[Closed] The best/your favourite Sci fi books?

Too many to mention, really - John Wyndham is a good one, definitely, as is John Christopher for more older British SF. Then there's Iain M Banks of course, Ken MacLeod, Alastair Reynolds, Ursula LeGuin, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Kim Stanley Robinson. Books I've probably retread most, though, have been Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Iain March Banks culture series for me, frequently tops the best books never made into films list as I have no idea how you would create half the aliens or agree on any of the pronunciation.

If you like your John Wyndham, then try The Chrysalids.

I don't know if it quite counts, but for some more post-apocalyptic prose, try The Stand by Stephen King (the complete edition).

The Mote in God's Eye by Niven/Pournelle is a great view of conflicting cultures.

The best Sci-Fi is a mirror for real life, it uses fantastical situations to cast light on the mysteries of existence. Not all that spaceships and lasers crap, diverting though it can be.

Contact by Carl Sagan. Slightly clunky prose but a mind blowing conclusion. There's a twist in the film but a double and far more interesting twist in the book.

I'll say no more.

Yeah keep going with Wyndham but I think you've already read two of the best speculative fiction books ever written.

Also try Ballard's, Super Cannes, Drowned World etc.

If you allow for the 50s style SF, you may find Eric Frank Russell very funny, or at least wry.

Tad williams Otherland

Ken Macleod's earlier stuff,[i] love[/i] The Star Fraction. Daniel Keyes' Flowers For Algernon

Red/Green/Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, ridiculously bloated but that's part of what makes it so good. My favourite scifi author by far, despite his faults. But, mmm. Maybe for later.

Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, yep. And Banks's Consider Phlebeas. And Stand On Zanzibar.

cant forget Douglas Adams.
The Red Dwarf books, though they've maybe not aged well.

Check out Jules Verne's 'The Underground City'

"To Mr. F. R. Starr, Engineer, 30 Canongate, Edinburgh.
If Mr. James Starr will come to-morrow to the Aberfoyle coal-mines, Dochart pit, Yarrow shaft, a communication of an interesting nature will be made to him."

[url= http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1355/1355-h/1335-h.htm ]gutenberg link[/url]

Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids are my two favourite by John Wyndham.

I've munched my way through some of the classic Si-Fi's - Asimov, Clarke, and some others but you can't beat Iain M Banks, IMHO.

I'll be following this thread for some more recommendations and some greats that I've missed.

The short stories of Robert Sheckley, [i]Store of the Worlds[/i], are very good, almost the US equivalent of Ballard's short stories. Also worth mentioning John M Harrison's short pieces (don't about his novels, the space operaness has so far put me off, but the man can definitely write).

Lots of great suggestions so far; let me add in a few more names:
Alfred Bester. From the Golden Era; Tiger, Tiger is sublime, and The Demolished Man is a treat (& the first Hugo award winner)
Ted Chiang. A great collection can be found in "Stories of Life and Others"
Harry Harrison. Varies between comedic (Stainless Steel Rat) & dystopian (Make room, make room - became the film Soylent Green)

I can thoroughly recommend Frank Herberts' Dune and at least two of the sequels. If you've seen the film, forget it. The book is so broad and deep, completely immersive.
Kurt Vonnegut is another great writer too. SF, but not lasers and green tentacles. Slaughterhouse 5 and Breakfast of Champions are good to start with.
On an aside about Ballard, I'm currently reading The Atrocity Exhibition and finding it hard going. Are all his novels in a similar vein?

Heaps of great writing up there ^^^ though not sure if anyone has mentioned Isaac Asimov. I was obsessed with the concept of robotics when I was a kid and read everything I could get my hands on that had his name on it.

I highly recommend Neal Asher, the Polity series in particular. I think I've read every one of his books now.

No love for Philip K Dick?! Read them all but don't start with The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, because your head will melt.

...if you get on with Iain M. Banks (Use Of Weapons for me) then I can recommend Peter F. Hamilton's huge 'space operas' (still not entirely sure what makes that genre) and James S A Corey's Expanse series.
Most re-read for me would have to be classic William Gibson cyberpunk: Neuromancer / Count Zero / Mona Lisa Overdrive 🙂

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
+1 for Iain M Banks.
+1 for William Gibson's work. I just re-read Mona Lisa Overdrive. Very enjoyable.
+1 for Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and The Diamond Age
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451
Audrey Niffenegger's time traveller's wife, not tech scifi, but some interesting and emotional exploration of what can happen.
The handmaid's tale by margaret atwood
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland

J G Ballard is literary scifi. Good, and a challenging read.

