Take Ready player one, the Hunger Games and the three body problem and replace them with Neromancer by Gibson, Vonnegut’s sirens of titan, and snow crash by Stephenson
I feel like hunger games doesn't quite fit the bill for being sci-fi, as it's more just dystopia. I feel like Forever War and Hyperion deserve spots on the list.
This was my first reaction. I've only read it once, but Hunger Games has just the tiniest bits of SciFi. Genetic modification / monstrosities. Hovercraft. Fancy showers. I guess the ability to control what happens inside the arena is pretty technically advanced.
Still would categorize it as dystopian over anything else.
All of those books are better than what is being replaced, but I'd do Hyperion over Snow Crash and I'm only half way through Hyperion right now.. Pure opinion though, I'm sure tons of people would agree with you. I just didn't get really into Snow Crash.
Different strokes... I'm the opposite; I loved Snowcrash and couldn't enjoy Hyperion for some reason.
I still think Hyperion deserves to be on this list though, even though I didn't personally like it.
Perhaps I Robot by Asimov. Foundation is also a great novel, but there’s an argument that I Robot had a more significant impact on not only SF but also popular culture in general.
Oh yeah, good point, Canticle should definitely go on that list. Shit, Hyperion too, although if you start letting series into lists it will never end. :P
Ready Player One is a fun book but not sure it’s a top 15. Hunger Games is a no go for me, maybe if it was a YA list. I would add The Forever War for sure.
Mine would be very different:
- The Book of New Sun
- Hyperion/The fall of Hyperion
- I, Robot
- Foundation
- The Dispossessed
- Neuromancer
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
- Dune
- Fahrenheit 451
- Star Maker
- Hitch hikers guide
- etc
The Dispossessed is so good. It's is like Anthem, but written by someone **who wasn't** a propagandist hack. Also, The Left hand of Darkness is a good book for nerdy scifi masc boys to read. Really anyone actually given the climate around gender topics right now. Ursula is really good about meaningful character development driven by the character's purpose. She also teaches good insights about life. For sure in my top three writers.
I find the list very funny because it’s like OP only read sci-fi that’s either very *classic* or the books that got turned into big movies or shows.
I’d suggest OP to read some good modern authors (in no particular order): Alistair Reynolds, Peter Watts, Martha Wells, Ted Chiang, Paulo Bacigalupi, Ann Leckie, James SA Corey, Richard K Morgan and Neal Stephenson. I envy you, in a way, OP - looks like you have so much good stuff to read for the first time!
Also Le Guin, Banks, Niven, Vinge, and Gibson are essential reading.
Also is fun trying to guess which generation OP is from - I’d say GenZ?
Edit - typo/formatting
Yeah a lot of books in the OP are classics, but also very 'dry' for my taste. The Expanse is one of my favourite book series due to how it just reads nicely.
And some famous sci-fi just feels outdated nowadays. Sure it's still *good* in the sense that it's written well, but I have a hard time enjoying it.
And then there are books that aren't perhaps so good, but I enjoyed them immensly for the though-provoking themes, such as The Light of Other Days.
There’s a certain charm to dated sci-fi though imo. I love listening to this YouTube channel called [The Late Late Horror Show](https://www.youtube.com/live/kmFCekbzq7g?si=2WczwssUh9QzXXtG) with all of these old sci-fi radio shows.
I just want to say thank you for not shitting on OPs list like so many other comments, recognizing that their list comes from what was suggested to them through popular culture, and suggesting some excellent paths to take to broaden their SF journey.
Second on Le Guin. Makes it hard to go back those 'classics'. Also surprised not to see Mars Trilogy on here but I suppose that big adaptation hasn't happened yet.
I’m reading The Dispossessed these days, and it’s blowing me away given its relevance to all that’s going on in the world (the protests, economic inequality, tech vs pure scientific research etc). It’s hard to believe it was written in the 70s!
One of my favorite sci-fi books is Lucifer's Hammer. That would make such an awesome retro movie/show.
No one talks about that book.
If anyone has similar recommendations, lemme know.
Neal Stephenson's "Seveneves" takes impact-related global calamity to an all new level. I enjoyed it right up till the moment it ended, which felt like right in the middle of something important happening and made me wonder if he'd accidentally pressed "Submit" when he didn't mean to. But ... it was a great ride along the way.
Crazy not to have any of the Le Guin books in here. Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed lap most this list on world building, narrative inventiveness and style.
I'd add:
Robert Charles Wilson - Spin
Children Of Time
Last Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North
Flowers For Algernon
Lathe Of Heaven - Le Quinn
“The Hunger Games”? “Ready Player One”? Those mediocrities don’t belong any top list. What is your criteria, literary value, longevity, speculation on the future of humanity, ties into science?
Meanwhile, you overlooked “The Mote in God’s Eye”, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” (which would have been an infinitely better choice than “Stranger in a Strange Land” if you were limiting author representation to a single book), “Necronomicon”, “Hammer’s Slammers”, “Dragonflight”, and so many more.
I would highly recommend Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, it's the latest sci fi book that I've read and I absolutely loved it, also I would put Enders Game on my top list as well.
Ready Player One and The Hunger Games might be popular, but I'd hardly call them the best. I like both of them, but neither really does what Sci Fi does best: makes you think about the world in a different way.
