293 comments

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  Mark Dykeman

  1 year ago

  Good list, but I really think you should include Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
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  TehApologist

  7 months ago

  Ha! You are my hero, friend. I was thinking of Hyperion the whole way through this list, and (though there are some truely brilliant titles here) was terribly disappointed to see it absent. One of the most imaginative and stylish books ever written, folks. You haven't begun to see the possibilties of sci-fi until you've let Simmons take the wheel.
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  JFrog

  1 day ago

  Agreed. I also enjoyed Illium and Olympos. Also check out The Lensemen series by E.E. "Doc" Smith, Riverworld by Philip Jose Farmer, The Sheep Look up by John Bruner and Blood Music by Greg Bear. Oh and no list is complete without Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
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  mayto

  1 year ago

  Good list. The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner is also a must read.
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  KnightKnetwork

  1 year ago

  Ah Timeline such a fun book it's a shame they never turned it into a movie ;-) (i know)
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  cluster1

  1 year ago

  my sentiments exactly, such a good book
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  baduncadonk

  1 year ago

  Gents, you should know that Timeline is actually a conceptual rip-off of Connie Willis' much better "Doomsday Book." Check it out at your leisure.
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  ashton

  12 months ago

  It is a movie
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  marian

  3 months ago

  They know. They just think it is a bad movie.
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  Crunchy Carpets

  1 year ago

  Ok..I was pretty happy till TIMELINE! WTF?? SERIOUSLY??
  I couldn't even FINISH it ...it was one of the worst written books ever. Crichton is not great....and Andromeda Strain the movie was probably better than the book....I don't know HOW he gets included apart from books sales....he is basically sci fi for people who don't read sci fi....
  
  All the other FABULOUS writers out there...
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  sbspalding

  1 year ago

  Ha, read my comment on that. Means to the madness, I promise you. :)
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  Betty

  1 year ago

  Not one book by Roger Zelazny? WTF?
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  cluster1

  1 year ago

  lord of light??? amazing
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  Russell123

  1 year ago

  got to agree with you on that one...good list but Lord of Light should be there.
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  JFrog

  1 day ago

  Damn straight. I can't believe I forgot about that one. In fact, I think I'm going to go dig out my old Sci-Fi book club edition.....
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  TehApologist

  7 months ago

  Not quite sure how great titles like the HUGO AWARD WINNING! "Lord of Light" escaped detection either. A real shame.
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  Eric

  1 year ago

  Distress by Greg Egan is also a must read
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  buttslop

  1 year ago

  insanely boring list. and how could you in your right mind recommend atlas shrugged on a sci-fi list? its pseudo-philosophy for guilty capitalists, its disgusting.
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  Karen

  1 year ago

  Agree 100% about Atlas Shrugged. What a simplistic piece of crap that book is!
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  sullivanb

  8 months ago

  Obviously you are a simple woman. If you feel that Atlas Shrugged was a "piece of crap" I would be extremely interested to hear what you deem a great literary work. If you cannot comprehend the scope or the gravity of a work does not mean it was not genius it just means you are most likely a moron.
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  Kip

  1 month ago

  There's no way you talk like that in real life.
  
  Atlas Shrugged is garbage because it's boring and I disagree with Ayn Rand's worldviews in general.
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  Ashley

  6 months ago

  I thought Atlas Shrugged was a great book and Ive read every book on this list. Like five of them were required reading in school.
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  Myers

  1 year ago

  Distraction by Bruce Sterling
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Distraction-Bruce-Sterlin...
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  Dankman

  3 months ago

  I second this. Even though Bruce's techno thriller stuff falls short, Distraction is an absolute must-read.
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  Mark

  1 year ago

  Fredrick Pohl's Gateway books
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  name

  1 year ago

  seconded
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  Jason

  1 year ago

  2001 a Space Odyssey please? I'd also even argue Rama by Clarke as well.
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  Mitchell Goldenberg

  1 year ago

  Armor by John Steakley. Sure it is unknown, but its still probably the best book ever written.
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  sbspalding

  1 year ago

  Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take some time to read it.
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  g

  1 year ago

  not unknown - not best - but very good. best may be The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress - or Dune.
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  j

  1 year ago

  Armor has one of the best first halves, but is undone in the second, in my estimation. The first part of the book is brilliant.
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  Morgan

  11 months ago

  Armor is great. A must, must, must read for all sci-fi fans .
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  JFrog

  1 day ago

  Felix is my homeboy.
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  Matthew Davidson

  1 year ago

  How does that hack Crichton get on this list? Twice, even? And Ayn Rand isn't SF, it's long-winded philosophy. Lastly, Minority Report should easily have been ditched for better/more important Dick books such as The Man in the High Castle or VALIS.
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  sbspalding

  1 year ago

  So why did Timeline make the list?
  
  I was thinking about leaving it off because it is oh so bad. I put it on the list because despite the fact that it's almost completely unreadable because the Wal*Mart set needs their Sci-Fi too. I wanted the list to cover as broad a spectrum of sci-fi as I could without making it 100 items long.
  
  I left off a lot of greats including:
  
  Vernor Vinge
  Dan Simmons
  Arthur C Clarke
  Iain M. Banks
  etc . . .
  
  Why is Rand on this list? Well, besides the Bible (go figure) Atlas Shrugged is apparently the most influential book ever written. Do I agree with the whole Objectivist shtick? Not hardly but it still worth mentioning.
  
  Leave suggestions, as many as you want. If you don't see it on the list it probably would have been there if I had remembered it while I was compiling.
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  Spherical Time

  1 year ago

  So, your "broad spectrum" of "must read" sci-fi includes nearly unreadable books and books that are more philosophy than sci-fi?
  
  Seriously, at some point you lost focus on what your list was supposed to be about.
  
  All of the authors that you left off are more deserving than many of the books that did make it.
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  sbspalding

  1 year ago

  I am going to agree that I left off some great authors, and I am really happy with all the suggestions that you guys have left.
  
  There are books on this list that you won't like (Giver and Timeline) but tons of people do and that's why I included them. They were influential in their own right, even if they aren't your cup of tea.
  
  If I put together a list of my favorite sci fi books, there are about a dozen others I would have included.
  
  You make a good point though, thanks.
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  Keith Fullerton

  8 months ago

  At the time I read it, Atlas Shrugged was very exciting. Science fiction is about possibilities, not reality. It sounds as if some of these readers cannot suspend disbelief. Something that is essential for science fiction. Of course, we can all suggest other books or authors, but this is a great list.
  |My own suggestion would be "The Stand" but I'm sure these illiterati would consider is commercial and bland.
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  r

  1 year ago

  I'd have to agree with this dude, you include timeline and the andromeda strain but not hyperion? not cool.
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  Anonymoue

  12 months ago

  Randroids continuously -claim- that Atlas Shrugged is "the 2nd most influential book ever written". That doesn't make it true by any measure.
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  skip1005

  1 year ago

  A couple of real jewels are "Replay" by Ken Grimwood (awesome book, by the way), and "Bid Time Return" by Richard Matheson (the book on which the movie "Somewhere in Time" was based)
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  karl s

  1 year ago

  Ann Rand?
  Two Crichton books? Only Andromeda Strain belongs.
  Two Dick books and three Gibsons? Those should've been grouped as 1 with room for other books.
  For example, Alfred Bester's brilliant Stars My Destinaion.
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  donh

  1 year ago

  I double down on "Stars My Destination". It has moments of
  heartrending poetry. "Way Station" by Simak, I think, and
  the under-appreciated "Davy" by Pangborn, also I put in that
  class. All standouts as novels, as full of muscled up ideas
  and people as any novel, much less a science fiction
  novel.
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  Gully

  1 year ago

  Concur re: The Stars My Destination.
  Best.
  Sci-Fi Book.
  Ever.
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  kdawg

  1 year ago

  Why is every damn 173 scifi books you must read! list exactly the same?
  And why does a scifi novel have to be full of social commentary to be considered good?
  
  Some of these books are good. It just the same crap that has been touted as teh best evar!!1!!11! for the past twenty years. Expand your horizons, boys.
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  Dan Lewis

  1 year ago

  No Lois McMaster Bujold? Cordelia's Honor (Shards of Honor/Barrayar omnibus), The Warrior's Apprentice, etc. She has as many Best Novel Hugos as Heinlein.
  
