OK, a thread to get some discussions going :). To keep things from getting wacky, I’ll just confine the list to science fiction; no fantasy allowed.
1)The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein. This book is now 40 years old and is STILL the definitive political sci fi book, and the best treatment of AI ever written, in my opinion. This book was my introduction to law, politics, revolution and intrigue. Still a classic :).
2)Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson. After the cyberpunk of the 80s, this post-cyber-punk wild ride is great fun. Quite possibly the best opening chapter of any book ever, along with one of the best treatments of cyberspace ever, and of course the classic passage that begins with the line “It was the nuclear weapon that put Raven over the top.” If you have not read this, highly highly recommended.
3)A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge. Vinge has written a fairly small number of works but his quality level is top notch. This is his most fun book, with awesome space opera, cool aliens, and loads of adventure.
4)Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein. There is no movie. REPEAT: THERE IS NO FREAKING WEIRD DUTCH BASTARD VERHOEVEN MOVIE. Thank you. Once you have purged the spec-freaking-tacularly bad movie from your conscienceness you can appreciate this, the first (and IMO) best of the military scifi books, which gave us classic lines like “Bugs! Bugs everywhere Mr. Rico!” and “His name is Zim”. This book is also a heavy influence on both Aliens and (indirectly) StarCraft.
5)Aristoi - Walter Jon Williams. The best “post singularity” novel out there, with some cool space opera and cyberpunk themes. A surprisingly deep novel that is still quite enjoyable.
This list is all hard science fiction and thus not comprehensive, though perhaps it was not meant to be.
A non-hard science fiction book that stands out for me is The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin. In the hard science fiction category, I’d pick Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and Asimov’s Foundation trilogy.
Heinlein didn’t stand up for me. Now years older, I find that his politics and sexism is heavy handed and awkward. His stuff just doesn’t stand up for me. I loved it before, hate it now.
I do like Robert Anton Wilson’s Schrodinger’s Cat Trilogy after reading it again a month ago.
The list I posted is my own personal top 5 so it is all hard sci fi, which I generally strongly prefer to soft sci fi or science fantasy.
On the issue of Heinlein, the criticism is merited for some of his books but not for others. Of the two I listed, Starship Troopers is pretty free of the weird sex that populated later Heinlein, and I dispute the characterization of people like Verhoeven of the ST politics as “fascist”. As for Moon, yes it does have some weird sex, and its full of politics but its more 60s style Libertarian than the hardcore anti-communism and anti-statism that Heinlein got into later. Generally speaking, Heinlein written before 1960 or so stands the test of time pretty well, while the later stuff seems full of dated attitudes now. I don’t know if its that Heinlein got weirder as he got older or if he just began expressing his inherent weirdness more in the 60s and later. The two books I listed can be read by a modern progressive thinking person with only minimal wincing, and the strong good points of each book greatly outweigh the mild level of weirdness. If you got turned off by Heinlein by Friday, Time Enough for Love, Stranger in a Strange Land or other late-stage Heinlein, then I do recommend trying the earlier stuff: Starship Troopers, Between Planets, Man Who Sold the Moon, short stories etc.
I think good writing is timeless, and Heinlein–for me–is synonymous with good writing. But, yes, I understand the notion of liking books at one point in one’s life and not later (the reverse is also true). Part of what we get from a book comes from the background we bring to it; that can change over time.
I tend to like my sf as, er, speculative fiction, so as not to have to arbitrarily separate fantasy from science fiction, so these titles probably have too much fantasy in them for some people’s taste.
I probably can’t pick 5, but Protector, by Larry Niven, was pretty damn good. Unfortunately, he lost the ability to write or something; the last Ringworld book was horrid.
Walter Miller - Canticle for Leibowitz
Brian Aldiss - Non-Stop
PK Dick - Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
JG Ballard - The Crystal World
Anthony Burgess - Clockwork Orange
I liked Gibson, Disch, Silverberg, Clarke, and Bradbury too. Gibson and Stephenson are the last sci fi and most recent I’ve read… so I’m completely out of it.
Also I actually never read Heinlen. I should get some of his stuff.
also to add I think Michael Crichton is a good sci fi writer. Some of his earlier stuff is good on premise and story and a breeze to read.
BTW, hasn’t ANYBODY here read PK Dick? I think hes the best sci fi writer. Not neccesarily because he wrote the best sci fi books but because he had his own voice and style in a genre that didn’t really distinguish much between authors (generally speaking). He’s fun and engaging to read in his good stuff. And he had a lot of good stuff! Imo.
One of these days I’ll head up to Powell’s and buy a bunch of used PK Dick stuff.