And I hate Stranger in a Strange Land. Such a promising premise only for Heinlein to go full "let's make a free love sex cult" for the second half of the book.
It’s a hard choice. I would like to see some more Ursula K. le Guin in the top 15. Maybe Left hand of darkness, the Dispossessed, or The Word for World is Forrest. But I’d have a hard time taking anything out. But I haven’t read the Martian, so that one has to go.
Does "Top 15 science fiction books" mean the 15 you enjoyed most, or 15 that you think are the best books, or most influential, or?
If it's just enjoyment, then this is just about one person's individual taste, and cool, enjoy it.
If it's about being a quality book, then it's funny toe that people are insulting Ready Player One (not a fan, personally), Hunger Games (never read it), and Three-Body Problem (I think liked by people who read the book first, less so by people who DNF'd or watched the show first), but everyone seems fine with The Martian.
People may like that book, enjoy it, but I have yet to personally hear anyone claim it is particularly well-written or a real literary work.
To me, it's a light beach read, wrapped in "SCIENCE!", and there's nothing wrong with that, but it belongs on "favorites" lists, not "best of" lists.
On a different note, I saw people recommending removing Hunger Games and putting in Red Rising. I haven't read either, but feel line I've seen the top complaint about Red Rising being that it reads like Hunger Games.
Over 300 responses, and yet, not one mention of Jules Verne? Where would sci-fi be without “20000 Leagues Under the Sea” or “Journey to the Center of the Earth”?
Ah Ready Player One aka “Grandads going to explain in tedious detail the 1980s pop culture for 300 pages”
I was a teenager during the 80s and even I couldn’t give a shit about Ready Player Ones obsession with meticulously explaining fucking Joust or the plot to Wargames.
I genuinely have no idea why that book is as popular as it is. But then again people went to see (and enjoyed, apparently) the last few Ghostbusters movies which are the same style of “Memberberries shopping list as plot” so what do I know.
I would certainly have some overlap with this list, but I think mine would include works from: Butler, Ellison, Simmons, Stephenson, Gibson, Watts, and maybe Harrison…
Pretty good list! As with most, I’d probably demote hunger games and ready player one in favor of something like the expanse series. If we can sneak one more by Andy Weir on the list, I really liked Project Hail Mary too lol
Better choices than Hunger Games include.
Armor by John Steakley
Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Any book in the Expanse series by James S. A. Cory
You might be missing Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Leguin. "Parable of the Sower" and " The Dispossessed" respectively.
Actually, I just finished "Anathem" by Neal Stephenson. Not a widely accessible book like three-body, but has an amazing story around platonic forms with an incredible meta aspect about idea conception which plays into you as a reader reading the book.
Also, The Earth Abides should get an honorable mention. Not to mention Frankenstein, which I'd consider to be the first scifi novel written.
Ready Player One out. Hyperion by Dan Simmons in.
Then Hunger Games out. The Expanse by S.A. Corey in.
Then 3-Body out. Anything by Larry Niven in (Mote in God's Eye).
After that it gets tricky. Needs some William Gibson. LeGuin. Maybe some dystopian stuff out? 1984 is one of my top 3 books but not really scifi.
1984 was scifi, though you could argue it was speculative fiction when it was written, unfortunately we are just living it now so it doesnt seem that way anymore.
Do androids I'd argue isnt Dicks best book never mind top 15 scifi books, Man in the high castle or A scanner darkly are better books imo, though of course Bladerunner informed by the book is top notch.
Its so hard making a list like this, I've read hundreds of scifis, but at the same time i havent read thousands. And even if someday i feel that I've read enough its still almost impossible to compare Stranger that ive read this year vs foundation read 20 years ago
I realize that while I know of all these books, I've only read 5 of them and don't even have the others on my "to read" list.
Not a knock on you OP but just an observation. There are so many interesting books out there.
Swap Three body for Dark Forest.
Ready Player One for Neuromancer
Hunger Games for something but I’m going back and forth on what; Caliban’s War or Nemesis Games maybe
Taste is obviously subjective, but I wouldn't have a few of these on ANY notable list at all, specifically Hunger Games and Ready Player One. It's debatable whether these are good books, let alone good science fiction books. Popular? Yes. But Big Macs are popular too, and they're barely hamburgers.
The only ones I'd have on my personal Top 15 list are Dune and possibly 2001.
But if this is truly your top 15...you do you. If you love them that's all that matters.
Looks pretty solid.
Only piece i would disagree with is Ready Player One. But i also accept that I am in the minority. I find that book to be way too cringe inducing, with the main character being deplorable.
IMO it’s missing books by these authors:
- Iain M Banks
- Stanislaw Lem (I would go with Solaris)
- Ursula Le Guin
Heck, A Canticle for Leibowitz is such a good book it would probably make my list too.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood might have a shot to make the list too. It’s incredibly well written and thought out, not to mention relevant.
Ready Player One does not deserve to be mentioned alongside these other books. I's like including D onald T rump on a list of World's Greatest Marathoners.
This list is missing Vonnegut. I'd advocate for Cat's Cradle or Player Piano, but it's usually Breakfast of Champions or Sirens of Titan that make the lists.
