How do you find good books?

Mentions on podcasts or blogs, friends recommendations or I visit the bookstore and see if there's anything that I like.

@fredchuckdave: I don't think Nietzsche's work is particularly focused on religion. In his inquiries into the notions of power and consciousness, he criticized the judeo-christian philosophy of "those who suffer/are powerless are good", and turning weakness into accomplishment was the problem of modernity; and the way people of the past blindly accepted dogma in their evaluation of morals.

And the entire second part of your post is off-base. Read Descartes' Meditations or Kant, or Locke, or Hume. They often start from nothing and try to build from there. I don't think determinism and religion in general is a big issue in contemporary philosophy.

Honestly I just go into Waterstones and look at what they recommend and hope they're decent

@f00: Contemporary philosophy is meaningless, just as contemporary literature is meaningless (handful of exceptions like Cormac McCarthy); we won't know what the dominant thought pattern is until much later; probably after we're dead. Most art forms function in this fashion with only things that have a direct impact being influential in a short timespan like an exceptional military campaign or something like Michael Lewis' stuff (poorly written but extremely influential). Determinism is extremely all consuming as far as philosophy is concerned, though the futility of arguing against it has driven it to the background of most arguments it is still largely critical for understanding any basis of discussion for determining the purposefulness of most everything in the universe (i.e. Philosophy).

You also seem to be talking about Philosophy in terms of right and wrong ("off base"), which is absolutely the wrong way to approach it; Philosophy isn't something you learn linearly, it's very much open to interpretation. The vast majority of people who read Nietzsche when he was alive considered it to be extremely anti-religious, and in many ways the often ill-advised anti authority groups of people that subscribe to Nietzsche grossly oversimplify his meaning as well; but that doesn't mean either group can't or couldn't find value or counter-value in his writings.

How do I find good books?

Kindle samples. See if I like it. Keep my eyes peeled. Having people you can talk books with helps as well. Join a book club, or if you are a crazy person like me, MAKE ONE.

I work in a bookstore, so I get most of my recommendations at work. I try to read a healthy mix of "this is going to be on our chains top ten list for weeks" and "this might become a best seller if I like it and recommend it to enough people, but it's probably not mainstream enough".

If you want a recommendation from me, go read "The Man from Primrose Lane" by James Renner. It's pretty awesome.

Well, I got myself a card and went to my local library. Man that place is in bad shape. The selection is pretty poor and there's a lot of parts of series(though often not the beginning). They didn't have anything I had in mind when I went in there, and I'm not sure browsing is an effective strategy for me at this point. I ended up walking out with Slaughterhouse Five and a book of writings by Sartre, but I'll definitely need to do more research in the future. Hopefully I'll be able to get things shipped from other libraries or I'll have to either travel or order stuff from amazon.

As an aside, I've read things both on a kindle and a computer/laptop and I don't really care for it.

@fredchuckdave: You can be wrong about the way someone structures their writing... The rest of your post is snobbery, "nothing contemporary is important, except what I enjoy".

It doesn't matter when someone thought something. I can't argue with arrogance, just read the authors before you share your ignorance.

Ask a librarian! People who work with books often know what you might like if you give them examples of what you do like. If you don't like asking someone, go to the library and check the catalog for these reference books.

• Genreflecting: A Guide to Popular Reading Interests (Genreflecting Advisory Series)
• Make Mine a Mystery II: A Reader's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction (Genreflecting Advisory Series)
• Hooked on Horror: A Guide to Reading Interests in Horror Fiction (Genreflecting Advisory Series)
• Strictly Science Fiction: A Guide to Reading Interests (Genreflecting Advisory Series)
• Blood, Bedlam, Bullets, and Badguys: A Reader's Guide to Adventure/Suspense Fiction (Genreflecting Advisory Series)

If your library has an up to date online catalog, you just punch in a book you liked...below might be a description (if you are lucky) of similar books & series that you might like.

The nice thing about these new online library catalogs is they tell you WHY they think you might find the book interesting. That means you will likely have more luck finding out things that are similar in the way you want them to be similar.

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If you want more hands on and more reviews, go tohttps://www.goodreads.com/.

If you want just quick and dirty recommendations RIGHT F'ing NOW : WhatShouldIReadNext.com

Just enter the ISBN, Title, or Author and it will spit out a list of books. At the top will be the book you put in and some subjects... just choose what you are MOST looking for... it pares down the list. This is a fast automated and easy way.

@yi_orange: Good for you, I also much prefer reading an actual book to whatever electronic device of choice. Articles are fine online but hundreds of pages not so much.

I don't have time to read, but I have time to listen to audiobooks. Most of my recommendations came from there and it's pretty good. I'm enjoying Peter Clines books. 14 is a fun listen and his EX series is improving with each release.

I keep hearing good things about this Altered Carbon book that I just might have to give it a shot.

A really interesting read is the Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolf (Sword and Citadel - book 1; Claw of the Conciliator - book 2)

At times a little disjointed, it's a very strange read written in a most unusual way. Worth checking out.

I used to just spend hours with my family, in book stores. For me it was just looking at the cover and reading the back. Now I just go on amazon and see whats selling. Occasionally I'll look up an old author but, I really don't have any special way finding books. Of course I also just found books from people, magazines, posts like this, and etc. I think just going to a bookstore works best. Library's are cool to but, I like owning books more.

For book recommendations, Desolation Road by Ian McDonald is one of favorites for how strange and vivid its world is.

Give up books.

It's all about that Manga life. Your reading the wrong way and there are pictures!!!!! How could it get any more interesting?