  Also no Ursula K LeGuin. The Left Hand of Darkness.
  
  Also no CJ Cherryh. Foreigner series.
  
  Also no Connie Willis. To Say Nothing of the Dog, Doomsday Book.
  
  I am sensing a pattern here...
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  sbspalding

  1 year ago

  Good calls Dan. What I will say is that other than Ursula LeGuin I haven't had the pleasure of reading any of the other authors, which is why they didn't make the list. Now that you've suggested them, I'll add them to my reading list.
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  cofax

  1 year ago

  If you haven't read Bujold or Cherryh or Willis I hazard to say you're hardly in a position to be making comprehensive reading recommendations in the SF genre. You're also missing Octavia Butler (!) and James Tiptree Jr.
  
  You might also want to consider reading something written since 1990 that wasn't written by William Gibson. Try Nancy Kress, Gwyneth Jones, Maureen F. McHugh, Susan Palwick, Karen Traviss, Sarah Zettel, or Elizabeth Bear (which I wouldn't have thought was possible: she's ubiquitous right now)...
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  Bren

  2 months ago

  Cherryh's Foreigner series (all half million of them) are the best I've read since Dune.
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  myname

  1 year ago

  Amen to LeGuin
  
  I also rec'd Butler's Xenogenesis... amazing series.
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  db

  1 year ago

  Excellent list. I would have left off Spook Country, not because it's bad, but only because it doesn't rise the level of the others.
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  0bvious

  1 year ago

  Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon should be on every best book list, sci-fi or otherwise
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  Bill leClere

  1 year ago

  find an old book called The Blind Spot. It has two authors--i can't recall their names. It was written around the turn of the century and is one of the best (and first) parallel universe novel ever written
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  SteveT

  12 months ago

  The authors were Austin Hall and Homer Eon Flint and the book was published in 1921 by Ace Books. (Project Gutenberg EText-No. 4920)
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  nathaniel

  1 year ago

  thanks for including ken macleod -- i'm glad people are picking up on his genius.
  
  include some walter jon williams -- i personally like aristoi, which takes the idea of meritocracy and expands it to its space opera potential. his recent works take up this mantle as well.
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  C. Bird

  1 year ago

  Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith. Wait; anything by Cordwainer Smith.
  
  It's a tragedy that most fans today do not know his work. Planoforming, underpeople, the Instrumentality...ground-breaking, epic, insert platitude here.
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  cephyn

  1 year ago

  The Truth Machine by James Halperin would be a good addition. It's a great examination of privacy issues we soon may be facing (if not already).
  
  Vinge and Clarke are notable omissions, as is Canticle. Clarke being the most egregious.
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  myname

  1 year ago

  Needs more Ursula LeGuin and Butler's Xenogenesis
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  MasterCKO

  1 year ago

  As someone who has read his fair share of these novels, I have to say:
  
  I can't recommend Accelerando enough. It's pretty new, so it's not a classic like Foundation or 1984 or something, but the ideas that Stross bring up are very creative and intriguing. You will definitely like this one.
  
  Timeline was garbage. How the hell did it make this list?
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  sbspalding

  1 year ago

  See my comment above for an explanation. Hope you're satisfied with it. I
  knew that one would draw some flack.
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  Tim

  1 year ago

  Wow, I've read half of the books on that list. I am a huge nerd!
  
  I recently did my thesis paper in high school on Isaac Asimov, so I have a few suggestions regarding his books. Foundation and I, Robot are pretty good, but to be honest, the writing in them is only okay and certain parts of it are ridiculous (i.e. the dialogue). Foundation is stunning when one first reads it, but upon further examination, the devices used to advance the plot are pretty weak. I, Robot has its strong points--namely, the last two stories--but the author clearly hadn't mastered manipulation of the three laws at that point. Robots do things which Asimov decides in later stories just don't make sense when it comes to the three laws. ("Runaround," for example, is kind of stupid. He just randomly decides that robots act crazy when they are confused by the three laws.)
  
  I would say that Asimov's best books are The End of Eternity and The Gods Themselves. The former is about time-travel, which is a subject which never gets old. The later is one of his later science-fiction books, and has a fascinating and genius portrayal of an alien race in an alternate universe with different laws of physics. He allows the reader to relate to the aliens, even though they behave completely differently from us. Nonetheless, Foundation and I, Robot are important books when it comes to science fiction and are worth reading.
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  Wildhack

  1 year ago

  Alfred Bester's THE DEMOLISHED MAN, Arthur Clarke's CHILDHOOD'S END, Jack Finney's TIME AND AGAIN, Ray Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, Kurt Vonnegut's SIRENS OF TITAN, Lloyd Biggle's MONUMENT, Frank Robinson's THE POWER, Fredric Brown's MIND THING, Eric Frank Russell's NEXT OF KIN.
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  porch lifts

  1 year ago

  This is a great list!!!
  
  Snow Crash is one of my all time favorites, but all the other ones that I have read on the list were excellent too.
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  bob

  1 year ago

  oh look, another linkwhoring blog..
  reply
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  nick Schiff

  1 year ago

  ark sakura
  by kozo abe
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  Shawn

  1 year ago

  "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson instead of Snow Crash; it's a much better book in so many ways. Three books by William Gibson, and "Altered Carbon" by Richard Morgan? You're kidding me, right? Perhaps one book by Gibson, and remove Morgan's tripe altogether. If you are going to give so much weight to one author, you should have put more of the Dune novels instead of so much Dick. From the first novel - Dune - to the last one Herbert wrote - Chapterhouse Dune - they are among the best of his generation. Read some of Iain M. Banks novels, such as "The Algebraist." The work of Alastair Reynolds is excellent as well. Start with "Revelation Space." You've also missed the work of David Brin, including the incredible "Uplift" series. The work of Robert Charles Wilson, author of "Spin" is perhaps some of the worst writing I have ever had the misfortune of encountering. Atlas Shrugged is a great book, but hardly science fiction. "Ringworld" is a hack of a novel that just plain sucked. The work of Heinlein isn't much better - it's pulp - but at least it's not as tedious and boring as Niven.
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  Althepal

  1 year ago

  Of those not already mentioned for consideration; The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
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  NosliwPilf

  11 months ago

  I second the nomination. One of the best books I've read. Also, more Dune should have been on the list.
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  Bren

  2 months ago

  I'd say that Morgan is worth a read, but I'd recommend the second book in that series, Broken Angels. Much better than Altered Carbon, but still in the same 'verse.
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  Pfhorge

  1 year ago

  I'd add Neal Asher, Ian McDonald, and China Mieville
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  hic

  1 year ago

  pattern recognition was a awful. what about cryptonomicon or daemon by leinad zeraus. those were great books, although a i understand that daemon is pretty new to be considered a must read.
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  Mateo

  1 year ago

  If you're going to put Ayn Rand on the list (I wouldn't) I would include The Fountainhead, not Atlas Shrugged. Rand makes the same points in both books, the only difference is that she takes less space to do it in The Fountainhead.
  
  Also, how about The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury?
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  Timmo

  1 year ago

  No Alistair Reynolds? No Iain M Banks? No Peter F Hamilton? for shame.
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  Joe Chiappetta

  1 year ago

  I agree with many of these. I like the diversity angle you were going for. Thanks for putting the list together.
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  nabhoth

  1 year ago

  Nice List,
  
  however strongly biased to the west. The most important authors not mentioned in the list is Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky one of basics of SCiFi as well as Stanislaw Lem and titles like Fiasco.
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  nabhoth

  1 year ago

  Nice List,
  
  however strongly biased to the west. The most important authors not mentioned in the list is Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky one of basics of SCiFi as well as Stanislaw Lem and titles like Fiasco.
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  Tim

  1 year ago

  The Illuminatus Trilogy, by Wilson and Shea
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  DonInFlorida

  1 year ago

  Definitely Illuminatus. Also, William Gibson is hands-down the best, most nuanced SF writer I've ever read. I'd put every one of his books on the list - but that's just my opinion.
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  Mike Shea

  1 year ago

  Indeed! I agree! Buy lots of them...
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  Francois

  1 year ago

  You forgot "Permutation City", "Solaris" and "Hyperion".
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  Barry Abrahamsen

  1 year ago

  How about something by Iain M. Banks?
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  Mike Shea

  1 year ago

  You have a lot of good books on this list.
  
