What are some of your favorite science-fiction novels?

[Wastrophysicist]

Hi rmalik,

Isaac Asimov's books are definitely a must if you're looking for Sci-fi books (My personal choices: Foundation; I, robot, Empire, Nemesis//in that order). And if you're somewhat classical, you can't miss Verne's books. After that, you could start reading the great trilogy 'Dune', and because of Asimov and Verne's reading, I promise you will appreciate much more the books.

Hope I helped :)

 

[Stephanus]

Yesterday I just finished reading (again) Ira Levin's "The Boys from Brazil".
About Mengele clones 94 Hitlers. Spread the 'Hitlter' babies to 94 different foster parent. Father is 50 years old, mother is 28 years old. And when the fathers reach 65, Mengele's men kill them so making the environment somewhat similar to Hitler situation. Father was a civil servant, died age 64/65 when yound Hitler was 13/14.
It gets me thinking. Why the trouble of making 94 adoptions, spread them all over the west world, killing 94 person by not drawing attention.
Why not just gather those 94 babies, later boys, then teach them the Nazi doctrine or what ever the hell, yes hell, that Mengele had in mind. It will be easier.

And talking about sci fi. I think it's the first book who discusses cloning. Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park was in mid 80's. And Levin's book was in 1976. And Ira Levin wasn't even a sci fi writer at that time.
And the first accurate description of cloning I might add. The cloning should have not just the right (or in this case of Hitler - wrong) genetic material, but also the similar environment.
Unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger Sixth Day, where the clone has already been mature all with Adam Gibson memory. Or Van Damme Replicant, where the clone/replicant has already been mature.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Question please: Is there a readable scifi novel that has the humans as the elder race in the galaxy, spreading out and seeding life on candidate planets? I've seen the concept of "the elder race" in books from Contact on down, but I don't know of any where WE are it.

 

[Stephanus]

Question please: Is there a readable scifi novel that has the humans as the elder race in the galaxy, spreading out and seeding life on candidate planets? I've seen the concept of "the elder race" in books from Contact on down, but I don't know of any where WE are it.

James Cameron's Avatar? But, there's no book, or the book isn't published.
[Add: And thanks for your WWII links ]

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

That's a Pocahantas story, I'm think more along the lines of the Well of Souls.

 

[enorbet]

Question please: Is there a readable scifi novel that has the humans as the elder race in the galaxy, spreading out and seeding life on candidate planets? I've seen the concept of "the elder race" in books from Contact on down, but I don't know of any where WE are it.

Most such books that fit the "readable" category of Elder races, especially where humans are or may be those elders wisely leave it as a question in deep past. I don't know how to give an example without giving away an important surprise ending so hopefully the books of Andre Norton are too light on Science and too heavy on Fantasy to upset anyone if I give one partly away.

Originally titled Star Rangers (some books were re-titled later and there are more by other names dealing with various Elders, including homo sapiens) this book occurs at a time when even Terra, the human home world, is considered a myth. A somewhat Star-Trekkie interstellar spaceship whose crew is a combination of military and explorers force lands after a battle on an uncharted planet. During landing the ruins of a city is seen that may help them survive or even be rescued. It bears exploration. In that process they encounter those that they battled as well as begin to uncover the nature and origin of the city, which shockingly lends hard evidence to the Myth of Terra, and homo sapiens as the first interstellar race.

Many of Norton's books deal with time travel and the cyclical rise and fall of Civilizations. She was a favorite of mine along with Heinlein and several others as a teenager. Recently I revisited a few of her books and found her writing still very good at stimulating "the book in the mind" although scientifically some very much show their age. Her later books diverted more into "Sword and Sorcery" (which I little care for) but her early, more explorer related Sci Fi measures with the greats.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Sounds dead bang. T/Y

 

[Rubidium_71]

Islands In The Sky by Clarke is a sentimental old favorite from my youth.
And, of course...
The Martian.
Sorry, Noisy, I couldn't resist! ;)

 

[Stephanus]

Mars?? It's not a giant leap Rubidium, it's even hardly a small step. I'm thinking something like 100 light years away.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Islands In The Sky by Clarke is a sentimental old favorite from my youth.
And, of course...
The Martian.
Sorry, Noisy, I couldn't resist! ;)

"Rat Man forgive you ... this time."

 

[Rubidium_71]

Mars?? It's not a giant leap Rubidium, it's even hardly a small step. I'm thinking something like 100 light years away.

