Slightly leftfield books that you accidentally discovered?

[Jonny Ingbar]

I've read it, and it changed the way I thought about the world., gave me respect for the scientific mode of enquiry. Also read JLS many years ago and remember being hugely inspired by it at the time - though I was 21. another was the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, another of those 60s books sneered at these days but which contains an awful lot of wisdom if we weren't so cynical.

One leftfield book that inspired me a lot was The Function of the Orgasm by Willhelm Reich. Reich was a visionary who went a bit off the rails and whose reputation has never been redeemed as a result. I never knew until recently that Cloudbusting by Kate Bush was a depiction of the moment (from Reich's son's autobiography) when he was arrested by the CIA (never to be heard of again).

Other key (neglected) works for me would be L'homme Revolte (The Rebel) by Camus, the poetry of Robinson Jeffers, and Henry Miller's entire oeuvre

Zen seems to have been caricatured over the years, to the point that it's been trivialised, so it good to hear that someone who has read it has been influenced by it.

 

[Fattyfoggon]

Zen seems to have been caricatured over the years, to the point that it's been trivialised, so it good to hear that someone who has read it has been influenced by it.

yeah not sure if I really got it but did help/influence me when doing a software engineering degree and a subsequent career in the software industry

 

[ThePrisoner]

Try the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (AKA the Three-Body Problem trilogy). You won’t regret it.

Actually, I ordered Three Body Problem a few days ago. Should be here today!

 

[CuddyWifter]

Q by Luther Blissett (not the former Watford striker, but an Italian anarchist writing group). Brilliant book set during the Peasants war in Europe

 

[king_hellfire]

Thanks King. Sounds mad as a box of frogs but I'll deffo give them a go!

Having read them I don’t think I’ll ever come across any sci-fi books as ambitious or mind-blowing as them. I genuinely can’t see how they can be topped.

 

[mercury_redstone7]

I have just finished reading all of the Rama books. I was uncomfortable when they had to resort to incest, but then the peedo fillia cropped up and I almost gave up. First book, outstanding. The rest, creepy for the wrong reasons.

I read half way through Rama 2 and found it long winded, it was done by 2 authors! wasnt it Arthur C and somebody else, I got bored by it.
The reason I post back was I was reminded of an incident that I now chuckle at
I ended up reading a book lent to me called the Uninvited (Clive Harold). I got half way through the book and I had to put it down at one stage, while I was was laying in bed - with only me in the house that night as it frightened me.
I did finish it, but I must have been totally absorbed by the book at the time. I`m bu.....ed if I know why it made me feel that way.