curiosity is bugging me on those series since I read those 3 and love them.
First you might want to read another stand-alone novel called Ventus that I didn't mention. I talked to some people who have stopped reading it because it seemed too much like fantasy, but that isn't true, it is part of the story. If you keep reading you'll see what I mean, it is definitely worth it.
Other stand alone novels that are must-reads are Accelerando by Charles Stross, Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds and Diaspora by Greg Egan.
Regarding series I recommend you to start with Alastair Reynolds and the Revelation Space series. Here the same applies, it will become clear once you have read a few books that the story is much deeper than one would initially guess. The second book, Chasm City (one of my favorite books) is not directly connected to the series but is taking place in the same universe.
The next series of novels is definitely the Culture universe by Iain M. Banks. I would love to live in it!
And here comes a more subjective recommendation as many people won't like it. I recommend the Takeshi Kovacs novels by Richard Morgan. It is hard, dirty and the hero is not one of the good guys. The novels feature explicit and brutal torture scenarios that are only possible given advanced technology. One of the very benign scenarios is to leave someone in an unchanging and simple simulation without the need to eat and the ability to die and then hide the substrate somewhere where nobody will find it for a very long time. So you are warned.
There is much more but that should be enough for some time ;-)
The novels feature explicit and brutal torture scenarios that are only possible given advanced technology.
This is curious. I was attracted by this line. I bet some other people also were. Are there reasons we (Less Wrong/SF fandom folks) are interested in torture beyond S/M and sexual gratification? And beyond the reasons horror movies are popular in general, too, etc. That is, are there some explicitly geek reasons for being interested in torture?
[Also: Why on earth would anyone downvote this, unless they're karmassassinating me for recent below-average comments? Not angry or annoyed, just surprised.]
I have never read very much Science Fiction, unlike some of the people here on Less Wrong, and I think I would like to. At least, the few books I have read I enjoyed. I've read a couple of books from Asimov's Foundation Series, two Michael Crichton books, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, and an anthology of SciFi short stories (no really famous authors) that my dad owned.
That list looks very short. I just finished reading a fiction book, and am looking to start another. Recommendations? What are the two or three books I simply must read?