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science fiction books that you think are worthwhile for a reading list? What of these books are based on a firm/possible "scientific" basis (kind of visionary science if you would like)
Lash me with a wet noodle, I could not stand Foundation. Never even got through the first book.danne89 said:Asimov's Foundation Saga
Well, that goes without saying. (Waitaminnit there's a thread for that too!)Integral said:Most anything by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle is good reading and good science fiction. Niven's Ringworld is a classic.
Of course Niven makes some leaps, you have to to get space travel. The question is how many leaps are taken and how are the effects of the leaps dealt with. To me that is good science fiction, it is necessary to break some laws, that is the fiction, how breaking the laws of physics is dealt with is the science.DaveC426913 said:Well, that goes without saying. (Waitaminnit there's a thread for that too!)
Niven is my fave author. I have every book.
But I understood the poster to be interested specifically in books that dwelt on a "firm/possible 'scientific' basis".
While Niven definitely puts a lot of Math behind his works, he does make 'leaps of magic' - indestructible materials, hyperdrives, etc. I can't speak for Pournelle, since I've only read him as collaborations.
That is one of my all time favorites. That and Childhood's End, by Clarke.Integral said:Niven's Ringworld is a classic.
Well, then Greg Egan is definitely your man. No other science fiction author comes close to the advanced level of physics/cosmology he directly deals with in his fiction.Hercule Poirot said:\what I meant by scientific basis is the use of theories/hypothesis proposed by physicits or cosmologists (especially in the recent decades) in science fiction writing.
Oh my, yes! Schild's Ladder is my most favorite sf novel of recent years! Just to forestall a misunderstanding the last time I posted about it, Schild was(is) a real person. He devised his Ladder, a geometrical construction, to solve the problem of moving a vector parallel to itself through dynamically curved spacetime. The construction is discussed in Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler's great text, Gravitation. Egan uses the construction as a metaphor for his characters' approach to keeping one's moral balance through a vastly extended lifespan that passes though widely varying ethical systems.cragwolf said:Well, then Greg Egan is definitely your man. No other science fiction author comes close to the advanced level of physics/cosmology he directly deals with in his fiction.
I read everything Heinlein wrote in my younger days, and grooved on it (or should I say "Grokked it"?) but I think he got rather self-indulgent in those big novels in his latter days. Getting to be a counter-cultural hero with Stranger in a Strange Land and then converting to a counter-culture villain with Starship Trooper seems to have fazed him.LunchBox said:Wow... I can't believe nobody's mentioned Robert Heinlein yet. He is simply the grand master of science fiction writers... so on point, so sharp... messages so timeless and meaningful... what great sci-fi should be.
Cheers...