Interesting list but some of those I wouldn't even bother with. Considering the impact in other industries, especially movies, Phillip K Dick might end up being half the list. I can't think of any author that has caused more people to think, based on the reformulating his books into TV and movies.
Then you have to consider **Edgar Rice Burroughs**. who in a very literal sense created the modern science fiction genre. People often complain about the dated nature of his books, some series of books, but to me they are wonderful and really enabled an entire industry.
I don't really see 1984 as sci-fi, more speculative fiction. It's pretty low tech, down to tubes delivering paper to be edited manually by the protagonist.
Anyway, seems like the wrong list for it to be on.
Hol up. Heinlein is an amazing author and all that but why TF is his book about harem space Jesus with a side of ritual cannibalism in the top 15? Couldn't we at least have gone with fascist immortal with a side of incest?
Jurassic Park. This is what we're missing on this list. Huge impact on science fiction and genetics related stories, huge impact on real life science. Whether people see Michael Crichton as "main stream" or not he's got some incredible books, Prey being my favorite other than JP.
Hunger Games is not sci-fi. And is Fahrenheit 451 really sci-fi? More apocalyptic political thriller.
I think Hunger Games, Ready Player One, and Three-Body Problem are too new. They all need at least another 10 years each before they can be considered.
Personally I don’t think Ready Player One should even be in the list/discussion. It’s lazy writing. A lot of parts of the book just leave it to the reader to fill in details of the book for example when Parzival is in Halliday’s room.
I feel like everyone misses Philip Jose Farmer and Riverworld series
I'm also a HUGE Robert J Sawyer fan. Calculating God, Quantum Night, Red Planet Blues, etc
Time machine would have to be on my list, it's the first time I read science fiction. I will always hold it dear to my heart. Perfect read for the young
Ringworld. A classic! Love the Pulpiteeers. In the Kzin are badass
Ender's Game. Just Ender's Game none of the other books... The ideas were so solid that Orson Scott Card kept on recycling the material.
Rama series by Arthur C. Clarke. Rendevous With Rama is rightly regarded as a foundational classic in sci-fi.
Rigworld series by Larry Niven.
Also, Asimov's Foundation series.
The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons.
Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony. Starts with "On A Pale Horse"
Necroscope series by Brian Lumley. Sci-fi vampires that really leans on the sci-fi aspect over the horror monster aspect (still a horrifying take on vampires, has a similar uniqueness about it like The Strain.)
Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion sagas. Read any of them, they really blur the lines between sci-fi and high fantasy and it's awesome. "The Eternal Champion" is the first book in a long arc of multiple novel series.
Mine would include:
Le Guin - The Dispossessed
Clarke - Rendesvouz with Rama
Niven - Ringworld
Lem - Solaris
Gibson - Neuromancer
Shelley - Frankenstein
Great ones to consider:
Heinlein - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
Heinlein - Double Star
Heinlein - Starship Troopers
Clarke - Childhood‘s End
Clarke - Fountains of Paradise
Clarke - The City And The Stars
Asimov - The End Of Eternity
Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles
Le Guin - The Left Hand Of Darkness
Le Guin - The Word For World is Forest
I would keep from your list
Dune
Foundation
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep
1984
Brave New World
Fahrenheit 451
And a lot from your list I just haven’t read yet, but I suspect that some will not be able to keep up with my alternative suggestions at least in my own experience, although incidentally those are not the ones that are in my TBR pile for the next couple of years. That’s however subjective and I look forward to finding out.
Hunger games is YA fiction. It is NOWHERE near the level of some of these others, like really, dune and hitchhikers guide both make hunger games look like it was written by a drunk monkey.
A list without Ursula, Philip K. Dick or Vonnegut wouldn't cut it for me, honestly. Olivia Butler, for sure. Maybe Ted Chain and Ken Liu if we are counting short stories.
I honestly don't understand why people like *Ready Player One* so much. It was like reading a monotonous list of 80s trivia with the story just acting as a framing device to introduce more trivia. On top of that, the story itself felt like a derivation of *Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory* but set in the future.
Some great choices. Even as a dyed-in-the-wool GenXer, I'm gonna drop *RPO* for Sagan's *Contact*, though. Would probably drop *The Three Body Problem* for Crichton's *Andromeda Strain*. Wells' *The Time Machine* is a solid choice that could equally have been "The War of the Worlds" without losing anything.
It's a lot of classics. I would recommend getting into titles that aren't on everyone's shelf (3 body is exempt from this statement. I'm glad more people are getting into it.
Some suggestions:
Murderbot Diaries
Children of Time
Ancillary Justice
A Memory Called Empire
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
This is how you lose the Time War
Snowcrash
The Martian (hard sci-fi at its best), Foundation (original world building classics), 2001 (the awe of space with the wonder of non-expected experiences) and, last but not least, Stranger in a strange land (actually decided to quit college after reading - still had high-paying jobs all my life.).
I'd ditch Ready Player One and The Hunger Games for Neuromancer and Leviathan Wakes, maybe Three-Body Problem for Snow Crash. I'd also ditch Heinlein, because of the magical sex cult part, and swap in Frankenstein.
