# What's your favorite book that nobody else ever reads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621 "2007-01-11T23:06:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/61 "2007-01-20T03:25:51Z")
[QUOTE=FordPrefect] In my circles, my favourite book **Demon Haunted World** by Carl Sagan. My family won’t read it because Sagan is an atheist. They will sit around at Christmas discussing the benefits of the Q-Ray bracelet\*, but Satan might invade if they read a book by an author who doesn’t believe in the same god as them. Throw in Hero With a Thousand Faces as another fave \*After nearly ruining a weekend at a resort in November by raising a big stink their opposition to gay marriage I felt I should keep my mouth shut over the Q-Ray. It’s just a fucking magnet and their $30, but it was still trying though. [/QUOTE] May I nominate my entire Sagan collection? I actually like _Billions and Billions_ the most - perhaps because of the poignancy of the last chapter. My other nominee: [_English Passengers_](http://www.amazon.com/English-Passengers-Novel-Matthew-Kneale/dp/038549744X/sr=1-1/qid=1169261808/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-7198810-5674509?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Matthew Kneale, a darkly humorous historical fiction, in the voice of some 20 different narrators, written against no less than the backdrop of the genocide of the Aborigines of Tasmania. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/62 "2007-01-20T03:59:51Z")
[QUOTE=Kilvert’s Pagan] My other nominee: [_English Passengers_](http://www.amazon.com/English-Passengers-Novel-Matthew-Kneale/dp/038549744X/sr=1-1/qid=1169261808/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-7198810-5674509?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Matthew Kneale, a darkly humorous historical fiction, in the voice of some 20 different narrators, written against no less than the backdrop of the genocide of the Aborigines of Tasmania. [/QUOTE] That’s a favorite of two other Dopers – **koeeoaddi** and **twickster** – you’re in good company. Great book. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/63 "2007-01-20T16:19:07Z")
[I, JFK](http://www.amazon.com/I-Jfk-Robert-Mayer/dp/0312923406/sr=1-1/qid=1169309672/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-0284818-7406327?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Robert Mayer. An ‘autobiography’/memoir written from purgatory, 25 years after Kennedy’s assassination. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/64 "2007-01-20T19:56:23Z")
I’ll throw in a recommendation for two novels of scientific research, mindless bureaucracy, and high comedy: Michael Frayn’s _The Tin Men_ (computing and artificial intelligence) and David Langford’s _The Leaky Establishment_ (nuclear weapons). ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/65 "2007-01-20T21:39:48Z")
[QUOTE=Manda JO] _Flanders_ by Patricia Anthony. WWI epistolary novel. Never met anyone who read it except for the person who recommended it to me. Haven’t convinced anyone else to read it to date. [/QUOTE] I’ve read this book, and I still have a copy of it in my library! I even got my husband, the history buff, to read it. Very well done, very different from Patricia Anthony’s other books. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/66 "2007-01-21T06:23:52Z")
[QUOTE=Kilvert’s Pagan] May I nominate my entire Sagan collection? I actually like _Billions and Billions_ the most - perhaps because of the poignancy of the last chapter. [/QUOTE] Yes you may, and I have read most, if not all. The last chapter is one of very few that brought me tears. [QUOTE=LANmom] I assume they call Karl Sagan an atheist because he is not a bornagainchristian? He is a Secular Humanist. One can be quite ethical (and in many cases MORE ethical! I bet you would agree) than many professed christians. [/QUOTE] I do agree, and you are right LANmom, sad as that is. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/67 "2007-01-21T07:18:33Z")
Okay, of the books mentioned thus far in the thread, I’ve read Towing Jehovah The Sot-Weed Factor Cryptonomicon Under the Skin Time is the Simplest Thing Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy I Know This Much is True Invisible Cities the Bartimaeus Trilogy Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I didn’t like them all, but I read them all (okay, sorry, but I couldn’t finish Towing Jehovah despite being 4/5 through). I heartily recommend [Rats, Lice, and History: Being a Study in Biography, Which, After Twelve Preliminary Chapters Indispensable for the Preparation of the Lay Reader, Deals With the Life History of Typhus Fever](http://www.amazon.com/Rats-Lice-History-Preliminary-Indispensable/dp/1884822479), which while not the most up-to-date book on disease transmission is perhaps the most affectionate and elegant. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/68 "2007-01-21T07:26:04Z")
I love Sagan, and I have most of his books. _Billions and Billions_ is also among my favorites. I have never met anyone else who’s read this book: _Memoirs of a Ghost Brother_, by Heinz Insu Fenkl. It’s the story about a young boy growing up in post-war Korea, and in my opinion is one of the most under-rated books in the history of Asian-American literature. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/69 "2007-01-25T23:38:11Z")
