If you like SciFi, I really recommend Ian M. Banks and his Culture Series. Here is a link to the "first" in the series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consider_P

If you like SciFi, I really recommend Ian M. Banks and his Culture Series. Here is a link to the "first" in the series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consider_Phlebas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consider_Phlebas Basically to give you a flavour, imagine a utopian society where energy is basically free and run by super intelligent benevolent AIs. So basically the citizens have nothing to do but live a completely hedonistic life. Whenever they encounter "primitive" societies, they try to make them more human and civilized. Basically the opposite of the "prime directive". The organization responsible for that is called Contact. Unfortunately, in order to make these societies more humane they sometimes have to resort to some dirty tricks (like assassinating evil dictators, instigating civil wars, etc etc). The organization responsible for that is called "Special Circumstances". Another author I find great is Sheri Tepper. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper SciFi with a feminist bent. Examples are Grass / and the Margarets. If you want something more acid, anything by Victor Pelevin. Buddha's little finger is brilliant.