Eight out of nine for me. I feel pretty good/bad about that.

I looked at the D&D book in the first picture, then looked a shelf 15 feet away. Deja vu!

PacManDreaming: I have a copy of the Deities and Demigods with the Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythos in it.

Me too, the other one's crap.

6/9. Never read Ender's Game or Watchmen, never heard of Snow Crash.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a radio programme first and foremost. The fact that so many people only know it by its inferior novelisation is disgraceful.

Like children, it should be heard and not seen.

List is a FAIL without K&R.

I refuse to read Ender's Game. OSC can go fark himself.

No Dune?

Bladel: Glad to see Snow Crash, but Cryptonomicon has to be in there as well...

Just started Cryptonomicon. I've never read N.S. before, and I'm enjoying it, but does it really need to be that long? It seems to me much of it could have been shortened if the publisher wanted.

IrateShadow: I refuse to read Ender's Game. OSC can go fark himself.

I personally really dislike the man and would love to go to a book signing just to punch him in the gut, but his writing really is fantastic. If you're a fantasty fan, check out Hart's Hope. It's really really good.

PacManDreaming: Colostomy: I had a copy of the Fiend Folio hardcover. It may be in a box somewhere.

I have a copy of the Deities and Demigods with the Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythos in it.

/major nerd cred

I sold mine back in 1995. Poor college student and needed some quick cash.

/Sold the rest of my D&D books this year.
//I has the sad. :(

I hate to say it, but that list looks pretty damn complete. Can I put "White Knight" from the Dresden Files on the list anyway?

IrateShadow: I refuse to read Ender's Game. OSC can go fark himself.

As far as sci-fi content, it does OK. However, I suspect "Ender's" has gotten so much attention mostly for the taboo of Card placing children in adult situations and getting away with it. It was a good read (unlike its series successors), but leagues behind true geek creations like Niven's "known space". Keith Laumer's "Bolo" and Fred Saberhagen's "Berserker" stories can still raise hairs on the back of my neck upon re-reading them. Card has never done that.

Really really narrow definition of geek there Wired

6/9 here, no DnD, Godel, or "Quantitative Information". That last one sounds like a math/programming textbook.

Read all the others before I was 13 or so.

Miffed that there's no Phillip K Dick on the list, especially considering his influences on modern/pop sci fi culture, but whatev.

7/9

No "Qauntitative" or "....Escher, Bach"


I own and have read the other 7 though.

8 of 9

/although the Voyager geek in me would've preferred "7 of 9"...
//heard of the other one, "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte"... will have to check it out given my line of work

GAT_00: His writing in Ender's Game is fantastic. It gets progressively worse with every book past Ender's Game, Children of the Mind the exception.

A friend of mine read several of Card's Ender books, and told me to only read two of them: Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. The rest were nowhere near as good, and Shadow is only slightly below Game in quality. After reading the two of them, I agree. Ender's Game is a great book, and Shadow was all right, though some things in Shadow irked me that I can't explain.

They'll likely be the only books by Card that I ever read, partially because of my friend's recommendation, and partially because of Card's loud trumpeting of his disgusting politics.

...what's with all the hate towards Ender's Game? OSC himself can be a total douche, but the writing in the book as well as the ideas presented within it are provocative and insightful.

susansto-helit: 7 out of 9. I play D&D, but I've never seen the '79 Dungeon Master's Guide.

I don't know what you're playing, but it's not D&D. Newb.

GAT_00: grinding_journalist: Miffed that there's no Phillip K Dick on the list

Possibly because he was farking terrible.

/damn straight

What of his have you read? Novels, or short stories? Which collections?

Just curious where that's coming from.

Colostomy: I had a copy of the Fiend Folio hardcover. It may be in a box somewhere.
I also have a 1st edition copy of the K&R.

[upload.wikimedia.org image 226x300]

Do you have the first edition of Deities and Demigods with the copyright violations?

Arxane:
They'll likely be the only books by Card that I ever read, partially because of my friend's recommendation, and partially because of Card's loud trumpeting of his disgusting politics.

Again, I highly, highly recomend checking out Hart's Hope (if you're into fantasy). It's one of his first books and the only reason I can think that it doesn't make more best of fantasy lists is it's not all that well known or widely read. But it's excellent, excellent stuff.

GAT_00: error 303: IrateShadow: I refuse to read Ender's Game. OSC can go fark himself.

I personally really dislike the man and would love to go to a book signing just to punch him in the gut, but his writing really is fantastic. If you're a fantasty fan, check out Hart's Hope. It's really really good.

His writing in Ender's Game is fantastic. It gets progressively worse with every book past Ender's Game, Children of the Mind the exception.

I don't see why people get pissed at him for Ender's Game.

PacManDreaming: Colostomy: I had a copy of the Fiend Folio hardcover. It may be in a box somewhere.

I have a copy of the Deities and Demigods with the Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythos in it.

/major nerd cred

Full first printings of AD&D, plus Cthulhu/Melnibonean mythos Deities & Demigods, *and* near mint Empire of the Petal Throne boxed set.

/still working on NM Chainmail and 1st printing of Rhahasia

Own and have read 8 of 9. Strange I hadn't heard of Snow Crash until this article.

I mean I love DnD but the 1979 version of the DMs Guide? Really?

Dear Wired, if you want people to become better geeks maybe you should come up with a non-shiatty list. Or better yet just leave the lists to cracked.com where they're actually somewhat entertaining (most of the time).

/Scored 2 out of 9 on this one.
//Couldn't get through Fellowship of the Ring. Blasphemy I know.
///Still need to finish the Nightwatch Series

Arxane: GAT_00: His writing in Ender's Game is fantastic. It gets progressively worse with every book past Ender's Game, Children of the Mind the exception.

A friend of mine read several of Card's Ender books, and told me to only read two of them: Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. The rest were nowhere near as good, and Shadow is only slightly below Game in quality. After reading the two of them, I agree. Ender's Game is a great book, and Shadow was all right, though some things in Shadow irked me that I can't explain.

They'll likely be the only books by Card that I ever read, partially because of my friend's recommendation, and partially because of Card's loud trumpeting of his disgusting politics.


I didn't really like the Shadow trilogy. I thought Achilles was sort of a dumb villain. He just seemed to cause a lot more trouble than he had any right to, if that makes sense.

Also, I really didn't like the way Peter Wiggin was handled. Ender's Game suggests Peter was just as smart as Ender, if not smarter. But the government rejected Peter, because they were afraid they wouldn't be able to control him. But then in the Shadow trilogy, he's moping around, not sure what to do. Meanwhile, Bean is making all the big decisions. I think that trilogy would have been much better if it actually pitted Peter vs. Bean, following Peter's rise to power despite efforts by Bean and other former Battle School students trying, and ultimately failing, to stop him.

Just call me Herman Cain.

I've read all Nine nine nine, biatches!