the author for a pointless diversion, BAM! He'd hit me upside the…
Thirteen
Richard K. Morgan does it again. This time in a stand-alone sci-fi novel. This is another top reco from my reading list. It's an action thriller with another protagonist that's a bit hard-boiled. Not…
Who Stole the American Dream?
There are very few things in the world that have had such a profound impact on me as "Who Stole the American Dream?" I read this in 2014, after being hired by SoftLayer, a recent IBM acquisition.…
The Wise Man's Fear
As I said with "Name of the Wind" you have to treat this book, that clocks in at over 42 hours as separate books combined into one. In this case, it's three distinct stories that could have been…
Woken Furies
Most trilogies wind down in the third book, often times with some quasi-religious, half-assed philosophy being espoused by the author taking up too much of the last book. Not Woken Furies. It's still…