# Help me with Robert Silverberg **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-robert-silverberg/451989 "2008-06-06T05:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-robert-silverberg/451989/1 "2008-06-06T05:48:04Z")
I just discovered his writing with _The Man Who Never Forgot_ and _Caught in the Organ Draft_. He is fuckin’ brutal. I need to read more of his work so what three stories should I read? Incidently, if you want an SF short story whose ending grabs you by the balls and yanks hard, try _The Empire of Ice Cream_ by Jeffrey Ford. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-robert-silverberg/451989/2 "2008-06-06T05:57:40Z")
**Dying Inside** was a big favorite of mine. If you ever wished you could read other people’s minds, this will make you question it. (Is it still in print?) Also, “Gianni,” a short story that appeared in Playboy about 25 years ago, is about the unforeseen-yet-inevitable consequences of rescuing a self-destructive Mozart type from his own impulses. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-robert-silverberg/451989/3 "2008-06-06T12:15:15Z")
This is a good list of his books, with descriptions: [Silverberg site](http://www.majipoor.com/bibliography.php?order=title&form=novel&style=split) The only books of his I still own are _Hawksbill Station_ and _The World Inside_. I reread Hawksbill Station fairly recently (both the novella and the novel) and thought it still held up well… I’ve not taken to very much of his since _Lord Valentine’s Castle_, which is just a big juvenile, really, so I’d stick with the earlier stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-robert-silverberg/451989/4 "2008-06-06T15:21:46Z")
The good news is that if you like Silverberg there’s a lot out there. The man has literally written hundreds of books. My personal favorite: _Nightwings_ - it’s a novella that was expanded into a novel. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-robert-silverberg/451989/5 "2008-06-06T15:44:45Z")
I’m also a fan of **Dying Inside** , and his story “Passengers” is one of the most chilling bits of SF ever written and “To See the Invisible Man” is also a great one. “Good News from the Vatican” is also worth reading. But overall, I just don’t warm to Silverberg. I will admit he is a great writer, but most of his works never really grab me. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-robert-silverberg/451989/6 "2008-06-07T00:13:05Z")
‘Lord Valentine’s Castle” is a good, if meandering, read. I didn’t care for the sequels all that much. “The World Inside” is an interesting look at a future where cultural beliefs have created a world where human reproduction is all important, thus causing a huge population explosion, but also where sexual freedom casual sex with strangers is the norm. “Up the Line” is a pretty good time travel story. “The Book of Skulls” is an interesting book about four young people figuring out who they are, based against a backdrop of a mysterious immortal group of quasi monks.