Ship names needed

I read three of his books in the last three weeks. Amazingly good. Not quite as good as I had been led to believe, but amazing nonetheless. And to be fair, the 'Culture' has all the weird but cool ship names. And Shane...like Hot4 said, you must read them.

Now..imagine a space sim set in one of Banks' books...possible?

Okay... you've piqued my curiosity. If I could read only one, which would you recommend: Excession or Consider Phlebas.

Consider Phlebas, definitely. It's the fastest paced and makes a good introduction to the universe.

If you read CP and enjoy it, I suggest reading this short essay by Banks ( www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~stefan/culture.html ) before proceding with the other novels in chronological order. The sequence isn't particularly important - each novel is self-contained - but why not follow the author's train of thought?

Use of Weapons is a real treat, IMHO.