1. OsamaK: What's the best book you have ever read?

RMS: I can't remember now all the books I have read and loved. And even if I could, I would not be able to pick one to call it best.

If you like fairly hard Science Fiction with a big vision, I recommend A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge, and Diaspora, by Greg Egan. If you like something a little less hard, I recommend The Jehovah Contract by Victor Koman. If you like detective fiction, I recommend Laura King's books about Mary Russell, starting with The Beekeeper's Apprentice, and Steve Saylor's Roman mysteries about Gordianus the Finder.

In other areas of fiction, I have enjoyed Jane Austen and Paul Auster, Lewis Carroll and Edgar Allen Poe, among others. In Spanish, Jorge Luis Borges, Arturo PÃrez Reverte (especially La Carta EsfÃrica and El Club Dumas), and Alejandro Dolina.

If you are interested in linguistics, I recommend The Origin of Language by Merrit Ruhlen.

A few suggestions in history and anthropology:

Burning Water Laurette SÃjournà Popol Vuh Translated by Dennis Tedlock Lords of Sipan Kirkpatrick Courtesans and Fishcakes James Davidson Life and Death in Shanghai Nien Cheng Buddhism in India Gail Omvedt also her biography of Dr. Ambedkar, leader of the Dalits A Vietcong Memoir Truong Nhu Tang The Forbidden Bestsellers of Pre-Revolutionary France Robert Darnton

It is interesting to compare these two: Marquesan Sexual Behavior Suggs The Fateful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead Derek Freeman (I.e., the Samoan girls lied to Mead, claiming a life style which in fact is rather Marquesan than Samoan.)

If you buy some of these books, or any books, I recommend yu do it in a way that doesn't identify you to Big Brother. Pay cash, in a store.

For the sake of your friendships, please don't get a copy with digital handcuffs (DRM, Digital Restrictions Management). See DefectiveByDesign.org for more explanation.

In particular, don't buy them from Amazon unless/until Amazon gives you a way to buy anonymously and without DRM.