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Lemmy World Rules

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In the mood for engineering / competence porn. What are your favourite novels / series? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world

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As an example, I love the Martian, and I think a lot of older books from authors like Asimov are heavily into engineering / competence porn. Other favs in this category include the standalone novel Rendezvous with Rama to leave you wishing for more, most of the Culture series for happy utopian vibes, Schlock Mercenary for humor, Dahak series for fun mindless popcorn.

Edit: I'm so happy to have found a replacement for r/books and the rest of them.

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[–] Mbourgon@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Several books in the League of Peoples series (start with Expendable) have this. Festina Ramos is competent AF without going into Mary Sue territory.

The Sten series (Allan Cole & Chris Bunch, military-ish sci-fi) has a fantastically competent lead.

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Huh, it's not often I get series recs that I've never even heard of before. Thanks, will check them out!

[–] Mbourgon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Sten is from the late 80s, Expendable from late 90s. :). And there’s a shaggy dog story in the Sten books that’s takes… 4 books, I think, to get the punchline. LOL.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't know of any other good books in this genre, but I will say that the Martian is probably my favorite book of all time. I read it several times a year just because I enjoy it that much and actually just got done reading it again for the first time in 2025 a couple of days ago.

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

Keep an eye on this post then, you might find something else to love as well :)

I'll throw out a couple more of my favs along these lines. Rendezvous with Rama (be aware there's no sequel to it), most of the Culture series for happy utopian vibes, Schlock Mercenary for humor, Dahak series for fun mindless popcorn.

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