What are some of your favorite science fiction books and why? If you had to pick only a few. As of writing this post my favorites are the following.
- The Quantum Magician
- Three Body Problem
- Children of Time
I tend to like in-depth explanations of the fictional science that exists in-universe as well as a good mystery.
I really enjoyed the ‘Foundation’ series by Isaac Asimov. ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ by Arthur C. Clarke is a great one as well.
Asimov is my favorite author
really love all his short story collections, he even did some (light) mystery ones
I am currently reading a collection of all of Asimov’s short stories. That will take a while, it’s a 2339 page epub. In the beginning there are some lesser stories but they keep getting better and better.
I’m currently reading The Left Hand of Darkness, and so far enjoying it a lot.
I’m a big fan of world building and well fleshed out settings and characters. I love getting lost in descriptive and unique imagery.
- Hyperion by Dan Simmons - feels like such a lived-in universe, some interesting tales, and a horrifying antagonist in the Shrike.
- Neuromancer by William Gibson - cyberpunk ahead of its time, great story, incredible atmosphere.
I feel like you’d really enjoy House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. One of the most “lived-in” feeling worlds I’ve encountered since Hyperion. I’m reading Pushing Ice now and haven’t read any of Revelation Space yet, but I’m planning on it.
I really enjoyed Stranger in A Strange Land by Heinlein… Its a classic and even though some concepts are a bit outdated, I think overall its amazing. Actually most of Heinleins books are my go to when I just want a lazy relaxing read. I’ve read them all so many times, its like visiting comfy friends.
This book is still really solid ; I didn’t really mind the moments of “oh this was SO written several decades ago.”
Some of my personal favorites …
- The Gentle Giants of Ganymede (Giants Series) by James P. Hogan: How it revolutionizes our perceived history and place in the Solar System, and the whole idea of us finding an alien species and all they want to do is go home. Was made into a manga in Japan!
- Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: A great take on surviving a global catastrophie. Especially enjoyed the scene at Cal Tech when they run outside.
- Fallen Angels by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn: The concept of a distopian future and astronauts being caught ‘on the ground’ and just trying to return to their space station. Never imagined car heaters would play such an important part in a story! :p
- The Stainless Steel Rat (Series) by Harry Harrison: A great anti-hero series, lots of books in the series.
- Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: Another we meet aliens series, well done.
- The Mote in Gods Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: Heh, those two like to revisit a subject from a completely different angle.
- Startide Rising (Uplift Series) by David Brin: Just loved the idea of talking dolphins and apes, etc.
- With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary / RCN #1) by David Drake: A great series of space combat, and duty to service, etc. Taken from the old non-scifi series of novels of adventures on the open seas. The space combat from a distance is an enjoyable different take than what you would see in Star Wars/Trek, etc.
- On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington / Honorverse series) by David Weber: Another great series of novels based on naval military warfare and duty to one’s people/service.
My favourites are (still) HitchHikersGGTG and Good Omens. I just adore that writing style, I guess.
The Expanse series has done it for me. Best books I’ve read in a long time.
I completely agree and love The Expanse. It’s more character driven than I prefer, but it is still in my top 10 for sure.
I really enjoyed Project Hail Mary.
Didn’t know about this, going to go out and get this one, thanks! I really enjoyed reading The Martian by the same author way back when.
I ended up reading The Martian after seeing the movie and while poking a hole in the glove was mentioned in the book, I was a bit disappointed that the movie could not resist forcing to going through with it. Felt more silly and unnecessary even when originally watching the movie.
After that Project Hail Mary was a must read when I found out about it and was not disappointed. The amnesia was a bit forced, but necessary for the structure and didn’t actually bother me much while reading. Also
spoiler
one of the best depictions of an alien that actually felt out of this world.
I recently read Artemis by Andy Weir, but the protagonist had so much teenage angst that it was difficult to finish despite its short length. I’ll have to try one of his more popular books instead.
I haven’t read Artemis but I’ve seen multiple people say that it is his weakest work. There is no teenage angst in this one.
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Diamond Age ranks way up there for me. All the UBI discussions that have been happening? In there. AI education tools? Yep. Differing views on IP? Also there. Some good thought works.
A Deepness in the Sky - A good story with plenty of thought bombs. The Focused and the localizers are good examples.
Rainbows End - our concerns about AI? How about an AI that never comes up with anything new but is great at mixing and harnessing individual and groups of people?
Poor Man’s Fight series. A good adventure story based around student loans and macroeconomics. :-)
“The Book of the New Sun” by Gene Wolfe.
Tough, hard to follow or understand (deliberately so - this book and a number of the author’s other books are well known for “unreliable narrator”), excellent prose, and thought provoking. I generally dislike rereading a book, with all the other books to read and new ones coming out every year, but this is an exception.
“Creatures of Light and Darkness”, and “Lord of Light” by Roger Zelazny - I love the blending of mythology and science fiction.
“Dune” though it hasn’t aged well in terms of the science of genetics.
“Cyteen” by C.J. Cherryh
“Starship Trooper” and “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” both are peak Heinlein.
Sea of Tranquility is amazing! Emily St. John Mandel just has a really great writing style and even though the main plot of this novel is very much connected to sci-fi themes it does not read like a dissertation on specific futuristic concepts.
- Three Body Problem (and sequels, especially The Dark Forest:) it’s good scifi, though I worry that a lot of people missed the message.
- Consider Phlebas/Use Of Weapons: tragic space opera is my favorite kind.
- Gideon The Ninth: sci-fantasy popcorn with a sass-mouthed narrator.
- Providence: Fresh take on ubiquitous scifi tropes, and I’m a fan of Max Barry’s punchy writing style.
How do you feel people missed the message?
I sometimes see people saying Wade was right or that he would have saved the day or some such.
Great list in the comments! Let me add some classics:
- Fred Hoyle: Black cloud is as realistic a sci-fi can be
- Lem: Fiasco - not his most famous book, but probably the best
