Which book will I like best?

Daniel Reeves

closed Sep 1

Recommendations Books

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

23%

Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

23%

The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch

20%

Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (book 2 of the Culture series)

10%

Luminous (collection of short stories by Greg Egan)

Ancillary Justice

Law's Order by David Friedman

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (book 1 of the Culture series)

The Precipice, by Toby Ord

The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann

There Is No Antimemetics Division (by qntm)

1.6%

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Daniel Reeves

Bart

answered

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

Daniel Reeves

@Bart Yeah, it's insanely good. One of a tiny number of books I've liked enough to reread. And as I mentioned elsewhere, we even read the entire thing out loud to our kids.

Bart

answered

The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch

Daniel Reeves

@Bart Ooh, definitely a candidate!

Bart

answered

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

Bart

Saw too late that you've already read it!

Adrian

answered

Ancillary Justice

Griffin Wolf

bought Ṁ1

@Adrian, I don't think you can assume anything like that about Ann Leckie's inspirations with that kind of confidence, although I've not read the culture series. I'd add that one of the things I remember thinking is that Leckie writes aliens that are properly alien well, and human cultures that are alien to my experience very well, and that the main characters and their interactions are compelling as well as the setting and premise

Adrian

answered

Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (book 2 of the Culture series)

horse

@dreev I haven't read it, so no strong rebuttal. I had heard that Player of Games is more Culture-y after I started reading Consider Phlebas, but I was enjoying Consider Phlebas just fine.

Adrian

answered

Ancillary Justice

Adrian

It's been a long time since I read it, but my recollection is that it was incredibly well written and engaging and above average on philosophically interesting themes. Definitely Culture inspired in that they both examine the social implications of superintelligent AI ships and a post-scarcity economy, though Ancillary Justice focuses on the former and The Culture on the latter.

Daniel Reeves

answered

There Is No Antimemetics Division (by qntm)

JiSK

Antimemetics does a really good existential horror, which is hard to get anywhere else

Clive Freeman

answered

Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

Daniel Reeves

@CliveFreeman Ok, I'm sold. And yes, read _The Martian_ and loved it. (The movie is good too!) (Also TIL "sarky" which initially I thought was a typo for "snarky". I'm tipping extra for that.)

Clive Freeman

answered

The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann

Daniel Reeves

@CliveFreeman Oh ho, you have my number. Back as an undergrad I read _The Prisoner's Dilemma_ by William Poundstone which is largely a biography of von Neumann and loved it and have been endlessly fascinated by von Neumann ever since. So this sounds like a great candidate, although possibly repetitive if I already know all the classic von Neumann anecdotes?

Gabrielle

answered

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

Stephen Malina

Rereading your description, I'd say that this is by far the most "ridiculously erudite" sci-fi book I've ever read in terms of the knowledge Palmer brings to bear from being a historian. While maybe some of Greg Egan's books can compare in terms of physics erudition, Palmer is unmatched in terms of her knowledge and creativity on history and structuring a society. I think this review (https://www.gleech.org/palmer) does a good job of describing the book but it's really spoiler-filled so I've copied the first two, non spoiler-y, paragraphs here: > The series is a lot of things. It is the most sustained fictional portrait of Archipelago and polystates, one of the few utopias I would maybe like to live in. Palmer starts in an Enlightenment utopia (post-war, post-nationalism, post-scarcity, post-gender, post-theocracy, post-fideism, post-meat, post-capital-punishment, post-nuclear-family, general justice via universal voluntary surveillance) and then shows what the tensions will do to any system that has to handle humans as we are. > > The worldview diversity is probably the greatest thing about it. I’ve read twenty-author anthologies with less variance in values than this. Speaker’s Corner and SSC comments have nothing on Palmer.

Gabrielle

answered

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

Stephen Malina

@dreev (not Gabrielle) but if you've ever wished you could read a book about a utopia that actually makes sense but is actually weird and a bit transgressive relative to our norms, you'll like this. You've probably never thought this second part, but it's the only sci-fi book I've ever read that (successfully, IMO) has a narrator who (internally) dialogues with Enlightenment philosophers like Voltaire.

Adrian

answered

Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (book 2 of the Culture series)

Stephen Malina

bought Ṁ30

I agree with the comments here re: Player of Games vs. Consider Phlebas. The latter was my first Culture novel and it actually turned me off from the Culture series a bit. Then I read Player of Games and proceeded to read most of the others in quick succession.

Clive Freeman

answered

Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

Clive Freeman

bought Ṁ10

I'm presuming you've already read "The Martian", or I'd recommend that! But this is very much in the same vein - smart, sarky person, solving nearly-impossible problems with science to stay alive (and save the Earth!)

horse

answered

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (book 1 of the Culture series)

Clive Freeman

bought Ṁ25

Great choice, and I can't believe @dreev hasn't read the Culture series! The Player of Games is much more Beeminder-y, but this is great too.

