This guy deserves it. The Culture series is a fantastic work, I wish he could have finished it (he stated last year that he figured around 3 or 4 more books would cap the series). And, while I loved the Culture series, his other sci-fi was often as good, or better.<p>If you love sci-fi, and for some reason you haven't heard of this guy, do yourself a favor and read a couple of his books.