Who's your favaorite author and what are the coolest/trippiest books you've ever read?

or if you're into psychology and spiritual growth, then I cannot recommend this book enough, called

The Road Less Travelled, A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth, by M. Scott Peck, M.D.

it was an inspired work, which for a long time held the Guiness Book of World Records, for the book that was on the US Best Sellers list for the longest period of time (next only to the Bible).

It's the book, in conjunction with the two books already mentioned by Zukav which, combined together in a type of synthesis of comprehension caused me to "pop" and enter on to the spiritual journey..

Kurt Vonnegut

Breakfast of Champions one of my favs

Good Omens
by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Laugh out loud funny and trippy too.
Quote from BookLore

To summarise, the end of the world is nigh. The antichrist walks the Earth (well, Lower Tadfield) in the guise of ten-year-old Adam Young. A satanic hellhound has been despatched to his aid from the netherworld, in the form of a shabby mongrel answering to the name of 'Dog'. The four riders of the apocalypse are tuning up their motorcycles for the final journey, and two earthbound supernatural entities - the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley - are on hand to supervise events.

Also
The years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
This story follows two people through multiple incarnations. The trippy part is, you get to follow their experience between lives.
Especially fun for history or religion buffs. Caution, this book spins an alternative history of the last 700 years. I know some people are annoyed by that sort of thing.
Also Vurt by Jeff Noon
Trippy in the conventional sense.
Imagine taking a drug that sends you on a virtual vacation. Then while on this "vacation", you find more of the drug. So now you are on vacation within your vacation. If you kept gong you could get lost.
In the vein of Clockwork Orange.

And a rather trippy conspiracy book, the first I ever read;

Nothing in this book is true but it's exactly how things are.
by Bob Frissell
books.google.com...

reply to post by NewAgeMan


M. Scott Peck, M.D.

I also liked In Search of stones

So many good ones named here.... and here's another many of you would love: Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume

en.wikipedia.org...

I love all the Douglas Adams books, Tolkien, Poe, Talbot's "Holographic Universe".... all great ones !

Tolkien of course, but my favorite for fun would have to be Brian Lumley's Necroscope series.

Trippiest would have to be anything by H.P. Lovecraft.

I love this thread!! It's hard to answer, though, because I...love...to...read! Not only do I love to read, but my taste varies, I suppose, dependent on what mood I am in. I will definitely be 'outing my age' below:

As a child, I loved "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle. I found a beat-up copy of it a few years back at a yard sale, and of course, had to have it. In my younger day, I also read and enjoyed "The Outsiders" (before it became a movie).

"Gone With the Wind" (Margaret Mitchell) is definitely my all-time favorite book. I enjoyed Pearl S. Buck's "The Good Earth" trilogy. The sequels to "Gone With the Wind" (by different authors) STINK imo...

The scariest book I ever read was Thomas Tryon's "The Other" (C 1971). Michael Crichton's "The Andromeda Strain" was scary, too, but not as scary, imo, as "The Other".

Philip Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint" made me laugh, and Selby's "Last Exit to Brooklyn" shocked me with its bluntness (You must understand that in my era there was no cursing in movies and married couples always had either two separate beds or two separate bedrooms).

I have most of Stephen King's older books and love "The Dark Tower" series. "Pet Semetary" is especially noteworthy-his description of the father being so close to saving Gage's life...that he actually brushed his jacket with his fingertips--as a parent, that was a heart-wrenching read. I also realized that if anything like that ever happened in my life, it would drive me insane--to be so close (I think King knew that fact when he wrote that passage).

I own and enjoy reading many books by and about Edgar Cayce, The Sleeping Prophet. As far as newer authors go, "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield was a fantastic read.

I guess I'll stop now because I really could fill up your thread, OP. I appreciate the smiles you have given me tonight...

I just love Asimov's books!! Most anything sci/fi or fantasy. Love books with dragons and elves and tolkien like characters and creatures. Also love books on hauntings, aliens, unsloved mysteries etc.

Originally posted by tanda7
Good Omens
by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Laugh out loud funny and trippy too.
Quote from BookLore

To summarise, the end of the world is nigh. The antichrist walks the Earth (well, Lower Tadfield) in the guise of ten-year-old Adam Young. A satanic hellhound has been despatched to his aid from the netherworld, in the form of a shabby mongrel answering to the name of 'Dog'. The four riders of the apocalypse are tuning up their motorcycles for the final journey, and two earthbound supernatural entities - the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley - are on hand to supervise events.

That one had a great and wonderful ending. It's a cult classic I understand, read it just last month actually. I'm so used to Pratchett's writing from the Discworld series, that I had a hard time totally getting into the groove of it, and I felt that it took a while to "take hold" as a gripping, page turning story, but about half way through it started getting good and then it just kept on getting better as the pieces of the picture assembled themselves just in time for Armegeddon (don't think thats a spoiler, no).

Originally posted by Night StarLove books with dragons and elves and tolkien like characters and creatures.

You would absoiutely LOVE Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, trust me, one book and you'll be hooked and looking for your next fix and where that one came from, there's about 32 more of them! It's a feast for someone into that kind of thing, but FUNNY, OMG you have no idea, but you will once you pick up one of his books, trust me.

Read it for the first time when I was really young. Really got my imagination going!

I will have to add the Dune series, and Snowcrash.

So Frank Herbert and Neal Stephenson

Divine Rights Trip by Gurney Norman Its a novel of the counterculture. First appeared in The Last Whole Earth Catalog in 1971 it is a very good read imo. Can be found on Amazon. I read it many times over the years.

Favorite writer: HP Lovecraft
trippiest book? All of his stories are a trip a dark scary one. I would liken them to a benadryl overdose.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


I'm reading it now.. it's eh. His best work is the older stuff, but I am a big fan of the bachmann books. I've read the long walk several times.

Anyway my favorite authors are richard hell, salinger, and vonnegut. Plus I like a little jon ronson and hunter s thompson. Ah, and I also dig orson scott card though I've only read around 5 books (three ender stories and the rest just.. stuff).

reply to post by NewAgeMan


I actually have two:

Rene Barjavel - Colomb de la Lune (Colomb from the Moon)
en.wikipedia.org...

A fantastic sci-fi/avantgarde book, very sweet story. I read it several times, and each time could not stop until I finished.


Peter F. Hamilton - Pandora's Star; Judas unchained (Commonwealth saga)
Amazing sci-fi/space opera book.
Peter Hamilton creates a huge & complex universe, and takes you through it.

THE GOOD EARTH by Pearl S. Buck And THE CELESTINE PROPHESIES

My all time favorite author is Piers Anthony.

On a Pale Horse
was an awesome book!
Actually, the entire Incarnations of Immortality series was great.
Over all I would have to go with his Xanth series though.
Every one of those books was very good.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Dean Koontz. No contest. SO many good books of his, that I can't pick a favorite. Some of the best? Watchers, One Door Away From Heaven, The Face.

Huge Tolkien fan, too, and lost count of how many times I have read his stuff.

Trippy? Hmmmm....... Again, Koontz, stuff like Phantoms, or The Corner of His Eye, maybe.

Phillip K. Dick.
The very first author who's books I read. And they were pretty awesome.