Take the Red Book

The latest issue of Wired has an article by Clive Thompson titled, Take the Red Book. The article, available on Mr. Thompson's web site struck a chord with me. I have not been a big reader of SciFi, but I've noticed that over the last couple years, I've been reading less fiction, and amazingly (to myself), a lot of non-fiction. I think his article resonated because I realized that I have been a bit bored with some of the fiction as well. Further, his article got me to read Cory Doctorow's, After the Siege, which is a great short story. It is also not crazy out-there SciFi.

I've read William Gibson's two latest books, er, scratch that, I'm still in the middle of his latest, and honestly, I don't think I'll finish it. Granted, these are a departure for him, and are not SciFi, but IMHO, aren't that good. I liked some of his earlier work, and I know he's highly regarded, but a lot of it was just too far out there, too much tech. I've read Snow Crash, various Heinlein, Asimov, Douglas Adams, etc. And actually, while I haven't read all of his works, Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather is an absolute favorite, that was right up my alley. And now, having read After the Siege, and based on the Take the Red Book article, I'm thinking I need to get back to some SciFi, and just try some different authors. Recommendations?