My favorite one of these unconscious linguistic rules is expletive infixation. We say “fan-fucking-tastic” but “fanta-fucking-stic” sounds completely wrong.

It is a virtual certainty that at some point a meteor large enough to wipe out all multicellular life on the planet will strike the Earth. It is an absolute certainty that the Sun will eventually burn out leaving the planet uninhabitable. Something else might wipe out our species long before either of these things happen, but it’s not a bad idea to have another inhabited planet or two as a backups.

Along the same lines as Discworld and Hitchhikers Guide, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The Amazon tv adaptation is excellent as well.

“The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” is what I always recommend from Heinlein. I feel like this one in particular has stood up conceptually and thematically over time. AI, space colonialism, predatory capitalism, class revolution. It all feels very relevant.

Give the Taiwanese people Alabama and move them there. Then give China an empty island