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I recently had a book by Alfred Bester recommended to me and I was wondering if anyone here had read him and if so would you recommend him. If you like Bester what would you say are his best works.

The Demolished Man
The Stars My Destination

those were the two books that made his reputation...he wrote some short stories, then dropped out of SF for awhile...I think he did some script-writing during this time...he tried to make a comeback (I think with The Computer Conection), but he never regained the glory Demolished Man or Stars my Destination.brought.

Note that The Stars my Destination was also published as Tiger! Tiger!

all the above is from memory, if I have screwed up, someone please correct me.

Absolutely classics of the genre. You would never notice they were written in the 50s, they read so current. They are seminal works of the genre, and should be read by everyone with an interest in the field.

Were the newer books not as good or not as popular?

I haven't read the newer stuff so I can't say....but The Demolished Man and The Stars my Destination were just so darn good, and came so early, they were just impossible to follow...every thing after that HAD to be down-hill in comparison...even Babe Ruth couldn't hit a home-run every time at bat....

First half of The Demolished Man isn't good - ridiculous dialogues, lacking setting, and unmotivated behaviour. But the second half made it up for me. Here is my review

The Stars My Destination was very good.

I haven't read anything else from Bester - maybe a couple of short stories but I can't recall them.

Of him I've only read the 2 books already mentioned, and liked them both a lot. Of the two I prefer The stars my destination; I especially loved his depiction of a jaunte-enabled society. It's so full of ideas; I've read somewhere that Bester had many ideas in his short books while many current authors build a book (sometimes a doorstop) around a single one, and I have to agree.

I too know Alfred Bester from the two most-mentioned, The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination. An Aussie musician has just taken the latter title for his new album: . A classic in these parts.

Apparently I'm in the minority here but I read The Stars My Destination and aside from loving the concept of jaunting, I found the writing dated, the treatment of women dated and the protagonist was a jerk (there are better words to describe him but not as nice). Hopefully The Demolished Man will improve my opinion of Bester.

I have read both The Demolished Man and Stars My Destination. Looks like I am in the minority, but I prefer The Demolished Man by a lot. I love the language of that work. its use of sensory associations to convey the experience of being an esper is just great. The style makes it a fast-paced read, and almost forces you to imagine the scenes as a blurring confusing onslaught on all the senses - visual, auditory, even olfactory. I do not think I have ever read anything like this in SF. It has an almost poetic quality to it.

Stars My Destination, on the other hand, I did not really care much about. It seems like an attempt at a similar reading experience, but it does not work that well.