RECOMMENDED SCI-FI BOOKS

síofra

I've recently taken an interest in sci-fi as a genre and would love to know of some classic books in this category. Thanks!!!

BossArky

Try "The Nights' Dawn" Trilogoy by Peter F.Hamiliton. It is probably too new to be considered classic sci-fi right now. Great stuff!

zod

From Asimov
First read the foundation trilogy ( do not read foundation and Earth yet )
Then read the robot series : The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn, Robots and Empire

Finaly read Foundation and Earth

I'm actualy envious, for an example of his work read this short story .. the last question

the immortals

dune, fantastic stuff

síofra

Who wrote Dune?Thanks for the recommendation

síofra

thanks for that short story, I was glad it was so philosophical. I have always ignored sci-fi thinking that it was only about imaginary spaces but now I see that it actually asks some of the big questions that I find myself wondering about from time to time!! The whole idea of machines and humans, pre-destination and free-will, darkness and light... I have to read this story again to really appreciate it but I felt that I should say thank you first for sharing it with me!!!I certainly will check out your other recommendations.

tSubh Dearg

Asimov's short story's are (imo) superior in some ways to his novels. The collections of his short stories are great because they have an introduction by him to each of the stories, which tells you what else was going on in his life at the same time.

Grass by Sherri S Tepper, is an excellent sci-fi novel. Really good characters and a well developed world/universe.

I think pretty much anything by Peter F Hamilton is great, as are the culture novels by Iain M Banks.

mcgovern

Pretty much all of these are worth reading,
http://www.sfsite.com/lists/orion01.htm

Burga Galti

From the list mcgorvan's linked to the one's I'd recommend are:
Bring the Jubilee, Cities in Flight & I Am Legend (very different to the recent film adaptation).

Outside that, if you like the 'big question' stuff I'd recommend almost anything by Stephen Baxter. It particular the Manifold Triology:
Time
Space
Origin

Dades

A few of my sci-fi favs would be:

Childhood's End - Arthur C Clarke
Contact - Carl Sagan
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

síofra

Great list, go raibh mile maith agat![/I][/I]

schiz0phren1c

Read the Culture novels by Iain M Banks,they all blew me away(and the rest of his Sci Fi)
The Ringworld Series by Larry Niven are rightly considered to be Classics,
read Starship Troopers(NOT like the movie!),Friday,Citizen of the Galaxy and lots more by Robert Heinlein,
The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson are also some of the best books I have ever read...
I've got more if you want more!

The_Minister

Is Day of the Triffids Sci-fi?
Read it anyway.

Lands Leaving

síofra wrote: »

Who wrote Dune?Thanks for the recommendation

Frank Herbert wrote it.

Has anyone mentioned Philip K Dick yet?

Also Kurt Vonnegut - Sirens of Titan

Black Swan

síofra wrote: »

Who wrote Dune?Thanks for the recommendation

Frank Herbert won a Nebula Award for this first Dune work. I tried reading the Dune series that followed the original work and didn't like it. Oh, I know it to be cliche' but the Dune book was superior to the film.

Shryke

I seem to plug this book a lot on boards but Dan Simmons Hyperion is fantastic. Plenty of good recs in this thread already OP. You're spoiled for choice.

Dades

Lands Leaving wrote: »

Has anyone mentioned Philip K Dick yet?

Also Kurt Vonnegut - Sirens of Titan

Just finished "Our Friends From Frolix 8" by PKD - was really quite funny.

Sirens of Titan was a smashing read too.

Eoin

I really enjoyed Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan, though I'm not too sure if Sci-Fi purists would like it as much though.

If you like crime fiction, it will probably appeal to you. I'm not a big sci-fi fan, though I've haven't made much of an effort - so this could be a good one to transition over a little.

ixoy

Why not try one of Philip K. Dick's collection of short stories? Lots of interesting ideas in them and the science is never too heavy, which might be welcoming if you're just getting into the genre.

I'll second 'Dune' - great book and lots of philosophy in there too. I enjoy the sequels but the philosophy gets quite heavy.

Also I'd agree with 'Hyperion' which is a modern classic. Fiendish plots and written on a large scale, one of the great space operas.

