This past Christmas I was toying with the idea of getting e-readers for my wife and myself. I decided against it, but not before I’d done quite a bit of research on it. I decided that the nook was probably the best, with the kindle and sony not too far behind. I also found out that the nook has quite a few “apps” for other devices. You can download them here.
So, for whatever reason, last night I decided to see if a book I’d read when I was younger is avaliable online. I not only found it, it was FREE!
Check it out. Even if you don’t want to read “The Child Buyer” by John Hersey, you can find other free books at Barnes and Noble online, and you don’t need an e-reader to read them. You can, for example, type “free” into the search window. They have apps for iPads, iPhones, Android phones, blackberries PCs, and Macs, maybe more.
I’d give you a book report on “The Child Buyer” but I want to read it again, first. It’s been awhile. All I remember is it’s about a kid who’s going to become part of a computer.
Are there any books from your younger days you’d like to read again?
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CHARIOT OF THE GODS, Von Daanaken (Or however it is spelled). just bought it recently. Paperback.
I use KOBO mostly. I really like it, … on the iPad. Apple forces you to have their reader tho. I have about three or four readers for the ipad, and have only used them for free books. On Kobo, I have read 7 books, all free, with the favorite being THE BOOK OF TEA, Okakura. I like kobo because they store information on your reading habits.
The problem with reading on the ipad is that I have tens of books here that I really need to digest. I have decided to get them done first, before I start buying digital books.
Right now I am reading, when i get to it, Graham Handcock’S ENTANGLED, paperback. He is not a polished fiction writer, but I adore the man, and can intuit his intents. He wrote it about his experiences with iowaska and what he thought the world needed to know from the wisdom gained from it, via fiction, kind of like THE CELESTINE PROPHESY AND OTHERS.
Then on to all those Reiki books (4 of them) I have that I am trying hard to learn from.
There are a lot of free digital Philip K. Dick books on one or all of the readers. Will read them too before I start paying for books.
Tried to download your book, but Nook is hard to get along with. They will not allow me to be anonymous. They are not allowed to have my information. I purged the app.
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Are there any books from your younger days you’d like to read again?
I can never reread the Belgariad/Mallorean series (or the Sparhawk series that are parallel to them) too many times.
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David Eddings, right? I started the series and liked it, but I don’t remember if I ever finished all the books.
Have you ever read the foundation series by Aasimov?
How about Simon R. Greene’s “Nightside” and “Torc Family” series?
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David Eddings, right? I started the series and liked it, but I don’t remember if I ever finished all the books.
Yes.
There are really two parallel series.
The ones centered around Garion are:
The Belgariad (5 books, now 2 omnibus volumes), The Malloreon (5 books, now 2 omnibus volumes), then two prequel books (that should still be read last even though they are prequels), Belgarath and Polgara.
The ones centered around Sparhawk are:
The Elenium (3 books, now 1 omnibus volume) and The Tamuli (3 books, now 1 omnibus volume).
It’s hard to explain without giving too much away, but the Garion story and the Sparhawk story are sort of the same story, told with different characters with different personalities, on different worlds, with entirely different political systems, entirely different systems of religion, and entirely different systems of magic. But they’re still the same story.
Hard to say which is better. Both are really good.
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Have you ever read the foundation series by Aasimov?
Yes. And the Robot series. And the later books in both series that bridge the two sets into the same universe.
I’ve reread the “original” books from the Foundation and Robot series, but haven’t reread the later books.
If you like the Foundation series, “Pebble in the Sky” is probably worth reading too. Same universe, but much earlier. It was one of Asimov’s first books, and it is a little rough for what you’d expect from Asimov, and he didn’t really research the science very well at all, but the theme fits well with the Foundation theme of new political orders sweeping away old political orders.
The main plot of Pebble in the Sky is: Earth’s last gasp against Trantor.
How about Simon R. Greene’s “Nightside” and “Torc Family” series?
Those I’ve never even heard of.
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I’ve read at least the first 3 of the Belgariad, but it was years ago.
Simon R. Greene’s good at punning. Try reading the first book of the Nightside series. If you’re not hooked after that, you won’t like any of them.
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Just as good as Asimov’s Foundation trilogy are his three most important robot books:
a) The Complete Robot
b) The Caves of Steel
c) The Naked SunThe Complete Robot is a collection of short stories. It’s one of Asimov’s most important sci-fi works, since it contains all of his essential robot short stories in one place. Unfortunately it is almost always out of print. Best way to get it is to buy a used copy of a book club edition (Alibris is awesome).
The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun are full size novels, and are still in print. They take place farther in the future than most of the short stories (although some of the short stories stand alone and are not part of the same timeline, and one of the short stories is a mini-sequel to these novels). They’re sort of futuristic detective novels where a human and a human-like robot are partners.
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Note: although The Complete Robot is a lot harder to get than the other two, I’d still recommend reading it first, since the two novels build on all the lore from the short stories.
If The Complete Robot is too much of a pain to acquire, then use “I, Robot” as a standin.
“I, Robot” leaves out a number of important short stories, so it’s a poor substitute, but it will at least cover the basics and help the novels make sense.
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i have read the trilogy.
Took a class once in college in Science Fiction, with Doug Stallings, of all people, now the editor of Fodor’s. He used to use my motorcycle helmet and my feminine motorcycle behavior as illustrations of examples in SciFi stories. He was funny! He said I was a classic Heinlein female.
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