  I just read a book called "Spin" that I really liked. I'd recommend that one.
  
  Cryptonomicon is the definitive Neal Stephenson novel but Snow Crash is really great too.
  
  Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End" is one of my all time favorites.
  
  Stephen King's "Dark Tower" is probably fantasy, not SF, but I love it too much not to mention.
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  ashuri

  1 year ago

  The Collapsium by wil mcCarthy. Quantum and particle physics with awesome wit and great writing? Yes please.
  
  Destiny's Children trilogy by Stephen Baxter. Taught me a lot about emergence points, transhumanism, evolution, etc.
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  Pwlemons

  1 year ago

  Almost anything by Harlan Ellison - 'speculative' fiction at its visceral best.
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  vaughan

  1 year ago

  The Light Of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
  Pat Cadigan, I think it was called Mindplayers
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  Beard

  1 year ago

  Agreed. The Light of Other Days was what got me hooked on Sci Fi, but alas I am young.
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  Urquan

  1 year ago

  Wannabe List. The creator of this list probably uses an apple
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  epsd101

  1 year ago

  Great list! But you should have definitely included Armor by John Steakley.
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  SoLinkable

  1 year ago

  What a list. This is a collection of some of the best book written. Hitchhikers and 1984 still manage to stand out in this crowd.
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  zappini

  1 year ago

  Shockwave Rider, John Brunner, +10
  Hyperion, ***, Dan Simmons, +10
  
  ***, Octavia Butler, +1
  
  Altas Shrugged, ***, Ayn Rand, -100
  ***, Michael Crichton, -100
  
  Compelled to state: I really enjoy anthologies. Lots of exposure to lots of authors that I wouldn't otherwise have the wherewithal to discover and read.
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  Neil Parmigian

  1 year ago

  Pattern Recognition sucked big time. I love every other William Gibson book, but that was terrible. I couldn't even finish it.
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  Somerset Bob

  1 year ago

  "Dhalgren" by Samuel R. Delany.
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  w3sl3ymill3r

  6 months ago

  thank God, i scrolled halfway down the comments list looking to see if anyone mentioned Dhalgren before i got smart and did a find for it.
  
  Kudos to you!
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  Nolte

  2 months ago

  I started this book and put it down after a dozen or so pages. The difficulty of this book when I was in high school was pretty intense, and it was think so I didn't know if I should stay at it. Seeing some praise for it, I guess I'll pick it back up.
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  bill

  1 year ago

  I'm sorry, but after hearing raving review after raving review, I finally read Asimov's Foundation and found it to be the most overrated science-fiction novel ever. It's not the worst I've ever read, but I just don't understand what all the hype around this novel is.
  
  And why the hell is Atlas Shrugged on this list? Wouldn't something like l'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" be more fitting?
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  Crystal

  1 year ago

  Several more really good sci-fi books are The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester, The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester, and The Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling (The Schismatrix is probably my absolute favorite besides Dune)
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  yen

  1 year ago

  I was shocked not to see The Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling on the list especially since it is weighted to more modern fiction. He is a great author but Schismatrix was probably his best book by so much he is probably even shocked by the quality (I could say the same for Orson Scott Card and Ender's Game.
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  Cee

  1 year ago

  When Worlds Collide is my favorite sci-fi novel, followed by Alas, Babylon.
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  Ben Koshkin

  1 year ago

  I'd also like to recommend Murakami
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  tourmaline

  1 year ago

  Seconded. Haruki Murakami.
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  Benjamin

  1 year ago

  Again and again the same old books that appear in the lists... I'd like to find a list of the best recent sci fi books, perhaps those that appeared in the last five years or so. I mean technology is striding forward so fast a lot ofthis stuff seems already old in these sci fi books or is already totally absorped into our popculture.. I'd really like to bring my mind to endorse future visions of our technology and the development of our society which provide some guidance for our thinking. Ten years ago that was the domain of Neal Stephenson, Otherland by ad Williams, and I have to admit that Charles Stross Accelerando's vision of transhumanism was quite interesting, but apart from those? I'd Stephenson is not up to date anymore and now looks rather back on science in history which is quite interesting, but of course not as inspiring as his earlier works.Where are the new visionaries of a genre that was on the threshold of nearly being accepted as literature? I am quite certain there are great sci-fi authors out there, but i actually would rather read them before they have become classics... so if anyone has a hint or would like compile a list, let me know
  
  Benjamin
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  dTrav001

  1 year ago

  Steve, excellent list ... and I admit to being pleased at how many I've read. I would add John Varley's amazing Gaea trilogy (Wizard, Titan and Demon) as a standout addition. Thanks for the good work - -d
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  Someone

  1 year ago

  How about Kim Stanley Robinson - Green Mars ?
  And I totally agree with A Canticle for Leibowitz.
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  Tim

  1 year ago

  Eon by Greg Bear, check it out
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  Cammel

  1 year ago

  I am glad to see someone else thinks as highly of Ender's Game as I do. It was first a short story in Card's "Unaccompanied Sonata"
  
  Also "Replay" was a great book.. Ken Grimwood was understandably upset when the movie "Groundhog Day" came out. He was hoping to have his book made into a movie, but "GD" shut that possibility out. IMHO "Replay" would be a MUCH better movie.
  
  I would highly recommend both these books to all true Sci Fi readers.
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  Andi S.

  1 year ago

  I'll pass along (and fully support) an opinion by jwz on that subject:
  
  Recommendation: The John Varley Reader
  
  Varley has been one of my favorite writers for years, and this book is why. This is a collection of his short stories, on the 30th anniversary of the publishing of his first one. I read most of these stories during my formative years, and they in no small part shaped my vision of What The Future Will Be Like. Most of these stories have been out of print for some time, and there are a few in here I hadn't seen before. Every story in this book is fantastic. If you never take another piece of my advice on a book, take this one: I can't recommend it highly enough.
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  cashius1

  1 year ago

  I can't believe no one has brought up Roger McBcBrideAllen's trilogy. One of the best of all time. My Favorite!!!
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  tricky

  1 year ago

  I totally agree about the ones I've read (about 80% of the list) ... so I definitely see the rest as a recommendation of someone who shares my taste
  
  finally someone who reads -real- SCIENCE fiction, not sagas full of strange names
  
  I think there are a couple of classics that should be added ... like Roadside Picnic, by brothers Strugatsky, or Us, by Yevgeny Zamyatin
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  Alex

  1 year ago

  I agree on Us by Zamyatin. Very overlooked work of science fiction. I would also like to add "Limbo" by Bernard Wolfe, if you can find it....
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  Jeff

  1 year ago

  Earth Abides - George R. Stewert
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  Phil Glockner

  1 year ago

  Wow, I've read all but two of these. Of course, I think this is a fantastic list! Thanks!
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  xxxxxxx

  1 year ago

  The Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer, everyone who has ever lived on earth, from cavemen to modern humans, are ressurected on the banks of a seemingly endless river. It has 5 books in the series and they are all really good... It was made into an awful Sci-Fi channel pilot, but it didnt do it any justice and distirted some of the more important points of the story... Amazing a must read
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  safetyguy08

  1 year ago

  Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
  Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clark
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  Catfishman

  1 year ago

  Two more Heinlein novels would make my list: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Doublestar
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  HEather

  1 year ago

  My favorite Heinlein book is Citizen of the Galaxy!
  Friday is also good, even tho he tends to portray even his strong his female characters in a somewhat paternalistic way, But a product of the times I guess.
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  John

  12 months ago

  Mine too!
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  XMalice

  11 months ago

  Oddly enough, mine's 'I Will Fear No Evil'.
  reply
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  SomeAudioGuy

  1 year ago

  GREAT list!
  I'm going through a few of these now on my Reader.
  
