3 ms·

I appreciate any list of sci-fi books, and it's interesting to see, but for me, this list sucks. It's very fantasy / literature heavy as opposed to hard sci-fi.

I appreciate any list of sci-fi books, and it's interesting to see, but for me, this list sucks. It's very fantasy / literature heavy as opposed to hard sci-fi. Seems like a list of "sci-fi" books from someone who doesnt really like sci-fi. For me it's like a bottom 75 list.

deng 3y ago
It says "New Wave SciFi" in the title, so it only covers "New Wave Scifi". It's perfectly fine to not like the genre, of course, but that's not a fault of this list.
bouvin 3y ago
'Bottom 75 list'? You have not read much SF, have you? Sturgeon's Law [1] was created for a reason. If you think this is as bad as SF gets, I turn your attention to Robert A. Heinlein's "To Sail Beyond the Sunset". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law
tuatoru 3y ago
If you don't like any of these, you don't like science fiction. As Fred Pohl said, "the task of the science fiction writer is not to imagine the automobile but the traffic jam". Perhaps you prefer "cowboys in space", like Star Trek, Star Wars, Terminator, or Firefly.
- everyone 3y ago
  I love sc-fi. It's by far my favourite type of novel to read. In fact I usually read either non fiction (popular science, reportage) or sci-fi. I have read probably a couple hundred sci-fi books, including many on that list. I have read a lot in order to find the really good stuff which is quite rare imo. My favorite sci-fi authors are Arthur C. Clarke and Greg Egan. I also like Kim Stanley Robinson, Charles Stross, Robert L Forward, Andy Weir, Stephen Baxter. The stuff you mentioned are movies / tv firstly and secondly I wouldnt even personally classify them as sci-fi, they are more pure fantasy. Just for example, Greg Egan's written some of the most far-out sci-fi Ive ever read, eg. Dichronauts describing life in a universe with different geometry to our own + symbiotic intelligent lifeforms that can each percieve space on different axes. https://www.gregegan.net/DICHRONAUTS/DICHRONAUTS.html https://www.gregegan.net/DICHRONAUTS/DICHRONAUTS.html
  - tuatoru 3y ago
    De gustibus, and all that. I really liked "Halting State" (especially) and "Rule 34", but most of the others you mention I would not put in any top 100 list. Egan has very outré ideas but isn't much of a writer. The Martian was OK, good on the science mostly, but ultimately it's just a biography with not much to say about the impact of technology on the human condition. Forward isn't much of a writer and his ideas are too much weed. Baxter and Robinson I haven't read. I think I started something by Robinson but gave up. And I can happily read Graydon Saunders. (Yes, fantasy, but well written).

deng 3y ago

It says "New Wave SciFi" in the title, so it only covers "New Wave Scifi". It's perfectly fine to not like the genre, of course, but that's not a fault of this list.

bouvin 3y ago

'Bottom 75 list'? You have not read much SF, have you? Sturgeon's Law [1] was created for a reason. If you think this is as bad as SF gets, I turn your attention to Robert A. Heinlein's "To Sail Beyond the Sunset". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law

tuatoru 3y ago

If you don't like any of these, you don't like science fiction. As Fred Pohl said, "the task of the science fiction writer is not to imagine the automobile but the traffic jam". Perhaps you prefer "cowboys in space", like Star Trek, Star Wars, Terminator, or Firefly.

everyone 3y ago
I love sc-fi. It's by far my favourite type of novel to read. In fact I usually read either non fiction (popular science, reportage) or sci-fi. I have read probably a couple hundred sci-fi books, including many on that list. I have read a lot in order to find the really good stuff which is quite rare imo. My favorite sci-fi authors are Arthur C. Clarke and Greg Egan. I also like Kim Stanley Robinson, Charles Stross, Robert L Forward, Andy Weir, Stephen Baxter. The stuff you mentioned are movies / tv firstly and secondly I wouldnt even personally classify them as sci-fi, they are more pure fantasy. Just for example, Greg Egan's written some of the most far-out sci-fi Ive ever read, eg. Dichronauts describing life in a universe with different geometry to our own + symbiotic intelligent lifeforms that can each percieve space on different axes. https://www.gregegan.net/DICHRONAUTS/DICHRONAUTS.html https://www.gregegan.net/DICHRONAUTS/DICHRONAUTS.html
- tuatoru 3y ago
  De gustibus, and all that. I really liked "Halting State" (especially) and "Rule 34", but most of the others you mention I would not put in any top 100 list. Egan has very outré ideas but isn't much of a writer. The Martian was OK, good on the science mostly, but ultimately it's just a biography with not much to say about the impact of technology on the human condition. Forward isn't much of a writer and his ideas are too much weed. Baxter and Robinson I haven't read. I think I started something by Robinson but gave up. And I can happily read Graydon Saunders. (Yes, fantasy, but well written).