A couple of notes before we get started today.

Number one, thank you so much for 100,000 subscribers.

We hit that milestone on Tuesday of this week,

and it's just absolutely insane.

I can't really think of words to say right now.

However, there will be a proper

100,000 subscriber bonus video coming.

This is not it.

The other thing I want to say

is that I'm veering a little bit off course

from my original planned schedule,

because in last week's video on public speaking

I said the next video will be on presentations.

Because I'll be flying out to Vermont next Wednesday

to give a presentation of my own,

I haven't had enough time to really put

the quality and preparation into that video that I want

and that I think you guys deserve.

So I'm going to put that one off a little bit.

I'm going to get through that presentation.

Today I still wanted to release something,

so I thought it would be fun to go through

10 of my favorite fiction books.

This is ostensibly a top 10 list.

I know the top three at least are my top three,

and the rest of them are sort of

maybe in dubious order.

But these are things that I really enjoyed reading

and I hope maybe you can find something

that you'll enjoy as well on this list.

Now, a couple of ground rules before we get started.

Number one, I have not included graphic novels,

because I could probably fill an entire list

with graphic novels on another day.

And number two, no two books from the same series.

I'm not saying the same author is off limits,

but the same series is.

Now, that being said, let's get started with number 10,

which is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

Just to let you know, I am very agnostic

when it comes to the format of books I read.

I like Kindle books.

I like physical books.

And I like audio books.

So if I don't own the physical edition,

I'm just going to pop a picture up right here like this.

Snow Crash is on the list because

I absolutely love Stephenson's writing

and I love cyberpunk fiction.

This is the book that actually coined the term "avatar"

in cyberspace terms.

I really enjoyed it.

There's one other Stephenson book that I've read so far

that I like more, which is coming up in the list,

but I highly recommend this book

if you like cyberpunk fiction at all.

Number nine on my list is Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline.

Now this is a book that didn't really change my life

or teach me any big lessons or anything,

but I just absolutely enjoyed listening to it.

It's a book about basically virtual reality,

a kid who goes into a huge virtual reality world,

and there's all these '80s video game

and movie and music references.

Even though I wasn't born in the '80s,

a lot of it was stuff I watched growing up as a kid.

It was just super cool to basically nerd out

while listening to this book.

I did listen to it.

I will recommend the audiobook version of this book.

While I usually like to create the character voices

in my head and narrate my own way,

I really liked Will Wheaton's narration of this book.

Will Wheaton's amazing in general,

and his narration of this book is great.

Definitely check it out.

Read it either way, but I love the audiobook version.

Book number eight is The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.

You're probably getting a little bit of a sci fi vibe here,

and yes, the majority of my favorite fiction

is sci fi and fantasy.

But I absolutely loved this book.

It has a lot of themes about free will

and actually made me think a lot.

My friend Martin, who was actually my roommate,

recommended this book to me,

and I believe it is his favorite book.

Didn't really top the favorite list for me,

but I did enjoy it a lot, so it makes this list.

Book number seven is Ender's Shadow,

yes Shadow, not Game.

I absolutely love Ender's Game.

It's also one of my favorite books.

However, I thought Shadow was a little bit

more compelling because it tells the story

from Bean's perspective instead of Ender's.

There's a little bit more grittiness to it.

There's a little bit more of the tactical,

nitty gritty details of how they win the battles,

and I really liked seeing his perspective,

and also that secondary perspective opened up

a lot of new perspective on Ender's thoughts.

So definitely check it out if you haven't read it.

But I would recommend reading Ender's Game first.

Book number six is the Desert Spear by Peter Brett.

Now this book is part of a series

called The Demon Cycle,

and there are currently four books out right now.

I've read all four and I'm eagerly awaiting the fifth one,

which I believe should be the conclusion of the series.

Basically it's a story about these demons

who come up at night, and they're basically invincible

and unkillable to all the humans, until ...

Well, you'll just have to read what happens.

But it's pretty darn cool.

This is the one book on my list that I like

better than the original start of the series.

I absolutely love the first one,

which is called The Warded Man,

or The Painted Man, depending on where you live.

