User:Stephan Schulz/Reading
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My Reading
I buy, own, and borrow large numbers of books. If remotely possible, I also read them ;-). Here are snapshots of my reading:
- A snapshot of my reading (January 5th, 2026):
- Robert Silverberg: Dying Inside - not Science Fictiony enough for my taste (so far), but deservedly in the SF Masterworks series
- Samuel R. Delany: Captives of the Flame - a bit of a letdown after Babel 17, which was fantastic in more than one sense of the word
- Neal Stephenson: Quicksilver - that one really brought history alive in a new, more interconnected way for me. Of course I "knew" that the 30 Years War raged from 1618 to 1648, and that James and Charles fell in between Elisabeth I (died 1603) and Oliver Cromwell (named Lord Protector in 1653), but I never placed these events mentally into the same world...
- September 15th, 2016:
- Arthur C. Clarke: The Sentinel (I have the Kindle edition, which seems to have more stories) - let's just say that I got the omnibus edition of Clarke short stories immediately after. I liked this a lot better than Heinlein...
- Nancy Kress: Beggars in Spain - very good! However, it's a bit of a letdown that Kress (and her superhuman characters) seem to know Rand, but never seem to have heard of Rawls
- Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger - following Kress on my reading list should have been a hard job, but wow!
- August 1st, 2016:
- Robert A. Heinlein: The Green Hills of Earth (short story collection) and The Menace from Earth (collection) (in one omnibus edition) - classical Heinlein - well crafted, sometimes imaginative, but very much rooted in the 1940s and 50s. Recommended for people with a strong stomach.
- James S.A. Corey: Abaddon's Gate - third novel of The Expanse. The TV series does nothing for me, but the books keep dragging me along.
- Alfred Bester: The Stars My Destination - a tour de force that still stand up after all the decades.
- December 9th, 2015:
- Jill Paton Walsh: The Late Scholar - it's not Dorothy L. Sayers, but I like this one best among the 4 sequels by JPW
- Kim Stanley Robinson: Red Mars (selected by the SFFS reading circle)
- John W. Campbell: The Ultimate Weapon - unexpected jewel found at Project Gutenberg. Very camp(bell)y, but with an unexpected Roddenberryesque ending
- March 28th, 2015:
- Charles Stross: Saturn's Children - unexpected, the book can't quite decide what it want's to be, but still a brilliant vision of a future
- Alfred V. Aho, Monica S. Lam, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman : Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools - still the classic on the topic
- Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice - interesting, but didn't really do that much for me
- January 7th, 2012:
- Richard W. Bulliet: Cotton, Climate, and Camels
- Dorothy L. Sayers: Clouds of Witness (not for the first time, nor the second...)
- Alexander Broadie: The Scottish Enlightenment
- February 7th, 2011:
- Raymond Smullyan: First-Order Logic - learning from history...
- Sharon Lee and Steve Miller: Crystal Dragon - I like most Liaden books, but I cannot seem to get into this one.
- James M. McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom
- February 13th, 2010:
- Nick Lane: Life Ascending - the first 3 chapters are among the best non-fiction I've ever read.
- Harry Turtledove: After the Downfall - solid entertainment, but not among Turtledove's best.
- John Julius Norwich: The Middle Sea
- August 26th, 2009:
- Fawn Brodie: The Devil Drives
- Fred Brooks: The Mythical Man-Month
- Will Thomas: Some Danger Involved
- March 30th, 2007:
- Dorothy L. Sayers: Strong Poison - a perenial favourite
- Isaac Asimov: Asimov's Guide to the Bible
- Richard Dawkins: Unweaving the Rainbow