Thanks, I'll give Simmons a go. Looking for my next good author to work through at the moment anyway.

In reply to this comment by dag:
I've heard of it, but haven't tried it, thanks for the recommendation. The Gothic nature of Revelation Space always reminded me a bit of Dan Simmons books.

In reply to this comment by srd:
In reply to this comment by dag:

SRD: I like Revelation Space too - it's a weird but effective combination of gothic and space opera.

Do you know Neal Ashers "Polity" series? You might like it. Somewhat more blood and gore, but a well thought out universe and entertaining stories.

1. Midnight at the Well of Souls and the Well World novels - Jack L. Chalker (This is the series that got me started on sci-fi.) 1-5 are the best. The later novels were disappointing.

2. Hyperion and the rest of the Cantos series - Dan Simmons (you cried at the end of the last book didn't you Netrunner.)

3. 1984 - George Orwell

4. Caesar - Colleen McCullough

5. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Hard to pick just five:

1. Hyperion and the rest of the Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons
   
2. Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge (though everything else he's written could easily have taken this spot)
   
3. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (and any other Takeshi Kovacs novel)
   
4. Footfall by Larry Niven -- IMO the best he ever wrote
   
5. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
   

Other favorites:

• The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
  
• Accelerando by Charles Stross
  
• Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
  
• Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross
  
• Virtually anything by Robert J. Sawyer (particularly the "Neanderthal Parallax" trilogy)
  
• Snow Crash and Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, though I'm with dag, everything that's followed has been disappointing
  
• Domesday Book by Connie Willis
  
• To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
  
• The Golden Age Trilogy by John C. Wright
  
• Any short story by Michael Swanwick (particularly "The Radiant Doors" -- dft, there's another dystopia to be found in that one)
  

Oh, and I like Dune, Foundation, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, 1984, Brave New World, and Animal Farm too, but that almost goes without saying.

I do read politics too, but those aren't really very fun most of the time. Educational, but not fun.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I've heard of it, but haven't tried it, thanks for the recommendation. The Gothic nature of Revelation Space always reminded me a bit of Dan Simmons books.

In reply to this comment by srd:
In reply to this comment by dag:

SRD: I like Revelation Space too - it's a weird but effective combination of gothic and space opera.

Do you know Neal Ashers "Polity" series? You might like it. Somewhat more blood and gore, but a well thought out universe and entertaining stories.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

VideoSift, like a lot of community sites, is fairly techie heavy. We nerds tend to be an athiestic lot.

I have to admit though - that as I age, I am getting a softer stance. I don't think it's just because I'm aproaching my own mortality. It's more to do with a sense of history, and realizing that science is often blinded by hubris and has been proven time and again to be wrong about some pretty big issues.

I will always believe in evolution, and I'll never believe in a man in a white robe - but might there be some kind of universe creator out there? Some being that started the wheels in motion, and maybe even has some kind of "galactic thought" that encompasses wide swathes of space-time?

I could believe in that kind of God -the kind of God that appears as a spidery feeling that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

I have to admit that I enjoy SF books that have an element of religiosity in them. See "The Sparrow", "Children of a a Lessor God", "Darwin's Children", and even Dan Simmon's "Hyperion". (I'm an SF book nerd).