Best Sci-Fi books

[Guest]

(Deleted)

Edited January 22, 2020 by Guest
(Deleted)

[Gargamel]

20,000 leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne is probably my all time favorite.  And since it's public domain now, you can get it free on a Kindle if you choose. It's probably been 20 years since I read it, I think it's time to find another copy. 

The Rama series by Clarke is amazing.

The Expanse series (the show in SyFy right now) is a great read.

Foundation by Asimov is good.

The Martian, the Matt Damon movie, is another favorite.  If you're engineering inclined, it's a great read. 

On the Beach isn't really SciFi, but it kinda is, but a good read.

The Andromeda Strain, while dated, is a fun book.

A couple Stephen King epics aren't quite scifi, but still appeal to fans of the genre, The Stand, and the Dark Tower Series (ignore the abomination that the movie turned out to be).

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by Gargamel

[p1t1o]

I've answered this kind of thing multiple times with lists of stuff I had on my mind at the time.

Today I'll keep it simple - anything by Alastair Reynolds. I love all his stuff, especially the Revelation Space series.

[MaxxQ]

 

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Gargamel said:

20,000 leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne is probably my all time favorite.  And since it's public domain now, you can get it free on a Kindle if you choose. It's probably been 20 years since I read it, I think it's time to find another copy. 

The Rama series by Clarke is amazing.

The Expanse series (the show in SyFy right now) is a great read.

Foundation by Asimov is good.

The Martian, the Matt Damon movie, is another favorite.  If you're engineering inclined, it's a great read. 

On the Beach isn't really SciFi, but it kinda is, but a good read.

The Andromeda Strain, while dated, is a fun book.

A couple Stephen King epics aren't quite scifi, but still appeal to fans of the genre, The Stand, and the Dark Tower Series (ignore the abomination that the movie turned out to be).

 

I'll have to check those out, they sound pretty good and I've heard good things about a few of them 

[NSEP]

All the Sci-Fi the KSP community makes.

[Chucksta]

Ender's Game! Nuts to the film!

I still need to read the follow up to that, which I have on my desk near me, but since going Ebook, I just haven't been bothered with old worldy books

[Randox]

Enders Game was pretty good.

I feel like I'm going to have to go stare at my bookcase tomorrow though. Off the top of my head, I'd actually have to give props to the Halo Books. I've read most of them at this point, though I have a soft spot for the ones with John 117 in them.

Also have to mention Nova, one of the StarCraft books. The StarCraft books I've read were hit or miss, and I'm not crazy about them, but Nova was certainly a standout. The Diablo franchase is, in my opinion, much better (but also Fantasy).

[Guest]

I read Enders game and the companion books about bean, but not the Starcraft series. Il have to check it out when I get to my computer 

[Bill Phil]

I recommend Stranger in a Strange Land, although it isn't exactly for kids. It was authored by Robert Heinlein. It's really interesting to see his vision of the future compared to the actual future, at least in a few ways. 

[p1t1o]

18 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

I recommend Stranger in a Strange Land, although it isn't exactly for kids. It was authored by Robert Heinlein. It's really interesting to see his vision of the future compared to the actual future, at least in a few ways. 

Tip of the Hat to "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" as well.

TANSTAAFL

[Xorth Tanovar]

Larry Niven's "Ringworld" and "The Ringworld Engineers"

Ellison's "Phoenix Without Ashes"

Varley's "Titan/Wizard/Demon" trilogy

Rick Cook's "Wizard's Bane" and "Wizardry Compiled"

Alfred Bester, "The Stars my Destination" and "The Demolished Man"

 

[Shpaget]

7 hours ago, Xorth Tanovar said:

Rick Cook's "Wizard's Bane" and "Wizardry Compiled"

I love those! Wouldn't call them Sci-Fi, though.

Anyway, I fondly remember Interstellar Patrol by Christopher Anvil. The ship is definitely my favorite Sci-Fi spaceship.

I think I'll read that again!

[IncongruousGoat]

"Footfall" by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle is a great deconstruction and... er... reconstruction? of the alien invasion story.

"Nor Crystal Tears" by Alan Dean Foster, for an interesting take on first contact.

[Bill Phil]

11 hours ago, IncongruousGoat said:

"Footfall" by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle is a great deconstruction and... er... reconstruction? of the alien invasion story.

"Nor Crystal Tears" by Alan Dean Foster, for an interesting take on first contact.

The Worldwar series by Turtledove is also a deconstruction, somewhat, of the alien invasion story. It's set during WWII, and then the aliens arrive...

