[prestia]

I'll definitely give this one a read soon. I'm currently reading The Mote in God's Eye, which is another book that explores first contact with an alien race. I have a long ways to go, but I'm really enjoying it so far. Give Mote a shot if this sort of subject matter interests you.

[michaelbuckbee]

You might also want to checkout Accellerando by Charlie Stross. It has some really interesting notions of building businesses and future craziness in it as well.

[dochtman]

I really like all of Charlie's books. The Laundry books are definitely different; closer to fantasy in fact, but still nicely in touch with hacker mentality.