  Just cuz I'm a huge Clarke nerd I'd like to add Childhood's End to the list!
  It's an hors d'oeuvre of a book, and a pretty satisfying read.
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  Kevin

  1 year ago

  No Ursula Le Guin?
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  Merlin

  1 year ago

  A Matter for Men by David Gerrold is right up at the top of my list. As are many of the hundreds of Sci-fi books and stories I read before 1975 and or 1965, sorry but I don't remember the names so much as the stories.
  I will say one thing for the early years of Sci-fi, it fueled the imaginations of the young to go forth and create many of those wondrous things they could only read about from the minds of the few. It was a wide open unknown frontier back then ripe for exploration.
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  Jubal H

  1 year ago

  I'll add my voice to the list of those suggesting Iain M. Banks, particularly the Culture novels. The Player of Games is a pretty good one to start with, at times it is like a mirror-image of Brave New World.
  reply
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  Alex

  1 year ago

  Hammer's Slammers by David Drake
  
  Armor was mentioned, pretty good. Is Starship Troopers up there?
  reply
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  Jettero2112

  1 year ago

  Yo Bill leClere:
  
  The Blind Spot by Homer Eon Flint and Austin Hall (1921).
  
  Surprised there's no Burroughs on here....
  reply
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  tourmaline

  1 year ago

  The series "John Carter of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs is the story that launched my interest in Sci-Fi, way back when. John Carter falls asleep in a rocky, Arizona desert, and then wakes up to find that the desert has acquired a strange, reddish hue -- Mars' environment predicted decades before Mars Rover confirmed Burroughs' imaginary Mars as being for real.
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  logan

  1 year ago

  At the risk of sounding elitist, you CLEARLY have not read enough SF. I have not either, but I must say most of this list makes me wonder if you've read them. Sure, you gave some of my favorites on there, but you not only miss many excellent authors that others have mentioned, but why call a list "sci-fo novels you should read" and then 1. include non sci-fi (which is hard to do since its such a broad definition) and 2. include books you definately should NOT read, even one you claim yourself is bad!? I've restrained myself from resorting to profanity and my head hurts from trying to follow your thought process. I'm sure you're a great and intelligent guy, but this post is a big miss.
  reply
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  sbspalding

  1 year ago

  Thanks for the measured response. Like I said earlier, this is a list that serves to -
  
  a. Share a (relatively) broad set of Science Fiction books that I have read.
  b. Solicit other opinions on the subjects (unfortunately, I haven't read everything though I wish I had).
  
  As for the "must not reads" -
  
  I think Timeline is worth reading if only because it (for whatever reason) is widely read. It's widely read enough for people to have a clear picture of why they hate it. I also think people should see certain "bad" movies (maybe it's just me).
  
  The "is not Sci Fi" debate -
  
  I would argue that Atlas Shrugged is Sci-Fi (speculative fiction) but it's steeped in politics which drowns it out for a lot of people. It's also included because it's so critically acclaimed, despite the fact that it's also just drowning in over the top Objectivist screed.
  
  Thanks again for the comment, I hope this explains my reasoning.
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  Andrew

  1 year ago

  Atlas shrugged is right wing screed, Michael Crichton is a global warming denier and hack, but otherwise it's a decent list to start with. 2001: A Space Odyssey needs to be in there, the entire Dune series (including the books co-authored by Hebert's son), a book called Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo, The Tommyknockers by Stephen King.
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  jseliger

  1 year ago

  Some of these, like Frankenstein, are only very loosely science fiction, and even then I'm not sure Frankenstein is as of much aesthetic interest as historical interest for its affect on later works.
  
  Crichton and Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon both ought to be skipped, as they embody the negative tendencies in science fiction that I wrote about in literature, science fiction, and the haters, as well as its followup.
  
  One commenter bemoaned the lack of Ursula K. Le Guin, which I will amplify: The Left Hand of Darkness and The Lathe of Heaven deserve their reputations.
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  Dave Geary

  1 year ago

  Decipher by Stel Pavlou is an absolute must.
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  Evil Wizard Glick

  1 year ago

  Illuminatus Trilogy should top the list.
  Evolutions Shore beats the crap out of some.
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  geneven

  1 year ago

  Atlas Shrugged is not science fiction -- no way. What about it is sci-fi?
  
  Walden 2, by B.F. Skinner, is closer.
  
  Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, is probably sci-fi. It's a great book.
  
  As a couple of people mentioned, The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson, is really good. His Cryptonomicon isn't very sci-fi. Snow Crash is quite funny, especially the very beginning.
  
  If you had to find sci-fi by Ayn Rand, you would have to choose Anthem.
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  Evil Wizard Glick

  1 year ago

  Atlas shrugged is right wing screed, Michael Crichton is a global warming denier and hack
  
  Disagree. Atlas Shrugged is right up there with Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion as rugged individualist fiction. Atlas Shrugged is an amazing book with many VALID points to be made.
  Sadly a few die hard narrow minded Liberals deny the genius of Rand. These use the tired olld jibes of "right wing" and "denier". I'm quite amazed to see Neocon and Tinfoil hat missing from the description.
  Probably they couldn't navigate the depths of her work.
  I'm not a big fan of Crichton but he is still a ground breaking author.
  By the way I've been a leftie since before you were a gleam in mommies eye. Hell I even smoked dope with Kesey.
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  Evil Wizard Glick

  1 year ago

  Atlas Shrugged is not science fiction -- no way. What about it is sci-fi?
  
  Read Heinlein description about what REAL science fiction is.
  Most on this list would be science fantasy or speculative fiction.
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  Nate

  1 year ago

  I actually liked Sphere a lot more than Timeline. From what I remember, most of Timeline was about the main characters running away from people who were trying to kill them.
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  johnkoetsier

  1 year ago

  Interesting ... I've read about 75% of these. Now I need to check out the rest!
  reply
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  Ktoo

  1 year ago

  The Sheep Look Up and Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner!
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  Christian

  1 year ago

  Gawd look at all those comments.
  
  I've only read 13 of the ones on your list, I'm sad to say.
  
  Rather than re-hash other peoples' suggestions (like The Martian Chronicles, for example), I'll offer two of my own:
  
  1) A very recent (but still very awesome) one would be "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. It's one of a very few science fiction books that I feel has both a soul and a real heart. It's also made basically everyone I know who's read it (including people who loathe scifi) break down and cry by the end. Reading it in the middle of a year abroad in a place as far out as Ulaanbaatar really got to me, since it talks a lot about leaving, waiting, and living in the here and now as best you can.
  
  2) Beyond that, one of my biggest favorites would be "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge. Not only was it one of the inspirations for a lot of the mythos of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, it was also had a lot of neat metaphor/allegory regarding the development of the internet, and was generally just a damn good read.
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  Haather

  1 year ago

  I would suggest The Door into Women's Country by Sherri S. Tepper. A post apocolyptic novel. Quite good.
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  nato

  1 year ago

  What about "the player of games" by Ian banks, Or "last and first man" by Olaf Stapleton?
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  Techranman

  1 year ago

  Starship Trooper by Robert A. Heinlein is a must read. Politics and SciFi? Heck yes.
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  pauli

  1 year ago

  i used to read this guy michael moorcock, british dude wrote some crazy stuff mostly swords and sorcery stuff but some off the wall sci fi shit too. i like zelanzy too.
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  Krappe

  1 year ago

  Those books are crap. I'd much rather read another list of things on the internet stolen from another list of things on the internet stolen from another list of things on the internet all the way back down to the original talentless fuckwad that thought they'd get rich and famous by publishing a list of things on the internet.
  reply
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  automaton

  11 months ago

  So, where's your list, genius?
  reply
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  bibbles

  1 year ago

  and everything by arthur c. clarke..............
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  Some guy

  1 year ago

  I was shocked that "Childhood's End" wasn't the #1 on your list.
  reply
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  boglin

  1 year ago

  I'd hardly consider Animal Farm as a sci-fi book. It's a fable. Like the kind Aesop wrote.
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  high.on.markers

  1 year ago

  obviously a decent list if you got 114 comments - I don't care how many of them just commented to pee on your leg.
  
  ditto to Cordwainer Smith, LeGuin and Pohl (particularly the Cool War and The Space Merchants / with C M Kornbluth); ditto to wanting Sirens of Titan - also Cat's Cradle
  
  also TJ Bass - and I confess to really enjoying some pulpy Van Vogt (Slan, Weapon Makers of Isher) - also A.A. Attanasio's Radix
  
  If it went into the realms of fantasy, I'd want to be seeing some Jack Vance, Zelazny - I personally like Moorcock's Runestaff series, but it wouldn't be to everyone's taste - maybe even Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman
  
  Someone standing next to me is saying Lem! Burnner! Benford! the Strugatsky brothers! Fred Hoyle! Diana Wynne Jones!
  
