I really did not expect you to put Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality in this list. I absolutely love HPMor and am glad to see a popular youtuber mentioning it.
10-Snow crash - Neal Stephenson 9-Ready player one 8-The sirens of titan - Kurt Vonnegut JR. 7-Enoer's shadow - Dreson Scott Card 6-The desert spear - Peter V.Brett 5-Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson 4-The diamond age - Neal Stephenson 3-The Name of the wind - Patrick Forthuss 2-Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality 1-The ultimate hitchhiker's guide Douglas Adams
This video actually properly yanked my life onto another path with the Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality recommendation, led me to lesswrong where i met a large chunk of my high quality friends right now. Most important thing I've ever read. Thank you so much for this.
I'm kinda upset that no books from the Fire and Ice series is on the list. Yes, it is really popular now but George RR Martian created a brilliant universe with his books. I especially loved the third one the best so far.
One of my absolute favorite Science fiction is "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke. Another british writer. It is the mixture of unconventional science fiction, absolute fantasy and transcedental mystical tragedy behind it, which makes it in my eyes one of the best in the genre. But i also enjoyed every single other of his books. Unlike other science fiction writers he also knew alot about the physical and technological capability of mankind in his time (mid 20th century) and applied the knowledge to rational think ahead of ongoing developments.
Oh, and, Jack London. Early 1900's author, socialist, founder of the dystopian genre, and raised political consciousness as seen in "The Iron Heel" (1908). He influenced George Orwell's "1984". But, most of London's other work dealt with nature, animals, and adventure.
I see a lot of love for ready Player One. Maybe I should give it another shot. Got roughly 80 pages in and found the protagonist to be such a brat. Perhaps his development will make me care more?
Mistborn series was awesome. Enders series not. Brent weeks is killing it with his lightbringer series. Joe Abercrombies first law is to die for if you like grit. Dune series by Herbert is the epitome of sci fi fantasy. Game of thrones goes without saying. Aces wild series by Larry corriea was super awesome reading
You should read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson from the Stormlight Archive series! There will be 10 books in this series, each book is around 1000 pages, but only two books are out at the moment. I did not realise there are 10 books until I read a first one, and I was like shit I am hooked, here comes the decades-long waiting... but please don't let it put you off, it is such a great book! I am yet to read the second book, but it has received amazing reviews too. Give it a go! (sorry for my English, its not my first language)
Curious if you have read The Space Between Worlds yet. I absolutely loved it. I've been focusing on my channel a lot and am behind on keeping up with my favorite reviewers.
ready player one and mistborn are two of my favorite books. i also loved the audio book of ready player one. it shows we have very similar teasts. so, I am going to read the other ones too.
Well, if there any learner of Russian language out there I strongly recommend you to try to read our novels in a native language. Having experienced that, actually you may conceive how a human brain works in the other direction from your native. I read in English every day even though i'm struggling with new vocabulary it still such an inexpressible experience.
Love your top ten! Have you ever read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood? A very cool and though provoking series starting with that book. Definitely a book that sort of switched my reading gears!
+ComputerHelperPL thank you! To be honest, I was a little worried people *wouldn't* like this backdrop as much, as I used my wide-angle lens that can't blur backgrounds as nicely. Glad to be wrong :)
Ya and anyone seen minecraft torch up There. Thomas you should definitely do a video on favorite anime or cartoons or Video game. I know there very less subscribe rs interested but for some viewers "5 minutes" are worth.
+mrhusse5 I haven't read any of the manga, but I watched the first 200 episodes. After that I got busy and just caught up by reading the wiki, though I've watched a couple of the more recent films and love them.
Thank you for this. I'm going to add some of these books to my reading list because it seems like we have the same taste! Some of my favorite books include The Martian Chronicles, American Gods, Einstein's Dreams, Neverwhere, and the Dirk Gently series. I'm going to include Sourcery by Terry Pratchett as well.
Congrats on the 100k! I've been subscribed since about 5,000 :) Please consider a video on the people on bad test takers and people who dont know how or how much to study? :)
Tolkien have "wiz bang magic"? Bro, have you ever read ANYTHING from Tolkien?! There's almost ZERO magic, and this if you count Gandalf's light from his staff. If you said Harry Potter i would agree, but you totally lost my atention when you said that about Tolkien's world.
Lucas Kailani Agree with ya. I think I understand where he is coming from, though. He stated "Tolkien-inspired" stuff. So assumably fantasy inspired by Tolkien....which is A LOT of fantasy.
Congratz on the 100k!! While I know most of these books by name or by cover, I'm more of a fantasy fan, my favourite authors are Robin Hobb and Raymond E. Feist (mostly his earlier work). The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been on my to-read list for a loooong time, and I really enjoyed the movie. Maybe it should move up on my TBR list...
Thomas, thanks for sharing. I'm also very into the sci-fi books, and I'd like to recommend the Three-Body trilogy. They are: The Three Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death's End. Try them, and trust me, they are really amazing :-)
Great video! We have a lot of the same tastes, though I lean more towards fantasy than scifi. I would recommend Robin Hobb. Also, Tamora Pierce has some kick-ass lead women characters that you should give a try.
