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Science Fiction Books I’ve Read (2018)
- blargmaster33 6y agoPfaff not one military sci-fi book....weak
- GordonS 6y agoDisappointed this is just a list, with no information, ranking or anything else. I'm always on the hunt for good sci-fi, but unfortunately this isn't helpful.
- edge17 6y agoThere is a link for Part 2 of the article, which has more info - https://fortelabs.co/blog/what-i-learned-about-the-future-by-reading-100-science-fiction-books/ https://fortelabs.co/blog/what-i-learned-about-the-future-by...
- GordonS 6y agoI missed that, thanks!
- taude 6y agoWell the ones he really liked are underlined, that's a form of ranking. Not sure you need to know the nuance between #1 and #2, but knowing that there's 15 must reads on that list is a convenient way of showing that.
- ksdale 6y agoJust fyi, a great many of these books are award winners or otherwise considered classics, so if you're looking for good sci-fi, you could do worse than just randomly picking a book from this list. Though as other commenters have mentioned, modern sci-fi is rather under-represented.
- djsumdog 6y agoI like that Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red, Blue, Green Mars) are in red. That is my absolutely favourite Sci-Fi series of all time. It has aged amazingly well. He did an amazing amount of research for that book. It's very believable and the characters are incredibly complex.
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y agoSo is "The Years of Rice and Salt" from him, though it's only one book, not a trilogy. I feel like I actually learned something while reading it, but that is because I've read it on screen, while having Wikipedia and Google-maps open in the background while reading it, pausing to look up things there.
- pradn 6y agoThanks for this! It's right up my alley as a history-lover.
- yboris 6y agoThank you for the recommendation! From Wikipedia: > Red Mars won the BSFA Award in 1992 and Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1993. Green Mars won the Hugo Award for Best Novel and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1994. Blue Mars also won the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1997.
- edge17 6y agoIf you read 100 books in 2 years, is it a goal or are you still reading for the enjoyment of it? Also a side question, I love reading but I'm very slow. I don't want to learn a lot of the 'fast' reading techniques because I have tried them and don't really retain much. Is there some low hanging fruit to reading just a little faster? (like, read in a good chair or use a kindle or something)
- timclark 6y agoRead shorter books!
- Matticus_Rex 6y agoI set a goal of 50 books in 2018 and once I got into the habit it was purely for enjoyment. I ended up doing 86 in 2018, and upped my goal to 75 for 2019... then ended up doing 122 books that year. I'm somewhere in the 50s or 60s for 2020 right now. I retain audio much better for most things (unless it's data-heavy), so getting into habits of keeping my headphones on me and actually starting a book when I had the brain-space to listen helped increase the quantity. No idea on tips for physical reading (though getting the room lighting right and using one of the paperwhite-or-better Kindle screens makes a big difference for me, anecdotally).
- edge17 6y agoGood point on the room lighting. Also, is that sort of what people do nowadays for reading? Meaning, when people say they read 100 books, they are also referring to have listened to audiobooks? Not judging, just curious if I'm not understanding the meaning of 'read'
- Matticus_Rex 6y agoMost people include that now, yeah. I think it makes sense, even if it's an evolution from the strict sense of the word. I certainly retain as much as those who read physical books, and if someone asks me if I've read a book, it seems needlessly pedantic to say "no, I listened to it."
- morelisp 6y ago113/120 by men (and all four women from the "sf canon", one from the plain old canon - nothing modern, nothing independent). 116/120 originally in English, and one of those is Lem and two others Verne. I won't bother graphing the years but it definitely feels like the past, idk, 20 years is tremendously under-represente (and then 3 spots given to Hugh Howey). "What I learned about the future reading mid-century white men" I guess.
- morelisp 6y agoCome on guys, I know HN hates women and anyone who reminds them that women exist and do things, but I thought y'all at least hated bland content marketing almost as much?
- nurettin 6y agoWhy don't you go ahead and make hn a 50-50 list and teach them all a lesson?
- morelisp 6y agoI have in the past and it was flagged, based on the comments I assume for being uninteresting or perhaps mistaken for content marketing. I guess I should have been more explicit!
- ycombinete 6y agoMore likely because of your condescending, rude, and hysterical tone. If today’s performance is any indication. I’m sure it feels good to be so strident, but you’re not going to change anyone’s mind. Generally one needs to choose between being vituperative, or persuasive.
- morelisp 6y agoLol it was literally just a list of 51 books but sure you know me.
- yboris 6y agoPersonal all-time favorite, read it twice: Accelerando by Charles Stross Set in three parts, exploring a future where people can upload themselves to computers, create digital copies, recombine, run minds faster than real-time, re-enter the non-digital world, travel to alien destinations, etc. Free from the author: https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelerando/accelerando-intro.html https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/acceler... Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17863.Accelerando https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17863.Accelerando
- thelazydogsback 6y agoIt had better be good for the price, lol: https://www.amazon.com/Accelerando-Singularity-Stross-Charles-Hardcover/dp/B015X4Q7ZE https://www.amazon.com/Accelerando-Singularity-Stross-Charle...
