On 10 July 2103 I ordered from Amazon...

[andrewducker]

Stolen from yonmei. 10 books people will be reading in 2103. Oh, inspired by this Guardian article.

1) Pratchett's Discworld. He may even still be producing them then, but there is little doubt that the Discworld books are fairly timeless.

2) Gaiman's Sandman. Still selling in hardback and paperback now, and fairly timeless.

3) Iain Bank's Culture Novels. Some of the best SF ever, and becoming ever more relevant as we move forward into a low-scarcity society.

4) Brave New World. Another book that's becoming more relevant, not less. I don't expect to live in this world, but I do expect it's questions to be raised more and more. I expect 1984 to have faded into the "thank goodness the world isn't like that any more" category.

5) Lord of the Rings. It's not going anywhere.

6) Douglas Copeland's Generation X. It may well be seen as a relic of a bygone age, but it captures a certain kind of anomie so well I'd be surprised if it vanished.

7) Stephen King. Nobody captures fear of the dark quite as well as King does. He'll certainly look dated in some ways, but I suspect he'll be with us for a very long time.

8) Illuminatus. It's cult reading now, and I expect it to be cult reading then, but as ridiculous conspiracy theory books go, it's as far as you can take it. I don't see anyone else doing it better.

9) For the same reasons, I don't think that Joyce is going to be superseded. You can't out-Joyce Joyce. It'd be like out-Warholling Warhol.

10) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Because if you're going to read about The Week of Too Many Drugs, it's the best way to do it.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

1) Pratchett's Discworld. He may even still be producing them then, but there is little doubt that the Discworld books are fairly timeless.

8) Illuminatus. It's cult reading now, and I expect it to be cult reading then, but as ridiculous conspiracy theory books go, it's as far as you can take it. I don't see anyone else doing it better.

These are two series whose appeal has always completely eluded me. I simply do not understanmd why anyone reads either author.

3) Iain Bank's Culture Novels. Some of the best SF ever, and becoming ever more relevant as we move forward into a low-scarcity society.


I'd love for us to move towards a low or post scarcity society, but I see no evidence that this is happening. Nanotech may produce such a world, but I don't see any way to get there unless nanotechnology lives up to its most impressive promises.

10) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Because if you're going to read about The Week of Too Many Drugs, it's the best way to do it.

I love Hunter S. Thomspon and think this book is a classic, but it is also sharply defined by its era. Once people have forgotten the 1970s as anything more than a footnote in history, I'm sadly far from certain anyone will read this book.

[andrewducker]

I find Pratchett to be one of the few positive humanist writers in existance. He's also intelligent, satirical and deeply funny.

Illuminatus is an almost perfect book, in my opinion. It's style is pretty much unmatched, and I haven't seen many other novels play around with sense of time, place and personality as much.

Modern life contains far less scarcity than ever before. You now have access to things that kings didn't 100 years ago, and other than the lowest 0.5% of the population, everyone has access to televisions, music systems, more food than they can eat, etc. Sure, life may be still be hard, but it's almost impossible to starve to death in the first world.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

but it's almost impossible to starve to death in the first world.

Very true, but much of this prosperity is supported by extracting low cost resouces and labor from the third world. We have increased abundance for everyone, but we have also simply moved many resources around. That is neither a sustainable nor a moral way of life.