[Deutherius]

I really liked The Martian, especially the audiobook narrated by R. C. Bray.

Another series I enjoyed is the Fear Saga by Stephen Moss. (Also narrated by R. C. Bray. I really like this guy's work.)

[StrandedonEarth]

On 8/21/2017 at 1:37 PM, Shpaget said:

I love those! Wouldn't call them Sci-Fi, though.

One could argue that sci-fi is just a different flavor of fantasy. And besides, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.But I digress...

I second any recommendation for anything by Larry Niven, along with others like World of Ptaavs or Protector. Expanding on Niven's "Known Universe" (which includes the aforementioned books, and the Ringworld) is a series of anthologies called Tales from the Man-Kzin Wars where other authors get to play in the "Known Universe." Another favorite of Niven's outside the KU is The Mote in God's Eye.

For something rather different, which straddles that blurry line between sci-fi and fantasy (I've seen it in both sections) is "The Dragonriders Of Pern" series by Anne McAffrey. It tends to the young adult spectrum a little, but it sucked me in. I don't think the ones by her son Todd are nearly as good.

[daniel l.]

Dune - By Frank Herbert

Foundation series - By Isaac Asimov

Robots series - By Isaac Asimov

The Forever War - By Joe Haldeman

Rendevous with Rama - By Arthur C. Clarke (I only like the first one. The three sequels are crap.)

 

And my very Favorite: Songs of Distant Earth - By Arthur C. Clarke. It's just about the most beautiful book I've ever read.

[Nergal8617]

The Honor Harrington series by David Weber is good if you like military sci-fi, also Empire from the Ashes by the same author.  The Empire of Man series by John Ringo and David Weber, and the Troy Rising series by John Ringo are also among my favorites.

[Just Jim]

I just finished watching the classic 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage. Why mention a movie on the thread?

Because the original book, by Isaac Asimov, is even better!  

[DarkOwl57]

Does The Hunger Games Count?

One of my favorites is Enders Game, and the movie is equally awesome. 

[Guest]

(Deleted)

Edited January 22, 2020 by Guest
(Deleted)

[Guest]

This weekend I finished up Second Foundation by Asimov and read Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton.

I find Asimov hard to read because he's literally sexist AF. I mean like SEXIST AS F. I doubt I'll pick up any of his other books. Foundation was alright in that there really weren't any women to butcher as significant characters. Foundation and Empire, I figured was more of a product of Asimov's time. Then I read Second Foundation and pretty much gave up on him.

Fallen Dragon was amazing and pretty much everything I've ever wanted in a sci-fi hero journey. Even semi-realistic in its portrayal of spaceflight in general. Hamilton's an author I'm coming back to.

From the past, probably my favorite series of all time are the entirety of Dune by Frank Herbert (the first six books, anything by his son and that unnameable hack is just garbage) and C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine stories (Gate of Ivrel, etc...) The Uplift series by David Brin got some serious dog ears from me as well, fantastic yarns.

Edited August 28, 2017 by regex

[p1t1o]

12 hours ago, regex said:

This weekend I finished up Second Foundation by Asimov and read Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton.

I find Asimov hard to read because he's literally sexist AF. I mean like SEXIST AS F. I doubt I'll pick up any of his other books. Foundation was alright in that there really weren't any women to butcher as significant characters. Foundation and Empire, I figured was more of a product of Asimov's time. Then I read Second Foundation and pretty much gave up on him.

Fallen Dragon was amazing and pretty much everything I've ever wanted in a sci-fi hero journey. Even semi-realistic in its portrayal of spaceflight in general. Hamilton's an author I'm coming back to.

From the past, probably my favorite series of all time are the entirety of Dune by Frank Herbert (the first six books, anything by his son and that unnameable hack is just garbage) and C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine stories (Gate of Ivrel, etc...) The Uplift series by David Brin got some serious dog ears from me as well, fantastic yarns.

Im a huge fan of Hamilton. The Night's Dawn trilogy is one of my all time favorites.

[spacebrick3]

One of my favorite sci-fi series is the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. It's a great "space opera"-type series with amazing writing, world building, and all-around storytelling.

There's also the Saga of Seven Suns series and its sequel, Saga of Shadows, by Kevin J. Anderson. Another space opera series with about thirty main characters and probably several hundred supporting characters. Highly recommended.

Anything by Stephen Baxter, especially his NASA trilogy, (Titan, Moonseed, and Voyage), and his Long Earth series with Terry Pratchett. The NASA books in particular are great "hard" sci-fi books that most KSP players will probably appreciate.