Im a little bored recently (and i am searching for something that cuold interest me etc),
there was a music thread here, i think there could be also a books thread:
what books had influenced you the most (not programming, in general,
all kind of books/ autors here)
?
The Last Legends of Earth by A A Attanasio
Fairyland by Paul J McAuley
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Eon by Greg Bear
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
Lust for Life by Irving Stone
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Hundreds more that I'm too tired to think of right now.
In addition to some of the above, a few I really enjoyed include:
I was also recently given a copy of "Zombies! An Illustrated History of the Undead", by Jovanka Vuckovic, which I found pretty interesting as a fan of a number of zombie-based or related movies and games. It's a pretty detailed look spanning multiple decades and examining multiple mediums including film, comic books, and literature, even briefly covering music.
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
I keep meaning to check those out -- they're very popular, and from what I've heard they sound like something I would like, but I just haven't gotten around to actually reading any of them yet! A friend of mine is gradually going through the process of getting a fairly detailed sleeve tattoo made up of characters from the series.
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These long-influenced my life:
Lord of the Rings universe by Tolkien
Foundation series by Asimov
Car mechanics, astronomy books.
Some of the lot of other sci-fi and science books that were awesome but they weren't that influential on my life:
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Solaris by Stanislav Lem
Dune universe by Frank Herbert
The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis (this could have been influential if I don't give it up halfway for whatever reason I don't remember)
Lord of the Rings universe by Tolkien
Foundation series by Asimov
Definitely concur to both of those! For a long time, the Foundation trilogy was my favorite book(s).
Though, in my personal opinion, after the two excellent prequels and the three original books, the expanded Foundation 'trilogy' really went downhill in terms of holding my interest.
In addition to Foundation, I'll add Asimov's Elijah Baley trilogy (Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn).
Other books I really enjoyed and have re-read multiple times over the years:
That last one, the Skylark series: in terms of science it's pretty outdated and inaccurate, in terms of writing it has pretty cliched characters, the tension is merely an incremental development of new technology in a very MMO-grindy fashion (We unlocked Level 4 blasters to shoot through their Level 3 shields! seriously, that obvious).
The books are old (space travel SciFi written by the author before WW2), but I enjoyed them alot. My dad, who first introduced me to the books, jokes that they are "the books every physicist has read, but is to embarrassed to admit they enjoyed it." 
EE 'Doc' Smith's Lensmen series is the same way, but I didn't enjoy it as much.
In terms of inspiring my interest for math and science, one of the best books I've read is Neal Stephenson's Anathem.
"Anathem is set on and around the planet Arbre. Thousands of years prior to the events in the novel, society was on the verge of collapse. Intellectuals entered concents, much like monastic communities but focused on intellectual endeavors rather than religious practice. Here, the avout— intellectuals living under vows and separated from Sæcular society, fraa (derived from Latin frater) for male avout and suur (derived from Latin soror) for female avout — retain extremely limited access to tools and are banned from possessing or operating most advanced technology (at a level beyond paper and pen) and are watched over by the Inquisition, which answers to the outside world (known as the Sæcular Power)."
The first chapters left me totally bewildered. After that I couldn't put the book down. It *is* a sci-fi book, but only in the end.
Solaris by Stanislav Lem
Lem had influeanced many (mostly in previoust generetion
todays 50-60 year old, I know many Lem freaks, there is
also a whole HARD SCI-FI genre which seem to be interesting for me - but i do not know it too much
personally i liked SF when i was about 13-16, later not too much
Yet as to Lem I read "Tales of Pirx the Pilot" when i was 15
and this was very interesting experience (later i was reading
some other novels but i did not get it)
Pratchett - i was traing this but disliked it
tolkien - i liked it partially
Herbert - I liked it partially
Dick - i liked it partially
Asimov - never tried that
Wagner - (Kane series) - i liked it partially (but ok, more then tolkien)
??- (Conan) - i liket it about like Kane
my SF experiences come from old days when i was about 15
so i am not sure if i will like this books when i was reading it today but some i remember as an interesting experiences:
(more than dune, or tolkien, or dick )
Larry NIven "Ringworld" (readed only 1 book but it was
very interesting) James white "Hospital Station", Gordon R. Dickson "Tactics of Mistakes"
(may also mention also some pulp sf Harry Harrison "The Stainless Steel Rat" - this was cheap and not so good but i got some fine hot summer reading it (legs on the front car windowshield) in my fathers car parked in the yard near my house
[sf has not 'influenced' me much (though some i remember as
an interesting experiences, some like adventure books like "Cpt blood", or Oliver Curwood, May (old shutterhand), Verne )
later i was encountering Kurt Vonnegut (I consider him very fine) and more 'serious' literature -> ->
Some authors I like a lot: ( I am unable to pick out individual books as being better than others )
I would be interested in how these books affected the readers lives.
For me, car mechanic and astronomy books are obvious: I am a mechanical engineer now, and I was to be an astronomer for many years, I'm still fascinated about space and stuff.
The literature affected me in a way that my urge to get away from this world could be a bit more focused, and of course I could get away with those.
Or something...
Sci-fi:
The Mote in God's Eye
Ringworld
Rendezvous with Rama
Dune
Slaughterhouse 5
Non-fiction:
Guns, Germs, and Steel
King Leopold's Ghost
Guns of August
Dreadnought (Massie)
And many more, but I'm not at home...