Once you've gotten through the classics and want to look at some of the current authors out there, I'd recommend Peter F. Hamilton ('Night's Dawn' trilogy is long but very accessible), Alastair Reynolds and Richard Morgan. If you like the science angle, try Greg Bear as well.

hatful

I'm a Philip K. Dick fan. "A scanner darkly" and "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" two of the best I've read so far also the Minority report volume of short stories is very good.

I can't really read anything like William Gibson because the language used is way too jargonic...

Ubik and The man in the high castle are on my list aswell....issac asimov is fantastic aswell.

pwd

I strongly agree that Dune, The Man in the High Castle (PKD) and the culture novels (banks) are excellent.
PKD and Clarke are fairly prolific writers and imo the quality of their writing varies a great deal.
Asimov was my favourite writer when I was a kid but I found his stories very predictable after a while.
I was surprised that I didn't like the Gap series much, apart from the first book, because I really liked some of the fantasy and crime fiction that Donaldson wrote. I thought Angus Thermopylae was a very strong character though.

SimpleSam06

schiz0phren1c wrote: »

The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson are also some of the best books I have ever read...

+100, also just as an aside, did you notice the parallels between the Warden Dios character and Norse legends? One eyed Warden=Wotan, Hashi=Huginn, Min=Muninn (the two ravens on his shoulder). Legendary books. I can honestly say I wish I had never read them, just so I could have the sheer pleasure of reading them again for the first time.

okmqaz42

For a nice introduction to the wounderful world that is Mr kurt vonnegut I would suggest Timequake. It is a fantastic story of everybody having to relive that last tem years of life knowing excatly what will happen but being powerless to stop/change any outcomes.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/6422/rev0834.html

BenjAii

Another great Sci-Fi classic to recommend is Stanislaw Lem's "Solaris". The films, particularly the Hollywood remake of the Russian original don't do it justice.

As in all great Sci-Fi, and Philip K Dick particularly does this well too, it sets you thinking far and wide beyond its original premise. In "Solaris" human space exploration leads us to encounter a planet where the entire planet appears to be a single living organism. Furthermore it tries to communicate with us; by manipulating our perception of reality to appear to bring dead loved ones back to life.

This bare bones description can't adequately explain what becomes a fascinating open ended philosophical investigation on communication and the essence of humanness.

I can honestly say that in a lifetime of reading hundreds (thousands ?) of novels, this may be the greatest novel of ideas i've ever read, IMHO it a truly great book in the annals of literature, not just Sci-Fi.

oponodon

I am reading a brilliant SF book at the moment. Old Mans War by John Scalzi. Its about the future human military, the CDF (colonial defence forces) who no-one on earth really knows about. when people turn 75 years old, they join the military for the promise that they will be made young again. They join, and are taken by skip drive to the human colonies (who no-one else on earth knows about again, the CDF is the only organisation that can get into interstellar space)

This guy, john perry, signs up for his two year service.

I wont spoil anything else, but i will say that there are alot of alien species who want the colonies that the earth has.



Also, i found out about this book through amazon.com. They have huge sections with books from almost every genre. (inc. SF) search for a book, and it gives you loads of reviews, and tells you about similar books. After a while, it learns your preferences, and actually recomends things to you that it would think you'd like. (thats actually how i found out about this book)

Whenever i find something i like, i take down the name, and check it out of the library. Its a good system. :pac: (for me anyway, not for amazon....)

EDIT: even if its not really SF, Jurrasic park by micheal crichton is a must read.

toomevara

BossArky wrote: »

Try "The Nights' Dawn" Trilogoy by Peter F.Hamiliton. It is probably too new to be considered classic sci-fi right now. Great stuff!

A classic the minute it was committed to paper..best space opera I've ever read! David Zindell's Neverness is superb, classy sci-fi...

DesignLady

VALIS by Philip K Dick alongside his others mentioned earlier

InvisibleBadger

Iain M Banks culture novels are pretty amazing.

johnnyskeleton

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Zaph

If cyberpunk is your think, have a look at this list. There's some great books there, but the ones I'd recommend most are anything by William Gibson, Snow crash by Neal Stephenson and the Mirrorshades anthology of cyberpunk short stories.