Space related novels to read?

[Evanitis]

You know what I'm looking for. Science fiction with less fiction. Like The Martian. Or Space Odyssey. Or Planetes (ahh, wait, that's an anime. But it must have had a manga too, so it kinda' qualifies).

Got some more of those 'realistic' space-related stories?

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I'm looking for modern stuff. Not that classics aren't priceless, but I read them already. That includes Asimov, Lem, Strugackij, Clark, Bradbury, Heinlein, Verne, Wells, Huxley, Orwell, K. Dick, Vonnegut, Herbert, Atwood.

I might have a serious book-problem.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Evanitis

[Robotengineer]

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Robotengineer

[Spaceception]

Ark by Stephen Baxter is really good, but you may or may not want to read "Flood" first.

The 9 book "Time Riders" series by Alex Scarrow is also REALLY good.

EDIT: Oh wait... Time Riders is a time travel series:/ Well, Space exploration is mentioned in the first book.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Spaceception

[Evanitis]

Whoa, nice stuff in just two posts. I'll be well supplied by the time I finish the Weir book.

 

11 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

EDIT: Oh wait... Time Riders is a time travel series:/

Yeah, figured that out by the time the edit appeared. Not that I mind 'classic' sci-fi (added it to my 'to read list' too), just not what I'm looking for right now.

[Spaceception]

4 minutes ago, Evanitis said:

Whoa, nice stuff in just two posts. I'll be well supplied by the time I finish the Weir book.

 

Yeah, figured that out by the time the edit appeared. Not that I mind 'classic' sci-fi (added it to my 'to read list' too), just not what I'm looking for right now.

Actually, Time Riders was made in the early 2000s. Also, another good one would probably (I haven't read it yet, but I'd like to) be Proxima, also by Stephen Baxter.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Spaceception

[fredinno]

This should go in the Lounge, I think.

[Aethon]

Rendezvous with Rama or almost any other Arthur C. Clarke.

 

[Evanitis]

10 minutes ago, Aethon said:

Rendezvous with Rama or almost any other Arthur C. Clarke.

I forgot that mentioning Space Odyssey doesn't automatically means that I read everything from him. But I did.

[SuperTrouper]

Stephen Baxter has a lot of good ones like Voyage, Titan and Moonseed.

[Mitchz95]

"The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin. I can't really describe it without spoiling the story (seriously, don't even read the description on the book jacket/back cover), but if you like hard SF then you'll love it. Lots of interesting concepts and ideas.

I also second the recommendation of Stephen Baxter's "Proxima". Excellent deconstruction of that old "settling the frontier" concept.

[Spaceception]

11 minutes ago, Mitchz95 said:

I also second the recommendation of Stephen Baxter's "Proxima". Excellent deconstruction of that old "settling the frontier" concept.

Thanks

Have you read it? How good is it?

[cubinator]

There was an interesting book I read once about 2-dimensional creatures, I believe it was called Planiverse. It's a bit like Flatland, but more realistic and it has diagrams of all sorts of 2d machines and structures.

[Mitchz95]

1 hour ago, Spaceception said:

Thanks

Have you read it? How good is it?

I have! The setting is kind of like The Expanse, if you've ever read/watched it: mankind has colonized the solar system but is locked in a cold war between the UN and China. The UN recruits a bunch of convicts and basically forces them at gunpoint to land on a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri and build a settlement before the Chinese. Things get a bit weird from there. If you like Clarke's books you'll definitely like Proxima.

There's also a sequel, Ultima, which I haven't read yet.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Mitchz95

[Spaceception]

34 minutes ago, Mitchz95 said:

I have! The setting is kind of like The Expanse, if you've ever read/watched it: mankind has colonized the solar system but is locked in a cold war between the UN and China. The UN recruits a bunch of convicts and basically forces them at gunpoint to land on a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri and build a settlement before the Chinese. Things get a bit weird from there. If you like Clarke's books you'll definitely like Proxima.

There's also a sequel, Ultima, which I haven't read yet.

I've watched most of the first episode, and I really like it so far.