I finally broke down and ordered a copy of Snow Crash tonight. I read Cryptonomicon and thought it was great, but I never got much further than Gibson in my cyberpunk reading. I’ve read most of his books, just not his short stories.
I actually spread to some John Shirley and his Eclipse trilogy is fantastic. I’m going to make an effort to branch out some more to guys like Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker too.
The problem I had with PK Dick is that I tried to read a couple of his admittedly LSD-influenced novels in high school. Those turned me off… Too disjointed. I understand not all of his material is so, um, “imaginative,” though. I need to give him another shot.
Heinlein I liked much more as a teenager than as an adult. Times have changed, and a lot of his mid- and late-career stuff comes across more as adolescent wish fulfillment than great fiction. (The first Heinlein book I ever read was “Friday.” The cover alone sucked me in as a 15-year-old. The inside didn’t disappoint either. But now much of it seems gratuitous.)
Heinlein’s most enjoyable work by far was his series of juveniles – Starship Troopers, Podkayne of Mars, Starman Jones, etc. For god’s sake, don’t start with “The Cat Who Walked through Walls.”
I have to agree with Sharpe on “A Fire Upon the Deep.” Vinge is great. What’s particularly interesting is looking at his galactic “internet” and then noticing when the book was written. The sequel, “A Deepness in the Sky,” is superb as well. I wish he was more prolific.
For sheer fun, my favorite has to be Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. You don’t want to start with the recent books – those are geared very much towards readers already enamored of the characters. Mirror Dance is an excellent intro (the first one I read). Then go back and read the earlier books in the series, and work your way forward. They’re great space opera with some interesting characters.
If you like science in your science fiction, you owe it to yourself to pick up some Allen Steele. He’s had some weak books (Oceanspace, etc.), but he’s done some great “near future” fiction. Orbital Decay, Lunar Descent, Clarke Count: Space, etc. Stuff that will make you wish America still had a sensible space program. The plots aren’t overly original, but the settings are a joy to any kids who grew up reading about or watching Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo and imagining that humanity had a future in space.
I’m not sure what I’d put in a “Top 5” SF list, but for sure, Heinlein’s The Number of the Beast has to rank among one of the worst SF novels I’ve tried to read. :-P
I have to second Allen Steele. He’s excellent. Denny, did you happen to read his short story The Death of Captain Future – think that was the name. That was a great nod to the old pulps.
It’s not a novel, but I have a fondness for Asimov’s I, Robot collection of stories. He’s not a great writer, but he can be a lot of fun. His most famous story is Nightfall, I suppose, which I just don’t see as deserving as much acclaim as it got.
I’d put Dune on my list. I probably wouldn’t add any of the sequels though.
Dune - Herbert
The first three Foundation books - Asimov
War of the Worlds - Wells
1984 - Orwell
And something by Kurt Vonnegut Jr… maybe Cat’s Cradle?
I’m not that big a sci-fi fan really. I almost threw in the Martian series from Edger Rice Burroughs just because they’re fun as hell and have four-armed green men.
There are so many good SF books that I’m reluctant to single anything out for special attention. However, since I haven’t seen them mentioned here yet, I thought that Dan Simmons’ Hyperion books were a great read.[ul][]Hyperion[]The Fall of Hyperion[]Endymion[]The Rise of Endymion[/ul]My tastes run more to the Brin/Bear/Baxter/Benford camp in recent years. I’m presently wading through Tad Williams’ Otherland saga and enjoying it so far.
Snow Crash, Neil Stephenson Hyperion series (1st 2, didn’t like 2nd 2 as much), Dan Simmons Neuromancer, William Gibson Eon, Greg Bear Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge
Would you consider “Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World” (Murakami) sci-fi? I guess that and Dune would be in my top 5, but I’m not much into sci-fi.
I used to read a lot of PK Dick (no fag jokes yet, hmmm…) and liked him a lot, but agree that much of his stuff is a bit too disjointed. His short stories are much more manageable and generally have a couple interesting ideas or twists, but I guess that would be a different topic.
Now my brain’s working better. Yeah, Dune belongs on a short list. Good call. Hyperion was great but each book got worse. He should have stopped with one.
I don’t think the Foundation books hold up well. I really don’t think Asimov’s fiction holds up well. He’s been surpassed by many later sci-fi writers.
I forgot Stanislaw Lem. I love his Star Diaries, but just as Orwell’s 1984 is more social commentary than sci-fi, the Star Diaries is more of a satirical look at human nature than sci-fi.
Also in no particular order, some of my favorites:
Nueromancer William Gibson Dune Frank Herbert The Mote in God’s Eye Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle Childhood’s End Arthur C. Clarke The Forever War Joe Haldeman