- Freak_NL 6y agoAmazon has this weird algorithmic automated price setting going on when books are out of print and only available second-hand or from leftover stock. It probably makes sense to whoever implemented the algorithm. Usually the prices stop somewhere around the €75 mark though.
- jccalhoun 6y agoWell, that edition came out in 1602 so it isn't surprising it is so expensive! :-P
- thelazydogsback 6y agoTo me it's Alastair Reynolds, and then everybody else. When I read "Revelation Space" it was, er, a Revelation. In addition to the many books R.S. universe (spanning across great swaths of time) there is also the fun Revenger series, and several non-canonical short stores, etc. Of course, Ian Banks (RIP) is also great fun.
- jccalhoun 6y agoI also enjoyed what I read of Revelation Space. I really liked how not having faster than light travel played a role. I kind of lost interest when so many of the books revolved around that same planet. There is a whole universe out there that I want to learn more about. I don't care about the rust belt or whatever it was called.
- thelazydogsback 6y agoFWIR the R.S. universe wasn't planet centric and the books literally span one side of the universe to another, with timescales from one lifetime to entities measuring their lives in galactic rotations. Are you talking about Chasm City maybe? Anyway, it's about time for me to re-read -- I've been holding off as a treat - it's been 18 years since I read that first book!
- goddamnyouryan 6y agoI think “house of suns“, which is not R.S. is maybe one of the best sci fi books I’ve ever read. I’ve only also read chasm city by him but I thought “House of Suns” was leaps and bounds better
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- trey-jones 6y agoI've read enough of the list that I think I'll hang onto it to check out stuff that I haven't read. Obviously it's down to personal preference which of these are the best, but I'm curious how other readers feel about a couple of these (potentially contrarian views): 1. Speaker For the Dead is my favorite of the Ender stuff. 2. I like Endymion duo better than Hyperion. (maybe my favorite ever, actually) 3. The Stand is also an all-time great to me, especially in light of current events. 4. I think the author should read more Niven - I guess he didn't really like Ringworld, which is another of my favorites.
- InitialLastName 6y ago> 2. I like Endymion duo better than Hyperion. (maybe my favorite ever, actually) Strong agree. The technical term for the advantage the Endymion books had is "a coherent plot". Also, using human reconstitution as a way to get around the acceleration constraints of space travel is awesome. Simmons' Ilium and Olympos (SF interpretations of the Iliad and [sort of] the Odyssey) are also super well-conceived.
- nyhc99 6y agoI personally liked the Hyperion duo better, but found all 4 books to be incredible. As for Ringworld, I didn't enjoy it, but would be willing to give Niven another try if given a strong and specific recommendation. Maybe something that has more of a plot. Wandering around a big empty construction in space where nothing happens didn't really do it for me. The author of this list and I seem to have very similar tastes. Most of his favorites are mine as well. The only favorite of mine that comes to mind as being left off this list is Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It's also striking that he hasn't listed any of the Culture series by Iain Banks.
- Freak_NL 6y agoPeople seem really divided on the Hyperion Cantos in terms of which books or book pair stands out for them. I am thoroughly in the 'all four of them combine to form an impressive epic'-camp. I found it pleasing how Rise of Endymion closes the last strands of the story begun in Hyperion. Good call on Heinlein's Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Ringworld didn't do much for me either, but I do indulge in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-offs as a sort of guilty pleasure.
- malloreon 6y agoI put off reading The Three Body Problem because I wanted to make sure I was good and ready to be amazed. I've read Cixin Liu's short stories and thoroughly enjoyed them. He comes up with some amazing ideas. I even really liked the movie based on Wandering Earth, despite how it converted the story to more action. I barely made it through 3BP and I don't have much excitement for the sequels. The story just did not grip me at all.
- nyhc99 6y agoThe sequels have some big and original ideas that I don't regret being exposed to, but they were painful to get through. Especially the 2nd book. It took me months to finish because I just couldn't stay interested.
- SECProto 6y agoYup, I did not enjoy the 3 body problem either. Haven't read any of his short stories, though, so I'll look in to that.
- ericmcer 6y agoI am surprised he likes some of the classics as they hold up really poorly IMO. The Foundation books especially just... are not good viewed through a modern lens. I hate to pull the misogyny card, but I think there is only one woman in Foundation and she has no lines, just models a necklace for some space trader types. They also suffer from the classic sci-fi conundrum where a spaceman is flying at light speed while reading a newspaper and listening to a tape. It's not really excusable for me when people consider this like... the greatest sci fi book. Other authors were able to confront our social and technological future in a much more realistic and interesting way, not like, cowboys in spaceships.
- sv7n 6y agoYou're missing the point. Sci-fi isn't about technology, it's about imagining life and existence from a non-earth non-human perspective. Also, Bayta Darell is a very central character with a significant role.