No love for Philip K Dick?! Read them all but don't start with The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, because your head will melt.

Yes, definitely, though I much prefer his short stories - he wrote hundreds and they nicely contain his weirdness, if you know what I mean 😉

"Across Realtime" by Vernor Vinge. Really interesting concept. (time bubbles)
"The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers. Sci-fi historical time travel romp. Good fun.
"Player of Games" my favourite Banks Culture novel.
"1984" (Orwell) is excellent (though very dark!)

If you like sci-fi for the ideas (rather than the special effects) and haven't seen it already, I'd heartily recommend the film "Primer". (and "Moon" too for that matter)

James Blish - "Cities In Flight" is an absolute classic but seems to have been overlooked by many.

There is a whole series of "Sci-Fi Masterworks" that have been (re)published, you'd not go wrong with any of them [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SF_Masterworks ]Wiki Linkage[/url]

+1000 for I Banks Culture series.

For a quick read, Star ship troopers by R Heinlein

The forever war by J Holdeman

Really enjoyed Asimov's books including the foundation series.

I concur with all the Iain M Banks recommendations - start with Consider Phlebas and Excession.
Also concur on James S A Corey - even though he doesn't exist. 🙂
C J Cherryh's Scifi stuff is very good, Heavy Time and Hellburner are a good pair to read.
Neal Asher's Owner trilogy. (And all his other stuff too.)
Michael Marshall Smith's Only Forward.
Some similar-ish themes to Snowcrash (which is great) pop up in Babel 17 by Sam Delaney, published 1966 - you seem to like the older stuff.

Oh, and no account should anyone ever read Otherland. Ever!

Red/Green/Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, ridiculously bloated but that's part of what makes it so good. My favourite scifi author by far, despite his faults. But, mmm. Maybe for later.

Brilliant author and totally concur with Northwind. Icehenge is an easy way in to KSR.

I've also started reading Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve with my eldest. That seems great so far.

Robert A. Heinlein is good but haven't read any for ages.

Dragon's Egg by Robert L Forward. The aliens are alien and not just like except with tails/scales/different coloured skin. Story is just how they in such a different environment are different to us, but some excellent reading.

Bruise Willies > On an aside about Ballard, I'm currently reading The Atrocity Exhibition and finding it hard going. Are all his novels in a similar vein?

tAE is quite different from most of Ballard's other material, though there were several short pieces written at the same time which were equally abrasive, certainly not a starting place. I reckon he got a little excited by what Burroughs was doing around that time. In interviews he claims he never went out to shock people, but he really can't be trusted as his interview responses are as carefully constructed as his fictions.

[i]Extreme Metaphors[/i] (Collected Interviews) may be a bit much to read in its entirety, but as there's an interview from almost each year he was writing it's a very good resource to what Ballard was interested in during the writing of each novel.

Alastair Reynolds for me.

if you like space opera, try the Revelation Space series of books - very out there, but it's an awesome universe that’s created and spans over 5 books (3 in the main story, lots of short stories and 2 spin off novels in the same universe).

Pushing Ice is also a great book.

[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Revelation-Space-Collection-Alastair-Reynolds-ebook/dp/B005SZ1OFW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1408090101&sr=8-2&keywords=revelation+space ]null[/url]

Simon R Green - Deathstalker series
Peter F Hamilton - Naked God trilogy
Asimov - Foundation series

Just finished Ben Bova's Orion series and enjoyed those.

The Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter is what I'm onto now and it has started reasonably well.

The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies edited by Gardner Dozois are worth picking up too. Lots of short stories to dip into.

Excellent replies. Thanks all, and keep them coming. Will use this as a reference point in the future. Started the kraken last night, good start. Can see me running through all of Wyndham's books over the next wee while.

