11-05-2014, 04:26 AM
There's not too much I can add to what people have already said 
but I'll give it a go:
Books:
Al Reynolds Revelation Space series was probably the first modern hard-SF I read and pretty much got me addicted throughout my teens. I also really liked his standalone novel Pushing Ice about a near future asteroid mining ship being stranded on an Alien probe (disguised as a moon of Saturn) as it races out of the solar system. Fantastic castaway type book, it's great to read how the crew adapt their technology to try and survive.
Singularity Sky by Stross. Had the first description of an assembler I ever encountered. The idea of having a briefcase that eats waste and spits out products stayed with me for a long time. Plus: proletariat revolution!
Laundry Files by Stross: Not really SF but a great series. It follows the story of a junior IT guy working in the British government's Occult secret service. Turns out that H. P. Lovecraft was right about most things, there's a multiverse full of intelligences (subtype: Elder god, alien & ancient) and solving certain esoteric theorems can have significant consequences in the real world (AKA magic that works by mathematics). It starts slow with the first book being two novellas but with the 5th book just out it's really picking up pace.
The Commonwealth Saga/The Void Trilogy/Chronicles of the Fallers by Peter F Hamilton. These three collections are set in the same universe (the latter is brand new) with some of the same characters but set far apart in space and time. They don't look like hard-SF but I'd argue they have all the hallmarks: AI, human augmentation, DNIs (used by everyone), aliens that are truly alien, advanced biotechnology/nanotechnology etc. There's also a lot of soft(ish) tropes like forcefields and FTL but Hamilton writes the technobabble very well. On top of all that the characters are incredibly well written and the stories are engaging.
Old Man's War by John Scalzi. A great little novel set in a universe full of hostile aliens. The only way humans can compete is by recruiting the elderly of overpopulated nations and turning them into super soldiers. Excellent exploration of the effect on war on soldiers and human augmentation. The sequel is also very good and concerns the "special forces" of the supersoldier army. There's a third and forth novel...which take a very different turn.
That's all for now
but I'll give it a go:Books:
Al Reynolds Revelation Space series was probably the first modern hard-SF I read and pretty much got me addicted throughout my teens. I also really liked his standalone novel Pushing Ice about a near future asteroid mining ship being stranded on an Alien probe (disguised as a moon of Saturn) as it races out of the solar system. Fantastic castaway type book, it's great to read how the crew adapt their technology to try and survive.
Singularity Sky by Stross. Had the first description of an assembler I ever encountered. The idea of having a briefcase that eats waste and spits out products stayed with me for a long time. Plus: proletariat revolution!
Laundry Files by Stross: Not really SF but a great series. It follows the story of a junior IT guy working in the British government's Occult secret service. Turns out that H. P. Lovecraft was right about most things, there's a multiverse full of intelligences (subtype: Elder god, alien & ancient) and solving certain esoteric theorems can have significant consequences in the real world (AKA magic that works by mathematics). It starts slow with the first book being two novellas but with the 5th book just out it's really picking up pace.
The Commonwealth Saga/The Void Trilogy/Chronicles of the Fallers by Peter F Hamilton. These three collections are set in the same universe (the latter is brand new) with some of the same characters but set far apart in space and time. They don't look like hard-SF but I'd argue they have all the hallmarks: AI, human augmentation, DNIs (used by everyone), aliens that are truly alien, advanced biotechnology/nanotechnology etc. There's also a lot of soft(ish) tropes like forcefields and FTL but Hamilton writes the technobabble very well. On top of all that the characters are incredibly well written and the stories are engaging.
Old Man's War by John Scalzi. A great little novel set in a universe full of hostile aliens. The only way humans can compete is by recruiting the elderly of overpopulated nations and turning them into super soldiers. Excellent exploration of the effect on war on soldiers and human augmentation. The sequel is also very good and concerns the "special forces" of the supersoldier army. There's a third and forth novel...which take a very different turn.
That's all for now
OA Wish list:
- DNI
- Internal medical system
- A dormbot, because domestic chores suck!