- Freak_NL 6y agoGranddaughter Arkady as well.
- ericmcer 6y agoI wasn't arguing about what sci-fi is, its fairly amorphous. More just highlighting the laziness of creating a novel based around future tech and then having someone just reading a paper, its fine but not GOAT material imo. It is a space western/drama which is totally fine.
- sweetcheekz 6y agoWhich authors/books would you recommend that have held up over time?
- ericmcer 6y agoBradbury & Vonnegut if you are gonna stay in the same time period. Delaney, PKD and Gene Wolfe are my favorites of all time, they are 10-20 years later but I think they raise social and philosophical issues that resonate to this day. I liked the foundation books its just always been a pet peeve that Foundation, Enders Game, and Hitchhikers Guide are always listed as greatest of all time. They are super enjoyable books but not like... what I would choose to represent the genre.
- BatFastard 6y agoTwo books I would highly recommend for their idea density and enjoyment are Deamon - Daniel Suarez and follow on book Freedom. Old Mans War - John Scalzi and really the whole series. also really enjoy anything by Vernor Vinge
- drclau 6y agoAt a glance, I can't spot anything by Ken MacLeod, nor Iain Banks. Both are masters of hard SF. I read most of Ken MacLeod's work, some several times (yes, I really enjoyed them that much), and I am reading Iain Bank's Culture series these days.
- diziet 6y agoWell, I wouldn't really say Banks wrote Hard SciFi, but the authors you mentioned are great.
- WalterBright 6y agoI was reading a scifi book the other day, and it just seemed to tickle something familiar. I eventually realized I must have read it long ago and totally forgotten it. I've read thousands of books, but I never kept a log and have no way of remembering them all. The standout in my mind, however, is "War of the Worlds" by Wells. It is the first scifi book I ever read, picking it out at the library because it had a cool illustration of the tripod on the cover. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and like the purported first hit of heroin, the rest of my life I've looked for something that good again :-)
- r00fus 6y agoI reread (Audiobook version) the Hyperion Cantos a year ago and I was floored at how well it aged in the past 20+ years. as a sidenote, I picked up on stuff on the rereading and am wondering how much of that is due to my increased maturity and how much is due to the format (paperback vs. audiobook). As a result I'm rereading a lot of my favorites from the past . Not all have aged as well.
- hirundo 6y agoI'd shelve The Stand in horror, not scifi. It uses post apocalyptic scifi tropes, but ultimately the driver of the story is occult, not technological. There may not be a fundamental difference between a rogue AI and a demon as an antagonist ... other than where the book gets filed.
- nowandlater 6y agoMy favorite from this summer so far, and one I don't see mentioned much is "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August" by Claire North (Catherine Webb). https://www.amazon.com/First-Fifteen-Lives-Harry-August/dp/0316399620 https://www.amazon.com/First-Fifteen-Lives-Harry-August/dp/0...
- stanski 6y agoIt's like reading a list of books considered classics in the genre. I feel like the author is just checking off boxes. Also, needs some Iain M. Banks.
- Freak_NL 6y agoNice to see a recommendation for one of John Varley's works (The Golden Globe). There is one sci-fi author who is underappreciated. His writing has touches of Heinlein. His Gaea Trilogy is really creative too.
- monkeypizza 6y agoHis stories "Equinoctal", "The Phantom of Kansas" [0] are big hits at scifi reading groups. And "The Persistence of Vision" is a well-known classic. [0] https://varley.net/excerpt/the-phantom-of-kansas-full-text/ https://varley.net/excerpt/the-phantom-of-kansas-full-text/
- monkeypizza 6y agoI have a similar list but with an attempt at writeups of their style and what is good about each individual author here: http://fuseki.net/home/ScienceFictionBookReviews.html http://fuseki.net/home/ScienceFictionBookReviews.html
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y agoLacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_Zanzibar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_Zanzibar from John Brunner and following the "see also" there. Furthermore at least https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chanur_novels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chanur_novels from C.J.Cherryh. For me they were a blast to read. I fevered/longed for the next book to be in print. Similar thing for the "Company wars" and "Hinder Stars" listed in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._Cherryh_bibliography#The_Alliance%E2%80%93Union_universe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._Cherryh_bibliography#The... / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance%E2%80%93Union_universe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance%E2%80%93Union_univers... Go get this!
- vnxli 6y ago>The best books are bolded, the great ones are underlined, and my absolute favorites are in red. What does that even mean? What's the cutoff for best and great and favorite? Does anyone else find the language over the top? Like we've watered down our superlatives. Maybe I'm being super picky, but why make a numbered list of the best things across a spectrum of their greatness and not use the numbers?
- ycombinete 6y agoI understand what he means. He’s sorted alphabetically by author. Then has two categories. He probably doesn’t want to compare books beyond that. Their either okay, great, or his absolute favourite.