[deadA1ias]

For anyone who has not yet read of the books from The Culture series, I highly encourage you to do so. They are an amazing - agnostic - version of what our far future selves could be. Iain M. Banks had quite the mind (no pun intended).

[Flemlord]

Yes, great books! I recommend starting with 'The Player of Games', not the first book in the series but the best. They are only loosely connected, you won't miss anything.

[kristianp]

I started on 'Consider Phlebas', the first book in the series. I recommend starting with that, it's a great book, perhaps not as accessible as 'Player of Games', but more wow-factor.

[notatoad]

Agreed on starting with "Player of Games". The culture books are great, but some of them arent exactly what what you'd call accessible.

[bpizzi]

While 'Excession' being the most complex to me. But gosh, how I enjoyed it.

[godelmachine]

I remember an articles from The Economist that said the same thing