  Everyone is just freaking out around here right about now and there is a titanic struggle taking place on the mats
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  sbspalding

  1 year ago

  Thanks mate, I'll definitely look into your suggestions. :)
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  Justin K.

  1 year ago

  Good list. I have three to add. I agree with Mitchell Goldenberg that Armor by John Steakley should be added. It is an excellent book as well as his other book, Vampire$, which the John Carpenter movie is "loosely" based on. The other two were REALLY bad movies, but very good books; Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard and Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.
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  kaldrazadrim

  1 year ago

  Ursula LeGuin: The Dispossessed (1974)!
  amazing book.
  
  I really hated snowcrash- written in such a juvenile style! all the others i've read that are on this list i loved, though.
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  Elbarfo

  1 year ago

  The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter Hamilton is a very good set of SF novels as well...at least, IMHO.
  
  I'm getting more good reading material from the comments than from the actual article. That's really nothing new though. It's getting to the point where a top SF list needs to be 100 or more to offer up anything not already well known.
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  Tom

  1 year ago

  I second "Solaris" as missing and in out times more from John Brunner. And then there are some short stories which are just as inspiriing as those novels.
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  sabat

  1 year ago

  Most of your picks make sense but Corey Doctorow is an awful writer, and you picked one of his worst books -- one that has grammatical errors right on the first page!
  
  And ... Crichton's Timeline? Ack. Are you serious? Crichton couldn't write his way out of ... er ... a paper bag. And this is one of his worst books.
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  David

  1 year ago

  Thought it was an interesting list till Timeline!
  
  Best Science Fiction Book List should include:
  
  "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester
  "Night Walk" by Bob Shaw
  "The End of Eternity" by Asimov
  "The Chrysalids" by John Wyndham
  "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
  "Have Space Suit... Will Travel" by Heinlein
  "Consider Phlebus" by Ian M Banks
  "Use of Weapons" by Ian M Banks
  "Intervention" from The Pliocene Saga by Julian May
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  griffin

  1 year ago

  Nice picks!
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  griffin

  1 year ago

  Too many recently resurgent books, and too much veneration for classics in my view. How about a Philip K Dick omnibus, instead of listing individual titles? How did the vastly overrated Cory Doctorow make this list, but Iain M Banks didn't? How about Ray Bradbury? Except for Crichton, it reads like a list designed to impress others.
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  benoist

  1 year ago

  Hyperion is missing
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  don

  1 year ago

  Ver y nice list.
  I know that you specified novel, but I feel that everyone,
  certainly, SF fans, should read the first "Dangerous Visions"
  anthology of short stories.
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  don

  1 year ago

  Ver y nice list.
  I know that you specified novel, but I feel that everyone,
  certainly, SF fans, should read the first "Dangerous Visions"
  anthology of short stories.
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  Nipun

  1 year ago

  Good list ...but Ayn Rand in Sci-fi !!! Gimme a break !
  Anyways THE addition to the list would have to be 'Number of The Beast' by Heinlien and of course The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
  Also where are the classics by JG Ballard and Arthur C Clarke. They're considerably better than Timeline and crap like that. :)
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  xaustinx

  1 year ago

  Okay, this is a good list, but i agree, remove Timeline. also add; The Stars my destination by alfred bester (the first winner of the hugo award the year it was created) and Demolished Man by alfred bester (the second winner of the hugo award, the second year it was in existence). i would have to say 80% of all sci-fi ideas came from, or at least were present in these two books.
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  dizzley

  1 year ago

  Whoa! Plenty of comments here: many helpful, some just gloating. :) Your list was plenty good enough to rouse our interests and it's made me hungry to try one or two authors I haven't read, or at least not for years. Good job.
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  sbspalding

  1 year ago

  Thanks so much, I really appreciate the kind words. :)
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  Marcus Ranum

  1 year ago

  "Timeline"???
  
  Oh, puhleeeeze. Timeline is worth having in case you're in a bathroom at an airport and there's no paper on the roll. But other than that...
  
  You've got some complete crap on this list, while leaving out classics like "The Demolished Man", "2001", "Foundation" etc. They're classics for a reason - people will be reading them long after some of the dreck you list is out of print. ("Animal farm" science fiction? Neither is "1984")
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  d

  11 months ago

  The thing about _Animal Farm_ worth recalling is the repainting of the barn wall, the sheeps' chilling '4 feet good, 2 feet better' refrain, and the horse's motto, 'I will work harder'. Otherwise it recaps 1984. But if you've read Aesops Tales, then read Animal Farm, won't take long.
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  Dan

  2 weeks ago

  1984 not Sci-Fi? It was written 35 years before it is set, and has people working on very futuristic devices...
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  Dave

  1 year ago

  Some more
  
  Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner
  Hot Sleep - Orson Scott Card
  The lensman series - EE Doc Smith (a bit hard to get past the 50's sexism now though)
  EON and Eternity
  
  A couple I haven't read here though and a few more others have suggested, cool.
  
  Oh Peter F. Hamilton and Clifford Simak should get a mention too. David Brin - the postman
  
  Oh Dune too.
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  Witek Baryluk

  1 year ago

  You forget Stanisław Lem - "Solaris", "The Star Diaries" (Ijon Tichy travels), and "The Cyberiad" are probably mostly known.
  
  Any way good list.
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  munky

  1 year ago

  Good enough list, tho' no-one will ever agree on anything like this as being definitive - I, for one, can't stand Asimov any more.
  And I'd be more impressed if we called it SF instead of sci-fi; that's the one thing I still agree with old Isaac on...
  reply
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  baldie

  1 year ago

  Nice list. I look forward to picking up the few on this list I haven't got to yet. I'd like to add Neal Asher's works to the list though, they never fail to amaze me
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  Mart

  1 year ago

  Too many repeating authors (with a list this small there shouldn't be multiple Dicks Asmiovs etc. just pick their best work. Also felt this delved a bit much into the commercial fiction arena and away from the literary...
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  hokiebates

  1 year ago

  Nice list, good thing to include Crichton. I think he is a bit sudo sci-fi, but never the less, I've read everything he's written. It's great entertainment if not hardcore sci-fi. Also, loved Rand being on the list.
  
  I would recommend "The Mote in God's Eye" as one of the best ever.
  
  I somehow missed Snow Crash, so I'll be reading that one soon.
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• 

  Accelerando_Fan

  1 year ago

  Considering Stross's Accelerando, I'd like to point out that it has been released under creative commons as free ebook.
  
  Check this site
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• 

  Mr. Shiny & New

  1 year ago

  What? No Steel Beach by John Varley?
  reply
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  Mark

  1 year ago

  Read most of these, but criminal not to mention Jeff Noon - Vurt and Pollen are a great look forward to techno-ghost-dog-vurt underground pop culture in Manchester, UK.
  reply
• 

  Michele

  1 year ago

  To Your Scattered Bodies Go- Phillip Jose Farmer. Lovely!
  reply
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  roamin

  1 year ago

  Great list, thanks for compiling and sharing, a labour of love.
  reply
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  sherlock

  1 year ago

  From Wiki - Atlas Shrugged
  
  - In addition to normal technologies, she introduces several fictional inventions, including refractor rays (Gulch mirage), Rearden Metal, a sonic death ray ("Project X"), motors powered by static electricity, and a sophisticated electrical torture device.
  
  - Rand also mentioned technologies that were unavailable at the time, but which have since been invented. Examples are voice activated door locks (Gulch power station), and palm-activated door locks (Galt's NY lab).
  
  If that's not textbook sci-fi, I don't know what is. Are you Rand critics sure you're not letting your biases political biases blind you to the sci-fi aspects of the book?
  
  And I'd like to second Mote in God's Eye and add Macroscope.
  
  Animal Farm sci fi? No.
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  Andi S.

