Top 15 Great Science Fiction Books

jetsetter

Forum Addict
Joined
Dec 11, 2005
Messages
7,257
Location
Seren?sima Rep?blica de California
Car(s)
1997 BMW 528i
This site: http://listverse.com/literature/top-15-great-science-fiction-books/

Has put up a list of the "Top 15 Great Science Fiction Books". The author explains why he put each put on the list. I wanted to see how many of the books people here have read and what they thought of them. If you have any substitutions please mention them also.

1. The Time Machine - H G Wells
Read it though perhaps I didn't get as much out of it as some have.

4. 2001 - A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke
Wonderful book. Just makes you feel like you are out there.

5. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Makes you think quite a bit. Made me wish more people read.

8. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
One of the funniest and most insightful series of books. All in all just very interesting.

11. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick
Good book, bad movie.

13. Ender?s Game - Orson Scott Card
The end can change you. It just feels epic.

I think I will pick up a few more on that list and get to reading them.
 
I saw the movie of Hitchhikers....only movie I have ever stopped watching in the middle. I just couldn't take it, was boring as batshit. I sincerely hope the book is better. Some of the Star Wars books are fabulous. I don't mean the movie ones, the ones created by authors to continue the story.
 
10. Neuromancer - William Gibson

I read this as part of a high school project. I'm not much of a reader at all but wow! This book simply blew me away. It was the first book that I simply couldn't put down, it kept me that hooked. The story was far-fetched but very believable at the same time. Count Zero by the same author was the other half of the project and it was also a very good read.
 
I saw the movie of Hitchhikers....only movie I have ever stopped watching in the middle. I just couldn't take it, was boring as batshit. I sincerely hope the book is better. Some of the Star Wars books are fabulous. I don't mean the movie ones, the ones created by authors to continue the story.

HHGTTG makes the Star Wars books look like "See Spot Run"

I hate to say it, but there are many on that list I haven't read at all. I do think that as time goes on HHGTTG will come to be viewed as more and more prophetic and Adams elevated to the status of Asimov. (I actually think Adams is a better writer).
 
One of my personal favorite classic sci fi novels is a lesser known book called 'The Forever War' by Joe Halderman. was one of the first to explore the impact on time dilation and lightspeed travel in a millenia long war.
 
I put H2G2 in the top 5 along with 2001:A psace odyssey. Reading H2G2 is like taking a roller coaster ride!
 
11. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick
Good book, bad movie.

Tell me you're joking. Seriously. I found the book quite interesting, but Blade Runner is one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. Yes, the script of the movie deviates significantly from the book, but then so do most movie adaptations of books. The real issue should be how well the movie stands on its own, and Blade Runner kicks the arse of just about any other sci-fi movie ever made.
 
Tell me you're joking. Seriously. I found the book quite interesting, but Blade Runner is one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. Yes, the script of the movie deviates significantly from the book, but then so do most movie adaptations of books. The real issue should be how well the movie stands on its own, and Blade Runner kicks the arse of just about any other sci-fi movie ever made.

Sorry but I just didn't like it.
 
H2G2 and Douglas Adams get a :bow: from me, no list of great contemporary books should go without it. The movie may have been breathed upon by the great man himself, but it was boring and cliche in comparison with the subtle brilliance of the actual book.

Necx0, go read the book before you write off the entire series. Hell, go listen to the radio program (now conveniently on CD), watch the TV show, listen to the 2nd radio series, play the video game, collect the comic book series, and DEFINITELY buy the towel before you pass judgement. As Mel Brooks said, "Moichandising! Moichandising! Moichandising! Where the real money from the movie is made!"* :p

*Actually, that's far too cynical. H2G2 started off as a radio series written by Adams before he wrote the book version, and it started to gain popularity from there. Maybe the rest can be marketing cynicism, but at least Adams had a hand in (most) of it, and you can't blame them when it's such a worldwide phenomenon.
 
I've only read 1984 and Brave New World; both of which are amazing. It's strange; I seem to be drawn to dystopian novels... Anyways, if anyone else is interested in these types of novels, I highly recommend Ayn Rand's Anthem as well.
 
