geek novels?

[firecat]

From serenejournal via supergee, someone's idea of the top 20 geek novels. I've bolded the ones I've read. I've removed the percentages and numbers 'cos I don't know what they mean.

I'm willing to listen to arguments why I should read the ones I haven't read.

1. The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams
Read, listened to the bbc radio show, watched some of the bbc tv show, played the adventure game, glanced at the graphic novel yesterday, haven't seen the movie yet, and will totally hold off on the stew. The radio show is the definitive version. It's brilliant.

2. Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell
3. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley
I don't know why either of those is a "geek novel".

4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick
Not yet, but I just bought a copy a couple of weeks ago. Incidentally, I've tried mightily to like Blade Runner but I just don't.

5. Neuromancer -- William Gibson
Liked the writing style, thought the plot was really derivative.

6. Dune -- Frank Herbert
Why is this a "geek novel"?

7. I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov

8. Foundation -- Isaac Asimov
Didn't like it as a teenager - my take on it was "Okaaay, so mankind inhabits thousands of galaxies many millennia from now - and acts just like 1950s Americans. Riiiiight." I still think that's true, and annoying, but I overlooked it the second time around and liked what else there was to like about the book.

9. The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett
I just don't much like Terry Pratchett. He's funny, but I guess to me the funny overshadows what other cleverness there is to the plots and ideas. I'm willing to give him another try one of these days, because I've heard there is worthwhile plot and idea to be found.

10. Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland
Never heard of it.

11. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson

12. Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Why is this a "geek novel"?

13. Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson

14. Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks
Never heard of it.

????15. Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein
Although I THINK I read this, I can't remember a damn thing about it. So I probably didn't read it and just glanced at my father's copy. I don't know why it's considered a "geek novel".

16. The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick
I don't see why this is a "geek novel" either.

17. American Gods -- Neil Gaiman
Or this.

18. The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson
Loved it!

19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson

20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham
Never heard of it.

Comments

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

I can't believe no one has spoken up for Illuminatus!. To me, it has many fo the same free-thinking, counter-cultural, sex-positive pluses as Stranger in a Strange Land, but it's less pompous and a lot more fun, including interesting interwoven plots and a lot of "is that real, myth, or just made up?" stuff about history, politics, and religion. Ok, I admit that it did program me in ways that weren't apparent for months or even years to come, including leading to my meeting and mating supergee, but really, I'd like it just as a novel anyway.

[abostick59.livejournal.com]

I thought Illuminatus! was lots of fun when I was a kid, but I have to agree with the poster who said that they thought the authors had no understanding of women.

If you're interested, Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum is sort of like Illuminatus! for grown-ups.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

I admire Eco's writing, but I haven't read Foucalt's Pendulum in full because his universe is just not as enjoyable to me as Shea & Wilson's, so I'm not inclined to spend that long in it. I like the playful, unattached conditional belief in Illuminatus! a lot more than the grounding in no belief of Eco's work, which seems impeccably argued but ultimately, actually, boring. It strikes me as more world-weary twenties than actually grown up, which I see as coming out the other side of lack of belief, on a personal or artistic level though not necessarily with a theology at all. But much of that is personal inclinations.

As far as women in Illuminatus!, yes, it does show a lot of the blindness of its period, though I think "no understanding of women" is too extreme. Its handling of women is much, much better that SiaSL's, though that is certainly to damn by faint praise. One advantage of the novel's myriad characters is that some can be too corny or otherwise badly drawn, yet the book can still offer better characters of that general type. That certainly applies to the female characters, I'd say.