[kijin]

If you're into social issues, Ursula Le Guin wrote several novels that combine sci-fi with social and political philosophy in a package that feels somewhat non-fiction-y. My favorite are The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Meanwhile, a more recent novel of hers, Lavinia, is a fascinating reinterpretation of ancient Roman epic fantasy.

Margaret Atwood is another author who doesn't get mentioned a lot around here but whose works of SF(she prefers "speculative fiction" to "sci-fi") I've enjoyed a lot. Her MaddAddam trilogy is weird but entertaining. You'll probably either love it or hate it. Many of her other works focus on issues of sex and gender in various past and future settings, some fictional, some historical.

Of course, I as well as a lot of other commenters in this thread are assuming that you'll be into sci-fi and fantasy, because that's what most computer geeks like. But even if you aren't a sci-fi fan, Le Guin and Atwood aren't typical sci-fi, so you might find them interesting anyhow.

[mordant]

>If you're into left-wing politics, Ursula Le Guin wrote several novels that combine sci-fi with left-wing preachiness in a package that feels extremely overbearing. My favorite are The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Meanwhile, a more recent novel of hers, Lavinia, is an SJWish mockery of ancient Roman epic fantasy.

>Margaret Atwood is another author who doesn't get mentioned a lot around here but whose works of SF(she prefers "speculative fiction" to "sci-fi") I've enjoyed a lot. Her MaddAddam trilogy is weird and preachy. You'll probably hate it. Her other works focus on SJW ranting about issues of sex and gender in various past and future settings, some fictional, some historical.

>Of course, I as well as a lot of other commenters in this thread are assuming that you'll be into ham-handed left-wing message fiction, because that's what we like.

>Le Guin and Atwood are typical ur-SJWs, so you might find them pretentious and tendentious.

FTFY.

[kijin]

Thanks for the chuckle, but if Le Guin and Atwood sound SJWish to you, I think you and I have very different definitions of what it means to be SJWish. They are the last two people I can imagine who would agree to the blatant censorship that is taking place in today's academic and literary circles in the name of SJWish-ness.

The Dispossessed does get preachy, as does the MaddAddam trilogy, but only because their worlds are chock full of preachy people, each with their own stash of dirty laundry. That's kinda the point that those books are trying to make. I would read them any day over some blogger trying to be preachy about the One True Javascript Framework.

So how about I tolerate the anarcho-capitalist stuff that some of the other suggestions not-so-subtly drool all over, and you tolerate a bit of preaching in the other direction.