recommend me some books please

[Skyler4856]

The Martian

By Andy Weir

[StrandedonEarth]

Larry Niven, 'nuff said.

Ringworld, of course, but that's a little, er, a lot more out there and future tech. Also in this "Known Space" universe of stories, and more near-future, are Protector and World of Ptavvs. See if you can find some anthologies titled "Tales from the Man-Kzin Wars." I think they would make a great TV series in the vein of Twilight Zone or Outer Limits

Other books of his, co-authored by Jerry Pournelle and not in the "Known Space" canon include FootFall (alien invasion of present day Earth) and Fallen Angels (near future climate change setting poking fun at sci-fi fandom)

Edited March 11, 2014 by StrandedonEarth

[Dispatcher]

Heinlein, "Time for the Stars", others.

Asimov, Clarke, Anderson, others of that "era".

Bradbury had a few too, but most of his were less "hard science" and more story driven (imagination).

Edit: I forgot--

Ben Bova

Edited March 11, 2014 by Dispatcher

[StrandedonEarth]

Immediately after posting that, I went searching and ended up downloading my first iBook, Tales From the Man-Kzin Wars X: The Wunder Wars. I'm already on chapter 5 or so.

[Ravenchant]

The Martian

By Andy Weir

Seconded. It may not have the most fleshed-out characters, but the plot itself manages to get really engrossing.

I'll throw in Greg Egan. Some of his short stories are available for free here. I recommend Singleton and Riding the Crocodile (not what it sounds like).

Those are small fish compared to his novels, though. It's good Sci-fi, but also hard Sci-fi. Hard enough that there are pages upon pages of supplemental material, applets and equations on his homepage, and that's entirely justified. Also, there's usually a lot of transhumanism going on, so definitely check it out if that kind of thing interests you

Edit: caveat emptor, the books can sometimes get as dry as Martian dust. Schild's Ladder opens up with a discussion of theoretical physics/topology several pages long, FFS.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Ravenchant

[TheGatesofLogic]

Haldeman's Marsbound series was solid, if a little bit out there, the premise of the books was fantastic to say the least. His book Camouflage isn't very spacey but it does have some solid ground in that area as well. As was said Niven is definitely a must read and if your looking for something with a little more social edge to it then pretty much any of John Scalzi's books are high up on the list as well. With regards to Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game is solid, but the sequels are far better though they approach the level of philosophical journal in their own ways. Other great SF authors include several that were named before like Heinlein, Asimov, Sagan, and Clarke. I think a really good SF author that's not quite in this category but is worthy of some mentioning is Sigler, whose novels include a substantial amount of solid science imbedded in quite impressive stories. i've not actually read anything by Egan, but i've been meaning to, heard his books are pretty decent.

[TBryson2]

These DO include space travel, (hyperdrive of some sort implied, but the suspense is there!). Very well written and easy to follow. All by Frederik Pohl and in this order:

1. Gateway

2. Beyond the Blue Event Horizon

3. Heechee Rendezvous

[Rassa Farlander]

Isaac Asimov by far is my favorite author of Sci-Fi, the foundation series, and some of the robot series involve hyperdrive and galactic travel, but I still absolutely recommend them.

Arthur C Clakre's Rama series was pretty good, and matches your criteria well.

The Ender's Game books are also great

and First Flight, Grounded, and Sundowner are good ones by Chris Claremont and also match you criteria fairly well.

[Rassa Farlander]

These are exactly what you're looking for: near future, soon-tech. I loved them.

Missed this from earlier, and I will completely agree, that was a good trilogy