Adrian

answered

Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (book 2 of the Culture series)

Daniel Reeves

@JiSK @Adrian This sounds persuasive. Any rebuttal, @horse?

horse

answered

Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber

Daniel Reeves

@horse Great suggestion! I'd already heard good things about it. I may bid this one up myself, though there's already extremely tough competition here!

S G

answered

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Daniel Reeves

@SG Sounds like a classic I should absolutely read. If you give a mini pitch, I will mash the tip button!

Adrian

answered

The Three-Body Problem

Daniel Reeves

@ahalekelly Ooh, a friend loaned me a hardcopy of this book and I intend to read it anyway. So if this market also makes me read it, all the better.

Adrian

answered

Leviathan Wakes (Book 1 of The Expanse)

Daniel Reeves

@ahalekelly I watched the first several episodes of the TV show based on this (without even knowing it was based on a book) and I didn't get excited enough about it to keep going. So I'm less excited about this candidate but it's a candidate and if the market tells me to, I'll read it!

Adrian

answered

Unsong

Daniel Reeves

@ahalekelly Already read this! It's amazing. I basically hang on every word Scott Alexander writes about anything. (But since I've already read it, this one can't win. Though if Scott publishes an edited version of it, as he at least vaguely intends to, I'll probably read it again.)

Adrian

answered

Ancillary Justice

Daniel Reeves

@ahalekelly Excellent, it's a candidate. Got a mini pitch?

Gabrielle

answered

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

Daniel Reeves

@Gabrielle Ooh, hadn't heard of this. Definitely a candidate, especially if you're the Gabrielle I know (?). Would love to hear your mini pitch for it. I will even mash the shiny new tip button for it.

Adrian

answered

Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (book 2 of the Culture series)

JiSK

bought Ṁ25

A much stronger book than Consider Phlebas IMO. I think the top tier of the Culture series are _Player of Game_, _Excession_, and the one that takes place on Earth. _Consider Phlebas_ is mid-tier, good but not particularly special. And the lowest tier is merely mediocre.

Adrian

answered

Ancillary Justice

Griffin Wolf

bought Ṁ2

@ahalekelly Excellent suggestion. One of my favorite pieces of science fiction

Adrian

answered

Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (book 2 of the Culture series)

Adrian

Also Elon names his ships after Culture ships, and Player of Games was the title of a (not good) Grimes song about Elon!

Adrian

answered

Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (book 2 of the Culture series)

Adrian

bought Ṁ10

The stories in the Culture series are independent and don't need to be read in any order. Consider Phlebas was good but Player of Games has a much more interesting story and touches on more themes of the Culture. Use of Weapons was also great, though the complicated narrative timeline requires some work to keep track of.

horse

answered

Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber

horse

bought Ṁ2

Historical/anthropological exploration of debt and it's relationship with social institutions. Did you know money was probably invented before the barter system was ever extensively used? That sort of thing.

horse

answered

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (book 1 of the Culture series)

horse

@dreev It fits the criteria of erudite and gripping sci-fi, in my opinion. It does some fun things with AI and it's a generally solid space opera. I've only read this book in the series, but there's 8 more, and I believe the other books explore themes of post-scarcity more, which is something I'm interested in.

horse

answered

Permutation City by Greg Egan

Daniel Reeves

@horse I've read this! So not a candidate. It was very good! It's been a while but I think it was about Tegmark's mathematical universe, right?

horse

answered

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (book 1 of the Culture series)

Daniel Reeves

@horse I hadn't heard of this! Would love to hear why you like it. This is certainly a candidate, ie, I will read it if it makes it into the top 2!

horse

What are some sci-fi classics you've already read? I feel like that's pretty relevant for suggestions!

Daniel Reeves

@horse Oh, yeah, good question. I loved _Cryptonomicon_, for example. And Andy Weir's _The Martian_ was great. Feel free to add books, betting just 1 mana and if I've already read it, I'll add a comment with how I liked it.

Mr Stone

answered

HPMoR, but the audiobook

Daniel Reeves

@stone I've not only read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, we read it again out loud to our kids. It's ridiculously good. But I guess I'm vetoing it for this market, probably no matter how good the audiobook version is. (Is hpmorpodcast.com the right link for it?)

S G

answered

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang

Daniel Reeves

(And since I've read it already, I won't be choosing this one, so people should bid up other candidates!)

S G

answered

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang

Daniel Reeves

@SG I've read this and it's great and gives me all the more reason to think your other suggestions are going to be brilliant!

