You guys have listed some of the best. Here's my top 10 series list.

0. First, I love the ten Amber Chronicles -- awesome, but technically they are Fantasy, so we'll ignore them here. Anything by Zelazny was gold. My favorite quote: “He made Science magical, and Magic seem like a science”

1. The Dune books are a must read. They get better and better. Some didn't like the sixth, but I loved it for how it wove all 6 into one golden thread. Many call it the "Lord of the Rings" for SciFi. Don't read any of the prequels... to quote Penny Arcade's succinct review: "They are raping his dead corpse"

2. Ender's Game is also a must read. My Colonel in the Air Force made it mandatory reading for all new officers. Speaker for the Dead is also excellent, though the others in the series are only good to great... though not as powerful as the first.

3. The Larry Niven "Known Space" books... though there are about 30, the Ringworld series and the Integral Trees/Smoke Ring books are my favorite. Good if you like the "Hard Science" fiction with great stories and amazingly concise thinking. Many also really love his "The Mote in God's Eye" novel he did with Jerry Pournelle... it makes me think of the David Gerrold "The Trouble with Tribbles" Star Trek episode.

4. Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash and Diamond Age are Outstanding. I love nanotech, so Diamond Age is particularly special to me.

5. David Gerrold's War against the Chtorr books are deep, dark, and full of amazingly new ways of thinking and exploring the dark areas of the human Psyche. Skip these unless you’re comfortable with your own sexuality/mental health.

6. The Starship Troopers book (not the movie) was Awesome. Very gritty stuff, reminded me a ton of officer training school. I think this is one that will help your military space writing, and is also a quick read.

7. The first few Hyperion books were very good -- very "Canterbury Tales"ish in space with omnipotent aliens, AI, time travel, great sci fi and ginormous battles. I love the depth of these.

8. Stephen King's Dark Tower books were definately his Magnum Opus. (Opera? I never was good at Plurals)

9. A six-way tie between Neuromancer (William Gibson), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Phillip K. Dick), The Hitchhiker’s Guide chronicles (You should know this one), Rendezvous with Rama (Arthur C. Clarke), Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury?), 1984 (George Orwell).

10. I loved the Battlefield Earth story. If you're going story, that's a great one (the writing could have been cut down by about 200 pages without losing much impact). Again, don’t watch the movie. The mission Earth ones were great, though I haven’t read them in 15 years or so.

I never got into the Foundation books as much as others did. I'm sure that's due to something lacking in my cultural sense, though, as so many respectable nerds love it. I preferred his Robot books.

Obo, I never read James Blish's "Cities in Flight" – I’ll get that one. Your recommendation of Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” was excellent. I’d also recommend “Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid”… though it took me a year to read it, 3 or 5 pages every day… but it’s probably had more impact on the way I think than any other book.

My most favorite series .. start with book I of course
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) by George R.R. Martin

Read that and the first 3 books were good to great. I hear the 4th is somewhat disappointing as he slit the book into 2 parts and the 4th deals with only a few main characters and adds some new faces.

I saved the following from a thread a long time ago. It was back when I was still in school, and did not have the time or money to buy the books listed.... But important enough to save the text onto my harddrive.

I saved the following from a thread a long time ago. It was back when I was still in school, and did not have the time or money to buy the books listed.... But important enough to save the text onto my harddrive.

heh... even I remember when you wrote that post. It served it's purpose well for me too.

Hmm, I always woulda picked you as a Catcher In The Rye type, Talon...

I just finished up reading Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series. It's awesome.

The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan - very well written, I couldn't put the books down reading all three (each about an inch thick) in three days.

0. First, I love the ten Amber Chronicles -- awesome, but technically they are Fantasy, so we'll ignore them here. Anything by Zelazny was gold.

1. The Dune books are a must read.

The Starship Troopers book (not the movie) was Awesome.

7. The first few Hyperion books were very good -- very "Canterbury Tales"ish in space with omnipotent aliens,

8. Stephen King's Dark Tower books were definately his Magnum Opus.

10. I loved the Battlefield Earth story.

I just finished up reading Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series. It's awesome. They say Cornwell is the heir to Patrick O'Brien as far as historical fiction goes. I'd have to say historical fiction has grown into being my favorite genre. Anyway, An Archer's Tale is fantastic (the first one in the series). Anybody else read any Cornwell?

Hmm, I always woulda picked you as a Catcher In The Rye type, Talon...

I would also say that Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is a must read. I was pleasantly surprised with its incredible depth and insight into humanity.

I went with Ender's Game. A thoughly enjoyable read.

I did catch on to plot before they revealed it, but they did a good enough job with the intro for each chapter that it kept you off guard for a bit. The book seemed to go pretty fast and had alot of undercurrent that could be left for reflection. i think Ender's Shadow is about Bean and that might make a good follow up. Speaker of the Dead, I'll have to check out the plot. it would be great to see if it dives into Peter's thoughts and how he turned out.

Tobi, I just started 1776 by McCullough. How did you like it?

Arindel, I too love good non fiction. Read, Cod, by Mark Kurlansky and found it fascinating! I would recommend this to anyone, anywhere. A really unique insight to the early years of our country. Will start his Basque History soon, too.

Tobi, I just started 1776 by McCullough. How did you like it?

Read his book on the History of Salt. Good stuff there. I wrapped it up about a month ago.