Books have been a very important part of my life. They have helped to form many of my opinions about life. My favorite genre is science fiction because of the questions they bring up and the stories they tell.  I also like to read novels on philosophy and am trying to find some good ones, so if you know of any, let me know.

The most influential, as well as my favorite, book I have read is Contact by Carl Sagan. Although I don't really believe the traditional sense of god, I do believe in a creator of some sort and the ideas in this book represent my thoughts better than anything else I have read, with the possible exception of Isaac Asimov's short story, "The Last Question," from the book Nine Tomorrows. These two stories represent the vast range of possible creations which could exist. They make you think and question your beliefs.

Some of my favorite authors are:

• Isaac Asimov - His Robot and Foundation series are just amazing
• Orson Scott Card - I loved the Ender series and am planning on reading more of his books
• J.R.R. Tolkien - No list is complete without the master of Fantasy
• Ray Bradbury - His short stories offer amazing worlds and manage to put you right into them
• Larry Niven - I read Ringworld and I was hooked.  His ideas in The Integral Trees sound even wilder, so that's my next book by him.
• Carl Sagan - Like I said, Contact is my favorite book.  He introduced the world to astronomy
• Arthur C. Clarke - Rama was awesome and I'm sure that 2001 will be to (when I finally read it).