S G

answered

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang

S G

bought Ṁ1

Raises questions about decision theory tangentially related to Beeminder.

Daniel Reeves

Great candidates so far!

Ian Philips

S G

answered

Law's Order by David Friedman

S G

bought Ṁ1

Surprisingly fun and readable intro to the field law-and-economics. Read it for free here: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Laws_Order_draft/laws_order_ToC.htm

Angola Maldives

bought Ṁ20 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 19% to 23%

DawnPaladin

bought Ṁ15 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 17% to 19%

Sinclair Chen

bought Ṁ1 Planecrash from 0.0% to 0.2%

Sinclair Chen

bought Ṁ10 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 15% to 17%

Michael

bought Ṁ20 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 11% to 15%

Michael

bought Ṁ10 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 9% to 11%

wasabipesto

bought Ṁ5 Too Like t...Ada Palmer from 26% to 27%

Charlie

bought Ṁ5 Ancillary Justice from 3% to 4%

Arete

bought Ṁ5 Too Like t...Ada Palmer at 26%

Griffin Wolf

sold Ṁ51 Ancillary Justice from 14% to 3%

Griffin Wolf

sold Ṁ2 Ancillary Justice from 15% to 14%

Adrian

sold Ṁ6 Too Like t...Ada Palmer from 24% to 23%

Daniel Reeves

bought Ṁ50 Too Like t...Ada Palmer from 15% to 24%

Griffin Wolf

bought Ṁ5 Ancillary Justice from 15% to 16%

Griffin Wolf

bought Ṁ20 Ancillary Justice from 11% to 15%

Bruce Grugett

bought Ṁ10 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 7% to 9%

Charlie

bought Ṁ1 Too Like t...Ada Palmer at 16%

horse

sold Ṁ0 Debt: The ...id Graeber from 0.1% to 0.0%

horse

sold Ṁ5 Consider P...re series) from 5% to 4%

horse

sold Ṁ3 Consider P...re series) from 6% to 5%

Oevrlrod

bought Ṁ10 Too Like t...Ada Palmer from 13% to 15%

Oevrlrod

bought Ṁ10 The Beginn...id Deutsch from 25% to 26%

Oevrlrod

sold Ṁ7 Consider P...re series) from 8% to 6%

Oevrlrod

sold Ṁ3 There Is N... (by qntm) from 3% to 2%

Daniel Reeves

bought Ṁ30 Luminous (...Greg Egan) from 0.0% to 7%

Bart

bought Ṁ100 The Beginn...id Deutsch from 3% to 26%

Daniel Reeves

bought Ṁ10 Too Like t...Ada Palmer from 16% to 18%

Griffin Wolf

bought Ṁ4 Ancillary Justice from 16% to 17%

Adrian

sold Ṁ3 Leviathan ...e Expanse) from 1.1% to 0.0%

Adrian

bought Ṁ5 Too Like t...Ada Palmer from 15% to 16%

Bart

bought Ṁ10 The Beginn...id Deutsch from 0.0% to 3%

Bart

sold Ṁ10 Harry Pott...ationality from 3% to 0.0%

Bart

bought Ṁ10 Harry Pott...ationality from 0.0% to 3%

Forrest

bought Ṁ2 Ancillary Justice at 16%

Griffin Wolf

bought Ṁ1 Ancillary Justice from 15% to 16%

Daniel Reeves

bought Ṁ35 Too Like t...Ada Palmer from 6% to 15%

Griffin Wolf

sold Ṁ1 Law's Orde...d Friedman from 9% to 8%

Griffin Wolf

sold Ṁ1 There Is N... (by qntm) at 5%

Griffin Wolf

bought Ṁ51 Ancillary Justice from 1.8% to 17%

bought Ṁ10 Consider P...re series) from 13% to 16%

Daniel Reeves

bought Ṁ20 The Precip...y Toby Ord from 0.0% to 7%

David Atkinson

bought Ṁ30 Law's Orde...d Friedman from 0.7% to 11%

Stephen Malina

bought Ṁ15 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 13% to 18%

Stephen Malina

bought Ṁ15 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 7% to 13%

Stephen Malina

bought Ṁ14 Too Like t...Ada Palmer from 4% to 9%

Stephen Malina

bought Ṁ30 Player of ...re series) from 29% to 37%

Clive Freeman

bought Ṁ10 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 4% to 9%

Clive Freeman

bought Ṁ10 Project Ha... Andy Weir from 0.0% to 4%

Clive Freeman

bought Ṁ25 The Man f...on Neumann from 0.0% to 11%

Clive Freeman

bought Ṁ50 Player of ...re series) from 16% to 36%