Fans pick 100 books like Never

I love this book because it turns the most impactful science discovery of the 21st century–CRISPR gene editing–into a page-turner. Isaacson combines a biography of Jennifer Doudna, who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Emmanuelle Charpentier, with lucid accounts of the science and sequence of research breakthroughs that underlie CRISPR editing, as well as the intrigues and jockeying among powerful scientists and personalities vying for prizes and patents on the technology.

I came through this book to appreciate the enormous potential of CRISPR gene editing for good (curing hereditary diseases) and not-so-good (designer babies or, in the words of Vladimir Putin, “a soldier, an individual who can fight without fear or compassion, mercy or pain”). CRISPR promises to make human selection as important as natural selection in the evolution of many species, including humans.

This book is the book that made me decide to become an author. I was always a voracious reader and crazy about all things technological—space exploration, airplanes, naval warfare, you name it. In my mind, there was no way anyone would want to read a book about my interests—until Tom Clancy showed it absolutely could be done and singlehandedly created a new genre of fiction with one book.

His research was so accurate that he was accused of spilling classified information about our submarine capabilities and tactics. But no, he was just an insurance agent from Owings, Maryland, who touched a 220-volt wire in my soul that made me decide, “Someday I’m going to do that, too!”

I enjoyed learning about religion from Dan Brown. I am not a religious person, so presenting so much research in a tightly bound thriller was an excellent way to keep me engaged and reading.

I came away from this book with a deeper psychological understanding of God and the devil.

Threats to our world are not limited to those created by despots, terrorists, and weapons of mass destruction.

Climate change and associated global warming may be the biggest threat as sea levels rise as polar ice melts, threatening coastal environments. Increases in sea temperature fuel ever larger and more powerful storms and weather systems. Donlay captures this threat in Category Five, Hurricane Helena is growing into the greatest storm ever recorded.

Eco-watch races to save the scientists who are studying the storm. This amazing thriller combines climate change with intrigue, suspense with death threats. Can they defuse a storm great than Category Five?

I first read this book not because of interest—in fact, I hadn’t read anything else by its author, Robert Ludlum. Instead, I read this novel because I had been told that my writing was like that of Ludlum’s.

And that is startlingly true. It was as if reading something I had forgotten having written but which was richer with a depth of ever-increasing emotional nuances than works of a comparable kind. It’s a compelling read.

Through a combination of unusual story elements and narrative style, this novel engages a reader in the main character’s journey to discover his forgotten identity. Although this isn’t an all-that-unusual aspect of story-telling, the espionage element makes it a singular literary experience. Over the course of the novel, I progressively felt as if I were spending time with a really awesome friend. And this is owed to, I think, the “slow burn” of empathy compelled… show more.

Being a great fan of Dostoevsky, I have reread all of his books but by far the most often—Demons. In 2020 only I have read it as many as three times while working on a special annotated Serbian edition of the novel that I have published myself.

I love it for many reasons, perhaps most importantly because it is a book full of ingenious paradoxes. It is, at the same time, Dostoevsky’s most tragic and most comical novel… Besides, the way the novel originated is in itself a superb story…

This book moved me at a time when the Irish question was still an open sore. It has a great but simple plot centered around the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Ex CIA agent, Osbourne is involved after his father-in-law is sent to the UK as Ambassador. With three atrocities carried out by protestants and a plot to assassinate the ambassador, the clock starts ticking. Osbourne faces his old enemy, Russian KGB killer October.

It is obvious that de Silva did a lot of research on the Irish situation, and I found the story very exciting as well as thought-provoking.

This book is so sprawling and insightful that it gave me a touch of delightful paranoia. It captured the era of the newly approved Patriot Act.

The story’s character’s think they are acting as solo agents but everything they do is now being scrutinized. This gave me a chance to see their real time and inner struggles as they wrestle with how to create both public and private lives. I was ready to wrap tinfoil over my head after finishing this one!

I love an all-action plot that does not rely on the action to sell the story. This is about artificial intelligence creation and a race to unlock its secret about a murder. There is lots of tech detail and the plot is well thought out.

I loved the fast pace of the story and the main character who is not so much a hero but an ex bad guy who O’Reilly creates beautifully. I do rate this very interesting story about Ai.

This novel is a masterclass in unreliable narration. It follows Will, a young man estranged from his family and religion, as he attends college and falls in love with Phoebe.

As Will takes over and narrates his recollections of their relationship, Phoebe’s friendship with a man named John Leal, and her inculcation into a religious cult, he becomes increasingly untrustworthy. Will rails against John Leal, his lies, and the damage he has done to Phoebe, revealing his complicity in toxic masculinity and his own harmful actions.

Kwon renders her characters as entirely believable, frightening people, in lyrical and considered prose.