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Books

Book Videos

Nonfiction

Bruce Schneier

  • Rewiring Democracy — How AI will transform politics, government, and citizenship
  • A Hacker's Mind — How the powerful bend society's rules, and how to bend them back
  • Click Here to Kill Everybody — Internet safety risks in a hyper-connected world of smart devices
  • Data and Goliath — Corporate and government surveillance and the privacy trade-offs we make
  • Liars and Outliers — How society builds and maintains trust across institutions
  • Beyond Fear — Thinking sensibly about security in an uncertain world
  • Applied Cryptography — The comprehensive technical survey of cryptographic algorithms and protocols

Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • Essays: First & Second Series — Self-Reliance, Nature, and the foundations of American transcendentalism; ideas that hold up

Fiction

Fantasy & Adventure

  • Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros — Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, Onyx Storm — Dragon riders, a brutal war college, and magic with real stakes
  • Earthsea Series by Ursula K. Le Guin — One of the great fantasy worlds; follows wizard Ged across a vast archipelago; quiet, wise storytelling
  • Fablehaven by Brandon Mull — A hidden preserve for mythical creatures; wonderful YA fantasy that doesn't talk down to readers
  • Forgotten Realms / Drizzt Do'Urden by R.A. Salvatore — A dark elf ranger who refuses the cruelty of his society; decades of compelling adventures
  • Celebromancy by Michael R. Underwood — Urban fantasy where fandom and pop culture are the source of magic; clever and fun

Steven Brust

Vlad Taltos (17 novels) — High fantasy on the planet Dragaera following Vlad, a human assassin living among a near-immortal aristocratic majority; each book is named after a Dragaeran House and experiments with a different narrative style; one of the great long-running fantasy series

Khaavren Romances (5 books) — Set centuries before Vlad's era, written as in-world historical fiction by the fictional scholar Paarfi of Roundwood; a deliberate homage to Alexandre Dumas with elaborate, witty prose

  • The Phoenix Guards, Five Hundred Years After, The Viscount of Adrilankha trilogy

The Incrementalists (co-authored with Skyler White) — Contemporary fantasy about a secret society of people who share memories across reincarnations and nudge history toward the good; The Incrementalists, The Skill of Our Hands

Standalones & Co-authored

  • Freedom & Necessity (with Emma Bull) — Epistolary historical fantasy set in 1840s England; politics, magic, and revolution
  • The Gypsy (with Megan Lindholm) — Mythic fantasy weaving the Romany Gypsy King legend into modern life
  • Brokedown Palace — A Dragaera prequel rooted in Hungarian folklore

Jim Butcher

The Dresden Files — Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard and private investigator; noir detective fiction meets magic, 17 books and counting

  • Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril ... through Peace Talks, Battle Ground, Twelve Months (upcoming)

Codex Alera — Six-book completed epic blending Roman political intrigue with elemental magic; starts with Furies of Calderon

The Cinder Spires — Steampunk airship adventure; The Aeronaut's Windlass and The Olympian Affair

James J. Butcher (Jim Butcher's son)

The Unorthodox Chronicles — Urban fantasy set in Boston following Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby, a witch who washed out of the magical law enforcement program, navigating a world split between ordinary "Usuals" and paranormal "Unorthodox" citizens

  • Dead Man's Hand (2022) — Debut; Grimsby's former mentor is murdered and he's the prime suspect
  • Long Past Dues (2023)
  • Cold Iron Task (2025)
  • Grim Folk Tale (2025)

Science Fiction

Larry Niven

Known Space — The sprawling future-history universe underpinning most of his work; alien species, faster-than-light travel, and big engineering ideas

  • Ringworld — A crew explores an artificial ring-shaped world orbiting a star; Ringworld, The Ringworld Engineers, The Ringworld Throne, Ringworld's Children
  • Fleet of Worlds — Expands Known Space with the Puppeteer civilization; Fleet of Worlds, Juggler of Worlds and more
  • Protector, A Gift from Earth, Neutron Star — Standalone Known Space novels

The Moties (with Jerry Pournelle) — First contact with a deeply alien species that has a dark secret; The Mote in God's Eye, The Gripping Hand

The State — Far-future Earth and the politics of survival; A World Out of Time, The Integral Trees, The Smoke Ring

The Heorot Series (with Jerry Pournelle & Steven Barnes) — Colonists on an alien world face a terrifying predator; The Legacy of Heorot, Beowulf's Children

Collaborations with Jerry Pournelle — Disaster and survival epics: Lucifer's Hammer (comet impact), Footfall (alien invasion)

Cozy Mystery & Cozy Fantasy

  • C.J. Archer — Victorian-era mystery with supernatural threads; sharp writing and satisfying plots
  • Odette C. Bell — Prolific space opera and paranormal fiction; fast-paced adventures with strong heroines
  • Sarah Rosett — Cozy mysteries with well-drawn characters and an eye for the details that make a place feel real

Youtubers / Podcasters

  • Book Riot Podcast — Wide-ranging book news, reviews, and reading culture
  • What Should I Read Next? — Anne Bogel matches readers to their next favorite book based on what they've loved
  • The Stacks — In-depth literary conversations with authors and readers; thoughtful and wide-ranging
  • Currently Reading — Two friends sharing what they're reading each week; relaxed and honest

Additional Book Resources

  • Project Gutenberg — Free ebooks of classic literature; massive archive of public domain books
  • Open Library — Borrow ebooks from the Internet Archive; one book at a time, like a real library
  • LibriVox — Free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers; great for classics on the go
  • Internet Speculative Fiction Database — The definitive SFF bibliography; awards, covers, and publication history
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