Free Republic

Science fiction and fantasy offer a rich legacy of great books--but that abundant pile of reading material can also be daunting. So sometimes, it's easier to fake it. We asked some of our favorite writers, and they told us the 10 books that everyone pretends to have read. And why you should actually read them. From Asimov to Pynchon, science fiction contains some fantastic, ambitious works of genre fiction. But a lot of us get overwhelmed. And it's not that hard to fake a first-hand knowledge of these books, because they're everywhere, and we've heard people talk about them so...

Europe - AP Austrian Flies Across English Channel Thu Jul 31, 4:11 PM ET CALAIS, France - An Austrian specializing in daring stunt jumps donned a carbon fiber wing and flew across the English Channel on Thursday after being dropped from a plane. Felix Baumgartner made the 34-kilometer (21-mile) trip in 14 minutes, according to Sarah Christofi, his spokeswoman. "It's very cold up there," the 34-year-old Austrian said upon landing at Cap Blanc-Nez, near the Channel port of Calais. "I still can feel nothing." Baumgartner, fitted out with a parachute, was lofted from an airplane some 9,144 meters (30,000 feet)...