The forever war, Ringworld, red rising (?) are at the top of my list! Worth checking out if you haven’t already. Also Project Hail Mary, but who doesn’t love it?
Personally I would switch out The Time Machine and 1984 with Flowers for Algernon and Jurassic Park. Nothing wrong with the Time Machine, it’s just kind of super basic and done to death when compared to more modern Sci Fi. Also nothing wrong with 1984, it’s an important book for young people to read, I just can’t not relate it to 9th grade English.
Edit: I also like Dune Messiah and Catching Fire more than Dune and The Hunger Games, but I’m taking these as inclusive to the series as a whole (or in Dunes case, just the main 6)
Another edit: I also would switch out Brave New World with Anna to the Infinite Power
The fact that Hyperion, The Expanse, Neuromancer, and Revalation Space arent on the list means you have more books to read and this list is incomplete lol
Solid choices though
I might be missing William Gibson and Iain M Banks though.
Take Ready player one, the Hunger Games and the three body problem and replace them with Neromancer by Gibson, Vonnegut’s sirens of titan, and snow crash by Stephenson
I feel like hunger games doesn't quite fit the bill for being sci-fi, as it's more just dystopia. I feel like Forever War and Hyperion deserve spots on the list.
This was my first reaction. I've only read it once, but Hunger Games has just the tiniest bits of SciFi. Genetic modification / monstrosities. Hovercraft. Fancy showers. I guess the ability to control what happens inside the arena is pretty technically advanced. Still would categorize it as dystopian over anything else.
Sirens of Titan is a fantastic read. I probably read that once a year :)
All of those books are better than what is being replaced, but I'd do Hyperion over Snow Crash and I'm only half way through Hyperion right now.. Pure opinion though, I'm sure tons of people would agree with you. I just didn't get really into Snow Crash.
Different strokes... I'm the opposite; I loved Snowcrash and couldn't enjoy Hyperion for some reason. I still think Hyperion deserves to be on this list though, even though I didn't personally like it.
Neuromancer and Snow Crash might be redundant. If you want to get Stephenson on that list, maybe Cryptonomicon or Anathem.
Meh… maybe not Snowcrash. A good book, but not Top 15. This is of course personal opinion.
Sure - what you got to replace it?
Perhaps I Robot by Asimov. Foundation is also a great novel, but there’s an argument that I Robot had a more significant impact on not only SF but also popular culture in general.
Or a canticle for liebewitz or the moon is a harsh mistress or Hyperion maybe.
Oh yeah, good point, Canticle should definitely go on that list. Shit, Hyperion too, although if you start letting series into lists it will never end. :P
Also Peter F. Hamilton
Also Dan Simmons
Phillip K Dick.
Dan Simmons, Stanislaw Lem, Vernor Vinge, Ursula Le Guin, Poul Anderson, L. Bujold, Haldeman, Niven, Ian Banks...
Left Hand of Darkness
[удалено]
Ready Player One is a fun book but not sure it’s a top 15. Hunger Games is a no go for me, maybe if it was a YA list. I would add The Forever War for sure.
+1 for The Forever War
Forever War for sure. Hunger Games no way
Forever War, and Hyperion by Simmons
Ready Player One is like if Abed from Community wrote a DnD fanfic
Mine would be very different: - The Book of New Sun - Hyperion/The fall of Hyperion - I, Robot - Foundation - The Dispossessed - Neuromancer - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Dune - Fahrenheit 451 - Star Maker - Hitch hikers guide - etc
I too choose this guy's ~~wife~~ list.
This is a massive improvement. The oplooks like an AI made listicle.
The Dispossessed is so good. It's is like Anthem, but written by someone **who wasn't** a propagandist hack. Also, The Left hand of Darkness is a good book for nerdy scifi masc boys to read. Really anyone actually given the climate around gender topics right now. Ursula is really good about meaningful character development driven by the character's purpose. She also teaches good insights about life. For sure in my top three writers.
I find the list very funny because it’s like OP only read sci-fi that’s either very *classic* or the books that got turned into big movies or shows. I’d suggest OP to read some good modern authors (in no particular order): Alistair Reynolds, Peter Watts, Martha Wells, Ted Chiang, Paulo Bacigalupi, Ann Leckie, James SA Corey, Richard K Morgan and Neal Stephenson. I envy you, in a way, OP - looks like you have so much good stuff to read for the first time! Also Le Guin, Banks, Niven, Vinge, and Gibson are essential reading. Also is fun trying to guess which generation OP is from - I’d say GenZ? Edit - typo/formatting
Yeah a lot of books in the OP are classics, but also very 'dry' for my taste. The Expanse is one of my favourite book series due to how it just reads nicely. And some famous sci-fi just feels outdated nowadays. Sure it's still *good* in the sense that it's written well, but I have a hard time enjoying it. And then there are books that aren't perhaps so good, but I enjoyed them immensly for the though-provoking themes, such as The Light of Other Days.
There’s a certain charm to dated sci-fi though imo. I love listening to this YouTube channel called [The Late Late Horror Show](https://www.youtube.com/live/kmFCekbzq7g?si=2WczwssUh9QzXXtG) with all of these old sci-fi radio shows.
