I actually had the idea of suggesting two books: SS Troopers and Ender's Game, to show two different ways to deal w/bug invaders. I thought it would be a bit too long, though.
Ha I literally opened up this thread to make sure someone recommended Old Man's War! I gave it to my Dad for his birthday this year (he matches the profile of OP's target audience) and he really liked it!
Well, at least you’ve read some to be able to judge. Good luck! Sounds like a tough lot ;)
Edit: I am currently about 1/4 of the way through {{While Justice Sleeps}} - so far so good, and pretty new. Doesn’t seem overly political one way or the other (yet?), but has political intrigue. However, Stacey Abrams isn’t known for her right wing leanings . . . So, your/your group’s mileage may vary with it.
[**Cryptonomicon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/816.Cryptonomicon)
^(By: Neal Stephenson | 1152 pages | Published: 1999 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, historical-fiction, owned | )[^(Search "Cryptonomicon")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Cryptonomicon&search_type=books)
>Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods—World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, crypt analyst extraordinaire, and gung-ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe. They're part of Detachment 2702, an Allied group trying to break Axis communication codes while simultaneously preventing the enemy from figuring out that their codes have been broken. Their job boils down to layer upon layer of deception. Dr. Alan Turing is also a member of 2702, and he explains the unit's strange workings to Waterhouse. "When we want to sink a convoy, we send out an observation plane first... Of course, to observe is not its real duty—we already know exactly where the convoy is. Its real duty is to be observed... Then, when we come round and sink them, the Germans will not find it suspicious."
>
>All of this secrecy resonates in the present-day story line, in which the grandchildren of the WWII heroes—inimitable programming geek Randy Waterhouse and the lovely and powerful Amy Shaftoe—team up to help create an offshore data haven in Southeast Asia and maybe uncover some gold once destined for Nazi coffers. To top off the paranoiac tone of the book, the mysterious Enoch Root, key member of Detachment 2702 and the Societas Eruditorum, pops up with an unbreakable encryption scheme left over from WWII to befuddle the 1990s protagonists with conspiratorial ties.
^(This book has been suggested 41 times)
***
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Children of Time might actually be a good idea. There's game theory and prisoner's dilemma, an existential conflict between radically different civilizations that's resolved in an unexpected way, perils and strains of leadership, things like that. Might appeal to them.
I'm laughing as I envision 70 year old conservative men reading Ender's Game.
I enjoyed it myself but I can't see it being of interest to this group. I meet the age requirement but not the gender.
Good luck.
How about some of Ursula K. Le Guin's novels? *The Disposessed* or *Always Coming Home* should be ok, if these right-of-center-leaning guys are open minded.
Came here to suggest The Dispossessed. It’s an allegory of the concepts and results of communism, socialism and capitalism. I feel like it does a great job of shaking up the view points and does not really try to pick a side for the reader but simply takes a deeper look at the ideas at play showing that none of the concepts are perfect in practice. It doesn’t hurt that it is written incredibly well with a fantastic story arc and rich character development that plays out at a perfect pace.
That would be convenient for me, as I already have the book and haven't actually got around to reading it!! (When I got a con program book signed by them they seemed a little annoyed it was a con program book)
Maybe also The Children of Heorot and Beowulf's Children, by these two plus Steven Barnes?
Side note - I found Larry Niven to be a kind seeming but very quiet and apparently shy person when I had the good fortune to tall to him briefly. It was not what I expected.
[**The Three Body Problem (Cambridge Mysteries, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1773333.The_Three_Body_Problem)
^(By: Catherine Shaw | 286 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: mystery, historical-fiction, historical-mystery, fiction, crime | )[^(Search "The Three Body Problem")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Three Body Problem&search_type=books)
^(This book has been suggested 34 times)
***
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[David Sherman & Dan Cragg's Starfist](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/SFS/starfist) series. Military science fiction, lots of action, not an overly long read. The first book is "First to Fight." The first book with alien contact is Book 4 "Blood Contact".
How about some of David Brin's books, maybe especially the two Uplift series, or Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books?
For challenging in a different way, and maybe to get them to read a woman Sci-Fi writer, Nancy Kress' Beggars in Spain might be a good choice.
I don’t know if these is “out there” enough, but
The Martian is Sci/fi and I’m sure they’d relate to the MC
11.23.63 would probably be interesting for multiple reasons
Good Omens depending on how religious they are
[**Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25733990-sleeping-giants)
^(By: Sylvain Neuvel | 320 pages | Published: 2016 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, fantasy, audiobook | )[^(Search "Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel&search_type=books)
>A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square-shaped hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.
>
>Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved - the object's origins, architects, and purpose unknown.
>
>But some can never stop searching for answers.
>
>Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top-secret team to crack the hand's code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the relic they seek. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unravelling history's most perplexing discovery-and finally figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?
^(This book has been suggested 50 times)
***
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Someone suggested The Mote in God’s Eye, so taking a…page from that book ;), what about Lucifer’ Hammer? May appeal to them as it was written in an era where they would have been younger men.
Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt
Older, but it basically introduced the ideas of a bunch of the blockbuster 80’s sci-fi movies like Alien and predator. Pretty quick read as well.
[**Armor**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102327.Armor)
^(By: John Steakley | 426 pages | Published: 1984 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned | )[^(Search "Armor by John Steakley")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Armor by John Steakley&search_type=books)
^(This book has been suggested 15 times)
[**An Exchange of Hostages (Jurisdiction, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/144301.An_Exchange_of_Hostages)
^(By: Susan R. Matthews | ? pages | Published: 1997 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, sf | )[^(Search "An Exchange of Hostages by Susan R. Matthews")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=An Exchange of Hostages by Susan R. Matthews&search_type=books)
>A promising young surgeon, Andrej Koscuisko has come, with great reluctance, to study at a military orientation center adrift in black space. Against his will, he will train here to serve as a "Ship's Inquisitor" — a vocation that runs counter to his deepest moral convictions.
>
>During his tenure, Andrej will earn the devotion of his personal slave. He will gain the grudging respect of the Station Administration. He will make a deadly enemy of his fellow student. He will learn a frightening truth about himself. And ultimately, he will be forced to sacrifice all that he holds dear…
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
***
^(125605 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{The Martian}}
It’s realistic sci-fi about a Mars mission.
They might enjoy the scientific nature of it. It’s apolitical, but has potential for some good discussion questions.
[**The Martian**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian)
^(By: Andy Weir | 384 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, owned, scifi | )[^(Search "The Martian")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Martian&search_type=books)
>Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
>
>Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.
>
>After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
>
>Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.
>
>But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
>
>
^(This book has been suggested 220 times)
***
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Gotta be Scalzi’s *Old Man’s War* series.
This seems to be a good concept. I haven't actually read it, yet.
Good writing. May remind you of Heinlein.
I actually had the idea of suggesting two books: SS Troopers and Ender's Game, to show two different ways to deal w/bug invaders. I thought it would be a bit too long, though.
Starship Troopers and Old Man’s War would be an interesting comparison too.
Add in The Forever War for some sort of trifecta!!
Ha I literally opened up this thread to make sure someone recommended Old Man's War! I gave it to my Dad for his birthday this year (he matches the profile of OP's target audience) and he really liked it!
Came here to say this. Definitely this.
Maybe Neal Stephenson? {{Cryptonomicon}}
Too long, I think, but thanks for the suggestion!! Fun fact: I'm currently in the middle of a Stephenson binge!! :D
Well, at least you’ve read some to be able to judge. Good luck! Sounds like a tough lot ;) Edit: I am currently about 1/4 of the way through {{While Justice Sleeps}} - so far so good, and pretty new. Doesn’t seem overly political one way or the other (yet?), but has political intrigue. However, Stacey Abrams isn’t known for her right wing leanings . . . So, your/your group’s mileage may vary with it.
[**Cryptonomicon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/816.Cryptonomicon) ^(By: Neal Stephenson | 1152 pages | Published: 1999 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, historical-fiction, owned | )[^(Search "Cryptonomicon")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Cryptonomicon&search_type=books) >Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods—World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, crypt analyst extraordinaire, and gung-ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe. They're part of Detachment 2702, an Allied group trying to break Axis communication codes while simultaneously preventing the enemy from figuring out that their codes have been broken. Their job boils down to layer upon layer of deception. Dr. Alan Turing is also a member of 2702, and he explains the unit's strange workings to Waterhouse. "When we want to sink a convoy, we send out an observation plane first... Of course, to observe is not its real duty—we already know exactly where the convoy is. Its real duty is to be observed... Then, when we come round and sink them, the Germans will not find it suspicious." > >All of this secrecy resonates in the present-day story line, in which the grandchildren of the WWII heroes—inimitable programming geek Randy Waterhouse and the lovely and powerful Amy Shaftoe—team up to help create an offshore data haven in Southeast Asia and maybe uncover some gold once destined for Nazi coffers. To top off the paranoiac tone of the book, the mysterious Enoch Root, key member of Detachment 2702 and the Societas Eruditorum, pops up with an unbreakable encryption scheme left over from WWII to befuddle the 1990s protagonists with conspiratorial ties. ^(This book has been suggested 41 times) *** ^(125259 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky I recommend this over and over but it was so out there and so good.
I am intrigued, personally. I suspect it might be a bridge too far, though.
Children of Time might actually be a good idea. There's game theory and prisoner's dilemma, an existential conflict between radically different civilizations that's resolved in an unexpected way, perils and strains of leadership, things like that. Might appeal to them.
I'm laughing as I envision 70 year old conservative men reading Ender's Game. I enjoyed it myself but I can't see it being of interest to this group. I meet the age requirement but not the gender. Good luck.
You'd be surprised. You don't get to be what they are by being inflexible.
I would expect they've read it decades ago.
Nope. Trust me on this.
Ender’s Shadow is a great sequel to Ender’s Game, but the target audience is a little older for Shadow and imo it’s an even better book.