10. Neuromancer - William Gibson

I read this as part of a high school project. I'm not much of a reader at all but wow! This book simply blew me away. It was the first book that I simply couldn't put down, it kept me that hooked. The story was far-fetched but very believable at the same time. Count Zero by the same author was the other half of the project and it was also a very good read.

Dont forget Mona Lisa Overdrive, the third book in the sprawl series. Gibson is fantastic one of first "cyberpunk" authors (you could argue James Brunner is the first) i mean he coined the term "the net". The rest of his books are all awesome but none are quite as gritty as the sprawl. plus he gave me my screen name.

I am a pretty huge fan of Space Opera style Sci-Fi as such i highly suggest the Honor Harrington series by David Weber also i really really like any of the Hammers Slammers stories by David Drake
 
Last edited:
Read maybe half of them. Will probably check out some more ;-)
 
I read most of these, but I was only really satisfied with Frank Herbert's DUNE,
the Gateway series was a lot of fun, and I wouldn't dare call 1984 "science fiction".

Ender's game was good, but I just couldn't make myself read through the sequels.

Dune was amazing, but, watch out,
Frank Herbert's son Brian epically failed with his sequels to DUNE. It's probably one of the most disgraceful public acts anyone has ever done. Not only did he add poorly written shlocky prequels ( which mess with Frank Herbert's storyline ),
he also added some sequels for which he invented a story about a secret safety deposit box with his father's writings.

I must add Dan Simmons' HYPERION series, very imaginative space opera thriller
with everything you could ever hope to see in a sci-fi book. Space battles, superhuman battles, enormous conspiracies, time travel, monsters, dystopian societies etc. etc.

It's sorta like the absolutely best parts of the TV series Firefly, but it's brilliant and entertaining ALL the time.
 
I've read about quarter of those. I would add Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky to my list, as they're great stories that do an excellent job of making you wrap your head around alien perspectives.
 
1. The Time Machine - H G Wells
Definitely one of Wells' best novels, although personally I prefer "The War of the Worlds" to this one. Tends to get preachy toward the end, but enjoyable nevertheless.

4. 2001 - A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke
A great novel, spoiled by the sequels. The powerful images in Kubrick's version of the story make the film superior, but don't take any merit from the novel at all.

6. The Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov
I was introduced to "modern" science fiction with this (Verne was my real introduction to science fiction), and I have re-read all three books several times since then.

8. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Don't trust the film. No film can't make justice to Adams' prose. In this I agree with Blind_IO. Adams was a much better writer than Asimov, the way he used language, how he played with words will make HHGTTG just as classic as any of the other books in the list.

11. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick
GREAT movie. Not so great book.
 
10. Neuromancer - William Gibson

I read this as part of a high school project. I'm not much of a reader at all but wow! This book simply blew me away. It was the first book that I simply couldn't put down, it kept me that hooked. The story was far-fetched but very believable at the same time. Count Zero by the same author was the other half of the project and it was also a very good read.

I just bought Count Zero and have been getting distracted from starting it. Should probably get as far as I can before the semester starts...

Of those books, the only ones I really read were:
2001 really cool, liked the book better than the movie, though I saw the movie first; also read 3001, but haven't read 2010 and 2069.
Hitchhikers' Guide Unfortunately not all the way through, had to return it to my friend. I think I got to about midway through the book after 'The Restraunt at the End of the Universe'
Neuromancer first got ahold of it for a Humanities class I had to take, only really skimmed it (I'll tell you why in a moment), but sounded cool; so this summer I dug out the copy that I bought and read it through. I reget not having read it sooner.
Brave New World I don't know what it was about this book in particular, but it just rubbed me the wrong way, and I stopped reading after about the third or fourth chapter (I think its the one before when they find the 'savage'). Had to read it for said Humanities class, and kinda put me off for a while, so I ended up not really reading the awesomeness that is Neuromancer when I first had the chance.


The list kinda reminds me of how much I really need to read Asimov, but right now I'm on a bit of a cyber punk binge. Looking forward to finishing the spraw series, and maybe getting Snow Crash; sounds like a fun novel.
 
I haven't read most of those books but I think Journey to the Center of the Earth and/or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea should be on the list.
 
Dah! No mention of Ringworld or The Integral Trees.
 
Top