The Top 100 Science Fiction And Fantasy Books

National Socialist Radio listeners have participated in a project to compile The Top 100 Science Fiction And Fantasy Books. 

Denny and a lot of other bloggers have participated in a meme where you copy the NSR list, highlight the ones you've read, and provide any commentary that would encourage others to read some of the titles that you've enjoyed. 

I'm not a huge fan of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre, mostly because any time the hero gets in trouble, the authors can instantly save him with a time warp, an enchanted spatula, an unexpected invasion of liberators from the planet Nekthar, or a magical stimulus package.  But I was surprised at how many of these I've read. 

Enjoy ! 

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

This is the ultimate fantasy trilogy.  A friend of The Whited Mama, Mrs. Merritt, recommended it to me when I was in the 8th grade.  Mrs. Merritt had read the series 3 or 4 times.  I devoured these puppies.  You've never known true joy until those hobbits get rid of that dang ring. 

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

You will laugh until you cry.  I almost ruptured a gut during the sequence where Marvin The Paranoid Android gets left behind in the space time continuum and has to park cars at The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe for billions of years until he can rejoin his buddies in "the present".  Please don't judge this thing by the movie adaptation.  This is brilliant stuff.  I wish it could have been number 42 on this list, though. 

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

The first book in the series is pure, undiluted greatness.  Herbert creates an entire culture that the reader can totally buy into - grammar, traditions, religion, coming-of-age rituals, laws, diet, clothing, the works.  The second is good.  The third is blah.  All the other stuff after that is dull.  I bet if you read the first one, you'll still try to read the all the rest, kinda like a crack addict trying to get that old feeling back. 

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984, by George Orwell

Yes, Big Brother is watching you.  And he's not happy that you're reading anything on this site. 

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

The best anti-censorship book EVER.  Read it, and you'll never forget the temperature at which paper spontaneously ignites.  Bradbury's best? 

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

I didn't read all of this.  Therefore it is only half-highlighted.  I usually liked Asimov's non-fiction essays more than his novels.   

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

"And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins."

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

Hilarious.  Joyous.  Wonderful storytelling.  Loved it, loved it, loved it.  And they didn't screw up the movie.  Inconceivable.  I don't think that means what you think it means.  And I am not left-handed.  Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.     

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

As Timothy The Tax Cheat Geithner will tell you, "some are more equal than others".  Animal Farm - we're living on it. 

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

Watchmen is a graphic novel.  For people over 60, that's what they're now calling lengthy comic books.  I liked it ok, but didn't think it was worth inclusion in Time magazine's Top 100 Novels list.  Because of this graphic novel, all references that I make to "Ozymandias" are misunderstood.   

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

I think I finished it. 

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

I grokked it in a big way.  One of the best libertarian novels ever written. 

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein isn't about being afraid of a monster.  It's about how horrible it would be to live as a monster. 

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

Even if you haven't read PKD's books, you're probably familiary with some of the movies they spawned - Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report.  This theme seems to have driven Philip K. Dick stark raving mad....  How do we know that we really experienced something in the past?  How do we know that we weren't all created 15 minutes ago, with common non-contradictory memories?  This guy makes my head hurt. 

22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood has a typing fit where she imagines a religious fundamentalist takeover of the U.S. after nuclear war makes most of the women sterile and races are segregated again, and nobody can wear makeup and women can't drive cars.  Kind of a left-wing rape fantasy. 

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

I think I own all the volumes of this, but I'm saving them for my old age. 

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

I read this in the North Sunflower Academy library when I was too young to understand it.  I need to revisit this one.  Every time Barack Obama discovers that some Socialist/Keynesian policy will not work, it reminds me of the chimps crowding around the metal tower and discovering how to use tools. 

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

This is a big fat story that you can get lost in, with a good vs. evil plot.  King has a great time destroying the world and populating it with dozens of memorable characters: Trashcan Man, Mother Abigail, The Walking Dude, and that washed-up, one-hit-wonder, rock singer.  This is one of my favorites.  Buy the really long uncut version. 