  1 year ago

  I agree with some previous posters that "Mote in God's Eye" is an absolute must as well.
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  martiedawn

  1 year ago

  No Zelazny? Seriously, dude. For shame.
  reply
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  jameswall

  1 year ago

  Any and all HP Lovecraft should in the list somewhere, father of modern horror, sprinkled with sci-fi elements. Since finding HP Lovecraft I have been amazed at how many more recent works have found inspiration in this catalogue of terror he created. I can't express enough how much of a must read HP Lovecraft is.
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• 

  high on markers

  4 months ago

  I agree - maybe a collection like At the Mountains of Madness? Not sure. I was so royally pissed off at Flannery O'Connor for being so down on fiction that used a case study format. I'd read Lovecraft before her self-important, contrived stories any day.
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  Coromir

  12 months ago

  Arthur C Clarke - Childhood's End
  C.J.Cherryh - The Chanur series (Pride of Chanur, Chanur's Venture &c.)
  C.J.Cherryh - Downbelow Station
  Joe Haldeman - The Forever War
  Ian M Banks - Consider Phlebas
  Ian M Banks - Excession
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  Nouvel_Homme

  12 months ago

  Also check out any of the "Deathstalker" series by Simon Green.
  
  not extraordinarily well written, but entertaining none the less.
  reply
• 

  mndoci

  12 months ago

  Atlas Shrugged is one of my favorite books, but I'm still rather surprised to see it in a list of sci fi books.
  reply
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  Meano Burrito

  12 months ago

  Why has no one mentioned The Dark Tower series by Stephen King? Time travel, multiple dimensions, lobstrosities...awesomeness.
  reply
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  MichaelSammuelle

  12 months ago

  My picks, I know many will disagree,but oh well...
  Arthur C Clarke-2001,2010,2061,3001
  KS Robinson-Red Mars
  Youre Next 50 Years-Prehoda
  Planet of the Apes (book, not movies)
  Logan's Run-Nolan
  Contact-Sagan
  Invasion of the Body Snatchers-?
  Who Goes There ?(short story that was the basis for the Hawk's movie "The Thing"
  The Man Who Fell to Earth
  Alien-Foster
  Rendevous with Rama-AC Clarke
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  ultimatexpert

  12 months ago

  George W Bush is the worst president ever. That's NOT science fiction.
  reply
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  bob

  12 months ago

  I would add The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
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• 

  netkaos

  12 months ago

  Hi there -
  
  Don't let all these malcontents get to you. A list like this is NEVER going to please everyone. Actually, it rarely pleases ANYONE.
  
  You've done a very acceptable job of boiling down hundreds of thousands of books into an inclusive list. Yes, a couple of my favorites were left out, but it's not my list. You did hit my favorite - Dune - so I'm pleased. The internet often lets people who are too moronic to even spell correctly voice their opinion when commenting on researched content like yours. Don't waste a minute worrying about them. They will be saying "would you like fries with that?" for the next 40 years.
  
  Good effort.
  
  Kris
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• 

  sbspalding

  12 months ago

  Thanks for taking the time to write such kind words. I think a few really good things came out of this list. The first was the list itself, which I thought was pretty representative (though there were some missing elements as many people have pointed out)
  
  More importantly, if you take the time to parse through the comments there are a ton of excellent suggestions there that it would have taken weeks for me to come up with on my own.
  
  Thanks again for dropping by!
  reply
• 

  KayTI

  12 months ago

  So glad to see Ender's Game, Snowcrash, and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on your list (and several others that I actually read as assignments in high school classes ages ago-interesting!)
  
  Wanted to second some other recommendations that have come up:
  
  The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein. Truly inspirational, and still relevant even with the advanced computer featured (something many other books written in that era have not succeeded in doing.)
  Forever War - Haldeman. Great book, good at addressing the time dilation issues of faster-than-light travel.
  Mote in God's Eye - Niven and Pournelle. Excellent view of what encountering an alien species might be like, including many unanticipated consequences of a truly alien way of doing things.
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  toomanynouns

  12 months ago

  How is 'Atlas Shrugged' SciFi?
  reply
• 

  sbspalding

  12 months ago

  It's arguable but I'd say this is a good justification,
  
  ". . . In addition to normal technologies, she introduces several fictional
  inventions, including refractor rays (Gulch mirage), Rearden Metal, a
  sonic death
  ray <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_ray> ("Project X"), motors powered
  by static electricity <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_electricity>, and
  a sophisticated electrical torture
  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture>device."
  reply
• 

  Stan

  12 months ago

  David Brin, the Uplift Saga (book 3), Especially the second book, Startide Rising.
  reply
• 

  Indiana

  12 months ago

  you forgot about up the line
  reply
• 

  logic11

  11 months ago

  John Shirley is the godfather of cyberpunk, and the guy William Gibson credits as his inspiration, everyone should read him. City Come A-Walkin' and the whole Eclipse series should be required reading.
  reply
• 

  Winslow Theramin

  11 months ago

  Spook Country blows
  reply
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  Debbie

  11 months ago

  I've only read 8 of those, but have Ender's Game on my desk right after I finish The Color of Magic
  reply
• 

  hz

  11 months ago

  ROGER ZELAZNEY- 'LORD OF LIGHT' and all the ray bradbury short stories
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• 

  hz

  11 months ago

  pardonez moi you said 'novel' so scratch the bradbury short stories. however i'd add the kim stanley robinson mars trilogy. pay no attention to anyone suggesting peter hamilton!
  reply
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  sbspalding

  11 months ago

  Heh, thanks for the advice mate. I will definitely give them a look.
  reply
• 

  kole

  11 months ago

  All the Weyrs of Pern (the most sci-fi of the series), The books of The People by Zenna Henderson, Bolo by Keith Laumer, and the fantastic Marooned in Real Time by Vernon Vinge+
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  Rodec

  11 months ago

  Ok, well ignoring Timeline for now. I would like to have seen. "A game of Universe," by Eric S. Nylund. Check it out you won't be disappointed...
  reply
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  tnt

  11 months ago

  Timeline??? wtf??
  reply
• 

  Ludwik

  11 months ago

  This list isn't bad, but too many authors are repeated, while others are omitted entirely. Two authors who really should've been seen somewhere on this list are Ursula Le Guin and Stanislaw Lem.
  reply
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  EASHER

  11 months ago

  YOU NEED TO ADD "THE LONG RUN" BY DANIEL KEYS MORAN
  ONE OF THE BEST SCI-FI BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ.
  reply
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  Bill The Cat

  11 months ago

  good list overall but missing some great material from authors like Kim Stanley Robinson, Steven Baxter, and Bruce Sterling. You should really look into some of there stuff. Still a solid list
  reply
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  EASHER

  11 months ago

  I HAVE READ MOST OF THESE BOOKS AND THEY ARE GREAT. BUT, THERE IS A BOOK THAT TRUMPS THEM ALL. IT IS A BOOK CALLED "THE LONG RUN" BY DANIEL KEYS MORAN. HE HAS WRITTEN A SERIES OF BOOKS THAT IN MY OPINION ARE SOME OF THE BEST SCI-FI IN THE WORLD. LOOK HIM UP AND GET ANY OF HIS BOOKS. YOU WILL AGREE HE IS AN AMAZING AUTHOR.
  reply
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  MR

  11 months ago

  What about Arthur C Clarks Rama series???
  reply
• 

  d

  11 months ago

  The Final Reflection
  http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/The_Final_R...
  If you're a Trekie, have read the Blish novelizations, remember the quieting spell before the first movie, etc., then take a look at this.
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• 

  d

  11 months ago

  I like the work put into the cover art and the book blurbs (to remind me of what I've long since read). Here's the updated list to get to work on:
  http://faves.com/url/2912249868/howtosplitanato...
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  PJ

  11 months ago

  Nice to see you like certain authors and repeat them three or four times, but the list is a tad stunted for that and omitting, say Iain Banks, neh?
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  Dan

  11 months ago

  Anything by Jeff Noon or Alastair Reynolds (okay, maybe not Century Rain, though even that's pretty good). Otherwise, great list and a refreshingly broad sense of what constitutes SF.
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  David Eisenberg

  11 months ago

  A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein are hard to exclude from any such list. Otherwise, nice job.
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  Syria

