Go forth and read!

[andrewducker]

Here's a list of 100 sci-fi books you should have read.

I haven't read 44 of them, and I'll happily admit to having given up on about half of those.

Comments

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

I have read 38 of them, and started about 20 of the rest and given up in disgust :)

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I've read 73 of them and have considered reading more than half of the rest (as well as having at least read one book by all but about 10 authors on that list). I am a bit baffled by some of the choices thought. I love ago gave up wondering why anyone thinks Starship Troopers is worth reading, but In Conquest Born & Dragon's Egg? The first is a moderately fun but pretty light first novel by Friedman and the second is utter hackwork with a few interesting ideas by Forward. There is quite literally nothing that Robert Forward has ever written that Hal Clement couldn't have done far better.

[ex-digitalis869.livejournal.com]

I'm baffled by the inclusion of Blish's novel. He could have done such wonderful things with the concepts introduced, but it fizzled like a wet firecracker. And Vinge's Catspaw is much, much better than Snow Queen.

Hmpf. That's all there is to it, i need to spend a few months formulating my *own* list of best sci-fi novels.

[andrewducker]

Personally, I found Cosm to be utter drivel, thought cities in flight was good for the first book or so, think Eon is vastly overrated and thoughtthe end of Blood Music let down an otherwise cool novel.

I do like Starship Troopers though. Or at least did when I last read it at the age of 18.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I love much of Gregory Benford's work (especially his 6-book center of the galaxy series) but Cosm looked quite dreadful. I liked all of Cities in Flight except for the last book, I think Blish was a truly brilliant author, but he definitely over-reached himself with that one. I find Greg Bear to be oddly erratic. I really liked Eon, Eternity, and The Infinity Concerto, but Blood Music was a bit much (the short story was far better than the novel) and much of the rest of his work is fairly dubious (I took long look at Darwin's Radio and it looked like utter drivel). In part, because withe exception of a few fairly quiet and generally wonderful novels like Beyond Heaven's River, and Slant, all of Bear's novels are about ending or completely transforming the world, and I think that there are definite limits to that particular theme.

I also just noticed that there are no Cordwainer Smith books on that list. His "Instrumentality of Mankind" series was a work of genius and far different from most SF of his day. Heinlein and Forward are on the list and Cordwainer Smith is not, that's just wrong.

[ex-digitalis869.livejournal.com]

There's a reason it's juvenile....fiction. ;}

[ex-digitalis869.livejournal.com]

And just because i feel like filling up your journal with useless nonsense...

Read:

Foundation, Asimov
Dune, Herbert
Frankenstein, Shelley
Ringworld, Niven
A Case of Conscience, Blish
Day of the Triffids, Wyndham
Way Station, Siimak
The Gods Themselves, Asimov
Left Hand of Darkness, Leguin
Behold the Man, Moorcock
War of the Worlds, Wells
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Verne
Neuromancer, Gibson
Ender's Game, Card
Lord of Light, Zelazny
Dragonflight, McCaffrey
Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein
I, Robot, Asimov
Brave New World, Huxley
1984, Orwell
The Postman, Brin
Dawn, Octavia Butler
The Snow Queen, Vinge
Red Mars, Robinson
Alice in Wonderland, Carroll
Hitchhiker's Guide, Adams
Lathe of Heaven, Le Guin
Hyperion, Simmons


Gave up on:
Starship Troopers, Heinlein
Cuckoo's Egg, Cherryh
Snow Crash, Stephenson

[derumi.livejournal.com]

What! No books by Lafayette Ronald Hubbard? *sniggering*

I didn't realize that Alice in Wonderland counted as Science Fiction.

These ones, I've read for certain:
Foundation Written by Isaac Asimov
Starship Troopers Written by Robert A. Heinlein
Frankenstein Written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
The War of the Worlds Written by H.G. Wells
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Written by Jules Verne
The Time Machine Written by H.G. Wells
Dragonflight Written by Anne McCaffrey
Journey to the Center of the Earth Written by Jules Verne
Stranger in a Strange Land Written by Robert Heinlein
I, Robot Written by Isaac Asimov
1984 Written by George Orwell
The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde Written by Robert Louis Stevenson
Puppet Masters Written by Robert Heinlein
Cat’s Cradle Written by Kurt Vonnegut
Alice in Wonderland Written by Lewis Carroll
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Written by Douglas Adams
The Andromeda Strain Written by Michael Crichton

And I've read and enjoyed stuff from these authors:
Orson Scott Card
Robert A. Heinlein
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Larry Niven
Isaac Asimov
Ursula K. Le Guin
Michael Moorcock
H.G. Wells
Jules Verne
Roger Zelazny
Greg Bear
Anne McCaffrey
Piers Anthony
George Orwell
Robert Louis Stevenson
Kurt Vonnegut
Lewis Carroll
Douglas Adams
Ben Bova
Poul Anderson
Michael Crichton
Edgar Rice Burroughs

Only one on that list I tried reading and hated, is Frank Herbert's Dune.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

That just shows you are a person of taste, I found Dune to be a massively sexist book (the wondrous guild of female psychics spend many generations breeding a great man to lead them) written by and semi-talented hack who has written some of the worst SF in print (I refer anyone who is interested to The Green Brain, The White Plague, and any of the later books in the Dune series for examples).

OTOH, all the rest of the authors you listed are people who have written at least a few books that I've really liked, with the possible exception of Piers Anthony, whose work I find ranges from acceptable to quite bad.

[andrewducker]

Piers Anthony has written a few good short stories, and I liked "On a Pale Horse" when I was younger (not re-read it since), but generally speaking he's written a lot of pap.

I largely found Dune to be dull (didn't pick up on the sexist nature of the book when I last read it), and I have to agree that I haven't read a Herbert book I loved.

[derumi.livejournal.com]

I loved Anthony's older works, but not the drivel he's put out aimed at children (ie., all later Xanth books). A friend of mine hates him because she considers his works sexist, but I never picked up on it except from Diary of a Space Tyrant. Of his sci-fi, I love Cthon. I kinda grew out of reading him, though I'm still interested in reading some of his older stuff and stand-alone works.

[markpasc.livejournal.com]

Baldur made a short list of the ones available online. I doubt I would've read Flatland if it weren't available from Project Gutenberg.

[andrewducker]

Flatland rocks. I have it in paperback somewhere.

[kashandara.livejournal.com]

I personally view this list as highly unfair against those of us who hate Asimov damnit.