Good Books

I'm reading a couple excellent books at the moment which I thought I'd pass along.

During my commute, I'm listening to Spider Robinson's Callahan's Legacy. Whenever I read a new book by Spider or go back to re-read one of his older books, I'm always amazed at how good I feel while reading it and how I don't want the book to end. There are a handful of authors whose work makes me feel this way: Rudy Rucker, Robert Heinlein, Carl Hiaasen, Richard Feynman, and Richard Dawkins to name but a few.

At night I've started reading Theodore Sturgeon's The Nail and the Oracle: Volume XI: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon. I've been reading this complete collection of Sturgeon's works as they have been published which has been sorely trying my patience as I wait for each new volume. I was originally under the impression that there were to be 10 volumes in the series but a good friend recently mentioned that he had received volume 11 as a gift which caused me to order it as soon as I got home. When I started reading Sturgeon 30+ years ago, I was struck by the fact that his work really transcended the genres of SciFi or Fantasy and that it was sad his audience was probably much smaller than his talent deserved because of these labels. Reading Harlan Ellison's lengthy and touching foreword in this volume, I find I'm not alone in this feeling.

I highly recommend both books. If you haven't read anything by one or both authors, I envy you. You're in for a great read.