Loads of really good suggestions here, another author to consider is Charles Stross, particularly enjoying the Laundry series of books ( think Cthulhu mythos meets James Bond )
The Halting State ( near future crime/police thrillers ) and Merchant Princes series of books are also very good

What Neil Gaiman books should I go for next after just finished American Gods?

What Neil Gaiman books should I go for next after just finished American Gods?

Anansi Boys
Neverwhere (the graphic novel version is beautiful as well)

Peter F Hamilton Night's Dawn trilogy
Simon Morden Metrozone trilogy

And if you've seen Blade Runner then you'll already have experienced Philip K Dick as the film was based on his book "So androids dream of electric sheep"

Another lover of the (Philip K) Dick here!

Dr Bloodmoney is excellent, as is Androids...

Man Who Japed, Dr Futurity and Vulcan's hammer too, got them in '3 short stories' collection.

Didn't enjoy The Man in the High Castle as much and got Ubik to read.

Don't think anyone's said it yet, so I'm gonna add the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. I've nearly finished the first (Hyperion) and it's pretty ace, takes a similar format to the Canterbury Tales but in a high SF setting...

tenfoot - Member
And if you've seen Blade Runner then you'll already have experienced Philip K Dick as the film was based on his book "So androids dream of electric sheep"

Very loosely, I think the film is definitely more Ridley Scott than Philip K Dick.

[i]The book of the new sun[/i] by Gene Wolfe is the best I've read, and prob my favourite book full stop, a masterpiece. Also Neil Gaiman's favourite book as it goes - Wolfe is such a brilliant stylist that he gets a lot of love from others in the field.

He's written a lot of good stuff but after BotNS it's his short stories that are the best - SF is built on this form and Wolfe is a master. His early collections are outstanding, stuff like 'the island of Dr death and other stories and other stories' or 'book of days' are top drawer from start to finish.

+1 for Hyperion. The Shrike is a great creation

China Mieville is also very good - perhaps a bit more fantasy than hard SF, but that's a very fuzzy boundary anyway.

Have we done Arthur C Clarke yet? Old-school SF, but the Rama series, the 2001 series (though miss out the last one), and his short stories are excellent.

And have we done Adam Roberts? High concept SF, oddly from the same guy who writes "Bored of the Rings" and other spoofs.

+1 for China Mieville- I thought [i]The Scar[/i] was amazing.
I recently tore through Richard Morgan's [i]Altered Carbon[/i] and the 2 sequels back to back- bit pulpy but some good ideas in there.

+1 for Peter F Hamilton's series. They have that epic feel of having a great back story with history, interesting thoughts on how things would pan out with people having unending life spans, etc.

This far in and no mention of Asimov's Robot series?

I jsut finished reading "The Death of Grass" by John Christopher and I recommend it very highly. Also a very quick read if anyone is on the lookout for something snappy.

Dune +1. It's truly epic, and has barely aged, where as the likes of Asimov et al really have, and makes it a little twee these days.

Dragons Egg is a good, undemanding read.

The lensman series by E.E. Doc Smith is good fun too, if you can forgive its age and original pulp style.

Anyone remember going to a shop and buying books? 😛 I miss a nice trip to waterstones....

I still do! Getting through a couple of books a week on the commute. Nothing better than spending most of a lunch hour deciding what's next.

Anyone remember going to a shop and buying books? I miss a nice trip to waterstones....

My mother used to leave me in the John Smiths SF section while she went off to do other things (shopping? work? I can't remember) - couldn't do that with an 8-year-old nowadays.

Too many favorites, though if I had to choose maybe Dune is, as I've read it so many times. So can only add endorsement for authors rather than particular books, already suggested: Neal Stephenson, Iain M Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton, China Melville, Dan Simmons, Richard K Morgan I don't think they been mentioned yet David Brin & John Scalzi.
Though will note I am enjoying new stuff from Hugh Howey, James S. A Corey (pen name of a pair of authors), Isla K Bick, Marcus Sakey, Justin Cronin (sneaking in from horror) & Marko Kloos

I could go on for hours, I like my sci-fi & particular enjoying audiobooks, as I can 'read' and do otherstuff too!

