Favourite Books of All Time?

Understanding Soviet Naval Developments- Norman Polmar.

The Brothers Karamazov- Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Red Storm Rising- Tom Clancy.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra- Friedrich Nietzsche.

Sharpe's Rifles- Bernard Cornwell.

The Man in the High Castle- Phillip K. Dick.

Deadeye Dick- Kurt Vonnegut.

The Plague- Albert Camus.

Battleships and Battlecruisers: 1905-1970- Siegfried Breyer.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ofcourse...
I also liked the Dirk Gently books...
The Discworld series, the Johnny Trilogy and the Bromeliad by Terry Pratchett...
Raymond E. Feist's Magician and subsequent books in the same universe...
Charles Stross - Halting State...
Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman...

Of all time? I read lots of different genres over the years, everything from Batman to John Steinbeck (yawn), from Kenneth Robeson (whomever happed to be behind the pen on a particular book, but Lester Dent & Ron Goulart stood out for me) to Sir Walter Scott. From our own Star Trek author in residence, to Diane Duane, Jan Michael Vincent, Peter David and all the others at Trek over the years (Chris Claremont of all people wrote a pretty good Trek graphic novel called Debt of Honor, I reccomend it). Lots of nuts & bolts sci-fi from Niven and his gang too.

But ever since those old Giant-Sized Batman and more to the point Giant-Sized Detective Comics, with those great little learn-something-as-you-read-'em Bat-mysteries, The mystery, and all of it's off-shoots, have had a special pull on me. Whether I was tramping the moors with Dr. Watson in The Hound of the Baskervilles, or watching the storm clouds head in to an un-suspecting (and totally un-prepared for what would follow them) Whitby in Dracula, both books that I read for the first time back in Jr. High, the idea of trying to solve the puzzle has always appealed to me.

Later on, the eras of these stories, historical trivia & the like, became a related interest, everything from Big Band music to dictaphones, the value of a nickel in 1936 (more than you'd imagine!).

Then about 10-12 years ago, I finally read my first Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout, Fer De Lance. It had everything, from a genius detective (albeit a lazy, overweight, slightly agoraphobic one) Nero, to his narrator / legman (a far more entertaining guy than poor bland Dr. Watson) Archie, the supporting cast of characters from Fritz to Theodore, Saul, Fred, Orrie, Bill & Johnny. And Stout's New York, just as much of a character itself.

So, in short, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series are favorite books of all time.

For now.



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God Emperor of Dune is the best work of any science fiction. I love how anti climatic frank herbert's deaths are.