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Who's your favaorite author and what are the coolest/trippiest books you've ever read?

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posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 01:16 AM
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reply to post by shells4u
 


Loved the Celestine Prophecy!
It ranks up there as one of my all time favorite spiritual type books.

That book had a huge effect on me.



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 01:22 AM
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Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by NewAgeMan
 


To tell the truth "Tommyknockers" bored the crap out of me.
Hard to believe but true. I made it through though...


That one turned me off his books, actually. Didn't read any for years. Kinda wondered then if he was on drugs or something.

So, as another Koontz fan, what of his do you consider among your favorites? Won't ask for just one!



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 01:26 AM
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"Weapon shops of isher" by A. E. van Vogt That was just out there in being the best book i have read.



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 02:48 AM
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Peter F Hamilton, already stated about his commonwealth scifi series,
but his other series is awesome as well, the reality dysfunction series,
that is my favorite trippy book series as it has an alternate theory all
together of what the afterlife could be, a very twisted kind of creepy
idea at that. also its scifi and the military tech he talks about is a
great extrapolation of modern day theory way down the road.

the commonwealth series is awesome as well with many very
intriguing ideas there also, i will never forget reading and rereading
again and again the battle between the assassin and the rich banker
protecting his daughter, a man so heavily tattooed with circuitry that
his skin is gold, pure fun reading for me. oddly enough a likeable
super rich business man, in some ways anyway lol or ozzies
(one of the creators of FTL tech) long trek to discover the reclusive
species of alien who made "pathways" from world to world, one could
be walking the wilderness and end up thousands of light years from home.

i need to reread those, too long.... also for fantasy adventure, Terry Goodkind
and his sword of truth series is just plain awesome, i think 11 books total,
only a few were not so great if you ask me but the rest were enthralling,
a grand love story, dragons, witches, wizards, death squads and a battle
for freedom so intense and painful for our hero that your heart has to feel
for him. i will never forget the mord sith and reading how each of them
is broken of their will by torture, then forced to watch as their father is
tortured to death, then as their final test they must torture their mother
to death, poor destroyed souls yet still they manage to find a way
and overcome those things.



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 02:56 AM
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Carlos Casteneda and his journey with Don Juan fascinates me completely. There is no way to know if it was fiction or truth! But to me, it was all possible and did happen! The Art of Dreaming is # Awesome!



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 02:59 AM
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Neale Donald Walshe and the Conversation With God series. A real life changer



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 03:04 AM
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reply to post by NewAgeMan
 


Excellent post, and something completely different from what I usually see at ATS.

You're question is a difficult one to answer. It's hard to choose a favorite author. I think, however, my favorite book is "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville. There are some dry portions, but Hermie can be quite droll as well. It is also very interesting as an in-depth look at all the aspects of whaling back in the day. I certainly wouldn't classify it as trippy, if that's your bottom line, but very amusing and interesting, as well as riveting in parts.

I'd have to say the trippiest author I ever read was Kafka, in particular "Metamorphosis" and "The Trial". Guess Kurt Vonnegut can be considered trippy at times, in particular "Slaughter House Five". But guess this depends on what one's definition of "trippy" is. And there's always "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter S. Thompson.

I'm still looking for someone who can document, put to paper, the psychedelic experience, or provide any truly mind-blowing fiction for that matter. My two favorites that document the psychedelic sixties are "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe (although someone beat me to it) and "Storming Heaven" by Jay Stevens; the latter has a subtitle that would likely upset the ATS PTB, so I don't include it here.

As far as non-fiction, I highly recommend Jared Diamond's "The Third Chimpanzee", which is all about homo sapiens and our species development. One other general interest one is "Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" by Dava Sobel; this is truly an amazing read from the start and gives one a real appreciation for the development of technology.

Also thought Winston Churchill's 6-book series on WWII, "The Second World War" was great. He has some very interesting personal anecdotes and certainly has an insider's view of things; my only criticism is that the final book is primarily an apologia for letting the USSR snarf up eastern Europe. But otherwise very informative and eye-opening. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in large part for this series. Another great first-person account by a mover and shaker is Julius Caesar's "War Commentaries", in particular read the Rex Warner translation; others are far drier. These last two are primarily for military history buffs, I readily acknowledge.