New Model Army by Adam Roberts is chilling, compliments the early Ken MacLeod books in some ways.
Writers of Wyndam's generation? Poul Anderson, Heinlein, Moorcock all have echoes/familiarities. Bob Shaw and Keith Roberts are good UK authors.
I keep returning to [i]Excession[/i] by Ian M Banks but also Matter, Surface Detail and The Hydrogen Sonata. So sad to lose him, there was another Culture book.

I jsut finished reading "The Death of Grass" by John Christopher and I recommend it very highly. Also a very quick read if anyone is on the lookout for something snappy.

Death of Grass is a great book. Another excellent work in a similar vein of mid-century apocalyptica is On The Beach by Nevil Shute.

Venus on the half shell by Kilgore Trout (actually written by Phillip Jose Farmer)
The Iron Dream by Nirman Spinrad.
Everything by William Gibdon
Heavy Weather and Darwins Radio by Alan Dean Foster

The list is endless

Asimovs Foundation trilogy but not the extra books he bolted on afterwards. Stranger in a Strange Land from Heinlein, some stainless steel rat from Harry Harrison, Ringworld by Larry Niven, plus a bundle of stuff mentioned above.

Death of Grass is a great book. Another excellent work in a similar vein of mid-century apocalyptica is On The Beach by Nevil Shute.

Thanks, I'll give that a go.

Blimey, forgot David Brin!
Everything by him, the Uplift series first three (not sure about the second set of three), Earth, the Practice Effect.

No mention for either of these so far so here's my tuppence:

Mike Freeman - Redemption Protocol, Contact 1 - 4 books in the series so far, great ideas, big story.

Sam Landstrom - MetaGame, very relevant to today social media and gaming and dark.

Neale Stephenson - Anathem worth a read.

In the 'young adult' section, check out the Mortal Engines quartet and the prequels Fever Crumb (waiting for book 4 to be written) - excellent stuff. reading them to my 8 year old as much for my pleasure as his.

I struggle to read anything that isn't non fiction these days. But i love audiobooks at work, and they're 90 percent sci fi. Hyperion was excellent, so good it left me hollow once finished in the way that good books do. Speaking of hollow,theres a book called Hollow world thats also worth seeking out.

I always thought it would be great if someone wrote all of Kilgore Trouts' novels!
On The Beach is a fantastic book, very bleak, but hasn't dated at all.

Asimov, Clark and Niven: biologist, electronics engineer and mathematician, so a complete absence of dragons.

Larry Niven wrote 'Lucifer's Hammer' with Jerry Pournelle of NASA, it's a very real story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer%27s_Hammer

Stephenson's Anathem +1 Wouldnt really call Cryptonomicon SF (although def one of my favourite books). Snow Crash i also rate highly.
wyndums The Crysalids +1
Gibsons later stuff (Spook Country springs to mind, I really enjoyed his early stuff but at the time. Not sure how it would read now).
Vonneguts Sirens of Titan
Iain M Banks I've enjoyed too.

Rather fell out of love with SciFi novels. In my youth Arthur C Clark, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein were favourites, and I was just starting to head off the 'golden age' of SciFi from the 30s and 40s, when I got distracted. Try the short stories rather than novels. Ideas that work well in short stories, don't translate well into novels, but can be very impressive in short story.

Kim Stanley Robinson for sure - science fiction with the emphasis on the science.

No mention of Harry Harrison? The Stainless Steel Rat is too funny.

metalheart - Member
Wouldnt really call Cryptonomicon SF (although def one of my favourite books).

Yeah, it's not SF at all. It's a strange book though - it starts off brilliantly, well written, compelling etc. Then after about 400 pages I thought it completely fell apart and the second half of the book is a total mess. The writing felt almost like a different author, the plot is messy and the ending is incredibly rushed for such a long book.

grenosteve - Member

Alastair Reynolds for me.

if you like space opera, try the Revelation Space series of books - very out there, but it's an awesome universe that’s created and spans over 5 books (3 in the main story, lots of short stories and 2 spin off novels in the same universe).

I've got to admit that I thought Revelation Space was one of the worst books, of any genre, that I've ever had the misfortune of reading. Poorly written, appalling - actually non-existent - characterisation and stupid, stupid 'hard SF' concepts considering that the author is an astrophysicist. I gave up at a point where he went into detail describing a hand-rail (as in the thing you hold onto when walking down steps) in detail. The hand-rail then played no further part in the story. Apparently Reynolds got better as an author after this book, but I haven't tried anything else.

