Did you hear this story: Descartes and two friends went into a bar. The first two asked for beer, so the bartender turned to Descartes and asked him, "Do you want a beer too?" Descartes said, "I think not." And he disappeared.

The most interesting book I've read lately is "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy.

This thread is giving me a list to read myself, so thanks for starting it Spindown.

In fiction I suggest The Misplaced Legion, by Turtledove - first of a series I really really liked. A Roman legion is fighting in Gaul, but when its leader and the leader of the Gauls cross runic swords, the lot are transported to the word of Videssos, where they must learn to mingle, stay Roman and fight the way Romans do, and survive.

In non-fiction, Richard and John: Kings at War - a very readable history of Richard the Lionheart and his brother John, including the events leading up to Magna Carta. I enjoyed the anecdote about William Marshal, who once tried to settle a dispute between his king and an enemy by offering single combat to anyone on the opposing side. There were no takers because everyone knew he would beat them. So Marshal offered to fight any three at once, and still no one accepted. Then he said he would cut off one finger and let it bleed during the fight. Still no one wanted any part of him, so the dispute continued.

Best of luck!

I'm gonna jot that down for future reference, i'm intrigued by your description.

Snow Crash and The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.

First of all, you people are awesome for making this a really interesting thread. I didn't expect so many answers, and thanks to your quality contributions, I learned about many interesting books that I wouldn't have heard of otherwise.

To those saying that I didn't give you enough information about what I'm interested in, that was precisely the idea because I didn't want to influence you too much. In any case, I've recently been reading mostly about political history and economics, in particular the Cold War and the recent financial crisis. I'm going to submit a few reading recommendations myself soon, I hope.

I also realized that I can't possibly decide who gave the best recommendation. There are just too many good ones. So I'm going to hold a random draw in a few hours among all the people who participated so far.

I hope that this thread will keep going for a little longer. To support this and to say "thank you", I've decided that I'm going to give away a second GOG in a couple of days to another participant.

Nonfiction:

1491 by Charles C. Mann: Already mentioned I believe and I will have to second it. Mann manages to cover a very broad topic in a well researched manner and yet makes the book accessible to those who do not have a degree in history, archeology or anthropology.

Collapse by Jared Diamond: This is his follow up to Guns, Germs and Steel and is his analysis as to why certain cultures, such as the Polynesians on Easter Island, failed.

Fiction:

Perdido Street Station by China Mielville: Already mentioned once, but seconded. He really makes you feel like are in New Crobuzon every time you pick up the book.

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks: Its a story about an assassin in training. Fast paced writing style.

Is it simply a single independent short story? or party of a bigger series?
I don't read much outside of Fantasy novels, so it might be easier to get into for a reader like me.

I would suggest - Jack Chalker's four book series - The Four Lord's of the Diamond:

Lilith: A Snake in the Grass
Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate
Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail

The Confederacy, a massive space empire, duplicates the personality of its best agent and implants it into four brain-dead hosts. These hosts are sent to the four planets of a penal colony, the Warden Diamond, to investigate an alien threat and assasinate the four lords of the planets, the "Four Lords of the Diamond." The original agent is on a picket ship and downloads information from his copies.

I hope you enjoy them.

OP might not be interested but if you like epic, multiple perspective fantasy it does not get any more epic than The Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
Repeat: if you like it big and grand, you must read.
The second book was written a long time after the first so there is a significant difference but the story definitely picks up. Author finished last year at 10 or 11 books.

Here is one more: Carnage and Culture, by Hanson - very good analysis of some of the major battles of history. You haven't read a book like this before unless you have read THIS book.

Anything by Johnathan Carroll. Very weird stuff. All his books take place in a modern day setting but with weird events going on around the characters. One of my favorites is Land Of Laughs where man visits a town filled with the characters from a storybook he read. Bones of the Moon is good, too. It's about a woman who lives in two worlds. Modern times by day and a fantasy world by night. The fantasy world begins to seep into the real world, however.

I would also highly recommend Christopher Moore's novels. They are some of the funniest books I have ever read. My personal favorites are Lamb, which is a retelling of the story of Jesus through the eyes of his childhood friend, and Fool which is about the Pocket, the Jester from King Lear.

My descriptions don't really do any of these books justice, but they are all great.

EDIT: I forgot to mention Confederacy of Dunces, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and anything by Kurt Vonnegut if you are into hilarity.

Right now I spend most of my time reading contemporary plays and poetry, so I'll spare you that and recommend a piece of non-fiction (your stated preference anyway).

I did a search through the thread and didn't see anyone suggest Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers.

It's a book that delves into the metrics of what creates greatness--often undermining the notion of the wunderkind. There's great statistical analysis of the time it often takes to see true greatness blossom (10,000 hours or more). There is also an amazing collection of trivia and history used as anecdotal representations of the facts presented. It's not only a great way to look at greatness as a product of hard work (with a reasonable means of prediction), but also of greatness as the extension of social construction and affluence.

http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922

Good luck.