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Ask HN: I only read tech/business books – recommend me some fiction?

31 points by _0o6v ↗ HN
I read exclusively non-fiction (mainly technical and business books). I don't think it's doing my brain any good, particularly my creative thinking and my ability to switch off.

Can anyone recommend some good, contemporary fiction for people that have forgotten how to read fiction?

46 comments

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mech422
I don't know about 'contemporary' but I always loved Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land is probably appropriate for the HN crowd)

Also, really can't go wrong with Terry Pratchett.

P.S. - I have the same problem, its been years since I read for 'fun'. Mostly all tech stuff now.

ryanmercer
Heinlein is always great.

Check out B. V. Larson's Swarm and Undying Mercenaries series, Dennis E. Taylor Bobiverse series, and Craig Alanson's Expeditionary Force.

Also what I mentioned to OP, what I'm doing my annual re-listen of https://www.goodreads.com/series/51166-troy-rising

They're not Heinlein by any means but they're fairly good hard science fiction. The audiobook versions all have fantastic narrators too if one has a commute.

kesor
Read Eliyahu Goldratt's books, these are novels that explain business ideas - but hardly can be called tech books.
chrisrickard
I just finished read my first fiction novel in about 10 years: Dune.

Although it’s not quite contemporary - I really enjoyed it so you might too. There is also a bunch of follow on books I may delve into one day... but right now I’m back to business books :)

aidenn0
Maybe read the second one, but each novel is worse than the previous imo
chrisrickard
Good to know, I just did some googling and the wider world seems to very much agree with your opinion!
poormystic
Try Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age :)
Engineering-MD
I really enjoyed ‘the name of the wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. However it is a trilogy and the author has been unable to release the final one for a decade now- so only read it if you don’t mind waiting for closure!
dkeyes
The Overstory by Richard Powers is an incredible read. It's a story about trees and humans -- and how they are connected in untold ways. The writing is truly fantastic and you learn a massive amount about the magic of trees and forests along the way.
kaybe
I liked The City & the City by China Miéville.

It's basically a crime story based in two different cities, and I won't say more about that. :)

edit: Apart from that, if you like visual storytelling, it's great to read graphic novels, comics or webtoons in a language you're still learning. I could recommend some if you're interested.

ryanmercer
Right now I'm doing my annual re-listen to John Ringo's "maple syrup trilogy" (next I'll do my annual re-listen of The Martian, narrated by R. C. Bray not Huwill Huwheaton) https://www.goodreads.com/series/51166-troy-rising

It's a really fun series, basically an alien race appears in the system and installs a gate to open up trade with the system. It has some really neat ideas in it and some good challenges they work through from fuel to interstellar war, with the primary character being your run of the mill guy with tech industry experience working in a rural community fighting his way to being fantastically wealthy and arguably the primary defender of human space.

Book 1: Live Free or Die:

>First Contact Was Friendly

>When aliens trundled a gate to other worlds into the solar system, the world reacted with awe, hope and fear. But the first aliens to come through, the Glatun, were peaceful traders and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

>Who Controls the Orbitals, Controls the World

They're a good read, but the narrator makes them quite a good listen. I've actually bought other author's entire series purely because Mark Boyett has narrated them.

Mark Boyett, R.C. Bray, and Luke Daniels are some great narrators and all do a lot of narration in the hard science fiction space. They make the audio versions of books far superior to reading it yourself, at last in my opinion.

Daemon and the sequel Freedom TM by Daniel Suarez are also a fun read. It uses near-future, or even at the time experimental tech, to weave a mostly believable near-future scenario.

Daemon:

>When the obituary of legendary computer game architect Matthew Sobol appears online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events that begins to unravel our interconnected world. This daemon reads news headlines, recruits human followers, and orders assassinations. With Sobol’s secrets buried with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed, it’s up to Detective Peter Sebeck to stop a self-replicating virtual killer before it achieves its ultimate purpose - one that goes far beyond anything Sebeck could have imagined....

DoingIsLearning
Not really contemporary but the non-cerebral book that got me reading for reading sake without a specific purpose or objective was a second hand paperback 'The City and the Stars' by Arthur C. Clarke.

I remember only reading for a few minutes a day on the train, but it pretty much felt like watching a TV mini series where each train ride was a short episode.

I think that book in particular was the turning point for me, from only reading technical books and having no interests outside non-fiction, to realising I was just looking through fiction books that I didn't actually enjoy.

cafard
A bit long, but The Index of Self-Destructive Acts by Dominic Beha has bits touching on tech and business. It is quickly (for its length) read. Another book set in the first decade of the century is Netherland by Joseph O'Neill (nothing in particular to do with tech or business), not long, and quite readable.
paulz_
I'm currently finishing up The Culture series by Iain M. Banks. The first novel is called Consider Phlebas.

It's my favorite sci-fi universe of any book, movie, or game. Feels a bit like Star Trek if the Federation were more advanced.

Shugarl
Vampire Diaries awoke my inner teenage girl self.
twoquestions
I'll stand by most of the other recommendations here that I've read, here are some books I liked that I haven't seen here yet:

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) is a pretty good and campy series.

The Dresden Files series is also good, I tried to get into it but I hated the mumbly voice actor on Audible unfortunately.

Iain Banks is good, especially Player of Games, Consider Phlebas and The Algebraist. Use of Weapons put a bad taste in my mouth.

Good luck!

EDIT: Forgot to mention Isaac Asimov, I've yet to see anything bad by him. Still trying to get through the Foundation series.

AlecSchueler
Contemporary fiction that would get the creative minds working I think would be Exchange Place by Ciaran Carson.

It's a bit like a labyrinthine search for identity and self identity, and for knowing the other.

Set in Belfast and in Paris, the former is which it is also interesting to learn a bit of the actually life feeling of.

loriverkutya
If you forgot how to read fiction, The long way to a small angry planet will put you back on track no time.
kaladin_1
Stormlight Archives (Way of Kings) by Brandon Sanderson.
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jressey
Everyone should read Moby Dick . If the traditional praise is not enough, it is about how hard it is to understand. Code, tech, government, whales, or anything large. I identified with Ahab, mostly because he vacillates between confidence of knowing and fear of unknowing. It is just like working on a large software project.
dawg-
Amazing book and you totally nailed the reason why it's my all-time favorite. It's a monster story where the book itself is the monster. Instead of seeing the monster through the words of the characters, the reader holds it in their own hands. In our insane pursuit of reading and understanding this monstrous book we become a little bit like Ahab himself by the end. It gives you an impression of something huge lurking behind the pages, something bigger than your comprehension. The pursuit of God, or the Truth, or whatever big universal thing you believe in, is such a huge and terrifying endeavor that it will break a human being if we are too honest about it. Moby Dick is truly an awe-inspiring experience. Also, don't skip the whaling chapters. They are secretly the best parts of the book.

Another book that gives off very similar vibes is Don DeLillo's Underworld.

aidenn0
I cannot stand Melville. My idea of hell is a library full of only his books and stories.
red_hare
If you’d like to try some short fiction, ‘the paper menagerie and other stories’ is hands down my favorite collection of science fiction.
harperlee
Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges. Short stories that will help you pick it up easily. They are intrincate and dreamy/legendary, in a sense, and touch themes that some people here like (infinity, time, labirynths, myths, old literature, libraries, misteries...)