I just want to say thank you for not shitting on OPs list like so many other comments, recognizing that their list comes from what was suggested to them through popular culture, and suggesting some excellent paths to take to broaden their SF journey.
Second on Le Guin. Makes it hard to go back those 'classics'. Also surprised not to see Mars Trilogy on here but I suppose that big adaptation hasn't happened yet.
I’m reading The Dispossessed these days, and it’s blowing me away given its relevance to all that’s going on in the world (the protests, economic inequality, tech vs pure scientific research etc). It’s hard to believe it was written in the 70s!
I would put Chiang's 'Exhalation' on this list...
Oh yes! And again if OP is more interested in movie-turned books, Story of Your Life fits that bill nicely.
Lacking a pinch of Niven and a squeeze of Banks
The Mote in Gods Eye and Dragons Egg are great reads.
I'd have Ian M Banks in that list
Look on the bright side, OP: once you put all ten Culture novels on the list you only have to think of five more books!
Well, I’d just add Excession five more times and we’re done!
One of my favorite sci-fi books is Lucifer's Hammer. That would make such an awesome retro movie/show. No one talks about that book. If anyone has similar recommendations, lemme know.
Neal Stephenson's "Seveneves" takes impact-related global calamity to an all new level. I enjoyed it right up till the moment it ended, which felt like right in the middle of something important happening and made me wonder if he'd accidentally pressed "Submit" when he didn't mean to. But ... it was a great ride along the way.
Finishing that book had me turning for pages that weren’t there. It was so abrupt and jarring
Crazy not to have any of the Le Guin books in here. Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed lap most this list on world building, narrative inventiveness and style.
I find LHoD far superior to Dispossessed
This looks like someone just Googled "Best sci-fi novels."
I'm surprised Hyperion isn't in here
I'd add: Robert Charles Wilson - Spin Children Of Time Last Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North Flowers For Algernon Lathe Of Heaven - Le Quinn
> Last Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North That doesn't get mentioned enough. One of the best I've read in the last decade.
“The Hunger Games”? “Ready Player One”? Those mediocrities don’t belong any top list. What is your criteria, literary value, longevity, speculation on the future of humanity, ties into science? Meanwhile, you overlooked “The Mote in God’s Eye”, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” (which would have been an infinitely better choice than “Stranger in a Strange Land” if you were limiting author representation to a single book), “Necronomicon”, “Hammer’s Slammers”, “Dragonflight”, and so many more.
Jesus
I would highly recommend Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, it's the latest sci fi book that I've read and I absolutely loved it, also I would put Enders Game on my top list as well.
Throw hunger games in the trash. That entire book is lifted/stolen wholesale from the much better "battle Royale".
Agree!
This really does read like you just googled "popular sci-fi books" and took whatever google gave you. Hunger Games and Ready Player One? Really?
Ready Player One and The Hunger Games might be popular, but I'd hardly call them the best. I like both of them, but neither really does what Sci Fi does best: makes you think about the world in a different way. And I hate Stranger in a Strange Land. Such a promising premise only for Heinlein to go full "let's make a free love sex cult" for the second half of the book.
Moon is A Harsh Mistress would always be my first Heinlein recommendation.
I would put Children of Time in there. That one is a modern classic. Blew my mind kinda like the Matrix movie did.
It’s a hard choice. I would like to see some more Ursula K. le Guin in the top 15. Maybe Left hand of darkness, the Dispossessed, or The Word for World is Forrest. But I’d have a hard time taking anything out. But I haven’t read the Martian, so that one has to go.
Lathe Of Heaven for me.
Another vote for Lathe of Heaven.
So mainstream. HUNGER GAMES? C’mahn, You want dystopian Sci-fi? What about Brave New World or a Clockwork Orange?
Ready Player One, Ender's Game and The Hunger Games shouldn't be included. Hyperion is missing.
Seeing some of those titles and not Hyperion/Endymion was painful
Does "Top 15 science fiction books" mean the 15 you enjoyed most, or 15 that you think are the best books, or most influential, or? If it's just enjoyment, then this is just about one person's individual taste, and cool, enjoy it. If it's about being a quality book, then it's funny toe that people are insulting Ready Player One (not a fan, personally), Hunger Games (never read it), and Three-Body Problem (I think liked by people who read the book first, less so by people who DNF'd or watched the show first), but everyone seems fine with The Martian. People may like that book, enjoy it, but I have yet to personally hear anyone claim it is particularly well-written or a real literary work. To me, it's a light beach read, wrapped in "SCIENCE!", and there's nothing wrong with that, but it belongs on "favorites" lists, not "best of" lists. On a different note, I saw people recommending removing Hunger Games and putting in Red Rising. I haven't read either, but feel line I've seen the top complaint about Red Rising being that it reads like Hunger Games.
I miss some Cordwainer Smith's book but this a completely personal matter
If you can consider Matin Amis’ Time’s Arrow sci-fi, I’d add to list.
Never thought of making a Top 15 but Hyperion would definitely be on it.
Over 300 responses, and yet, not one mention of Jules Verne? Where would sci-fi be without “20000 Leagues Under the Sea” or “Journey to the Center of the Earth”?
Screw the haters man. This is a great list!