But The Desert Spear has a much more interesting

setting, in my opinion, and some cooler relationships

that are built along its storyline.

Definitely recommend the entire series,

but the second one is my favorite so far.

Book number five I actually own in print,

and it is Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

Now, I'm going to go on a limb here and say

that the entire Mistborn series,

at least the first three books,

are my favorite in the number five category.

I just arbitrarily picked the first one,

because I think I love all three equally.

But the reason I like Mistborn so much

is, number one, it's just a great fantasy series.

But number two, the magic system

is so well thought out,

and it's actually got limitations and hard rules.

I think that makes for more interesting

character interactions and situations

than more arbitrary just whiz bang magic systems

like more Tolkien-esque fiction will have.

That's why I love them.

I also note that there is a new series of Mistborn books

called The Wax and Wayne Trilogy,

which there are two of those out currently,

and those ones are usually shorter.

I think they're like half -

each one's is like half the length

of a normal Mistborn book.

But they're also really great fun to read.

So I'd recommend basically everything in the Mistborn series

and pretty much everything Brandon Sanderson

has wrote is great.

Book number four is The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson,

and yes, this is the second recommendation

from Neal Stephenson on this list.

Over on my bookshelf right there I have

pretty much every other book Neal Stephenson

has written since then, except for Seven Eves,

which is his newest one.

I have yet to get through those ones because,

well, reading can be tough when you run a business.

But I did get through both Snow Crash and Diamond Age.

I think I liked The Diamond Age a little bit more,

probably because of the character interactions,

but also because his mixture of the cyperpunk,

ridibulous future nanotech setting,

mixed with a resurgence of Victorian fashion and ideals,

was just awesome.

Everything Neal Stephenson dreams up in that head of his

is just super cool to read about.

Now, this was another one that I did

in audiobook format.

I'm not sure if the audiobook version was as compelling

as the Will Wheaton narration of Ready Player One,

but I really did like it.

So if you're into audiobooks, I would recommend

the audiobook version of this.

Though if you're not, reading it would be cool, too.

Book number three on this list?

Well, if you've been drawing conclusions

about my taste based on the other books on this list,

you've probably been wondering

if this one's going to come up, and yes,

it is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

I absolutely love this book.

This was recommended to me on a whim

from my friend Carly.

I read nothing about it going in.

Honestly, I think that's the best

book-reading experience you can have.

I like just taking things on blind recommendation

if they are good.

I got lucky with this one because

it is absolutely amazing.

Like Mistborn, it has incredibly well thought out

magic system with physical properties and limitations.

But also, I just like the characterization

a little bit more than the characters in Mistborn,

and that's why this book gets a little bit higher

spot on the list from me.

All right, moving on to the penultimate pick on this list,

and this might be where any dislikes

for this video comes from, because my pick for number two

is Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality,

which is a fan fiction, yes.

Now, this fan fiction story was written by

an artificial intelligence researcher

named Eliezer Yudkowsky, who's also written a lot

on rationality and critical thinking.

This book is basically his attempt

at teaching rationality and critical thinking

without you really realizing it.

This book basically imagines a universe

where Harry Potter, instead of just being

a normal 11-year-old boy,

is essentially a genius who thinks through

everything rationally and like a scientist.

What I love about this book is

all the other characters are adjusted to match Harry.

So it's not like he's just going through

and having an easy time of everything.

All the other characters are much smarter.

If you like things like Sherlock or Death Note,

or more rational, cerebral pieces of fiction,

then I think you'll really enjoy this.

I'm not going to say you're going to

enjoy it more than cannon.

I personally do, but I don't want to say

that it's better than cannon,

because obviously it builds upon

already excellent foundation of story and setting

and characters that J.K. Rowling has built.

I absolutely love the cannon.

But for me, I think I enjoyed MOR

a little bit more.

Also, it got me into reading about rationality

and reading about critical thinking skills,

and heuristics, and biases, and things

that have made me a better thinker.

This is one of those rare pieces of fiction

that has made a tangible change in my life,

and that's why it gets such a high place on this list.

But it's not in the top pick, because that one is

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, of course.

Now, if you've read the About section on my YouTube channel

or any of the pages on my website,

you've probably noticed the references to this book,