  11 months ago

  thanx for the great post
  Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card it`s the best ever
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  MiGrant

  11 months ago

  Thank you bob for finally mentioning Gene Wolfe! It's just ... sad ... that no one else has mentioned Shadow of the Torturer and the other three volumes of the Book of the New Sun. The lush language, the detail and strangeness of the far-future societies (but always with a nagging sense of familiarity, like a lost memory), the unforgettable characters and situations, the moral depth, the elaborate stories-within-a-story.... In a league of its own.
  The follow-up Urth of the New Sun wasn't quite up to the same standard, but still way ahead of most of the other suggestions in both the original list and the comments that I'm familiar with.
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  oldestgenxer

  11 months ago

  I was so pleased to see Stranger in a Strange Land, I think the book "Starship Troopers" is why Heinlein is one of the best. Heinlein's short "All you Zombies" should be required reading.
  Along with Snow Crash, Friday describes what the future may well be.
  Don't know who wrote it, but "The Stars, My Destination."
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  gkoutnik

  10 months ago

  The two books which changed my reading habits for the rest of my life, when I was a teenager, were "The Stars my Destination" by Alfred Bester and "Canticle for Leibowitz", which is on your 'also ran' list. And - what? - no Riverworld (Philip Jose Farmer)?
  
  Michael Crichton doesn't belong anywhere near this list.
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  FredM

  10 months ago

  Interesting list; I'd add Charles L. Harness' "Flight into Yesterday" (reprinted as "The Paradox Men") and Thomas M. Disch's "Camp Concentration".
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  FredM

  10 months ago

  P.S. I support the negative comments about Atlas Shrugged. I find Rand's turgid, melodramatic prose style unreadable (even when ignoring the hysterical, adolescent 'philosophy').
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  Peter B

  10 months ago

  Dude - where's your Lem!?!
  
  And what about Gateway?
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  Cranky

  10 months ago

  Great list, though I'd hoped to see Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars in there.
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  Dave Feldman

  10 months ago

  The Miles Vorkosigan series by Bujold
  
  Wasp by Eric Frank Russel
  
  R.U.R. by Karel Capek
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  BadgerBadgerSNAKE

  10 months ago

  I think perhaps "Flowers for Algernon" should also be on this list. Perhaps it is not "pure" sciencefiction, but how can the tale of scientific experimentation's consequences gone bad escape this list?
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  JP

  10 months ago

  Well. The sad thing I see is not your list, but the comments. As a long time Sci Fi fanatic (at 47 I can honestly say I've read 10's of thousands of novels, novellas, and short stories), the one constant I'd been convinced of was that sci fi was the refuge of those with above average intelligence, a willingness to think through to the truth (no matter how unpleasant), and able to consider other viewpoints. I must say these comments have severely dented that constant - sigh. Yes I personally disagree with many of your choices ( I too would put Haldeman, Vinge, Clarke, Harrison, and etc. on my list), but I found your choices thought provoking, insightful, and even troubling in some ways. It's saddening that people are unwilling to look beyond their own shelves and think about yours. Thanks for putting yourself out there. (OK - sci fi flamers, you can start blasting me, too :-| )
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  sbspalding

  10 months ago

  Thank you for your well reasoned comment, I was trying to make my list
  varied and stretch the boundaries a little. The result, fortunately
  and unfortunately was great debate but also leaving out certain works
  I might have otherwise included.
  
  Thanks again and I hope you saw something there that made you think a
  little differently about speculative fiction.
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  annakat

  10 months ago

  Love to read, so naturally I love the site. A few of the books I've already read but there are some of them I'm going to have to get from Amazon. Its so much easier for me to order from Amazon than to go to the store and buy them. I pretty much buy everything on-line now a days.
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  Bobby

  9 months ago

  What about "It Happened at Nextfest"? or the Bible? Come on dudes.
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  Meown

  8 months ago

  Stumbled, a great list, have read all but a few and great to see Altered Carbon on there. Came to that series only recently and absolutely loved the novels. good job!
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  sbspalding

  8 months ago

  Thanks!
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  Chris

  8 months ago

  "Telempath" by Spider Robinson
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  Chuck

  8 months ago

  Time Enough for Love-Robert Heinlein
  The Man who Folded Himself-?.Gerrold
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  Saggi

  8 months ago

  Good list - but no Clarke? That must be a mistake. I would consider the list inspirational, but not a top 32 in anyway...
  
  I would also like to see Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars on the list.
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  Noes

  8 months ago

  Job: A Comedy of Justice by Heinlein, 2001: A Space Odyssey by Clarke and Earthsea from Ursula Leguin
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  timmay

  8 months ago

  All good- except:
  Wouldnt recommend 'Timeline'
  
  Crichton is not a REAL Sci-Fi author- and
  in recent years has become somewhat of a 'hack'-
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  pit

  8 months ago

  great list ! read them all : ) i'd recommend "the futurological congress" by Stanislaw Lem to add here.. cheers!
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  cow

  8 months ago

  Good list - what about Iain M Banks?
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  emultra

  8 months ago

  Octagon by Fred Saberhagen
  Players scattered across the continent are engaged in a game. Each player has certain attributes, including skill, strength, courage, cunning, and daring. Each has his kingdom. Each can ally with or attack any of the others . . . But one player seems to have confused the reality of the game with the reality of the world: a player with the attributes of machinelike precision and mechanical ruthlessness. His name is Octagon, and he's out for blood. Even though he doesn't have any
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  justin

  8 months ago

  all the hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy books need to be added
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  themehmeh

  8 months ago

  all my favorite books are on here.
  number one is brave new world
  
  but im very happily surprised that the giver was chosen. most people just shrug it off as a children's book and never give it the recognition it deserves. it's a very powerful novel for a 5th grade reading class to be studying
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  sbspalding

  8 months ago

  I agree and that's a lot of the reason why I choose it. It might not be the "best" Sci-Fi novel in the world, but for when people are usually introduced to it, it's a really interesting read.
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  tom

  8 months ago

  Very good list.
  
  I've read most of the books on your list. I would second, olaf stapleton, Starmaker; Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz; Clarke's Childhood's End; Ursula Leguin's left hand of darkness. I am a fan of Phillip Dick. Most recently (haven't read much sci fi in a while) William Gibson. 1984 gets my vote for best overall.
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  Keith Roe

  8 months ago

  Stanislaw Lem? Philip Jose Farmer? Margaret
  Atwood? Octavia Butler?....There are so many greats missing....still I agree these are very good too...just not a definitive list.
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  beefhaze

  8 months ago

  Illuminatus Trilogy - Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
  What if every conspiracy theory ever imagined was true? Wild & fun story.
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  nyuk nyuk

  8 months ago

  What, no Greg Bear? Why does every blogger's must read scifi list look like everyone elses? I love Asimov and Heinlein but their era of scifi is dead and gone. And Ayn Rand? You have to be joking.
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  Roberto

  7 months ago

  Good list, but I would include more books from Clarke. Rama and Childhood's End definetely should appear in the list.
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  Pláza Kuponok

  7 months ago

  My personal favorite is the Animal Farm from Georg Orwell, and 1984 also!
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  John

  7 months ago

  Good list :) Give Peter F Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained) a go too :)
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  Pat

  7 months ago

  No Octavia Butler? No Ursula K Le Guin? And yet you include Ayn Rand? Well yawn, there are some good books here but its a pretty hackneyed collection if you ask me.
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  Joseph Smith

  7 months ago

  Why 32 ? because of 2^5 ? Why don't you make it couple of more so you can add stuff like: Rudy Rucker - Software
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  foo

  7 months ago

  Uhh, where's Day of The Triffids?
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  Jack

  7 months ago

  As a suggested read, I recommend "A Canticle for Leibowitz", one of, if not the original post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel, in 3 sections, 500, 1000 and 1500 years after the nuclear apocalypse.
  
  In terms of Timeline, it may well be pap, but I liked it. Sci-fi doesn't have to be intellectual to be entertaining.
  