Lighten up, Stephanus, that was just a jest between myself and Noisy Rhysling, referring to our spirited discussion in a different thread. If that bugs you, Islands in the Sky must really be a bother because it's closer to Earth than The Martian is.
If it will placate you, how about The Oceans Are Wide by Frank M. Robinson? That's a good story that gets the reader all the way to another star system. Another oldie, but goodie.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Lighten up, Stephanus, that was just a jest between myself and Noisy Rhysling, referring to our spirited discussion in a different thread. If that bugs you, Islands in the Sky must really be a bother because it's closer to Earth than The Martian is.
If it will placate you, how about The Oceans Are Wide by Frank M. Robinson? That's a good story that gets the reader all the way to another star system. Another oldie, but goodie.

Just get a copy of Tau Zero. Can't go farther than that.

 

[Stephanus]

Lighten up, Stephanus, that was just a jest between myself and Noisy Rhysling, referring to our spirited discussion in a different thread. If that bugs you, Islands in the Sky must really be a bother because it's closer to Earth than The Martian is.
If it will placate you, how about The Oceans Are Wide by Frank M. Robinson? That's a good story that gets the reader all the way to another star system. Another oldie, but goodie.

A "jest"?? If only you knew what he already had given me. It's more than I can imageine Noisy. Thank you very much

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

A "jest"?? If only you knew what he already had given me. It's more than I can imageine Noisy. Thank you very much

Uh ... you're welcome?

 

[fresh_42]

My favorite SciFi novels are the complete work of Stanislaw Lem. Perhaps with the exception of Solaris.

 

[Kerrie]

Ursula LeGuin-The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. I don't read as much as I should, but her books are amazing.

 

[Dream Relics]

Hyperion was really enjoyable. Stranger in a strange land was also. and I really liked Asimov's "the Gods themselves".

 

[Claude DeBris]

I'm going to be making a list of good ones to purchase for summer reading. I would like to see what are some people's favorite books here.

If you can put a short description or say why you liked it, that would save me the trouble of reading a plot synopsis on wiki.

Go, go, go!

Tough question. Different people like different styles of writing. The Skylark series and the last three of the six Lensman books by E.E. "Doc" Smith are all fun to read. These books are considered by many to be the first "space opera" novels ever written (he started in the 1920's). Lots of strange aliens, weird planets, and impossible space drives, but entertaining reading nonetheless. Smith has a propensity for inserting arcane and archaic adjectives in his stories, so a dictionary can be helpful. "Ringworld" and ""Protector" by Larry Niven are excellent. Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" is great, and H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" is a good read also. I'll probably get some flak from other members but I really enjoyed "Battlefield Earth" by Hubbard; it's a favorite of mine. Oh, and if you haven't read "The Martian" it's better than the movie, and the movie is really good.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

The Motie in God's Eye and its sequel are must reads.

 

[shirleyschloss]

My most favorite novel the "Neptune's Brood" by Charles Stross a great and interesting novel.

'The ocean at the end of the lane" by Neil Gaiman was a pretty good novel too.

 

[Svein]

My most favorite novel the "Neptune's Brood" by Charles Stross a great and interesting novel. "The ocean at the end of the lane" by Neil Gaiman was a pretty good novel too.

If you like Charles Stross and are into games (like "Pokemon Go"), read "Halting State" by Charles Stross.

 

[Chadi B Ghaith]

I'm going to be making a list of good ones to purchase for summer reading. I would like to see what are some people's favorite books here.

If you can put a short description or say why you liked it, that would save me the trouble of reading a plot synopsis on wiki.

Go, go, go!

An Age by Brian Aldiss :
In this, you can find popular science fiction themes of time travel which shows an untapped potential of the human mind. this is the amazing point to read this fiction.

 

[waternohitter]

I prefer "The Queen of Blood" by Sarah Beth Durst and The Diamond Age by "The Diamond Age or A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer" by Neal Stephenson.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Currently re-reading More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon. I don't know if the human gestalt idea was original with him, but he certainly made it believable.

 

[DaveC426913]

Uh oh. I'm stuck in a five year loop!

I've run out of books again so I checked out this thread to refill my ebook, when I came across this:

mine is: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (20,000 leagues under the sea) by: Jules Verne,

I was about to respond that it is one of my favorites, when I discovered I already had, five years ago.

 

[DaveC426913]

I also liked Tau Zero by Poul Anderson.

I read this a couple of years back - might even have een on your recommendation. It was a great story, although it was ultimately marred by what I saw as amateur physics. I don't mean zoom-pew-pew-sounds-in-vacuum bad-physics, I mean the core physics. The story cannot happen.
Still, otherwise enjoyable.Greg Bear's Eon was pretty cool. Great premise.
An asteroid is detected falling into the solar system. Exploration reveals it's hollow.
It's 300km long on the outside.
And 20 million light years long on the inside.

 

[Aufbauwerk 2045]

My top five plus a "bonus" selection.