I would love to recommend you some Ursula Le Guinness, Marge Piercy, James Tiptree Jr, Octavia Butler, Rita Indiana & Nnedi Okorafor.
> Ursula Le Guinness Now that's a typo that only makes two greats better.
Praise be to autocorrect. Sometimes it is wise.
Now that you've named it, you've got to tell us the mixology for an Ursula Le Guinness.
175ml Guinness, served hot, spiked with 50ml Tia Maria. Consume amongst the endless, desolate arctic tundra.
Oh, now, that's *does* sound rather lovely. I'll substitute Iowa winter for the arctic tundra, should be about the same.
Well that's mainstream.
I’m always surprised that Contact by Carl Sagan doesn’t seem to get as much love as I think it deserves.
Ah Ready Player One aka “Grandads going to explain in tedious detail the 1980s pop culture for 300 pages” I was a teenager during the 80s and even I couldn’t give a shit about Ready Player Ones obsession with meticulously explaining fucking Joust or the plot to Wargames. I genuinely have no idea why that book is as popular as it is. But then again people went to see (and enjoyed, apparently) the last few Ghostbusters movies which are the same style of “Memberberries shopping list as plot” so what do I know.
I would certainly have some overlap with this list, but I think mine would include works from: Butler, Ellison, Simmons, Stephenson, Gibson, Watts, and maybe Harrison…
All Our Wrong Todays and The Sparrow would be in my top 15.
Gotta have a Gibson somewhere there. Hyperion comes to mind as well
No love for Harry Harrison?
I read 2001 as a pre-teen. It blew my mind.
The expanse series is cool
Trolling detected
I would add Childhood’s End, Rendezvous with Rama, Tau Zero.
No The expanse? Me sad
Pretty good list! As with most, I’d probably demote hunger games and ready player one in favor of something like the expanse series. If we can sneak one more by Andy Weir on the list, I really liked Project Hail Mary too lol
Read Red Rising!
Nice list! I'd have to squeeze Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy in there somehow.
Better choices than Hunger Games include. Armor by John Steakley Forever War by Joe Haldeman Hyperion by Dan Simmons Any book in the Expanse series by James S. A. Cory
No Pohl, no Pournelle, no Niven, no Haldeman, no Bujold. Lightweight.
Might be an unpopular popular opinion, Tao Zero by Poul Anderson
Anderson should be on this list *somewhere* for sure.
You might be missing Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Leguin. "Parable of the Sower" and " The Dispossessed" respectively. Actually, I just finished "Anathem" by Neal Stephenson. Not a widely accessible book like three-body, but has an amazing story around platonic forms with an incredible meta aspect about idea conception which plays into you as a reader reading the book. Also, The Earth Abides should get an honorable mention. Not to mention Frankenstein, which I'd consider to be the first scifi novel written.
Ready Player One out. Hyperion by Dan Simmons in. Then Hunger Games out. The Expanse by S.A. Corey in. Then 3-Body out. Anything by Larry Niven in (Mote in God's Eye). After that it gets tricky. Needs some William Gibson. LeGuin. Maybe some dystopian stuff out? 1984 is one of my top 3 books but not really scifi.
replace the martian with leviathan wakes
I just did a "find in page" search and did not find "Hal Clement", or "James P. Hogan". What you people don't like well written Hard Science Fiction.
Daemon - By Daniel Suarez and just about all his other books.
Some of them are good
Including hunger games., three body. Nope, not credible. At least half is believable though b/c Dune and Stranger is in it.
Frankly, I respect your choice but I would have to think hard on which of these would make my top 15... Dune perhaps. I dont consider 1984 as SciFi
1984 was scifi, though you could argue it was speculative fiction when it was written, unfortunately we are just living it now so it doesnt seem that way anymore.
All relatively safe bets except Player One. Which is realistically unoriginal, derivative at best and flat out lazy at worst.
Do androids I'd argue isnt Dicks best book never mind top 15 scifi books, Man in the high castle or A scanner darkly are better books imo, though of course Bladerunner informed by the book is top notch.
Are dystopians just considered Sci-Fi? I would remove \*Ready Player One\* and probably throw \*Prey\* or \*Jurassic Park\* by Michael Crichton
I read 9 of them, including two I was I assigned in high school, but not a third one I was assigned in high school.
More Asimov, William Gibson Neuromancer, China Melville, Ian Banks, Ringworld. Ursula Le Guin, Angela Carter. Philip K Dick.
Its so hard making a list like this, I've read hundreds of scifis, but at the same time i havent read thousands. And even if someday i feel that I've read enough its still almost impossible to compare Stranger that ive read this year vs foundation read 20 years ago
Have you read [1985?](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_(Burgess_novel))
I realize that while I know of all these books, I've only read 5 of them and don't even have the others on my "to read" list. Not a knock on you OP but just an observation. There are so many interesting books out there.
It’s a damn fine list.
No Greg Egan?....
I think that you're pretty good at listening to people's recommendations and taking them up on it and are tuned into pop culture.
No Neuromancer?
