The Algebraist is my favourite Iain M. Banks book too - the breadth of imagination in it is amazing I think Surface Detail is my favourite Culture novel. Many

The Algebraist is my favourite Iain M. Banks book too - the breadth of imagination in it is amazing I think Surface Detail is my favourite Culture novel. Many Iain Banks books (regular fiction as well as sci-fi) are really just wish-fulfillment stories, but they're so stylish and fun to read that I love them (plus there's usually at least one very insightful rant by a minor character to be found in nearly every book)