All these titles can be found via google or amazon, so I am not bothering to post a link to any of them.

I will definitely peruse the comments in this thread to see if any good suggestions for further reading stand out. Thanx again for starting this thread, OP.


edit on 28-9-2012 by MrInquisitive because: had some additions to make

edit on 28-9-2012 by MrInquisitive because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 03:36 AM
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reply to post by NewAgeMan
 


terry pratcett=pure genious
i mean, he names a wizard Rincewind and gets away with it

he takes all known and unknown, looks at it through a childs eyes, then writes it from an adult perspektive.

love the discworld series to death.
favourite book is Mort



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 03:44 AM
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Originally posted by smyleegrl
All time fave: Margaret George's "Autobiography of King Henry VIII". I've read it at least twenty times.....it's incredible.

Love Stephen King's older work, like "The Stand."

Dean Koontz is decent, he did an amazing job with "Intensity" and "Watchers".


I've been trying to make it through AoKH_VIII via audiobook, and just keep moving on to something else. The narration is purdee good, but it just keeps going and going. Will have to try to hang in there one more time...

My favorite King is "It", although the conclusion is a long, drawn-out, anti-climatic let-down. "The Shining" is also top King form.



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 03:52 AM
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Originally posted by wshadow1
Tolkien of course, but my favorite for fun would have to be Brian Lumley's Necroscope series.

Trippiest would have to be anything by H.P. Lovecraft.


I agree with your Lovecraft prognostication, in particular "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath". And since you brought it up, I love Tolkien too, including parts of the Simarillion.



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 04:28 AM
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reply to post by NewAgeMan
 


The book Etidorhpa has got to be my all time favorite trippy book! It's an old science fiction story with heaps of Secret Society/Masonic overtones, as well as having some incredibly trippy artwork! Also there are many scientific diagrams within the book, and the author seems to be far ahead of his time with some of his speculative science.

I've got me a 2nd edition copy from the late 1800's....It's one of my most prized books! I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys such stuff.



If you don't want to go searching through antique bookstores for a pricey 2nd edition copy like mine, you can read the entire thing here at this link www.sacred-texts.com... I believe you can even still view the artwork this way (trust me.....You don't want to miss out on the amazing illustrations!)



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 04:28 AM
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I haven't read any books of his (besides a bit of the book i will mention), but you must read Liber Novus. Otherwise known as the Red Book, it was Carl Jung's account of what he saw upon breaking down his mental wall, putting his psyche at risk.

He talks to two specific spirits as well as Satan and many other strange entities. He had visions of horrifying events. He argued with his soul at certain points.

The whole story is about him trying to find his soul. He explores the "deserts" of himself. He reckons no religion is completely correct, but he did see Jesus. He visited Hell. He witnessed an "underground sun." He rode a blood train. He saw what appeared to be a new ice age. Jung's thinking for the time was extraordinary. He believed that if one really wanted to understand history and religion, they must look back at our ancients.

He also includes pictures.

Check out my thread for more:

www.abovetopsecret.com...


edit on 28-9-2012 by daaskapital because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 04:30 AM
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The best and most mind-blowing novel I've read is Sophie's World: A novel about the history of philosophy by Jostein Gaarder. Hard to describe, but highly recommended, with eventually haunting questions about reality and constructions of truth.

Flatland: A romance of many dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot is always interesting. It's about a three-dimensional Sphere who visits two-dimensional Flatland where he meets A Square, who is locked up as a threat to Flatlanders who refuse to believe his story of meeting Sphere. The novella is said to have influenced theories of ghosts and UFOs.

For a cross-cultural humorous romp read White Man's Grave by Richard Dooling, which is about an American who searches for his friend in Sierra Leone, where he encounters a world in which witches and magic cults are a reality.

More standard fare would be Whitley Strieber's Majestic, which is about UFO's and their supposed mental effects on one contactee.
edit on 28-9-2012 by halfoldman because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 04:48 AM
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reply to post by NewAgeMan
 


Definitely, Terry Pratchet.

