I have two give two huge thumbs up to a few books on that list: * A Fire Upon the Deep - This book manages to capture both galaxy wide conflict and intense per

I have two give two huge thumbs up to a few books on that list: * A Fire Upon the Deep - This book manages to capture both galaxy wide conflict and intense personal narrative in a manner that kept me riveted to the end. That and an extremely unique type of alien life form that gains its personality based upon a telepathic summation of individual consciousness of it's members, made for some really interesting reading. * The Forever War - Take one part Starship Troopers (the book), add a dash of conscription and another of superluminal travel with full time dilation effects, and you end up with this superb novel. I've read it a few times already because it's so damned good and concise.