Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling.

I have 2 in mind.

• The Martian by Andy Weir
• Thieves Emporium by Max Hernandez (WARNING: sexual assult in chapter 10 but can be skipped)

Man's Search for Himself - Rollo May

Jurassic Park, A Song of Ice and Fire

Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, What If, Percy Jackson, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (all 5 books), Isaac Asimov's Robot series, It's not Rocket Science, The End of Everything.

The rise of red shadow and the series (book of deacon). Also angry ghosts trilogy.

All the King's Men. I like how the different characters grapple with what goodness is and what it means to implement it in the real world. Doesn't hurt that Penn Warren was also a poet, and his prose reflects that.

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

Looking for Alaska. Its not really my type of read, but I was recommended it a few times and I was hooked immediately

"Dark Star" and "Night Soldiers" by Alan Furst. Both are about Soviet spies in the run up to World War 2. Great combination of atmosphere and action.

Stranger in a Strange Land. Read that many times.

Behave by Robert Sapolsky. It's an excellent book if you're trying to understand why the people around you are like.. well, that way. But if you didn't study neuroscience, you'll likely have to re-read it to get at least the most important points to stick.

Dean Koontz: “Phantoms” and “Sole Survivor”.

Sentenced to Prism by Alan Dean Foster. It's set in his wider universe, but is a stand alone. The main character is a jack of all trades that fixes unique situations. When a far off base on an unregistered planet stops responding, the corporation sends him in to figure out what went wrong. The planet is very, very different. It's an interesting take, don't think too hard about the physics, and it's a neat writing style. The characters are very interesting.

The Practice Effect by David Brin. Essentially, the more you use a thing, the better it gets at that thing, even if that's not what it was made for, but that effect decays if it's left unused. A modern day physicist is transported there and gets caught up in political and physics shenanigans.

Freedom^tm by Daniel Suarez

Ray Bradury's "From the Dust Returned".

It keeps getting more relevant, as I age and understand the world a bit more.