Books like Ageless — picked by fans

I love this book because it blends real science with an incredibly human story about survival and connection.

Andy Weir makes complex physics feel accessible, while still keeping the stakes intense and the pacing fast. What really stands out for me is the unexpected friendship at the heart of the story—it turns what could have been a solitary mission into something deeply emotional.

If you want a blend of fun science fiction serials from the earliest days of television mixed with everything you love about modern Doctor Who set in an entirely new setting that draws you in from the moment you start reading, this book is the one to do it. The author deftly weaves a fantastic story centered around an impossible decision and the only person who can make it, aptly capturing the struggle involved in making the worst choice ever.

I still remember where I was when I read this book so many years later. The only thing disappointing about it was that it ended in such a way that this reader thought it was over. Tom Merritt said, “No, I have one more.” Be glad he wrote Trigor because you will not want to be done when Pilot X ends. 

Do you know who Karel Čapek is? Did you know he invented the word robot? Do you love Norse mythology given to you with a twist? Well, The Life Engineered gives you robots modeled on Karel Čapek’s designs, a faster-than-light travel system you’ve probably never seen or heard of, and a civilization of robots (chapeks) modeled on Norse mythology trying to continue existing while waiting for the expected return of humans.

From the moment I started, I was learning new concepts and ways to imagine science-fiction norms like those described above. And that cover? So much humanity in a single picture of a robot. Read this book, and then go check out the sequel Arch-Android on Inkshares.com. The little science-fiction-loving kid in you will be very happy you did.

As a veteran forced to take part in military action I later regret deeply, this book haunts me. I have not been able to forget it. Nothing in this story is a throw-away moment. Everything matters. It is filled with familiar concepts and science-fiction/horror main-stays you will recognize. But all of that serves as the vehicle to the story of a war hero who didn’t want to be one because he didn’t believe he deserved it and is now running away from it all to hide in a “lighthouse” in space as far from war as he can hope to get.

It’s no surprise at all when the war shows up on his doorstep, and all the painstaking work done by the author up to that point pays off in the best way.

For years, I tinkered with the idea for a novel—a pair of researcher-adventurers hunting for possible cures in the jungles of Congo to sell to a pharmaceutical company trip onto a type of venom that creates long life. I never quite got it off the ground, partially because my agent at the time hated the idea.

Then I discovered James Rollins’ book. A scientific expedition went into the Amazon and never returned. Years later, one of its members stumbles out of the rainforest. A former Special Forces soldier, he had gone on the expedition with a missing arm and came out with two intact arms.

The government sends Nathan Rand into the Amazon to track the expedition—of which his father was a member—and possibly find what scientific mystery could regrow limbs.

Exotic locale—check. Scientific mystery—check. Adventure—check. Technology that could destroy the world—check! I’m there. I wish I’d written this one.

I love all aspects of the Spy Game, from the places, to books, to film, to the food, and (of course) the drinks, so where best to go to find that kind of info than in a great book like A Spy Walked Into A Bar…? 

I love the premise, the stories, and the how to make a drink. Put it all together, and you have not only a mixology but a captivating history of an “interesting” side of espionage.

Written by two senior CIA officers who know the business and what it takes to survive, which includes a cocktail once in a while. With this book, you can go into a bar and spot the spies or their targets… maybe.

Spy Tradecraft coupled with Spy Barcraft at its best. I’ll have a Talisker 18, double, straight up, in a cold glass, please!

Lawler, as a former CIA case officer, brings tremendous authenticity and verve to his spy novels, and The Traitor’s Tale is no different. 

I loved the fast-moving, vibrant plot, and I appreciated the characters, both the protagonists (especially Ambrose, Shawnee Chasing Hawk, and Gary Trichter). I enjoyed the intricate plot of espionage, recruitment, betrayal, a love story, and its finale. 

Lawler’s book appealed to me because it reveals the very human side of espionage, which, in the end, is about relationships between human beings—between intelligence officers and their agents/spies.

The book's subheading reads A Novel of the CIA. I would go further. This is ‘The Novel of the CIA,’ especially of the CIA between its founding and the early 1990s. It is a masterful combination of real and fictitious spies and covert operations.

The portrayal is so precise, the blending so seamless, that I found myself–and yes, I am supposedly an expert on this–double-checking whether certain operations had taken place. Nonfiction books on the CIA are one of my favorite things, but here, you experience the characters from much closer. I felt their desperation when operations collapsed, or agents were betrayed, or their elation after the rarer successes.

I felt the smoke in James Angleton’s room as he hunted for the missing mole; whether he managed to capture the mole or not will be for you to discover, but the book will stay with you both literally (it’s… show more.

McCarry has never had the wide acclaim that my first two picks have had, and that’s a shame.

The Tears of Autumn is set in late 1963. Kennedy has been assassinated, and Vietnam has come to a fast boil. McCarry’s protagonist, Paul Christopher, an introspective poet and burned-out spy, takes it upon himself to find out the truth behind the rumor that the Vietnamese were behind Kennedy’s killing.

It’s a novel that spans continents and provides professional insight into the motivation and temperament of the spy world. Like Le Carré, McCarry’s style is sparse, lean, and enthralling. In a world beset by conspiracy theories, disinformation, and fake news, The Tears of Autumn is superb.

Long before Edward Snowden there was Phillip Agee. A former CIA officer, Agee turned whistleblower, publishing this unauthorized account of his life undercover and exposing many of the “Company’s” operations in the process. Agee worked for the CIA in Ecuador, Uruguay, and Mexico. He claimed the turning point came in Uruguay where he listened to the beating of a political prisoner (whose name he had provided to the police) while the police chief turned up the volume of a soccer game on the radio. His matter-of-fact diary included a controversial appendix of agent and officer names and cryptonyms. Incensed at the endangerment of its assets, the CIA sued and pursued Agee, who fled the country and spent the rest of his life denouncing the tactics of his former employer.