  Peace.
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  Jack

  7 months ago

  Sorry, A Canticle for Leibowitz is by Walter M. Miller Jr.
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  Cade

  7 months ago

  Greg Bear and Gregory Benford both have some nice titles to their credit.
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  Chuck Manning

  7 months ago

  One of my Favorite books is The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Really a great book. Rumor has it the Ridley Scott is trying to make amovie version of the book...........great list I ahave read a few of them
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  Jennifer

  7 months ago

  I would have to say that all these books are on my mental list and thank you for putting them to paper!!!
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  sci-fi girl

  7 months ago

  Add to this, DOOMSDAY. It is the prequel to the hugely successful ENDWORLD and BLADE series. Publication date? April 2009! Author, David Robbins.
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  Patrick B

  7 months ago

  Iain Banks' first "Culture" novel, "Consider Phlebas" is a masterly take on future societies that has relevance for today. I also like his "The Bridge", a neat "moment of death" variation.
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  Blake Haller

  6 months ago

  The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut should definitely be on this list.
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  Emma

  6 months ago

  very impressive.....reading books from so many years.....so far so good
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  furbowski

  6 months ago

  The best thing about this list, despite all the omissions (banks, willis, leguin, liebowitz, KS robinson, hamilton, macloed, etc) is how broad a selection it is. A lot of SF is total brain candy -- which has its place (Weber, Mc Cafferey for example).
  
  I'd like to see a best of classic SF, best of space opera (hamilton, moran) and so on.
  
  It's good to see that SF readers haven't lost any of their individuality!
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  Jenna

  6 months ago

  looking for a sci fi novel where the main characters are named after birds and they are on the ship so long that they have to wipe their memories periodically so they dont go crazy... anyone know this one?
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  Chio

  5 months ago

  Iain M. Banks, Greg Bear & Kim Stanley Robinson(among many others) seem strangly missing, and a few of the titles, erm Animal Farm for example are not Science Fiction in my mind (or any mind?). There are some great titles in the list, but it's not the best 32 Sci Fi novels ever by any means.
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  Johnnu

  5 months ago

  Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun
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  yeremenko

  5 months ago

  The Clockwork Orange and R. Hubbard are interesting sidelines to the progress of sci-fi.
  doomoftheshem
  I love science fiction writing and think it is a great mind expanding genre, and have tried to use it as a motive in my own fiction writing. I have tried to show the fundamental horrors of not being on top of the food chain in my novel called Doom Of The Shem.
  Doom Of The Shem is a science fiction novel that incorporates the horror of military action with the unavoidable hostilities that occur when an alien species invades a planet in search of food. The barbarity of war is brought to light by the work achieved by the nurses and medical personnel of the planets inhabitants. While a full blown military action story emerges from an ensuing war that involves the whole planet. It is especially centred on a squad of the planets army forces, who fight the alien invaders. These nasties try to subjugate captured species by genetic manipulation such as in Dr Moreau, and use these creatures to run fast food outlets across their empire, giving out a free plastic toy with every sale of a Happy Hatchling Brain Burger.
  doomoftheshem.blogspot.com
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  Randpat

  5 months ago

  The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed both by Ursula K. Le Guin
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  Tim Adams

  4 months ago

  I would suggest " The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein
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  LolaBear

  4 months ago

  I'm a little surprised to not see 'The Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham it's quite an amazing Science Fiction novel written in 1951, and if you happened to ever hear H.G. Well's 'War of The Worlds' it has some of the same Post-Apocalyptic themes throughout it...plus its one of the few books that every time I read it I still get the chills.
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  jack

  4 months ago

  time enough for love by r a heinlein mus be in the top 10
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  Kate

  3 months ago

  Good list but how come something by Ray Bradburry isn't on the list?
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  Janna

  3 months ago

  great list but you forgot The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
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  Janna

  3 months ago

  or The Female Man - Joanna Russ
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  Ignacio

  3 months ago

  Hey!
  
  You forgot "The Martian Chronicles".
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  bob

  3 months ago

  Rama - best series of books ive ever read
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  Gatewalker

  3 months ago

  i didn't see Arthur c. Clarke's Rama series
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  Elliot

  3 months ago

  I've only read 8 on the list, but I'm familiar with all (and have seen all of the movies based on these books).
  
  Should see Lem on the list. Star Diaries and Futurological congress are great
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  Bao66

  3 months ago

  Would add Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky. The intricacy of this epic plot is astounding. Vinge is the master of suspending your disbelief in some pretty wild, yet sublimely explained, situations. Spiders in jalopies never seemed so real....
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  StarK Radio

  2 months ago

  Needle, by Hal Clement
  
  The Margarets, by Shari S Tepper
  
  Grass, by Shari S Tepper
  
  Anything by James Tiptree, Jr
  
  Passage, by Connie Willis
  
  Great list!
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  MadHatter

  2 months ago

  Thank you. Finally a list that makes some damn sense. I've stumbled across to many lists and asked myself 'who the hell wrote this?' if this list were longer i would also request Hyperion be added too, but for a limited list like this, i think its great.
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  Hue

  2 months ago

  This is going to draw scorn, but 'Battlefield Earth' by L. Ron Hubbard is a great piece of Sci-fi. As far as I know Hubbard wrote it before inventing his religion.
  
  The 2000 movie by the same name doesn't come close to addressing the complexities of the 1000 page novel.
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  Rowan

  2 months ago

  I've read 23, and WILL read the rest.
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  Scott

  2 months ago

  Some worthy additions:
  
  Cities in Flight - James Blish
  The Hyperion Cantos - Dan Simmons
  The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
  Camouflage - Joe Haldeman
  Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein
  The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Phillip K. Dick
  A Deepness In The Sky / A Fire Upon The Deep - Vernor Vinge (this is truly mind-blowing stuff. I laughed, cried, raged, rejoiced. Some of the best literature, SF or otherwise, written in the past century.)
  
  I think your list suffers without any work by Gene Wolfe, long acknowledged as one of the preeminent writers working in the genre. The Book of the New Sun certainly deserves a spot on this list.
  
  But, I'm glad that you left out some of the junk-pop that people are just gobbling up these days, like Alistair Reynolds or Iain M. Banks.
  
  I don't think that Animal Farm or Atlas Shrugged really belong here, and I cringe at the double-dose of Hollywood Crichton.
  
  But, all-in-all, good list! Thanks! Thumbs-up for StumbleUpon!
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  Sudhir

  2 months ago

  Rendezvous with Rama.
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  grikdog

  2 months ago

  Glork! Jefferson Airplane lifted their "Crown of Creation" screed from RE-BIRTH, a novel by John Wyndham, anthologized by Anthony Boucher in _A Treasury of Great Science Fiction_ (Volume One). Always a crowd pleaser.
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  sawcy89

  1 month ago

  The Stars My Destination
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  Hal Smith

  1 month ago

  Interesting list. I agree with a lot of if and will pick up a few of your recommendations. I'd add some Clifford Simak, Julian May's "Jack the Bodiless", A.E. Van Vogt's "The Weapon Shops of Isher", Jack Chalker's "Well of Souls" books, some Harlan Ellison, and the mostly unknown & usually out-of-print "Agent of Chaos" by the under-appreciated Norman Spinrad - although it has some politics in it which may offend some of these commentators.
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  WmLee

  1 month ago

  I'd have to say that "The Stars My Destination' and 'The Demolished Man', both by Alfred Bester, should be here, as well as perhaps his collection of short stories. My other nomination would have to be 'Starship Troopers' (trust me, nothing like the movie). I re-read that one about every 5 years or so and always find a whole new level of sophistication to it that I hadn't seen before.
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  Drug Treatment Center

  1 month ago

  Since my job is in SF domain I gotta say I read more than 10 books I saw listed here on this website. More then 8 of them we`re completely awesome and I would gladly read them a second time If I would not be so busy with other similar things. Nice job you did here and thanks for writing this article.
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  ampat varghese

  3 weeks ago

  The Gameplayers of Zan - M A Foster
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  Mark

  2 weeks ago

  Perdido Street Station, Pollen, Hyperion, Virtual Light, The Diamond Age, The list of missing in action is endless!
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  Fred

  1 week ago

  Thanks for the list
  
  I have already read some of these novels, but I will try The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and Timeline in a couple of days.
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  arakis

  21 hours ago

  Hi. You forgot one of the greatest writers in sci-fi, Stanislav Lem and his book Solaris.
  reply