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

If bookstores still exist 50 years from now, Ray Bradbury will probably be shelved in the Literature section, not Sci-Fi. 

28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

My friend Roger and I were discussing this one last night.  If you take away someone's free will with drugs, is he still a human? 

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

Imagine a semi-fascist society where everyone lives to serve the state, and the state assigns them their careers, and some of them are sent off to fight giant bugs.  Good stuff.  Bad movie.  It's so bad that you'll watch it over and over.  "It's an ugly planet !  A BUG planet !" 

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

I've not thought about this before, but this one belongs on the list for the same reason as Frankenstein.  Frankenstein is about how horrible it would be to live as a monster.  Watership is about how horrible it would be to live as prey. 

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

Haven't read it, but it's on my Bucket List. 

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

Read it a long, long time ago.  Those underground Morlock things gave me bad dreams.   

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

Read it after I went on the ride at Disneyland, sometime in the 4th or 5th grade. 

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

Read it in Jr. High School and thought it was ok.  Tried it again a few years ago, and it wasn't ok. 

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

If we ever make contact with other planets, this is what The Feds will use to justify more spending.   

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Phenomenally dull stuff.  Like George Lucas discovered in doing Star Wars Episodes 1,2, and 3, there are times when you should produce something great and then leave it alone.

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

Pure, undiluted greatness.  I love, love, love this book.  Love it, love it, love it.  I will give you a dollar if you read this book.   

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

This is one of the darkest things I've ever read, and I'm a fan of darkness.  Post-apocalyptic meldown.  Two people trying to get from Point A to Point B.  You never get the names of the two main characters, the man and the boy.  This might be McCarthy's best novel, in spite of serious competition. 

64. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

If you like Zombie combat, this is your book. 

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

Greatness.  Nothing but Bradbury short stories, tied together with a guy who is tattooed all over.  If I remember correctly, you don't have to read them in order, which makes for convenient bathroom reading.  (You know, for when you just need something to keep you occupied for five minutes.) 

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

I think Lewis's theological parables (Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce) are better than these.  I don't think I ever finished the 2nd one. 

That's the list.  I hope it was helpful.  I'm going to try to read the Vonnegut stuff.   

Ron Paul - Liberty Defined

I picked up Ron Paul's Liberty Defined a couple of days ago.

Lord have mercy, what a book. 

It's a distillation of Dr. Paul's philosophy of government, boiled down to 50 categories.  Abortion, Assassination, Austrian Economics, Bipartisanship, and the Business Cycle all the way to Terrorism, Torture, Trade Policies, Unions and Zionism. 

This is the book of a man who is running for president, and who has been proven right on so many issues for so long that he no longer sees any need to pull any punches.  You will find sentences in here that cause you to put down the book in amazement, and think "Well, of course, that's true, but politicians just can't say things like this !!!   My God, Ron Paul no longer gives a shit !!  He's telling the truth, and to hell with the consequences !! 

And then you read the offending sentence a few more times, committing it to memory. 

Compared to the standard campaign book, this one is a diamond in a dung heap.  This book is going to melt the faces off Dr. Paul's fellow Republican politicians. 

Here are a few samples:

Assassination:  Our government has, for years, been involved in "regime change" around the world, which includes the use of assassination.  But up until February 3, 2010, there was no admission to such a policy or recognition of its illegality.  On this date, before the House Intelligence Committee, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dennis C. Blair admitted that indeed such a policy existed.  American citizens can be assassinated at the direction of the U.S. government with the authority probably coming from the DNI.  As he put it: "Being a U.S. citizen will not spare an American from getting assassinated by military or intelligence operatives." 

Bipartisanship:  When the ideas of both parties are bad, there is really only one hope: that they will continue fighting and not pass any new legislation.  Gridlock can be the friend of liberty. 

Business Cycle: This tendency to use macroeconomic measures began under Herbert Hoover in 1930, a pattern that was continued by FDR.  Hoover and FDR actually pushed the same agenda of high spending, attempted monetary expansion, controls on business, and efforts to keep wages high.  FDR managed to take us farther down the road to serfdom only because he had longer in office. 

