Reccomend me a book to read :)

Carl Sagans works?

Quotes:

A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.
Carl Sagan

All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.
Carl Sagan

But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
Carl Sagan

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
Carl Sagan

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.
Carl Sagan

I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students.
Carl Sagan

I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star.
Carl Sagan

If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?
Carl Sagan

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
Carl Sagan

In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
Carl Sagan

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
Carl Sagan

Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.
Carl Sagan

Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out.
Carl Sagan

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.
Carl Sagan

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.
Carl Sagan

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
Carl Sagan

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.
Carl Sagan

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.
Carl Sagan

The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.
Carl Sagan

We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
Carl Sagan

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
Carl Sagan

We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.
Carl Sagan

When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'll never forget it.
Carl Sagan

Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.
Carl Sagan

Sagan is indeed amazing.

Here's a video to give you an idea:

YouTube - Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot

Quite possibly one of the more moving speeches ever written.

On another note, a few other books I can recommend (if Fiction is more your thing):

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (anything by Gaiman is spectacular)
Little, Big, by John Crowley (probably one of the best books I have ever read, and anything by Crowley is good)
Anything by K.W. Jeter
Anything by Neal Stephenson (especially Snow Crash or the Baroque Cycle, depending on what your tastes are [I love both])
Anything by China Mieville (especially Perdido Street Station)
Anything by Alastair Reynolds (great Hard Sci-fi / Space Opera)
Anything by James P. Blaylock
Philip K. Dick is always a good read.

That one book, something like: "This is your brain on music", IIRC(?) should also be checked out; Sorry, can't recall the author...

But, it looks like Marados has a nice summer reading list of authors for ya frasey

Enjoy the adventure of traveling with the authors~

P.S., "Cosmos" by Sagan, would be the title I would suggest...

You've probably already read LOTR.

I am on the second book of His Dark Materials - better than the first of which i was not too fond. I had a hard time getting into it. And some of the writing just did not flow for me.

Actually, its getting into winter reading here...

Of course...

Have fun~

Epic fiction? You want this:



The Sot-Weed Factor is one of the funniest books in the English language. It might not grab you off the shelves, but trust me on this one.

Read all four of John Updike's Rabbit Novels. Four of the best books I have ever read.

That's a bit of a difficult read Unc, for team 14yo, anyways...

Found the intro here: The Sot-Weed Factor

Then again (shruggs)...lol

based on the specific description of what you liked in the His Dark Materials trilogy- I demand that you bump all other suggestions behind and grab the first book of

The Wheel of Time (series)

by Robert Jordan

The first book is called The Eye of The World


Best literature I have ever read. Incredible writing capabilities.. consideration and foresight.. and sheer know-how. It's original 'epic' fantasy. I don't even know where to begin on spamming you with why you should check this series out. If the first book snags you- score. You then have 12 or 13 other books (there is a prequel, and the final book is prolonged because the author died during it- but! he left very detailed notes over the course of days, with his wife, who was his editor for every single novel before then. It will come.)

They're about a thousand pages each.. paperback. So, if you get hooked, you're really in for a long and masterful treat.

I beg you to check this series out.

X 2. Fantastic series.

The Lord of the Rings is an obvious pick, but I would recommend the first three books in Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea series.

Vonnegut.

The first three of the Dune series. I think Herbert was grinding it out after that, but the early titles, particularly the first, are amazing.

When they cast Sting as Paul Atreides, I stopped going to movies. O.K., not really, but I felt like it.