+DKlarations I tried to when I was around 12 years old, and the language put me off. I now own a really nice hardcover version AND the audiobook, but I still haven't gotten around to it. Oddly enough, though, I have read The Butlerian Jihad - I think I just picked it up in the library one day during junior high and got sucked in. I should probably give the original a try again.
+DKlarations I think I might try the audiobook soon. A friend told me I HAD to listen to the audiobook for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, so I'll probably tackle that once I'm caught up with the Hello Internet podcast. Dune could be next after that.
The word avatar comes from the Sanskrit word avatāra, which means "descent" or "to make one's appearance". It first appeared in English in the late 18th century but since then the word has had multiple meanings over time.
Detective Conan gets repetitive after a while, the story progresses slower than a slug and the characters are bland(I have read more or less 700 chapters, so I can tell). So I definitely don't recommend it. There are better detective animes, like Hyouka or Gosick.
10. Middle School 9. The Three Musketeers 8. Milkweed 7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 6. The Hobbit 5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 4. The Never Ending Story 3. The Count of Monte Cristo 2. To Kill a Mockingbird 1. Life of Pi
Have you ever read paralandra by C. S. Lewis? It’s the Second book in his space trilogy. One of my all time favorites. It paints many pictures to describe the origin of “sin”. And how Evil is in our world as we know it. It’s a read that requires thought but is so good.
I have been watching your videos and reading the blog since a month and i absolutely love the content. Congrats on 100k subscribers. Keep making such awesome videos for us :)
the name of the wind is the best book ever!!! you might also like the wheel of time from Robert jordan, shannara from Terry Brooks, right now im reading Robin hobb . maybe you like the books of the 100 but they are kinda childish.
the only book that i had to read for school that i actually liked was the angel maker from Stefan brijs, if the english translation is half as good as the original you should deffinitly read it
I want to second the recommendations by others for Dune, Discworld, Wheel of Time, and the Martian. If you want something thoughtful, Station Eleven is great and has beautiful writing. I'm enjoying Orson Scott Card's Pathfinder series and I recommend Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards series (the first book is The Lies of Locke Lamora). For non-fiction, I think you would enjoy An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Colonel Chris Hadfield. I think this book is really related to lot of the things you discuss on your channel. Also, as a Sci Fi fan, it's fun to read about the realities of living on the ISS. Another non-fiction book you might find intriguing is The Four Hour Chef. It's more about effective learning than about cooking. Congrats on the 100k!
I would like to make 2 recommendations The first is Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series, the first being The Knife of Never Letting Go. Basically everyone can hear everyone's thoughts, but then the main character finds out something that forces him to run but how's he gonna do that when everyone knows what he's thinking. Ness's The Rest of us Just Live Here is also a really good book, it's a stand alone. The second is Kate Griffin's Mathew Swift series, the first is A Madness of Angels. It is difficult to describe this book without spoiling it but basically its about a sorcerer who's trying to find out what happened to London. This book can be difficult to read because the writing style is a bit strange, but if you can read it then please do so. Also this book has the best, most interesting magic system I have ever come across in any book, it is just so different and unique and just really really good. I'm not the reigning authority on magic systems but fantasy is my go-to genre and this is just the best system that I've read about.
Cool video. I've always been curious about the type of fiction books you liked! I like fantasy and especially historical fantasy but I may actually have a look at some of titles you mentioned :D
I love Douglas Adams (I still listen to his books a lot) and based on that you might enjoy Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. In the first ones there are some attempts of rules of magic which are kind of abandoned in later books. The books are fantasy humour. I'm an audio book addict and you can find the whole series in audio version.
Some of my favorite books (in no particular order): 1. Sphere by Michael Crichton 2. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (I'm cheating here) 3. Under the Dome by Stephen King 4. Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones 5. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 6. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett 7. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 8. Jumper by Steven Gould 9. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (hard to pick, the series is awesome) 10. The Lost World by Michael Crichton (only slightly more than Jurassic Park)
In my oppinion you have missed the greatest fiction of all time. Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderon, two books in the series today with at least another one coming. Have you read them?
+Fredric Lindberg I haven't yet; I'm a bit hesitant to start them now since it'll take Sanderson forever to finish them. The anticipation for more Kingkiller, Steven Universe, and Gravity Falls is already killing me!
"The lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch is one of my favourite fantasy books of all time. It's about thieves but not the canonical fantasy guys hiding in the shadows, it's more like Ocean 11 in a fantasy world.
Name of the Wind The Hobbit Alistair Reynolds - Redemption Ark Clockwork Orange Left Hand of Darkness The Blue Sword The Illustrated Man The Wind's Twelve Quarters The Dark is Rising
Honestly I found your channel 2 days ago, and I'm already obsessed with it. I've already started following all the tips in your videos! Keep up your awesome work!
Thomas Frank. Thank you so much for king kill cronicles but at the same time fall in a ditch 🤣. I know it's not your fault but Patrick rothfuss needs to get his s**t together and release this third book. You should reach out to him, I've read both books 4 times now.
Excellent taste in literature! I'm going to have to check out the Stevenson books, as I love at least 6 of the others on the list. Thanks for the tips.
