Must read science fiction novels.

[Nr1Humanoid]

Finally gotten around to try my hand at SF literature so was wondering what recommendations you might make.

My first was Nemesis by Isaac Asimov, followed by Time' Eye by Baxter and Clarke.

Am currently taking a stab at Saturn by Ben Bova as library reading and Hyperion by Dan Simmons here at home.

Must read short stories would be appreciated too.

[Deleted]

Frank Herbert's Dune series. Alfred E. Bester's The Stars, My Destination is fantastic as well.

[Deleted]

Short stories - The Last Question by Isaac Asimov; The Dandelion Girl by Robert F. Young; The Veldt by Ray Bradbury; The 9 Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke

[Deleted]

William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy.

I'm rereading Neuromancer right now.

[Sephiroth]

The Call of Cthulu-HP Lovecraft

[Deleted]

1984. Read it for the first time a few years ago at my wife's recommendation and it was a masterpiece.

[FinalGwen]

Came in to recommend The Worlds Of Robert F. Young, but Spiteful Crow's already recommended the best story from the collection. All worth reading, though.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

OH GOD, I HAD LIKE 20 PARAGRAPHS WRITTEN ON AWESOME SCI-FI. Here is a much more brief version


The Hyperion Cantos is my favorite book series by far. Enjoy the ride. Canterbury Tales in Space. You really can't go wrong with that.

Add one more vote to both the Dune series and to The Stars My Destination. Dune is to sci fi as Lord of the Rings is to fantasy. Not easily accessible, but greatly rewarding if you put the effort in.

The Uplift Saga by David Brin is a fantastic book series which I rarely hear mentioned. The overarching setting is that the galaxy is built on a society in which "patron" sentient species "uplift" other "client" species to sentience. When humanity makes first contact, humankind is the only race without a known patron species. Afterwards, we uplift dolphins and chimpanzees, so in one of the six books there is a spaceship built for a joint human/dolphin crew which is so very, very cool. The aliens in these books are the most creative I've ever seen.

Anything by Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov you really can't go wrong with. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rendezvous with RAMA and its sequels, I Robot, and the Foundation Series are all pillars of science fiction literature.

Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein are both well worth a read. Stranger might be the best sci-fi novel I've read that could never work as a movie.

Wool is a new sci-fi book which gained popularity first as an e-book serial before being printed on dead trees. Absolutely worth reading. The setting is a silo in which the last of humanity lives, similar to the vaults from the Fallout series. If you don't read the first few chapters and get hooked, I'd be shocked.

I'd also recommend the John Carter of Mars books. They are really more of a fantasy, sword and barbarians type of book which happen to be set on Mars, but they are great pulpy fun. The movie captured a lot of the spirit of the books. These come so early in sci-fi literature that attempting to turn them into a movie is problematic: its been done before, because EVERYTHING is influenced by them.

For sci-fi humor, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a must read, though you really feel like Douglas Adams wrote the last few books kicking and screaming. I never felt that way reading the Discworld series, which, though in a fantasy setting, is another must read for frankly anyone who likes books.

[jagilki]

WOOL, yes, Wool.

[Red Impact]

Short Story Collections
The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury
I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison
Shatterday - Harlan Ellison
Pain God and Other Delusions - Harlan Ellison
in fact, pretty much anything by Harlan Ellison except Doomsman
The Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick

For more quick reading novels -
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Ringworld - Larry Niven
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Rendezvous With Rama - Arthur C. Clarke

For longer-reading/more philosophical novels
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
Speaker For the Dead series - Orson Scott Card (requires Ender's Game first, since they're sequels)

The quick reading/longer-reading is just how I handled these novels. You can get a lot of philosophy if you take your time wiht Brave New World or Ender's Game, but I got through them fairly quickly and didn't feel like I missed anything, whereas Stranger in a Strange Land and Neuromancer required a lot more time and devotion ot keep up with.

I'm also a huge fan of short stories and think any sci-fi writer worth his salt should be able to do a great short story, which is why Harlan Ellison is on that list so many times.

I'll actually go against the grain and not suggest Dune, not for someone who is new to the genre at least. It was my first, and it definitely fits in the last category, but is less accessible than any of the ones I've listed. It's not bad by any means, but I wouldn't throw someone new to sci fi into Dune until they began to get the gist of the genre, and the understanding that sci-fi and fantasy are really not that different of genres.

[Apricots And A Pear Tree]

Old Mans War

[Dr. T is an alien]

Frederick Pohl's Gateway is fantastic. The second book in the series, Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, was okay. The third book, Heechee Rendezvous, had some interesting concepts at least. Annals of the Heechee was readable, at least to me, but it was not inspiring enough to seek out the last book.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Do androids dream of electric sheep-Philip K Dick

[kidglov3s]

I really love The Death of Grass from John Christopher (aka No Blade of Grass). I keep meaning to read his Tripods series books (The White Mountain/etc/etc).

[Dragonfly]

Back to Methusulah by George Bernard Shaw. Unlike most of the pieces mentioned thus far, it's not a novel. It's actually a collection of plays that were designed to be read, not performed. It's batshit crazy - the "boat sex" scenario, for example - but definitely worth reading.

[Deleted]

Ready Player One. Seriously, it's sci-fi when you look at the plot.

[Biggtone23]

I don't know if it would be considered must read but I recently read and enjoyed the Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein.

[Zaq "That Guy" Buzzkill]

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Read all of them. Laugh.