BOOKS TO INFLUENCE YOUNG ADULT MALES(12-15 or so) TO READ
Discover gripping books to influence young adult males (ages 12-15) to read, featuring sci-fi classics and action-packed fiction. From Isaac Asimov's *I, Robot* and Robert Heinlein's *The Star Beast* to David Weber's *On Basilisk Station* and Newt Gingrich's *Pearl Harbor*, this curated list hooks reluctant teen readers with adventure, military strategy, and thought-provoking tales.
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The Star Beast
by Robert Anson Heinlein
Lummox had been the Stuart family pet for years. Though far from cuddly and rather large, it had always been obedient and docile. Except, that is, for the time it had eaten the secondhand Buick . . . But now, all of a sudden and without explanation, Lummox had begun chomping down on a variety of things -- not least, a very mean dog and a cage of virtually indestructible steel. Incredible! John Thomas and Lummox were soon in awfully hot water, and they didn't know how to get out. And neither one really understood just how bad things were -- or how bad the situation could get -- until some space voyagers appeared and turned a far-from-ordinary family problem into an extraordinary confrontation.
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The Guns of the South
by Harry Turtledove
"It is absolutely unique--without question the most fascinating Civil War novel I have ever read." Professor James M. McPherson Pultizer Prize-winning BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM January 1864--General Robert E. Lee faces defeat. The Army of Northern Virginia is ragged and ill-equpped. Gettysburg has broken the back of the Confederacy and decimated its manpower. Then, Andries Rhoodie, a strange man with an unplaceable accent, approaches Lee with an extraordinary offer. Rhoodie demonstrates an amazing rifle: Its rate of fire is incredible, its lethal efficiency breathtaking--and Rhoodie guarantees unlimited quantitites to the Confederates. The name of the weapon is the AK-47.... Selected by the Science Fiction Book Club A Main Selection of the Military Book Club
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Pearl Harbor
by Newt Gingrich
This powerful saga covers the heroic highs and horrifying lows of America's darkest day—from the White House to the Wheeler Army Air Field, from top-brass military officers, national leaders, and admirals to the ordinary citizens caught in the chaos of war. Compelling and meticulously researched, this novel of valor stretches from the chambers of the Emperor of Japan all the way back to the lonely office of Commander James Watson, an American cryptographer who suspects the impending catastrophic attack. A story of intrigue, double-dealing, the brutality of war, and the desperate efforts by men of reason on both sides to prevent a titanic struggle that becomes inevitable, Pearl Harbor from bestselling author Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen inaugurates the dramatic new Pacific War series—one that entertains as well as informs—from two masters of the genre.
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I, Robot
by Isaac Asimov
This classic science fiction masterwork by Isaac Asimov weaves stories about robots, humanity, and the deep questions of existence into a novel of shocking intelligence and heart. “A must-read for science-fiction buffs and literature enjoyers alike.”—The Guardian I, Robot, the first and most widely read book in Asimov’s Robot series, forever changed the world’s perception of artificial intelligence. Here are stories of robots gone mad, of mind-reading robots, and robots with a sense of humor. Of robot politicians, and robots who secretly run the world—all told with the dramatic blend of science fact and science fiction that has become Asimov’s trademark. The Three Laws of Robotics: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. With these three, simple directives, Isaac Asimov formulated the laws governing robots’ behavior. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot from its primitive origins in the present to its ultimate perfection in the not-so-distant future—a future in which humanity itself may be rendered obsolete. “Tremendously exciting and entertaining . . . Asimov dramatizes an interesting question: How can we live with machines that, generation by generation, grow more intelligent than their creators and not eventually clash with our own invention?”—The Chicago Tribune
