# Sci-fi - **Hyperion** - Dan Simmons Refreshing sci-fi that focuses masterfully on characters and their stories rather than obsessing over technical details - **Dune** - Frank Herbert "Because we cannot imagine a thing, that does not exclude it from reality..." see also [Calvin and Muad'Dib](https://calvinanddune.tumblr.com/) for some laughs - **Anathem** - Neal Stephenson Excellent worldbuilding and imagery. Once you've read it, check out my [[Review of Anathem]] (many spoilers!!) - **The Player of Games** - Iain M. Banks Excellent plot, excellent worldbuilding, set in a socialist future. Apparently Elon likes this one. - **The Moon is a Harsh Mistress** - Robert Heinlein If the moon was a penal colony. Libertarian and anarcho-capitalist. - **Neuromancer** - William Gibson This book effectively invented the cyberpunk genre. I had a bit of trouble following the plot but the world and themes made the read worth it - **I, Robot** - Asimov Collection of short stories about the Three Laws of Robotics. Very thought-provoking. - **The Martian** - Andy Weir The book is even better than the movie (but I'm the sort of person who loves a lot of detail, so ymmv) # Other Fiction - **Life of Pi** Magical story about a kid adrift at sea. Reminded me of a Dumbledore quote: "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" # Science - **Ignition** - John D. Clark Excellent overview of the development of modern rocket propellants. Really funny. "As I had suffered from mercury poisoning on two previous occasions and didn't care to take a chance on doing it again, I thought that it would be an excellent idea to have somebody else make the compound..." - **The Emperor of All Maladies** - Siddhartha Mukherjee An exposition of cancer: history, etiology, and treatments. Indispensable. The author is a powerful writer. - **The Gene** - Siddhartha Mukherjee A thorough exploration of the central idea of 20th-century biology. - **Last Chance to See** - Douglas Adams Douglas Adams wrote the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- but less well-known is "Last Chance to See", in which Adams travels to the remote habitats of endangered animals in order to raise public awareness and promote conservation. I really, really love this book, both for the information about these unusual animals and for Adams' wonderful writing style. - **Principles of Neural Design** by Sterling and Laughlin - reverse-engineering the structure of the brain - **What is Life?** by Schrodinger A classic book speculating on the physics of life. He predicted that genes might be encoded on an "aperiodic crystal" years before the structure of DNA was discovered! - Harry Glicken was a volcanologist assigned to observe Mount St. Helens, but he had a meeting the day it erupted and had to ask his mentor, David Johnston, to cover his shift. Johnston died in the pyroclastic flow. Glicken was so consumed by guilt that he spent ten years mapping the the debris field. Most of the scientific understanding of those sorts of debris avalanches are due to his meticulous work. Glicken died on Mt. Unzen in Japan in the 90s. I recommend reading his [wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Glicken) and his [obituary](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00258189). - I love everything that Feynman has written. He's my role model. I keep rereading "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think" in the hope that I can find some secret to seeing the world the way he did. # Adventure - **Into Thin Air** - Jon Krakauer A narrative of the 1996 Everest disaster from Krakauer, who was actually a member of one of the expeditions. Powerful and tragic. - **Touching the Void** - Joe Simpson Joe fell hundreds of feet into a crevasse in a remote glacier in Peru and crawled out over three excruciating days. - **Alone on the Wall** - Alex Honnold A summary of our favorite climber's achievements. - **Eiger Dreams** - Jon Krakauer A collection of adventures, including a hair-raising story about Krakauer's harrowing ascent of the Devil's Thumb in Alaska. - **Annapurna** - Maurice Herzog The classic story of the first time people conquered an 8000-meter peak. # Textbooks - Problem Solving Through Problems - Introduction to Classical Mechanics (Morin) - Artificial Chemistries