Anything by Keith Roberts but especially [The Chalk Giants](http://www.solaris-books.co.uk/Roberts/dchalk.htm) and [Kaeti and Company](http://www.solaris-books.co.uk/Roberts/krmain.htm). [When the Lights Go Out](http://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Lights-Out-Tanith-Lee/dp/0747215987/sr=1-84/qid=1169768205/ref=sr_1_84/026-4310940-1733251?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Tanith Lee ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/70 "2007-01-26T01:34:35Z")
[QUOTE=Manda JO] _Flanders_ by Patricia Anthony. WWI epistolary novel. Never met anyone who read it except for the person who recommended it to me. Haven’t convinced anyone else to read it to date. [/QUOTE] Since this thread’s been resurrected, I just wanted to add that I’m in the middle of _Flanders_ now and it’s fantastic. Thanks for the recommendation. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/71 "2007-01-30T09:48:40Z")
A few more . . . _Hiero’s Journey_ by Sterling E Lanier. An excellent book set centuries after a massive worldwrecking nuclear war. The protagonist is an agent for an emerging civilization which is besieged my mysterious forces. It’s set in what used to be Canada, and he’s a telepath who rides a mutated moose ( Sounds silly ? Only until it stomps a few bad guys into jelly ), and acquires a sentient telepatic bear for a companion. A quest across an unexplored Northeast, filled with all manner of mutants and weirdness. The Island Worlds series by Eric Kotani and John Maddox Roberts. A good but dated series, especially in the first book _Act of God_ - the Soviet Union is central to it, and the USSR didn’t survive that long. That can be overlooked in the later books, however. It’s about a future where the near-anarchic Belt society is trying to stay free of the ever-more tyrannical and extreme Earth. In the final book _Delta Pavonis_ they have escaped the Solar System and are exploring the stars. Interesting characters, and some imaginative details. One of my favorites is the cat with a hologram around it that makes it look like a Chinese dragon, zipping around in zero-g. _Traveller in Black_ by John Brunner. A collection of shorter stories detailing a few of the journeys of “he who has many names but one nature”, a “quiet man dressed in black who carries a staff made of light”. He lives in a timeless world of magic and chaos, and he slowly is imposing order upon it. Among other things, he grants the wishes of those he overhears ( usually without them realizing that’s what has happened ), which seldom turns out the way they wanted of course. _Threshold_ and _Emergence_ by David R Palmer, a good author who never wrote anything else, unfortunately; no one even knows if he’s alive. _Emergence_ is the diary of a 12 year old girl after almost all of humanity is killed by a bioweapon; she and a few others survived because they are the first members of homo superior; with improved immune systems, among other things. _Threshold_ is about a character who’s been bred as the apex of a centuries-long secret plan to breed a superman who can Save the Galaxy from Doom - almost. Problem is, the breeders screwed up; it’s his _offspring_ who’s supposed to be the savior, but they need help now, and thanks to a mistake in timing his intended mate was born years too early and is still a little girl. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/72 "2007-01-30T12:57:09Z")
I’ve read **Rats, Lice, and History** , and highly recommend it. (It has one of the great footnotes of all time. IIRC, you follow the asterisk down to the bottom of the page, and the footnote reads \* Look it up. I’ve also read **Hiero’s Journey**. A pretty good book, by a Chilton’s editor IIRC. I even have a calendar from the 1970s with one month being an illustration for this book. I think there was a sequel. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/73 "2007-01-30T15:34:08Z")
[Little, Big](http://www.amazon.com/Little-Big-John-Crowley/dp/0060937939/sr=8-1/qid=1170170494/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4460816-3580147?ie=UTF8&s=books) by John Crowley. Hands down, no argument. The most amazing book I’ve ever read. Imagine a literary fusion of William Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Lewis Carroll’s “Sylvie and Bruno” and “Alice” books, and Ray Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine,” written by the love child of Benoit Mandelbrot and Umberto Eco (if there was one). Seriously. I wish to reproduce with this book. ---
**Author:** ![DurbBook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DurbBook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DurbBook)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/74 "2007-01-30T15:39:20Z")
Hello from a newbie! I always recommend Stella Gibbons’s _[Cold Comfort Farm](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Comfort_Farm)_. It’s one of the funniest novels ever written. I own a bookstore, and I subtly sold 13 copies of it last year: “Hey, you! Jogging Shorts! Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you, bub. Get over here and take a look at this cool book.” “A babel broke out, in which Aunt Ada could dimly be discerned beating at everybody with the \*Milk Producers’ Weekly Bulletin and Cowkeepers’ Guide \* and shrilly screaming: ‘I saw it . . . I saw it! I shall go mad . . . I can’t bear it . . . There have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort. I saw something nasty in the woodshed . . . something nasty . . . nasty . . . nasty . . . .’” I also love _The Stuffed Owl: an Anthology of Bad Verse_, selected and arranged by D. B. Wyndham Lewis and Charles Lee. A fly that up and down himself doth shove.–Wordsworth, “To Sleep” Thank you all for the suggestions. I’m glad to be here. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/75 "2007-01-30T17:52:23Z")
