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Lemmy World Rules

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In the mood for engineering / competence porn. What are your favourite novels / series? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
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As an example, I love the Martian, and I think a lot of older books from authors like Asimov are heavily into engineering / competence porn. Other favs in this category include the standalone novel Rendezvous with Rama to leave you wishing for more, most of the Culture series for happy utopian vibes, Schlock Mercenary for humor, Dahak series for fun mindless popcorn.

Edit: I'm so happy to have found a replacement for r/books and the rest of them.

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[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Tom Clancy SSN.

Good light reading (historical fiction) for before bed or when you wake up at 3am due to the sound of the Herscithem outside.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

The Fountains of Paradise It's literally an SF love letter to engineering.

Also there are two (or three?) sequels to Rendezvous with Rama.

Greg Bear's Eon/Eternity and The Forge of God/Anvil of Stars are all engineering delight.

2001, 2010, 2051, 3001 are great classics.

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There are no sequels to Rama. I wish there were, but there aren't. Odyssey series is a classic, yeah.

Currently reading and enjoying Eon, so Greg's my next month of reading I guess! Will check out Fountains after that.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 points 4 months ago

There are no sequels to Rama.

There's only six Dune books too ;-)

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[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Recently, I've been reading the Interdependency series by John Scalzi. It starts with The Collapsing Empire, featuring an unlikely heir to the throne, a time of trouble and strife, and the likely impending doom of all mankind. A lot of the story focuses on the unlikely heir grappling with how to hold things together against the catastrophe that most people don't really believe is coming.

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[–] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago

Nathan Lowell's Trader's Tales From the Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper series is pure competence porn. There's very little action or intrigue, just some guy working his way up from the bottom in interstellar travel and trade via, well, competence. Haha!

[–] 9bananas@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

"Planetfall" by Emma Newman might fit your preferences judging by the things you said about books you've read! it's a 4 book series (i think) and mostly deals with the inner psychology of the main character of each book. also has a bunch of engineering in it, mostly hard sci-fi!

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