Also, I've heard of Ultima, on Amazon.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Spaceception

[StrandedonEarth]

Pournelle and Niven's FootFall and Fallen Angels are good near-science reads. Also, while it might be more fictional science than you like Larry Niven's "Known Space" universe of fiction has enthralled me, from World of Ptaavs and Protector and short story collections through the Ringworld and points beyond (the "Fleet of Worlds" series got pretty convoluted). Another enjoyable part of the "Known Space" universe is the collection of "Tales from the Man-Kzin Wars" (which I think would make an awesome TV series), largely written by other authors.

[Windspren]

The Three Body Problem is a good book. It is about something that I can't tell you without spoiling the whole thing. Also, see if you can guess the star system that is described.

3 hours ago, Mitchz95 said:

"The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin. I can't really describe it without spoiling the story (seriously, don't even read the description on the book jacket/back cover), but if you like hard SF then you'll love it. Lots of interesting concepts and ideas.

I also second the recommendation of Stephen Baxter's "Proxima". Excellent deconstruction of that old "settling the frontier" concept.

Just read this after I posted...

[Spaceception]

3 hours ago, Mitchz95 said:

"The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin. I can't really describe it without spoiling the story (seriously, don't even read the description on the book jacket/back cover), but if you like hard SF then you'll love it. Lots of interesting concepts and ideas.

I also second the recommendation of Stephen Baxter's "Proxima". Excellent deconstruction of that old "settling the frontier" concept.

Do you know where the movie trailer is?

[HebaruSan]

Robert L Forward, Dragon's Egg. As far as I can tell as a non-physicist, it introduces just one truly speculative science element*, which is nonetheless treated carefully and fairly and isn't much more powerful than needed to enable the book's plot. The characters are possibly not the most memorable, but I'm prepared to accept that the mastery of physics and writing both take a lot of time, and so it's rare to have both in one place.

*:

Spoiler

Magnetic monopoles

 

[Spaceception]

16 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

Robert L Forward, Dragon's Egg. As far as I can tell as a non-physicist, it introduces just one truly speculative science element*, which is nonetheless treated carefully and fairly and isn't much more powerful than needed to enable the book's plot. The characters are possibly not the most memorable, but I'm prepared to accept that the mastery of physics and writing both take a lot of time, and so it's rare to have both in one place.

*:

  Reveal hidden contents

Magnetic monopoles

 

Watch this video, it mentions the "Speculative element": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaJC8XFywBc

And the description has some resources:)

[Mitchz95]

32 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

Do you know where the movie trailer is?

... There's a movie?

[Spaceception]

1 minute ago, Mitchz95 said:

... There's a movie?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_%28film%29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqYSpTOshVQ

Edited January 17, 2016 by Spaceception

[HebaruSan]

3 hours ago, Spaceception said:

Watch this video, it mentions the "Speculative element": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaJC8XFywBc

And the description has some resources:)

I believe some of that info is 26+ years out of date: ramjets can only go about 12% of light speed, since scooping up the fuel slows them down. Still, I'll check out the references for my spoilered content; thanks for the link.

[Evanitis]

6 hours ago, Mitchz95 said:

The setting is kind of like The Expanse, if you've ever read/watched it

Just started it yesterday. Definately not bad judging from 2 episodes. That got me wishing for 'hard sci-fi' books in the first place. Thanks for the recommendations everyone, filled my kindle - that will last for a while. Hope that Baxter guy is good - he's definately a graphomaniac.

Off topic: I hate how KSP ruined my sci-fi perception. Back than I was like 'whoa, cool ship'. Now I go 'that's not how you approach a planet sillies'. I'm pretty sure everyone here can relate. I only mention it now because it's particularly painful in The Expanse series: sometimes they nicely intercept and match velocities and stuff, other times they point the nose towards the Moon and burn like there's no tomorrow.

[Wjolcz]

Almost anything by Stanislaw Lem. I only read "Fiasco", but I liked it a lot and I recommend reading it. Also got "The Invincible" lately and will start reading it as soon as my exams finish.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Veeltch

[Evanitis]

22 minutes ago, Veeltch said:

anything by Stanislaw Lem

Ahh, it's the second time in this thread when I feel silly for I didn't mention that I'm looking for modern stuff. I read all the classics. Guess I'll edit this into the op.