I read Flanders because of this thread also, and I also enjoyed it. Now, will somebody please read “The Last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle, 'cause the high school kids I keep recommending it to won’t. They pick up crap like “Eragon” instead. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/76 "2007-01-30T19:14:41Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] [_The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy,_](http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Doctor-Eszterhazy-Avram-Davidson/dp/0913896284/sr=8-1/qid=1168796502/ref=sr_1_1/102-9666357-8690562?ie=UTF8&s=books) by [Avram Davidson.](http://www.avramdavidson.org/) [/QUOTE] I just purchased this from an eBay seller in the UK. The price was a bit lower than Amazon’s. But the seller also had some tempting R A Lafferty stuff, so I saved _no_ money. However, we all know that books will get you through times without money better than money will get you through times without books. Of course, you known that this is now back in print: [Adventures in Unhistory: Conjectures on the Factual Foundations of Several Ancient Legends: Davidson, Avram: 9780765307606: Amazon.com: Books](http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Unhistory-Conjectures-Factual-Foundations/dp/076530760X/sr=8-1/qid=1170184382/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-6060729-8091140?ie=UTF8&s=books) ---
**Author:** ![the\_chicken\_of\_exeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@the\_chicken\_of\_exeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_chicken_of_exeter)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/77 "2007-01-30T19:30:31Z")
I bought the two books in the OP and I really can’t afford to read any further. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/78 "2007-01-30T20:14:01Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I’ve also read **Hiero’s Journey**. A pretty good book, by a Chilton’s editor IIRC. I even have a calendar from the 1970s with one month being an illustration for this book. I think there was a sequel. [/QUOTE] _The Unforsaken Hiero_. Good, but not as good I think. _Hiero Desteen_ is an omnibus volume containing both. The Riddle Master trilogy by Patricia A McKillip. Set in a world where scholarship and prophecy is set in the form of riddles, so a Riddle Master is quite knowledgeable. It’s kings and such are called “land-rulers”, because they have a mystical connection to the land. They can sense what happens there to a degree, and often have other abilites. The ruler of An, for example binds the warring ghosts of the Three Portions of An; if he leaves too long they will continue their ancient wars and feuds, making life hellish for everyone. It begins when Morgan of Hed, Riddle Master and land-ruler of Hed wins the crown of the ghost Peven of Aum in a riddle game that’s fatal if lost. That sets of a sequence of events, including attacks by shapechangers. Morgan was also born with three stars on his forehead, and neither he nor anyone else knows what they mean, even after finding a harp and sword with three stars on them. So, he sets out to met the High One, the mysterious and reclusive land-ruler of all the lands who has lived for millenia. Morgan wants to ask the High One, what do the stars mean ? What are these shape changers, and what do they want ? Why hasn’t the High One done or said anything about this ? The Daughters of the Sunstone trilogy by Sydney J Van Scycoc ( her stuff in general is good ); consisting of _Darkchild, Bluesong, Starsilk_. It’s mostly set on the world of Brakrath, whose settlers have mutated somewhat in the harsh environment. They hibernate during the winter, for example, and their rulers are long lived women called barohnas who have an inborn ability to manipulate sunstone, an exotic mineral that stores and concentrates the energy of the sun; the barohnas use it to keep their valleys warm enough to grow food in the summer, and to fry criminals and external enemies, like the greedy offworld culture that would love to take the planet over. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/79 "2007-01-30T21:17:51Z")
[QUOTE=the chicken of exeter] I bought the two books in the OP and I really can’t afford to read any further. [/QUOTE] As the ol’ OP, I’m curious as to your opinion. Do share. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/80 "2007-01-30T21:33:27Z")
[QUOTE=well he’s back] Now, will somebody please read “The Last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle, 'cause the high school kids I keep recommending it to won’t. They pick up crap like “Eragon” instead. Sigh. [/QUOTE] I have lost track how many times I’ve read this book since the very first time in 1968. It is my favorite book of all time. I’ve read it so much that it’s shaped the way I think about lots of things. I worship at Peter S. Beagle’s feet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621.md?page=5)