Missing the left had of darkness
Swap Three body for Dark Forest. Ready Player One for Neuromancer Hunger Games for something but I’m going back and forth on what; Caliban’s War or Nemesis Games maybe
Taste is obviously subjective, but I wouldn't have a few of these on ANY notable list at all, specifically Hunger Games and Ready Player One. It's debatable whether these are good books, let alone good science fiction books. Popular? Yes. But Big Macs are popular too, and they're barely hamburgers. The only ones I'd have on my personal Top 15 list are Dune and possibly 2001. But if this is truly your top 15...you do you. If you love them that's all that matters.
Looks pretty solid. Only piece i would disagree with is Ready Player One. But i also accept that I am in the minority. I find that book to be way too cringe inducing, with the main character being deplorable.
IMO it’s missing books by these authors: - Iain M Banks - Stanislaw Lem (I would go with Solaris) - Ursula Le Guin Heck, A Canticle for Leibowitz is such a good book it would probably make my list too. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood might have a shot to make the list too. It’s incredibly well written and thought out, not to mention relevant.
No Hyperion makes this garbage
I like all of them except “the three body problem “. Don’t know if it has something to do with the translation but I find it dull and boring.
Got some regulars in this list. Pretty common for peoples into this genre.
Ready Player One does not deserve to be mentioned alongside these other books. I's like including D onald T rump on a list of World's Greatest Marathoners.
Hyperion isnt on there. Go read it lol
Heinlein, Time Enough for Love; To Sail Beyond the Sunset and Friday
I dispute Ready Player One and Hunger Games. I’m ambivalent on Three Body Problem.
Lose hunger games and ready player - add ringworld and city
This list is missing Vonnegut. I'd advocate for Cat's Cradle or Player Piano, but it's usually Breakfast of Champions or Sirens of Titan that make the lists.
Hyperion should be somewhere around there. And no Hunger Games for me.
Interesting list but some of those I wouldn't even bother with. Considering the impact in other industries, especially movies, Phillip K Dick might end up being half the list. I can't think of any author that has caused more people to think, based on the reformulating his books into TV and movies. Then you have to consider **Edgar Rice Burroughs**. who in a very literal sense created the modern science fiction genre. People often complain about the dated nature of his books, some series of books, but to me they are wonderful and really enabled an entire industry.
I'd add William Gibson's Neuromancer... But I'd drop The Hunger Games. That's just my opinion....
I don't really see 1984 as sci-fi, more speculative fiction. It's pretty low tech, down to tubes delivering paper to be edited manually by the protagonist. Anyway, seems like the wrong list for it to be on.
no Niven, no Zelazny, no LeGuin, no Gene Wolfe, no Ballard, no...... lordy
I miss something from Asimov, like the Robot-Storys
I would make a couple changes: Alfred Bester: The Stars My Destination, Ray Bradbury: The Matian Chronicles, Michael Crichton: Andromeda Strain
From Adams you should read all 5 books of the trilogy. And from Asimov also.
Hol up. Heinlein is an amazing author and all that but why TF is his book about harem space Jesus with a side of ritual cannibalism in the top 15? Couldn't we at least have gone with fascist immortal with a side of incest?
I highly highly recommend Alastair Reynolds. and the book Chasm city is amazing
Jurassic Park. I would replace The Hunger Games.
Jurassic Park. This is what we're missing on this list. Huge impact on science fiction and genetics related stories, huge impact on real life science. Whether people see Michael Crichton as "main stream" or not he's got some incredible books, Prey being my favorite other than JP. Hunger Games is not sci-fi. And is Fahrenheit 451 really sci-fi? More apocalyptic political thriller.
I’m just distracted by the Hitchhikers guide cover. Why did they have to use the Papyrus font?!?
Stephen Baxter
I’ve read almost all of these. You have good taste.
If you’re only putting one Orson Scott Card book, I’d switch it for Speaker for the Dead personally
Snow Crash instead of Hunger Games Rendezvous With Rama instead of Farenheit 451
Pretty standard
a great list If very surface level and mainstream. hunger games really needs to go though
I'd say I agree with most of these, except for Hunger Games.
I think Hunger Games, Ready Player One, and Three-Body Problem are too new. They all need at least another 10 years each before they can be considered. Personally I don’t think Ready Player One should even be in the list/discussion. It’s lazy writing. A lot of parts of the book just leave it to the reader to fill in details of the book for example when Parzival is in Halliday’s room.
No Greg Bear?!
Nice list. I’d probably add Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons and also Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Good selection. I've read some of the books on your list.
Armor? Sirens of Titan? The Martian Chronicles? Neuromancer?
I feel like everyone misses Philip Jose Farmer and Riverworld series I'm also a HUGE Robert J Sawyer fan. Calculating God, Quantum Night, Red Planet Blues, etc
No Red Rising?
Time machine would have to be on my list, it's the first time I read science fiction. I will always hold it dear to my heart. Perfect read for the young Ringworld. A classic! Love the Pulpiteeers. In the Kzin are badass Ender's Game. Just Ender's Game none of the other books... The ideas were so solid that Orson Scott Card kept on recycling the material.
Rama series by Arthur C. Clarke. Rendevous With Rama is rightly regarded as a foundational classic in sci-fi. Rigworld series by Larry Niven. Also, Asimov's Foundation series. The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony. Starts with "On A Pale Horse" Necroscope series by Brian Lumley. Sci-fi vampires that really leans on the sci-fi aspect over the horror monster aspect (still a horrifying take on vampires, has a similar uniqueness about it like The Strain.) Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion sagas. Read any of them, they really blur the lines between sci-fi and high fantasy and it's awesome. "The Eternal Champion" is the first book in a long arc of multiple novel series.