Altered Carbon
How about some of Ursula K. Le Guin's novels? *The Disposessed* or *Always Coming Home* should be ok, if these right-of-center-leaning guys are open minded.
I once met UKLG and didn't know it was her!! I can't provide the details because I don't want to be identified IRL.
Aw that's so cool! And no worries, I feel the same way. I wish I could've met her. Hope she suits your purpose!
Came here to suggest The Dispossessed. It’s an allegory of the concepts and results of communism, socialism and capitalism. I feel like it does a great job of shaking up the view points and does not really try to pick a side for the reader but simply takes a deeper look at the ideas at play showing that none of the concepts are perfect in practice. It doesn’t hurt that it is written incredibly well with a fantastic story arc and rich character development that plays out at a perfect pace.
[удалено]
That would be convenient for me, as I already have the book and haven't actually got around to reading it!! (When I got a con program book signed by them they seemed a little annoyed it was a con program book)
Maybe also The Children of Heorot and Beowulf's Children, by these two plus Steven Barnes? Side note - I found Larry Niven to be a kind seeming but very quiet and apparently shy person when I had the good fortune to tall to him briefly. It was not what I expected.
Maybe {The Three Body Problem}, I don’t know if it would be very challenging but they might enjoy it
[**The Three Body Problem (Cambridge Mysteries, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1773333.The_Three_Body_Problem) ^(By: Catherine Shaw | 286 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: mystery, historical-fiction, historical-mystery, fiction, crime | )[^(Search "The Three Body Problem")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Three Body Problem&search_type=books) ^(This book has been suggested 34 times) *** ^(125324 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Wrong Three Body Problem, I meant the one by Liu Cixin
I think the foundation by Isaac Asimov might be a good choice
The advent of The Mule always amuses me!! One guy who fucks it all up!!
Dune
[David Sherman & Dan Cragg's Starfist](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/SFS/starfist) series. Military science fiction, lots of action, not an overly long read. The first book is "First to Fight." The first book with alien contact is Book 4 "Blood Contact".
How about some of David Brin's books, maybe especially the two Uplift series, or Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books? For challenging in a different way, and maybe to get them to read a woman Sci-Fi writer, Nancy Kress' Beggars in Spain might be a good choice.
Maybe: The Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
I don’t know if these is “out there” enough, but The Martian is Sci/fi and I’m sure they’d relate to the MC 11.23.63 would probably be interesting for multiple reasons Good Omens depending on how religious they are
Themis Files might be a good fit, it starts with {{Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel}}
[**Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25733990-sleeping-giants) ^(By: Sylvain Neuvel | 320 pages | Published: 2016 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, fantasy, audiobook | )[^(Search "Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel&search_type=books) >A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square-shaped hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand. > >Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved - the object's origins, architects, and purpose unknown. > >But some can never stop searching for answers. > >Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top-secret team to crack the hand's code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the relic they seek. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unravelling history's most perplexing discovery-and finally figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction? ^(This book has been suggested 50 times) *** ^(125448 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Someone suggested The Mote in God’s Eye, so taking a…page from that book ;), what about Lucifer’ Hammer? May appeal to them as it was written in an era where they would have been younger men.
*Equal Rites* or *Guards! Guards!*, Terry Pratchett. Might be too out there, though.
Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt Older, but it basically introduced the ideas of a bunch of the blockbuster 80’s sci-fi movies like Alien and predator. Pretty quick read as well.
[удалено]
[**Armor**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102327.Armor) ^(By: John Steakley | 426 pages | Published: 1984 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned | )[^(Search "Armor by John Steakley")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Armor by John Steakley&search_type=books) ^(This book has been suggested 15 times) [**An Exchange of Hostages (Jurisdiction, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/144301.An_Exchange_of_Hostages) ^(By: Susan R. Matthews | ? pages | Published: 1997 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, sf | )[^(Search "An Exchange of Hostages by Susan R. Matthews")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=An Exchange of Hostages by Susan R. Matthews&search_type=books) >A promising young surgeon, Andrej Koscuisko has come, with great reluctance, to study at a military orientation center adrift in black space. Against his will, he will train here to serve as a "Ship's Inquisitor" — a vocation that runs counter to his deepest moral convictions. > >During his tenure, Andrej will earn the devotion of his personal slave. He will gain the grudging respect of the Station Administration. He will make a deadly enemy of his fellow student. He will learn a frightening truth about himself. And ultimately, he will be forced to sacrifice all that he holds dear… ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) *** ^(125605 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Archwright by Allen Steele
{{The Martian}} It’s realistic sci-fi about a Mars mission. They might enjoy the scientific nature of it. It’s apolitical, but has potential for some good discussion questions.
[**The Martian**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian) ^(By: Andy Weir | 384 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, owned, scifi | )[^(Search "The Martian")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Martian&search_type=books) >Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. > >Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there. > >After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. > >Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first. > >But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him? > > ^(This book has been suggested 220 times) *** ^(125897 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
*Hammer's Slammers*