a good book for a birthday present for my brother? He lives factual stories, science books, novels....I'm just looking for some inspiration of something a little bit different! Not the normal stuff like CMC "The Road" something maybe a little more way out ... mmmm how to describe it ..... well any suggestions would be great!
Peter Hopkirk - The Great Game
Real life stories which read like a John Buchan adventure novel. Superb.
Simon Winchester - Krakatoa, the day the world exploded
Fascinating all round study of the volcano itself and the events around it
Vulcan 607 is pretty good.
War stuff? The forsaken army Heinrich Gerlach. an account from a german squaddie of stalingrad.
All quiet on the western Front - Henri remarque (IIRC)
SF? Iain M Banks culture novels
Oh that Great game looks interesting! I think i'll aslo get it out of the library for myself to read!
Well, if you like that, make sure you also read
On Secret Service East of Constantinople, Trespasses on the Roof of the World, and Foreign Devils on the Silk Road
by the same author.
Superb history and superb storytelling.
Antony Bevor's Stalingrad.
David Simon's Homicide a year on the killing streets. The book that the wire is based on
Dava Sobel - The Planets or Longitude
Fermat's Last Theorem
or
The Code Book
both by Simon Singh
Check out Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
[URL] http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Monkeys-Matt-Ruff/dp/0061240419 [/URL]
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Second shout for Fermat's Last Theorem
Another vote for Simon Singh. Or First Light.
Nobel prize winning surfer stoner telepathic moonmonkey Kary Mullis' [url= http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Naked-Mind-Field-Mullis/dp/0679442553 ]"Dancing naked in the mind field"[/url] would be first on my list.
First Light - oh yes! Cracking read
Anything by Carl Hiassen, a very entertaining novelist who bases most of his tales in the florida everglades with an eco conscious bent, very funny with some great recurring characters. My pick 'Skinny dip'.