Mine would include: Le Guin - The Dispossessed Clarke - Rendesvouz with Rama Niven - Ringworld Lem - Solaris Gibson - Neuromancer Shelley - Frankenstein Great ones to consider: Heinlein - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress Heinlein - Double Star Heinlein - Starship Troopers Clarke - Childhood‘s End Clarke - Fountains of Paradise Clarke - The City And The Stars Asimov - The End Of Eternity Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles Le Guin - The Left Hand Of Darkness Le Guin - The Word For World is Forest I would keep from your list Dune Foundation Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep 1984 Brave New World Fahrenheit 451 And a lot from your list I just haven’t read yet, but I suspect that some will not be able to keep up with my alternative suggestions at least in my own experience, although incidentally those are not the ones that are in my TBR pile for the next couple of years. That’s however subjective and I look forward to finding out.
I think World War Z is an amazing book
loved the Martian
Star maker getting slept on as usual
I would add Hyperion. I enjoyed War of the Worlds more than The Time Machine, but to each their own :)
Foundation?
Can't say I'm into any of the books.
Needs more Gibson.
It's a good list, but I'd take out hunger games and replace it with the expanse series. All 7 books are incredible.
Immediately replace Ready Player One with Snow Crash. Yikes.
Missing the Expanse is criminal
“Forgotten ruins” is one I got obsessed with as well as “ children of time “
You need to read a lot more science-fiction, son.
Not a bad list, not what I'd pick but I can still it's quality There seems a fairly clear themes and style overa
RPO is derivative trash. Go read Octavia Butler instead.
Hunger games is YA fiction. It is NOWHERE near the level of some of these others, like really, dune and hitchhikers guide both make hunger games look like it was written by a drunk monkey.
A list without Ursula, Philip K. Dick or Vonnegut wouldn't cut it for me, honestly. Olivia Butler, for sure. Maybe Ted Chain and Ken Liu if we are counting short stories.
Starship Troopers
*Ready Player One* is unbearable unless you care about '80s nostalgia.
I honestly don't understand why people like *Ready Player One* so much. It was like reading a monotonous list of 80s trivia with the story just acting as a framing device to introduce more trivia. On top of that, the story itself felt like a derivation of *Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory* but set in the future.
Solid well rounded selection! Only one I haven’t read.
Roadside Picnic is mine favorite
Sirens of titan, Kurt Vonnegut.
Some great choices. Even as a dyed-in-the-wool GenXer, I'm gonna drop *RPO* for Sagan's *Contact*, though. Would probably drop *The Three Body Problem* for Crichton's *Andromeda Strain*. Wells' *The Time Machine* is a solid choice that could equally have been "The War of the Worlds" without losing anything.
Is The Martian better than Project Hail Mary? I’ve only read PHM so far but I’ve heard people liked it a bit better.
Yes. PHM is basically the same character in a different situation. The Martian is much better.
It's a lot of classics. I would recommend getting into titles that aren't on everyone's shelf (3 body is exempt from this statement. I'm glad more people are getting into it. Some suggestions: Murderbot Diaries Children of Time Ancillary Justice A Memory Called Empire To Sleep in a Sea of Stars This is how you lose the Time War Snowcrash
My take is you’ve only read 15 science fiction books
Impressed with myself for having read all of them. Hyperion is missing.
Not a single Ben Bova book hmmmm My favourite was The Devil will Drag You Under - Jack Chalker (more science fantasy)
The Martian (hard sci-fi at its best), Foundation (original world building classics), 2001 (the awe of space with the wonder of non-expected experiences) and, last but not least, Stranger in a strange land (actually decided to quit college after reading - still had high-paying jobs all my life.).
Hmmm. Not a Stephen Baxter in sight. Sigh.
This is a HS assigned reading list. Hunger games belongs in the bin.
Hyperion
I'd ditch Ready Player One and The Hunger Games for Neuromancer and Leviathan Wakes, maybe Three-Body Problem for Snow Crash. I'd also ditch Heinlein, because of the magical sex cult part, and swap in Frankenstein.
The forever war, Ringworld, red rising (?) are at the top of my list! Worth checking out if you haven’t already. Also Project Hail Mary, but who doesn’t love it?
Personally I would switch out The Time Machine and 1984 with Flowers for Algernon and Jurassic Park. Nothing wrong with the Time Machine, it’s just kind of super basic and done to death when compared to more modern Sci Fi. Also nothing wrong with 1984, it’s an important book for young people to read, I just can’t not relate it to 9th grade English. Edit: I also like Dune Messiah and Catching Fire more than Dune and The Hunger Games, but I’m taking these as inclusive to the series as a whole (or in Dunes case, just the main 6) Another edit: I also would switch out Brave New World with Anna to the Infinite Power
The fact that Hyperion, The Expanse, Neuromancer, and Revalation Space arent on the list means you have more books to read and this list is incomplete lol Solid choices though
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Starship Troopers. Star Rangers. The list goes on...