Top 100 Science Fiction Novels – What to Read?
Amazon’s list of the top 100 science fiction novels. I’ve read slightly more than half of them, but I haven’t read any of the following:
10 – Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
12 – The Sirens of Titen by Kurt Vonnegut
13 – The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
15 – Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
17 – The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
20 – Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
27 – A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
29 – The Day of hte Triffids by John Wyndham
32 – Hyperion by Dan Simmons
35 – A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
36 – Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe
37 – The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
42 – The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
43 – Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein
47 – Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
49 – The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
52 – Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
53 – Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein
55 – Startide Rising by David Brin
57 – Relevation Space by Alastair Reynolds
58 – Ilium by Dan Simmons
60 – The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
61 – The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem
63 – More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
64 – Burning Chrome by William Gibson
66 – Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein
67 – Fiasco by Stanislaw Lem
69 – The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
70 – The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
72 – The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
74 – To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
75 – A Stainless Steel Trio by Harry Harrison
76 – The City and the Stars and the Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke
78 – His Master’s Voice by Stanislaw Lem
80 – Gateway by Frederik Pohl
81 – A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
82 – The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
83 – The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke
85 – The Uplift War by David Brin
86 – The Reality Dysfunction Part I by Peter F. Hamilton
88 – City by Clifford D. Simak
89 – The Incredible Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
94 – The Lathe of Heaven: A Novel by Usula K. Le Guin
95 – A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
96 – Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
97 – Blood Music by Greg Bear
98 – Gray Lensman by Edward E. Smith
100 – The Chrysalids by David Harrower
Which ones should I read next?
Via Reddit.
November 28th, 2008 at 12:16 am
how was the day of the triffids? Seems creepy. Like Blindness+war of the worlds.
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November 28th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Books I have NOT read.
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November 28th, 2008 at 12:58 am
From what I’ve read that you haven’t (not many), Gateway would be my top pick. I read most of my sci-fi in high school and college though, so take that with a grain of salt. If it’s really as good as I remember, you’ll love it. Protagonist Robinette Broadhead is one of my favorite SF characters ever.
As a libertarian, I have to recommend The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but I would probably say that even if I weren’t libertarian.
I’m a big fan Brin’s Uplift Series, which starts with Sundiver before getting to Startide Rising and eventually the Uplift War. Sundiver doesn’t reach the full imaginative potential of the later books, but if you’re going to commit to a series you might as well start there. And David Brin needs to write the next book in the series, damn it!
Asimov’s robot novels are what got me into SF and I enjoyed Caves of Steel when I read it. It’s essentially just a murder mystery with robots though.
Someday I need to read Neal Stephenson.
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November 28th, 2008 at 4:50 am
the amazon list seems to change.
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November 28th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Books you haven’t read that I’ve read:
17 – The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein – meh. gets better after a difficult to get into start. wouldn’t recommend it though…
47 – Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny – loved this book. loved.
60 – The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester – i read this but can’t really remember it – i think i thought it was OK.
74 – To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer – LOVED this book. Totally read this next.
96 – Way Station by Clifford D. Simak – interesting, but skip it. felt very “pulp sci-fi”y
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November 28th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Nacho – yes, the list does change. That’s weird.
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November 28th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
This is an easy choice – The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut. It’s one of his best and one of my favorite books from high school.
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November 30th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
The list seems to be autogenerated based on Amazon ratings and such.
I’d vote for The Cyberiad. Smart and funny.
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December 20th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
Sounds good!
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