Don Foreman wrote:
On Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:33:38 -0500, Ignoramus967
wrote:

On 2010-06-09, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
See if your library has some availible as 'ebooks'. A lot of books
are availible that way, rather than in printed form. Also, their card
catalog should be availible online and show which branch has which books
on their shelves.

If you want any of the classics, try http://www.gutenberg.org. The
baen free library http://www.baen.com/library has some free science
fiction books, too.
I like the science fiction idea. SF books have better English than a
typical "diary of poop" kids' book. And SF can possibly appeal to his
imagination.

i

Sci Fi is good, but there are also some very good adventure stories
for boys. Let him browse and discover for himself.

Or?

Just go straight to Larry Niven / Jerry Pournelle

Lucifer's Hammer or The Mote in God's Eye.
(or the Man-Kizn Wars series of short stories and novellas)
Not just good scfi, but good literature as well.

Also highly recommended:
Patrick O'Brian's 21 volume series of Aubrey/Maturin
in the days of Iron Men and Wooden Ships.
The movie Master and Commander was taken from these.

Dewey Lambden also did a series in this genre and is excellent
although hard to find.

I blame that, like O'Brian's work, on centralized buyers.
It took them 20 years to figure out what shelf to put O'Brian on.
Is it Adverture?, Historical Fiction?, Literature?

Maybe in another 20 we'll see Lambden on the shelves too.



--

Richard Lamb