(1) On Two Planets (Auf Zwei Planeten) by Kurd Lasswitz. I read this because it was said to have inspired the German rocket pioneers such as von Braun. I read an English translation of the abridged version. Maybe there is a translation of the unabridged version now.

(2) Looking Backwards by Bellamy. It's a time travel story.

(3) Solaris by Stanislav Lem. The Russians made a beautiful movie based on this one. I recommend the novel and the movie.

(4) When Worlds Collide by Wylie and Balmer.

(5) The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.

My favorite novel that I have not read (!) is Colossus by D. F. Jones. I pick this one because it was the basis for my favorite movie about AI, namely Colossus the Forbin Project. It's actually the first volume in a trilogy. If I ever have time I would like to read all three.

 

[john101]

A Canticle for Leibowitz as mentioned by willbell post#123 : ' A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jr is incredible, the story of a post-apocalyptic monastery that spans millennia. Not only is it a great work of science fiction but perhaps the greatest book I have ever read.' I think it's the best SF novel I've read. If the glass bead game by Hesse can be considered SF/Fantasy I'd include that.

 

[Battlemage!]

I loved the Otherland series by Tad Williams.

It's set some 50 to 100 years in the future where the internet has been replaced by a vast series of ineractive virtual reality worlds. Utilizing this, a very powerful cabal of wealthy men and women create a secret world whose operating system is an Artificial Intelligence that is grown from the subconscious minds of millions of comatose children. To what ends, well, I'd be giving a big spoiler, but it's pretty awesome. Anyway, the story follows a disparate group of people trying to figure out why "the net" seems to have caused their various loved ones to fall into comas.

Since the story is about a VR network (in which you can die/obligatory), it is able to sample a multitude of different science fiction and fantasy stories, from dystopian Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz, to some H.G. Wells stuff, or what the world would look like if Europeans never came to the New World, World War II, to completely novel worlds, like a kitchen inhabited by 1920s product logo characters, or a libray the size of an entire world, so large it's AI inhabitants have yet to plot out all of its locations.It's four massive books long, and I was disappointed that it wasn't longer (because really I fell in love with the worldand characters). But fortunately Tad Williams wrote a couple short stories continuing the world.Anyway this series was my favorite for a few years. It isn't for everyone, but I recommend it.

Yes... the cover art is what made me pick it up in the library, hehe.

 

[PinkyMcFiddle]

Obviously the Foundation series, Dune (is that sci-fi or fantasy?), I enjoy Iain M Banks (I know that Culture is fundamentally flawed as a story-telling device because of the get out of jail free card- but the poor bastard is dead, so give him a break), HG Wells.

A lot of sci-fi is crap written entirely around a sci-fi setting. Good fiction is a great story and great characters, and the setting does not matter.

 

[Mark Baker]

Nobody's mentioned Greg Bear's Forge of God or its sequel Anvil of Stars. Forge was a great story but a bit depressing though. Anvil was a different style, fast paced and chilling too.

 

[UsableThought]

I loved the Otherland series by Tad Williams. It's set some 50 to 100 years in the future where the internet has been replaced by a vast series of ineractive virtual reality worlds. Utilizing this, a very powerful cabal of wealthy men and women create a secret world whose operating system is an Artificial Intelligence that is grown from the subconscious minds of millions of comatose children . . . it is able to sample a multitude of different science fiction and fantasy stories, from dystopian Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz, to some H.G. Wells stuff, or what the world would look like if Europeans never came to the New World, World War II, to completely novel worlds, like a kitchen inhabited by 1920s product logo characters, or a library the size of an entire world, so large it's AI inhabitants have yet to plot out all of its locations.

Hmm, "Matrix" meets "Alice" meets Jorge Luis Borges. Sounds potentially very cool - I've put a hold on the first of the series via our local library.

 

[PinkyMcFiddle]

Hmm, "Matrix" meets "Alice" meets Jorge Luis Borges. Sounds potentially very cool - I've put a hold on the first of the series via our local library.

Problem is it's the Matrix 2 Rave scene with the Tim Burton "Alice" big heads and Borges' jowls. Imagine being in a cringworthy rave with those massive jowls hitting you in the face.

 

[Battlemage!]

Hmm, "Matrix" meets "Alice" meets Jorge Luis Borges. Sounds potentially very cool - I've put a hold on the first of the series via our local library.

I hope you enjoy it. As I said it may not be for everyone, but I'm the type of person who enjoys that kind of sci-fi.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Hammer's Slammers and Falkenberg's Legion. (Yeah, I'm retired military.)

 

[Buzz Bloom]

What about some that are light, goofy, convoluted, entertaining, easy to read,funny and don't have creepy creatures,

Red Shirts by John Scalzi.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

Relatively recent sci-fi movies among my favorites.

