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I'm trying to get back into reading and would love some more epic sci-fi/fantasy suggestions, beyond what I've gleaned from the thread so far. Right now I'm reading Dan Simmons' stuff and am hoping to get back to ASoIaF sometime soon. I like authors who put lots of effort into building vast and complex worlds, so anything fitting that would be fantastic.

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I'm trying to get back into reading and would love some more epic sci-fi/fantasy suggestions' date=' beyond what I've gleaned from the thread so far. Right now I'm reading Dan Simmons' stuff and am hoping to get back to ASoIaF sometime soon. I like authors who put lots of effort into building vast and complex worlds, so anything fitting that would be fantastic.[/quote'] Oh shit, it's a different Books thread... thought I'd posted here. For complex worlds, IMO you really can't beat the first six books of Dune (don't read the stuff Frank Herbert's son wrote, at least the "sequels"... they're so disappointing). After being initially unimpressed, Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series won me over - he put a ton of effort into that series - though I haven't read any of the continuations since his death. You'll probably get into that if you like George RR Martin, give it a bit of time as the first couple of books are somewhat amateurish. For something a little bit more fluffy but still thoughtful, Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy and the two series she wrote after it are worthwhile. I adore Neal Stephenson; if you find Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle to be too long-winded and/or historical, try his more recent novel Anathem (not exactly what you're asking for but awesome, awesome, so good). For some unique and badass older fantasy/sci-fi shot through with gritty characterizations and philosophical musings, check out Zelazny's Chronicles Of Amber - I like all ten books. If you're into the old-school "hard" sci-fi and you can handle some very dated and shallow portrayals of women, you may like Larry Niven's books - they're a little flat sometimes, but they're full of interesting speculation. Stay clear of Terry Goodkind; at least in my opinion those are some of the worst fantasy novels I've wasted time on. Directionless, poorly written pablum. Even the horrendous Eragon series was tighter and more entertaining... I just finished up re-reading most of the Hitchhiker's Guide series (I stop after book four so I can end it on a positive note) and Shakespeare's Richard II/Henry IV/Henry V cycle. I'm on the lookout for some new stuff as well.
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I recently read C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce and it was superb. Not only was the prose excellent and witty, the book a coherent and tightly packed critical mass of wisdom, but it was also interesting for its mental images. The Screwtape Letters is probably my favorite book, it's very insightful on the dynamics of sin, temptation and the notion of having the right attitude. However, it doesn't provide much 'visually'. The Great Divorce provided a strange and yet wonderfully engaging and powerful world in which its events occur, which provided a lovely immersion as I read. I finished it in one day. On the whole, it seemed like the basis for the mother of all concept albums. One of my favorite quotes was: "What you now call the 'free play of inquiry' has no more or less to do with the ends for which your intelligence was created than masturbation has to do with marriage."

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Blegh. I never liked the Narnia books, they were stodgy and dull. Definitely read his other material, it's a lot more rewarding. By the way, just to clear it up; Lewis was from Northern Ireland, not England - and Tolkein is South African. Yes, I am Christian.

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The only Christian book of his I ever read was Mere Christianity. You can imagine that I found it as far from "rewarding" as possible; his assertion that lack of evidence for God was some kind of positive evidence of the need for faith, and therefore the logical rightness of his own theology, struck me as absurd. I honestly think it's the kind of thing you'll only find rewarding if you agree with it, like most polemics.

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I don't remember Mere Christianity at all, it didn't hold my interest. As for that argument, it could be an exhortation to the usefulness of working hypotheses. I'd have to read the book again though. As for needing to be on the same side...I suppose that's true. The two books I read offered insights into how to combat sin that probably would come off as irrelevant for anyone who isn't already Christian.

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Blegh. I never liked the Narnia books' date=' they were stodgy and dull. Definitely read his other material, it's a lot more rewarding. By the way, just to clear it up; Lewis was from Northern Ireland, not England - and Tolkein is South African. Yes, I am Christian.[/quote'] Knew about Tolkien, but I don't know that Lewis' origin ever came up in any conversation. Always nice to know. Cool. I'm not religious at all, or even very spiritual, but I find religion very interesting perhaps by virtue of that. I had a good friend who was a religious studies major, though he ended up having to leave the college for personal reasons and I haven't really heard from him since. We had a lot of very interesting conversations.
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Are there any areas of theology you're particularly interested in? And have you looked into non-Western religion to any degree?
Generally it's the nature and purpose of free will, morality, salvation and love that I think are the most pertinent. The interplay between theology and politics also interests me. I know a little about Buddhism and Hinduism but I'm not up on Confucianism or Shinto.
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Generally it's the nature and purpose of free will, morality, salvation and love that I think are the most pertinent. The interplay between theology and politics also interests me. I know a little about Buddhism and Hinduism but I'm not up on Confucianism or Shinto.
Eastern religion is interesting to say the least. Wrapping your mind around a totally different concept of god is difficult, but will help with understanding the stream of ideas that flow forth from their faith based claims. If nothing else, it gives some insight into some of the thought process of other cultures. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
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Favorite/most interesting theologian? Although I can't claim to have one. I did have a very nice conversation with aforementioned friend about Martin Luther once, though. I've always thought he was a pretty interesting guy. Theology in politics is always an interesting topic to me, especially given all the issues in the Middle East. I've read much of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. I keep meaning to read it in Japanese, but generally all I can find are translations into modern Japanese, when I'd rather use it to simultaneously brush up on my kobun. I've also read some of the Mahabharata, but in English. I can read Persian and know a little bit of the language, but I've never looked at religious material and would have to study classical writing more closely to do it; I have, however, read some of the Koran in translation. I couldn't really tell you in detail about any of them but Shinto, though, because it's been a while.

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Eastern religion is interesting to say the least. Wrapping your mind around a totally different concept of god is difficult, but will help with understanding the stream of ideas that flow forth from their faith based claims. If nothing else, it gives some insight into some of the thought process of other cultures. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
I actually find Eastern religion far more understandable and relatable. But I also think that of Eastern cultures in general.
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Nice, I actually grew up reading a translation of the Mahabharata. I was raised in a family that practiced Siddha Yoga, though it's been a long time since I had anything to do with that. Probably fueled my interest in other ancient mythology, anyway... Awesome that you've been able to read in so many languages! I took French in high school, but didn't maintain it. I regret not capitalizing on language acquisition when I was younger.

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Augh, I haven't studied enough theology to have a favorite theologian. I'm trying to familiarize myself with Calvin but he's so maddeningly obtuse that it's tough for me to get much of anything from him. As for modern theologians, I always had some fondness for Os Guinness but that's about it. Plus that was a while ago.

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My other major is linguistics, so as you might imagine, I'm kind of a language nut. My best ones are Japanese (completely fluent) and Dutch (decent reading ability), but I'm working on Finnish and Greek presently, and have looked into Chinese, Persian (as I mentioned), Tamil, Bangala, Korean (I'm actually going to take Korean as a class next year), and a lot of other ones. My favorite languages are Japanese and Finnish, though, hands down. I think they're the most beautiful, both grammatically and in how they sound.

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Augh' date=' I haven't studied enough theology to have a favorite theologian. I'm trying to familiarize myself with Calvin but he's so maddeningly obtuse that it's tough for me to get much of anything from him. As for modern theologians, I always had some fondness for Os Guinness but that's about it. Plus that was a while ago.[/quote'] I had to read a bit of Calvin for something. I think it was AP European History. Obtuse is definitely an accurate description.
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