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Greg Egan and Iain M Banks don't seem to have equals. Greg's stuff is incredibly hard (in both ways: he says to use a pencil and paper while reading). Iain's stuff is ... uplifting, but still coherent. It's not hard, but it still feels coherent somehow (unlike some books that just start making up weird shit just to put the "fi" in scifi).

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My first exposure to Banks was The Wasp Factory, which remains one of the only books that has ever literally nauseated me. It was excellent, but it's been hard for me to pick up another book of his since.

Oh, actually I did read The Business, which introduced me to the delightful question "how do you count to 1000 on your fingers?" (without using 'intermediate storage' like keeping track of 10's in your head). I still use that when teaching elementary number theory.

That means you are in the lucky situation of not having read Use of Weapons yet - I'm jealous. It really is very very good!

Is that your recommended entrée into the Culture universe?

No, my advice would be to read the in order of publication.

No - definitely not. I would recommend publication order.

I think that "The Wasp Factory" is by far his best book. Sometimes unsettling but a great short read.

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