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Source Code (2011)
Ender's Game (2013)
The Age of Adeline (2015)

 

[WaxyChicken]

I don't know if anyone mentioned them yet, but the Wild Cards books
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Cards

there is a touch of fantasy in some of the individuals, but enough Sci and What-If to keep you glued... even through all 22+ books.

in short:
i'd try to give a brief on what it's about but it's much better than i'd make it sound, i promise.

 

[sappho.poiesis]

Relatively recent sci-fi movies among my favorites.

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Source Code (2011)
Ender's Game (2013)
The Age of Adeline (2015)

Since you mention movies (I totallyloved those) I would also add About Time (2013) it's similar to The Time Traveler's Wife and it's awesome.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

Since you mention movies (I totally loved those) I would also add About Time (2013) it's similar to The Time Traveler's Wife and it's awesome.

Hi sappho:

I tend to find most stories and/or movies about time travel to be sufficiently flawed to make then unlikable, but there are exceptions.

The Time Traveler's Wife is a favorite because of the excellent handling of its complicated plot related to the lack of control of the time travel and the consistency of its consequences.

About Time is also good. I particularly liked the consistency of changing the past having subtle unintended consequences, especially having the protagonist's child becoming a different child.

Regards,
Buzz

 

[EnumaElish]

Currently reading Baxter's "Ring." Interesting premise, comparable to Tau Zero in its breadth. Fluent writing. Recommendable.

 

[DaveC426913]

Currently reading Baxter's "Ring." Interesting premise, comparable to Tau Zero in its breadth. Fluent writing. Recommendable.

I'm currently looking around for new good reads (again). I picked up Tau Zero last year on a recommendation (possibly even from someone here).

While I kind of enjoyed most of the book, the final conceit was - in my opinion - an egregious misunderstanding of cosmological geometry. Enough to tank the story for me. I put it off as an error due to the novel being many decades old - before we had a better understanding of how our universe might rebound. You can't just kinda stand off the the side!

Since "Ring'" is also several decades old, I'm very gun-shy about picking it up, lest it make the same mistake.

 

[enorbet]

It's probably been mentioned but since it has become an ongoing series and a good one at that, it's worth risking a re-mention -

Ender's Game - The film is decent which translates into nearly awesome when referring to the average Sci Fi film and the book is very good being both entertaining and thought provoking - A 21st Century analog for Heinlein's excellent "Starship Troopers" with the caveat that Troopers as a movie was absolute junk, while Ender's is commendable..

 

[Buzz Bloom]

I picked up Tau Zero last year on a recommendation

Hi Dave:

Thank you for mentioning Tau Zero (1970). I was a big fan of Anderson (along with Asimov, Heinlein, Sturgeon, Bradbury, Bester, and others) back in the 50s and 60s, and back then I read almost all of Anderson's stories. Somehow I never read Tau Zero, so after your post I read it. It was as good as he ever was in his hard SciFi novels, among the very best in keeping the science of the story consistent with science as it was known at the time, which very few SciFi writers bother to do. However, there was a flaw towards the end that violated science as it was known in 1970, and I think it likely Anderson did it anyway because he wanted the emotion of that particular plot element in his story.

Regards,
Buzz

 

[DaveC426913]

there was a flaw towards the end that violated science as it was known in 1970, and I think it likely Anderson did it anyway because he wanted the emotion of that particular plot element in his story.

Agree. But, like in a gedanken experiment, so it is with a story. You can only violate physics that is not critical to the main goal.

If he hadn't violated the physics, he wouldn't have had a story at all. (Or at least it would have ended with epic - and painful - failure.)In fact, one wonders if he found out part way through writing the story (some physicist would had to have come clean, and said 'dude, love the writing but ... not going to happen') but he was too far along to back out.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

Agree. But, like in a gedanken experiment, so it is with a story. You can only violate physics that is not critical to the main goal.

Hi Dave:

I have a feeling we are not talking about the same "flaw". As we know today, the universe is not going to behave the way the story develops. I think in 1970 that way was still a possibility. The flaw I had in mind is about what they could observe at the critical point in the story. What the story said they observed would not be observable, and I am pretty sure that was known well before 1970.

Regards,
Buzz

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Are you really trying to avoid spoilers in a book that old?

 

[Buzz Bloom]

Are you really trying to avoid spoilers in a book that old?

Yes.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

New Testament: Jesus dies.

 

[UsableThought]

Are you really trying to avoid spoilers in a book that old?

Yes.

I approve and am grateful. I'm just starting to get interested in picking up a copy.

I think a big purpose of this thread is recommendations of stories we like to those who may not have read them. Old stories are just as enjoyable as new stories.