That's the thing I like about the culture series though. They're all pretty self-contained with only one exception (that I'm not going to include because it's a

That's the thing I like about the culture series though. They're all pretty self-contained with only one exception (that I'm not going to include because it's a pretty major spoiler in The Use of Weapons and Surface Detail), I think. I can't think of any reason you can't just read one and be fine. >Banks' output is pretty uneven in quality, and some of his work is very formulaic. I'll fight you. All joking aside - so for sci-fi or hard sci-fi, who/what do you suggest? I love getting recommendations from people for this genre.