What books, that I have not previously read, will I enjoy reading by EOY 2024?
Any number of books may resolve YES or NO. Anything I haven't tried by close of 2024 will resolve N/A.
Mainly looking for fiction, which is most of the long-form media that I consume these days. A lucky or skilled suggestion for nonfiction is still eligible.
If you suggest something I've already read, but already liked or didn't like, I will N/A the option immediately, but give feedback on what the result was.
(Rushing this out to beat the end of N/A resolutions being permitted, without which a policy prediction market doesn't work. If N/A resolutions on existing markets are due to be closed down, I may close down and N/A this one early.)
Previous alltime faves:
Vorkosigan saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Discworld series, by Terry Pratchett
Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card
Across Realtime, by Vernor Vinge
World of Null-A, by A. E. Van Vogt
A Step Farther Out, Jerry Pournelle
So You Want To Be A Wizard, Diane Duane
Quarantine, by Greg Egan
More things I enjoyed:
Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede
Lensman series, by e. e. Doc Smith
Mother of Learning, Domagoj Kurmaic
The Dark Is Rising, Susan Cooper
Penric and Desdemona, Lois McMaster Bujold
Chalion series, Lois McMaster Bujold
Chronicles of the Black Company, Glen Cook
The Fall of Doc Future, W. Dow Rieder
Worm, by Wildbow
War for the Oaks, by Emma Bull
Tschai, Planet of Adventure, by Jack Vance
Fuzzy novels, H. Beam Piper
Jhereg (and the next few books of Dragaera), by Steven Brust
Amber series, by Roger Zelazny
Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny
Girl Genius, by Phil Foglio
Sandman, by Neil Gaiman
Queen of Angels, by Greg Bear
Neverness, by David Zindell
Previously enjoyed fanfiction:
To the Stars, by Hieronym
A Bluer Shade of White, Alexander Wales
Time Braid, by ShaperV
I'm Here to Help, by Mark Doherty
Dreaming of Sunshine, Silver Queen
Recently enjoyed reads:
Scholomance, Naomi Novik
A Journey of Black and Red, by Macanimus on Royal Road
The Calamitous Bob, by Mecanimus on Royal Road
Legal Systems Very Different From Ours, David Friedman
A Clash of Arms to be Eternally Remembered, extreme high-context glowfic by Lantalote and Lintamande
Beware of Chicken, Casualfarmer
Things I didn't finish, in part because of paywalls, but read enough of that they'd qualify:
Cultivation Chat Group, by Legend of the Paladin
Lord of Mysteries, Cuttlefish that Loves Diving
If you're interested in expanding your knowledge or diving deeper into any of the topics covered in your favorite books, including the more philosophical or societal aspects explored in sci-fi and fantasy, The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin might be another excellent pick. It’s a classic exploration of utopia and dystopia, blending scientific and social themes in a way that might resonate with your preferences. Additionally, if you're looking to develop new skills in writing or storytelling, resources like EduBirdie’shttps://edubirdie.com/dissertation-proposal-help dissertation proposal help could be useful for honing your academic writing abilities, especially if you ever decide to explore the writing of your own speculative fiction or deep-dive into topics explored in books like World of Null-A or The Fall of Doc Future.
@TobiasWegener I think the overall "A Practical Guide to Sorcery" series is fantastic. This is the first book of the series.
It is dark, gritty, smart and has hard rules.
I loved HPMOR, Plancrash, Mother of Learning and in the search for more, I found this one.
Hope you will enjoy it. Love your work.
@EliezerYudkowsky yeah, it's limited to mods and up now. if you list the N/A ones out we can N/A them
@EliezerYudkowsky Yeah N/A isn't something the admins let generic users do anymore. Name options in a comment (and probably ping mods) and moderator will resolve them N/A, sorry
@SusanneinFrance I tried it on an audiobook and also found it starts slow, any chance you could translate "45 pages" to something like "first 3 chapters" for me? (I don't have pages in the audiobook)
These are the first chapters:
> Prologue. A Silence of Three Parts
Chapter 1. A Place for Demons
Chapter 2. A Beautiful Day
Chapter 3. Wood and Word
Chapter 4. Halfway to Newarre
Chapter 5. Notes
Chapter 6. The Price of Remembering
Chapter 7. Of Beginnings and the Names of Things
Chapter 8. Thieves, Heretics, and Whores
Chapter 9. Riding in the Wagon with Ben
Chapter 10. Alar and the Several Stones
Chapter 11. The Binding of Iron
Chapter 12. Puzzle Pieces Fitting
Chapter 13. Interlude–Flesh with Blood Beneath
Also, I'll try pushing on, didn't know it starts slowly, so thanks for that anyway
@YonatanCale I would begin with Chapter 8 Thieves, Heretics and Whores. This is where our hero himself starts telling his story “from the beginning”
I can imagine the audio book might be delightful
Enjoy!
Of Hofstadter's GEB, Eliezer once wrote:
This is simply the best and most beautiful book ever written by the human species...
I'm not alone in this opinion, by the way. For one thing, Gödel, Escher, Bach won a Pulitzer Prize. Or just pick a random scientist and ask ver what vis favorite book is, and 1 out of 5 will say: "Gödel, Escher, Bach". No other book even comes close.
It is saddening to contemplate that every day, 150,000 humans die without reading what is indisputably one of the greatest achievements of our species. Don't let it happen to you.
Sure, if you're just an average person, you might not understand everything in this book - but when you're done reading, you won't be an average person any more.
@girllich I suspect the intent is to avoid incentivizing people to submit things that they already know he has read and liked. Personally, I'd be tempted to submit all of his own works just to mess with him.
@asmith He may not have read that Death Note follow-up oneshot that came out in 2020 or so. That was good.