Campaign Finance Reform:  If there were less to buy through influencing campaigns, there would be a lot less incentive to invest so much in the process. 

Capital Punishment:  Believers in the omnipotence of state military power are enthusiastic supporters of the death penalty.  It's strange to me that those who champion best the rights of pre-born are generally the strongest supporters of the death penalty and preventive, that is, aggressive, war.  Ironically, those who find the death penalty an affront to life are usually the strongest supporters of abortion. 

Central Intelligence Agency:  If the truth be known, we would all be safer if the CIA in is current form were to be abolished. 

Demagogues:  ....For this reason, people who burn American flags, provided that they own them and burn them on their own property, are deserving of defense.  I'm never so embarrassed by the Republican Party than when it demagogues issues like flag burning and saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  These are despicable campaign tactics. 

And it goes on and on, with Ron Paul speaking the unspeakable on the drug war, the Fed, insane military adventures, and all the other usual suspects. 

This is the book of someone who had "rather be right than be president", to quote Henry Clay.  The essays on personal freedom are too extreme for any of the current Democrat politicians.  The sections on economic freedom are logical and are written with an excellent grasp of political and economic history - more than enough to terrify the Pawlentys, Romneys, Huckabees, and the rest of those who want to take their turn driving our national car in the same disastrous direction. 

This is a great book.  I can't wait for the debates. 

Worst Hardy Boys Mystery EVER

Go here.

Thanks, Instapundit !

The Evolution Of God, by Robert Wright

For the next few days, Andrew Sullivan has turned his site, the Daily Dish. over to Robert Wright, author of "The Evolution Of God".

I'm about halfway through the book, and it's pure, undiluted greatness.

Brilliant.

Since I'm not through with the book, I'm not going to attempt a summary. Here's a good one, though, from a Disciples Of Christ minister in Troy, Michigan.

The idea that God has evolved may be off-putting to some and welcomed by others. How one responds to this idea may depend both on what is meant by the phrase and where one stands in regards to the idea of God. A believer may take this idea differently than will an unbeliever. Philip Clayton, in his book Adventures in the Spirit (Fortress, 2008) encourages believers in God to welcome dialog with science and philosophy, and not to fear any challenging implications to faith. It is with that sense of openness that I came to Robert Wright’s fascinating study of the evolution of the idea of God, from its origins in hunter/gather societies to the development of the great religions – especially the three Abrahamic religions. Wright admits that he approached this study with an agnostic sensibility. Indeed, the focus here is not on whether God exists, but how humans have envisioned and approached the idea of God. His is a materialist description, assuming that ideas of faith have evolved because they fulfill a role in society. Indeed, when he speaks of specific religious expressions he takes a rather minimalist view – that is Jesus said and did little of what has been ascribed to him, and the stories of early Judaism, from Abraham to Moses, likely did not happen.

Wright will be posting on the Daily Dish for the rest of this week. Go there.

Paul Coelho - The Witch of Portobello

"As a historian, I attempt to collate all the data and analyze this confrontation between the freedom to worship and the duty to obey, between the God who controls the world and the Goddess who is part of the world, between people who join together in groups where celebration is a spontaneous affair and those who close ranks and learn only what they should and should not do."

"If God is mother, then we need only gather together with other people and adore her through rituals intended to satisfy the female soul, rituals involving dance, fire, water, air, earth, songs, music, flowers, and beauty. This has been a growing trend over the last few years. We may be witnessing a very important moment in the history of the world, when the Spirit finally emerges with the Material, and the two are united and transformed. At the same time, I imagine that there will be a very violent reaction from organized religious institutions, which are beginning to lose their followers. There will be a rise in fundamentalism."

"Anyone who believes they have failed will always fail. Anyone who has decided that they cannot behave any differently will be destroyed by routine. Anyone who has decided to block all changes will be transformed into dust. Cursed be those who do not dance and who prevent others from dancing."

- Paul Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

A brief excerpt from Al Gore's North Korean rescue operation

During the late 1970's, two of Ross Perot's top executives were held hostage in Iran. Perot took matters into his own hands and hired some mercenaries to go into Iran and rescue the hostages.
Novelist Ken Follett later told the story of this adventure in his book "On Wings Of Eagles".

