Good Science Fiction

[RedRob]

Hi folks, does anyone have any suggestions for good science fiction books to read?  

[Friends just call me Ross]

I really enjoyed this book:

 

[Thomas Walker]

If you're looking for hard Sci-Fi, I'd suggest The Martian. (As a Witness, I can't really recommend the book, because there's plenty of cussing, but because it was such a hit, they released a 'classroom edition' with all the profanity removed for printing. Shouldn't be hard to find.) By the same Author, there's 'Project Hail Mary', which is actually one of my favorites.

 

The 'Golden Age' scifi, written by Clarke, Heinlein and Bradbury is all the most creative and interesting, but a little dated in how they portray women and ethnic minorities. Not offensively, but they'll make you roll your eyes here and there. Such were the times they were written in.

 

I can tell you for a fact that anything on this list is fairly clean, because these books were actually written by a JW, and most of it is sci-fi in some form.

[Wanda Hill]

55 minutes ago, Thomas Walker said:

I can tell you for a fact that anything on this list is fairly clean, because these books were actually written by a JW, and most of it is sci-fi in some form.

 

So, Brother Walker, are these written by anyone we know?..hmmm???

[Thomas Walker]

6 minutes ago, Wanda Hill said:

So, Brother Walker, are these written by anyone we know?..hmmm???

 

[Dages]

5 hours ago, Thomas Walker said:

there's 'Project Hail Mary', which is actually one of my favorites.

That's on my top 3 without any hesitation  

*jazz hands*

Edited April 4, 2023 by Dages

[Thomas Walker]

You can do a search for 'best scifi' and get a list of all the big names. For something less famous and mainstream, I would suggest 'Farmer in the Sky' by Robert Heinlein, and a more recent series that I really love is the 'Lady Astronaut Series' books by Mary Robinette Kowal

 

 

[molnarj]

I read a lot Jack Vance before I was in the truth. Now I don't have time for that anymore. My favorites were Tschai and Emphyrio. 

[carlos]

I virtually stopped reading science fiction 30 years ago, so I am mostly familiar with the classical authors. When I started again a couple years ago none of the author names rang a bell. These are some of the books I have recently enjoyed.

 

I really really loved the short story "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang (the 2016 movie "Arrival" is based on it). Actually most of the stories in his compilation "Stories of Your Lives and Others" are very good. They really make you think.

 

"All Our Wrong Todays" by Elan Mastai is a short book, very original and funny. It's quite different from anything I have ever read, a refreshing new approach to time travel. Not a life-changing book but quite nice and entertaining.

 

On a different level, the whole Three-Body trilogy ("The Three-Body Problem", "The Dark Forest" and "Death's End") by Liu Cixin left me absolutely impressed. Being a Chinese author writing in Chinese his writing style is completely different from what science fiction readers are used to. The first chapters in the first book I found a bit tedious but then it got really intriguing. These books are completely packed with one bizarre and fascinating idea after another, an outpouring of imagination. It's impossible to summarize in a few lines what they are about.

 

 

[New World Explorer]

9 hours ago, carlos said:

On a different level, the whole Three-Body trilogy ("The Three-Body Problem", "The Dark Forest" and "Death's End") by Liu Cixin left me absolutely impressed. Being a Chinese author writing in Chinese his writing style is completely different from what science fiction readers are used to. The first chapters in the first book I found a bit tedious but then it got really intriguing. These books are completely packed with one bizarre and fascinating idea after another, an outpouring of imagination. It's impossible to summarize in a few lines what they are about.

You have sparked my interest! 

[Dages]

10 hours ago, carlos said:

Ted Chiang

He is a very interesting author.

 

Quote

 

On a different level, the whole Three-Body trilogy ("The Three-Body Problem", "The Dark Forest" and "Death's End") by Liu Cixin left me absolutely impressed. Being a Chinese author writing in Chinese his writing style is completely different from what science fiction readers are used to. The first chapters in the first book I found a bit tedious but then it got really intriguing. These books are completely packed with one bizarre and fascinating idea after another, an outpouring of imagination. It's impossible to summarize in a few lines what they are about.

The first book is difficult, but the second and third are extremely impressive ! 

[New World Explorer]

45 minutes ago, Dages said:

He is a very interesting author.

 

The first book is difficult, but the second and third are extremely impressive ! 

Could a person start on a second book 📚 without first one ? (Or the story is linked) 

[Dages]

5 hours ago, New World Explorer said:

Could a person start on a second book 📚 without first one ? (Or the story is linked) 

It's linked... the first book is necessary.

[Witness1970]

I found a book when I was young that contained short stories by Ray Bradbury.  Ray Bradbury does not put a lot of science in his stories, but he is a great writer.  I especially enjoyed, "Here There Be Tygers."  (My father died when I was very young.  My mother told me that the book had belonged to my dad.)

 

If you want more deep science, there are writers like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.  Both of these writers not only wrote Science Fiction but also wrote scientific articles.  (Isaac Asimov was a biochemist.)  Isaac Asimov wrote "The Foundation Trilogy", which was voted the best Science Fiction series of all time years ago.  (I don't know if that has changed.)  It consisted of 3 books, 1) "Foundation", 2) "Foundation and Empire", and 3) "Second Foundation."  They were intriguing.  He also wrote the "Robot Novels" and "I. Robot."  None of his books were made into movies for many years.  In 1980, he started writing more stories that tied the "Foundation Trilogy" to other stories that he had written. 

 

If you want more recent Science Fiction, I will have to agree with @carlos.  I haven't read a lot of Science Fiction in about 50 years, although I do enjoy reading Science Fiction very much. 

 

This may not be much help, since I am sure most Science Fiction readers are very well aware of those writers I have mentioned.

[Hinata]

4 hours ago, Witness1970 said:

Isaac Asimov

 

I liked his short story “The Last Question.”