After that negativity 🙂 I'd +1 a lot of the above. I have been re-reading Dick's early short stories lately, some of which are great. I also read Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep which has some interesting ideas. I also have recently found a love of Jack Vance's short stories.

I've read quite a lot on the list. Clarke was an amazing visionary with a fair amount of tongue in cheek wit to boot, but his characters were dull. I thoroughly enjoyed Contact, the world needs more Eleanor Arroways.

I can highly recommend Lucifer's Hammer and Footfall both by Niven & Pournelle for their sheer grittiness. Their take on the tired alien invasion scenario was well executed and would lend itself to a modern film interpretation.

Right now though, I'm working my way through Iain M Banks. He combines the visionary style and wit of Clarke with an excellent backstory. The characters are well realised too - Use of Weapons is the high water mark of the genre for me.

Yes, it's hard to say if Cryptonomicon is SF or not - and the sort-of sequels, the Baroque Cycle. Though they're set in the past, there's also some things which are more SF-ish, and there's lots of science, so they're sort-of historical SF.

Steampunk? William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine is marvellous. Or going back to Stephenson the overlooked sequel (ish) to Snow Crash is The Diamond Age, set in a neo-Victorian future full of nanomachines.

Probably the most sci-fi book I've ever read is Poul Anderson's [i]Tau Zero[/i]. Not one for those who like laser blasters and witty robots, it's quite literally fiction based on physics. Without giving the plot away too much it's sort of Dark Star for people who've read Einstein.

In the 'young adult' section, check out the Mortal Engines quartet and the prequels Fever Crumb (waiting for book 4 to be written) - excellent stuff. reading them to my 8 year old as much for my pleasure as his.

Not just me then! Great stories!

wordnumb - Member
Without giving the plot away too much it's sort of Dark Star for people who've read Einstein

As long as it's got a beachball with claws I'm in! 😀

IdleJon - Sorry to be the intergalactic ambassador of bad news but I believe the comedy alien had to be sacrificed for the explanation of what happens to mass as an object approaches the speed of light.

I've got to admit that I thought Revelation Space was one of the worst books, of any genre, that I've ever had the misfortune of reading

I seen that before (from you?) & I totally disagree, if anything it's how long Reynolds takes setting the charaters/scene that fustrates me, though it pay off massively IMO (of course). I've thoroughly enjoyed all his books, though I like being entertained by a story and am not above enjoying a bit of space opera 'trash' (not that Reynolds fits that description). Luckily were all different though.

z1ppy - Member

I've got to admit that I thought Revelation Space was one of the worst books, of any genre, that I've ever had the misfortune of reading

I seen that before (from you?) & I totally disagree, if anything it's how long Reynolds takes setting the charaters/scene that fustrates me, though it pay off massively IMO (of course). I've thoroughly enjoyed all his books, though I like being entertained by a story and am not above enjoying a bit of space opera 'trash' (not that Reynolds fits that description). Luckily were all different though.

Yeah, could have been me z1ppy, I think I've said it before on here. Funnily enough I was probably looking for 'space opera trash' and still haven't found anything worth reading. But [i]vive la difference[/i], as you say! 🙂

Have you tried Brin's Uplift books? Sundiver is maybe a bit simple (space detective) but I enjoyed the uplift trilogy a lot

just finished 'consider phlebas'- the first (?) culture novel.

are they all that bad?

anyway, i enjoyed 'the forever war'

Reynolds can't do pacing imo. 1/10th is too rushed, 9/10ths takes too long. The lighthugger chase scene in Absolution Gap, aaargh. 100 pages of "Wait... time passes". And don't start me on greenfly, right, because I will totally lose it and it's really unseemly.

Which is a shame because some of it's absolutely brilliant. Golden age ideas and hard black sf logic. I just wanted more Clavain, more Nostalgia For Infinity, less endless dreary nothing.

ahwiles - Member

just finished 'consider phlebas'- the first (?) culture novel.

are they all that bad?

anyway, i enjoyed 'the forever war'

I re-read Consider Phlebas a few months ago and while it was ok (I thought), it wasn't a patch on his last few Culture novels.

+1 on The Forever War.