My favourite book is Kill Your Friends by John Niven. It's so obscene and hilarious but it's not for the easily offended. I read it in one day. Just don't watch the movie, it sucks.
You should read: Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Read Seveneves. I'm reading it now, it's very good. Hyperion by Dan Simmons Read the entire Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson if you haven't already. It's AMAZING. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. That will blow your mind. The Chosen by Ricardo Pinto The Gunslinger by Stephen King The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder. Steampunk alternate history that's just incredible. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It's a dark, bloody, fairy tale. I could keep going but I'll leave it at ten. ;)
I am more into sci-fi than fantasy. I've only read a couple that I thought were great. One that combines fantasy and sci-fi that is great I would recommend is Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Harlan Ellison is one of my all time favorite short story writers who won more awards than anybody in his day. R.A. Lafferty, James Tiptree Jr., C.M. Kornbluff, Cordwainer Smith usually wrote funny sci-fi that made you think. Gene Wolfe, Kate Wilhelm, Ursula K. Le Guin, Fritz Leiber all wrote great sci-fi and fantasy and made you wonder where to draw the line. you don't need to purchase any of these you can find them at any good library and their all the greats.
The Foundation series and I Robot by Isaac Asimov Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami Post Office by Charles Bukowski Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino The first two lines are science fiction classics, so u may be more predisposed to liking them then the rest. The 4 lines after that are just books that I really like.
I must have read close to two thousand books in my life, most of them being fantasy or sci-fi. Except #1, never heard of any of those books or authors. Why is there so many good books out there? I'm an Asimov and Dumas fan btw
Love your channel. My 13 year old son has applied many of your study techniques to his education. He uses your flash card technique daily for subjects such as Latin and Logic which require a lot of memorization. Thank you for offering such valuable and quality content.
Well, one year late but you should really read Brandon Sanderson's new series Stormlight Archive, starting with Way of Kings. If you liked everything Brandon Sanderson wrote then that's pretty much it. Those books are BIG but they're basically my Top 1 and 2 all time. Very fun to read. And another obvious one but hey, two Mistborn books came out and the second series gets serious and ties in to the first in very interesting ways, so if you haven't already, give them a read. Definitely awesome. And to be less obvious: From your list there's no reason you wouldn't absolutely love The Dresden Files. First 2 books are decent but nothing fantastical, everything from there is just amazing and you'll certainly love it. And if you liked Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality you'll also love the Web-serial Worm by Wildbow. You should probably read it blind, I'll just say it gets quite dark and heavy but the characters remain very compelling. The little interludes from different point of views are very relevant and give very interesting perspectives on people we might reflexively dismiss as ''evil'' or ''bad'' without paying attention to their own story. Can't recommend it enough. It is huge and some people stop reading it without finishing, but even those peoples enjoy the parts they read.
The Name Of The Wind is about a teenage boy who is too good at everything, enters a Hogwartz college, gets friend zoned throughout most of both books, and it's PG-13. The protagonist kills the story for me. However, it is well written, and you'll like it if you wished Harry Potter was a narcissist x 100.
If you like Sci/Fi and Rationality you MUST read World War Z, though I got a feeling you already have. It's so much better than the movie. It's a "historical" look at the zombie out break from a global scope including how it would play out with government policy, the military, world policy. The biology of the zombies and the workings of a world that essentially had to stop production of the most essential things due to panic and population loss. I'm so glad I read it even after seeing the movie!
I really like "The Hitchhiker's guide..." too, some people told me that it was just a parody of Star Wars, What do you think about that? I highly recommend Isaac Asimov, anyone of his books are amazing, try and read "I, robot" or the Fundation saga, it's so cool.
Fiction its such a broad term! I prefer to only consider books with some magical elements or some futuristic science that is not yet real. Wich allows to leave out the work of authors like Sweig, or Cervantes, or Chesterton and many many more. Also just including novels and sagas, not short stories, because otherwise my list becomes to long with Borges and Asimov and Lovecraft: 1. 1984, Orwell 2. Name of the wind, Rothfuss 3. The ultimate hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, Adams 4. Mort (Discworld), Pratchett 5. The lies of Locke Lamora, Lynch 6. The amulet of Samarkand, Stroud 7. The master and Margarita, Bulgákov 8. Harry Potter and the methods of rationality, Yudkowsky 9. The Nonexistent Knigh, Calvino 10. The princess bride, Goldman 11. Travel to the center of the earth, Verne (I know how to count, it just felt dirty leaving any of them out) To Thomas Frank, if he ever gets around to checking comments of videos from 3 years ago, if you enjoy dry british humor you should read the Jeeves saga by Wodehouse; and also from your second favorite book I think you would like Plato and Platypus walk into a bar by B. Klein
*starts video* If you don't have Patrick Rothfuss on this list, I will have to murder your spirits. *watches* Good, you have my sympathy. I find it hilarious that you love Wil Wheaton's narration-voice, I've heard so many saying that they absolutely hate it. I read the book myself, so haven't heard him narrate, but he's enjoyable on TableTop. And yes, I'm more than a year late, I don't care.
