What was the book Nikki's dad was reading in the hotel (?) when Jessica came and attacked him? I saw Kurt Vonnegut but could not tell which book it was.

Looked like Breakfast of Champions to me.

It is definitely a Vonnegut book, and based on the style of the cover by that particular publisher I would say it is "Cat's Cradle" or "Jailbird." I haven't read "Jailbird" my self but "Cat's Cradle" makes sense to me, not so much for what the title would make you think of, that too is appropriate, but that it deals with the end of the world (in a sense.)

it had like 5 words in the title

I'm 95% sure that it was "The Sirens of Titan". A lesser known book by KV, but still an awesome one.

Wiki

Notice the cover most of the way down?

From the wiki...

The protagonist is Malachi Constant, originally of Hollywood, California, and the richest man in 22nd century America. He possesses extraordinary luck, which he has used to build upon his father's fortune, but he has done nothing else significant with his life. He becomes the centerpoint of a journey that takes him from Earth to Mars in preparation for an interplanetary war, to Mercury with another Martian survivor of that war, back to Earth to be pilloried as a sign of God's displeasure, and finally to Saturn's moon Titan to meet the man responsible for his respective good fortunes (or lack thereof), Winston Niles Rumfoord.

Awesome book. Not sure how it's related.

Could be a book that one of the writers loved to read or something? I think its way too inconspicuous to be significant to the plot.. but who knows

Hal is reading “The Sirens of the Titans” by Kurt Vonegut Jr. in his hotel room when Jessica pays a visit. This book is highly insightful and Vonegut shows us that "life is governed by accidents rather than the will of divinity; that the concept of "hell" is hideous and wrong; that humans are capable both of great kindness and great depravity; that irony seems to rule the universe with an iron fist." More true when we see what happens to Hiro and Charlie!

There is also a character in the Sirens of Titan (Rumfoord) who has ruptured the space-time continuum. Rumfoord has a "wave-like" type of existence (like quantum mechanics) where he appears periodically at different places with all knowledge of past and future events with no ability to control or change what happens.

In a way, that's a bit analogous to what Hiro learns this episode -- that he can't change the past. But in other ways its different because Rumfoord has no control over where/when he goes. The "wave-like" existence keeps him on a regular schedule. Also, Hiro has had some success in changing the future.

A thought the reference was a bit of a hoot. Also, Sirens of Titan is not one of Vonnegut's lesser books. Its my favorite and I expect that its in a lot of people's top three (with Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five).

Awesome critical thinking skills---all of you! It's been a while since I read the book, and forgot about Rumfoord and his "random time popping".

By the way...I wasn't referring to SOT as one of Kurt Vonneguts "lesser books"---I was referring to it as one of his "lesser KNOWN books". It's not nearly as popular as Breakfast of Champions, Welcome to the Monkey House or Slaughterhouse Five.

I like Vonnegut a lot and have read all the books mentioned in this thread (except Welcome to the Monkey House).

I also thought the books cover looked like Sirens of Titan. Love the Rumford alusion to poping in and out of various times/places...but maybe they should have shown Ando reading the book or something. That would have been more appropriate.

The book was "If I had of done it" by O.J. Simpson.

That is deffinitely true. Sirens of Titan is also my favorite of Vonnegut's works with Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse bringing up the very near rear.