During the last week, two of Al Gore's Current TV reporters were convicted of trumped up espionage charges in North Korea, and have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

An anonymous author has been emailing me the story of former Vice President Gore's ongoing rescue effort, Gore's first venture into espionage and Black Ops. Depending on the success of the operation, these dispatches will be released in book form as "An Inconvenient Sleuth".

I am pleased to offer this excerpt from Chapter Four, entitled "Assembling The Green Team" :

The mercenaries began assembling at Gore's Tennessee mansion, The Carbon Footprint,
First to arrive was "Blade", a knife expert and environmental lobbyist who had been recruited for close-up wet work and replanting any trees that might be destroyed in the rescue operation.
A young man known only as "Nitro" arrived in a Prius a few minutes later. Only 19 years old, Nitro was already an artist with explosives and Environmental Impact Studies.
Next to arrive was Cap'n Carbon, who would not contribute anything at all to the mission's success or failure, but would be in charge of monitoring everyone else.
Then there was Colonel Grunt McClintock, the team leader and recycling expert. A crusty EPA Coal War veteran, McClintock only wanted one more mission before retirement.

"That's all I want," thought McClintock, thoughtfully, "just one more mission before retirement."

Tipper led each arrival into the conference room. When everyone was seated, Al rolled up his sleeves and swept his Nobel, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, and little league batting trophy off the conference table and unrolled a thick set of plans.

"Gentlemen," he said, "there have been many rescue missions in our nation's history, but this will be the first Earth Friendly one. We're going to take nothing from North Korea but memories and hostages, and leave behind nothing but our footprints."

To be continued....

My Brother's Book ! ! !

This is a great day ! ! !


That isn't a picture of Barack Obama prostrating himself before the king of Saudi Arabia.
That's the cover of my little brother's book ! ! ! Now published by Palgrave MacMillan ! ! !

This is from the Amazon product description:

What was imperial honor and how did it sustain the British Raj? If “No man may harm me with impunity” was an ancient theme of the European aristocracy, British imperialists of almost all classes in India possessed a similar vision of themselves as overlords belonging to an honorable race, so that ideals of honor condoned and sanctified their rituals, connecting them with status, power, and authority. Honor, most broadly, legitimated imperial rule, since imperialists ostensibly kept India safe from outside threats. Yet at the individual level, honor kept the “white herd” together, providing the protocols and etiquette for the imperialist, who had to conform to the strict notions of proper and improper behavior in a society that was always obsessed with maintaining its dominance over India and Indians. Examining imperial society through the prism of honor therefore opens up a new methodology for the study of British India.

And here's an excerpt from one review:

“Patterson’s examination of masculinity and male codes of honor (racial, legal, and social) as a central element underpinning the British Raj ads significantly to scholarship on gender and imperial rule, as well as metropolitan Victorian and Edwardian British society. He eloquently unpacks the “white man’s burden,” showing how central maleness was to racial superiority, and how each was maintained through the specific norms and institutions of the Raj. His brisk prose delights as he marshals the latest theoretical and empirical literature, along with revealing an array of new sources for uncovering the interstices of whiteness and civility, honor and power, disclosing the micropolitics of force behind gentlemanly virtue.”

- Jonathan Judaken, author of Jean-Paul Sartre and the Jewish Question and editor of Naming Race, Naming Racisms, is Associate Professor of modern European cultural and intellectual history at the University of Memphis

Hit that "White Man's Burden" link to see my take on Kipling's poem.

Anyway, click here to read the first few pages of my brother's book. And if you EVER wake up in the middle of the night wondering about the morale of British troops stationed in India during WWI.... Dr. Steven Patterson is your man.

Elsewhere on these pages, I've posted the editorials of my little sister, Dr. Amy Cooper (hit the label below).

My little sister Jill doesn't have a doctorate, but she does have a nursing degree and a masters in speech/communications. Here is Jill's page on the website of the college where she teaches.

For a bunch of farm kids, we sure spend a lot of time typing.