R E Fiest(The Magician) would tie second with Robert Jordan(Wheel of time).


None come close to Pratchet though........some of his books I have read 20 + times(Guards Guards, Mort, Colour of Magic & Light Fantastic) and still glean little things that accentuate the story.

Of all the Pratchet books, though....the one I like the best.......this week....is Interesting Times.

Cohen rocks



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 06:04 AM
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Thank you. What a wonderful thread. So many old friends, so many new discoveries.

One of my all time fav series that I don't see mentioned, which is right up the ATS alley, is Julian May's Saga of the Exciles and the follow up Intervention and Magnificat books.

Premise: few decades from now earth has become part of a Galactic Millieu of Psycic races. Us humans weren't completely ready yet, and in the process of joining these races almost crashed out their happy family. But all of that is in the past. But some adventurous souls just don't fit into this highly structured civilization. They long for a simpler time.... A scientist discovers a time gate, but it's just a curiosity as it works only one way into the past, only in one location and only to one time, about 6 million years into the past to the Pliocene. One misfit gets creative and bribes the dead scientist's wife to let him go back. This escape eventually becomes useful to the authorities.

Once they go back, things are not as you'd expect. There is an unknown dimorphic alien race on the planet. And then things get interesting.

What makes her books unique is the level of scientific detail and plausibility she works into everything (she wrote encyclopedias for a living for years). The twists and turns are amazing and in the end you wish you were there, or, maybe, are we?

I see on amazon they're all available on kindle now!



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 06:10 AM
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The short stories of Philip K Dick and JG Ballard are without doubt my favourite pieces of writing.

Sure, there are far better use of prose out there, but the incredibly thought provoking, mind expanding and insightful ideas that abound in these short works are unparalleled IMHO.

But, in terms of prose and shear magnificent story telling and characterisation i would name Nabocov's Lolita and Patrick Süskind's Perfume.

For epic vision, ambition and the cleverest analogy of our own tribal and global conflicts (never more pertinent than in the current era of American imperial conflict with native peoples) there is Frank Herbet's DUNE.

And finally, a book i seem to go back to, perhaps because the central character's random journey through life seems to more accurately portray real life than those with meaningful narratives of begin, middle and end, i love Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.

Who say's that the end is always the place were we find out what everything meant? Maybe that was somewhere in the middle when we weren't paying attention...





edit on 28-9-2012 by McGinty because:




posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 06:32 AM
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This is a great book. Really a must read for anyone that comes to ATS daily.
This book blew my mind.

Behold a Pale Horse By William Cooper



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 06:39 AM
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My all time favorite is "Stranger In a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein. It was the first book of the genre of science fiction that I had ever read and I've been hooked ever since. What I loved most was the innocence in Michael Valentine, in thought and emotions, just like I would assume a "outsider" to this world would be. The bit about the professional witnesses and jury was memorable as well.

I love Stephen King books. Contrary to what another poster said, I enjoy the new spin his books have taken the last few years. Instead of the "in your face" horror, I appreciate the multi layered nature of his main characters and how you see them struggle morally. "Under the Dome" and especially "11/22/63" were a fantastic read. The ATS crowd who is intrigued with Alternate Time/Time Laps should check out "11/22/63"!

I tried so many times to get into "A Hitchhiker Guides to the Galaxy" and just couldn't stay interested. It bothers me that for some reason I was bored reading it, possibly due to the tongue in cheek writing style? From time to time I still try to "get it". Lol

Great thread !
edit on 9/28/2012 by itsallmaya because: fixing title



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 06:49 AM
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reply to post by NewAgeMan
 


Hi, i was very happy to read stel pavlou .I highly recommend it to everyone who is looking for the atlantis civilization
en.wikipedia.org...



posted on Sep, 28 2012 @ 07:07 AM
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Stranger in a strange land - Robert Heinlein

PT 109 - John Kennedy

Boomer bible - W.F. Laird (pseudonym)

The Alchemist- paul coelho

The rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam- Fitzgerald

Incarnations of Immortality series- Piers Anthony

A prayer for Owen Meany- John Irving

Lisey's story- Stephen King

Just a few I have liked.







 
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