List wins by excluding Ender's Game. I can accept just about any aspect of Sci-Fi/Fantasy with the whole Suspend Disbelief mindset, but never been able to get past "super intelligent 5 year old saves the planet"

You make people read Frankenstein when you want to show them how awful books can be. What a boring piece of sh*t.

DonkeyDixon: List wins by excluding Ender's Game. I can accept just about any aspect of Sci-Fi/Fantasy with the whole Suspend Disbelief mindset, but never been able to get past "super intelligent 5 year old saves the planet"

Thank you. This is the same reason I can't stand it.

Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth, and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

John Brunner's Stand On Zanzibar.

And sheesh, how about at least one Lloyd Biggle Jr. novel, for sentimental reasons. Let's say Monument.

Very different list than usual. I'm by no means a sci-fi reader, but there were intriguing choices there. No Gibson? No early Stephenson? First things I noticed.

Aliens & First Contact stories as allegory:

"The Sentinel"/"2001: A Space Odyssey" - Arthur C. Clarke
"Footfall" - Niven
"Little Fuzzy" and "Fuzzy Sapien" - H. Beam Piper
"KIDS! Grow Giant Mushrooms In Your Basement!" - Ray Bradbury

I'm sure I'm missing a shiatload, but those were the first that popped into my head, and since Asimov and Heinlein have already been mentioned, I wanted to skip the obvious masters.

Hitchhiker's Guide?
A Canticle for Liebowitz?

Aidan: No Gibson? No early Stephenson? First things I noticed.

I think you need to actually read the article. Yes, Gibson was mentioned, and Stephenson, but I'm not sure if it was 'early' Stephenson.

Re: "Canticle for Leibowitz"

What would you file it under?

Hitch-hiker's Guide

Also, James Blish's Cities In Flight.

Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human -- a theme reused countless times since.

And most definitely Frederik Pohl's Merchants of Venus and Gateway.

should be included in the Space Travel section. Phenomenal book.

Personally, I like C.S Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy.

thespindrifter: Aidan: No Gibson? No early Stephenson? First things I noticed.

I think you need to actually read the article. Yes, Gibson was mentioned, and Stephenson, but I'm not sure if it was 'early' Stephenson.

Meh. I just like looking at the pictures. :) Specifically I was thinking Snow Crash (computers) or Diamond Age (nanotech).

John Varley's Gaea series

Titan, Wizard & Demon

Re: Hitchhiker's Guide 5-book trilogy

I didn't see a "Parody as political commentary" section. If they did have one, then we'd have to suffer the horror of Piers Anthony, and we wouldn't want that now, would we?

Hyperion - Dan Simmons
The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Griffin's Egg - Michael Swanwick

/Hyperion is a must...

I'd add Cat's Cradle and Galapagos, but I don't think Vonnegut fits so neatly into the SF category.

As much as I enjoy Philip K Dick's work, his novels are not introductory level material. Any one of the volumes of the five volume short story collections of his work would be a much better pick and show a wider range of his work.

Neuromancer is included, so that covers Gibson. I would include Snowcrash instead of Anathem for Stephenson, but both are good books. Dune is a huge oversight, as is the lack of any Clarke, Childhood's End would be the best choice IMO. I'd also argue for the inclusion of Stephen R. Donaldson's The Real Story, David Brin's Startide Rising and Greg Bear's Eon.

Aidan: thespindrifter: Aidan: No Gibson? No early Stephenson? First things I noticed.

I think you need to actually read the article. Yes, Gibson was mentioned, and Stephenson, but I'm not sure if it was 'early' Stephenson.

Meh. I just like looking at the pictures. :) Specifically I was thinking Snow Crash (computers) or Diamond Age (nanotech).

I always think that Diomond Age was a sequel to Snow Crash. It makes sense if the Baron is Hiro and the Headmistress is YT. I've only read them once though and far apart so I might be nuts.

thespindrifter: Aidan: No Gibson? No early Stephenson? First things I noticed.

I think you need to actually read the article. Yes, Gibson was mentioned, and Stephenson, but I'm not sure if it was 'early' Stephenson.

It isn't. Again, if you're going to pick something introductory either Snow Crash or Diamond Age are much more approachable.

Lord Darth Porkins: Hyperion - Dan Simmons
The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Griffin's Egg - Michael Swanwick

/Hyperion is a must...

Reading Hyperion for the first time right now. Can't believe I haven't read it sooner. What a compeling story.

I agree with Childhood's end. Also Sturgeon.

And I think Vonnegut is great for a beginner's list--definitely more accessible than a lot of the stuff on the list. Maybe Cat's Cradle, Slapstick, or Sirens of Titan?

List is useless (and pringles-less) without:



/pick a section, insert

So would it look like a ring around the planet....a HALO if you were.

//sounds like a bit of a REACH if you ask me.

Pope Larry II: Canticle for Leibowitz.

No Jules Verne in the Foundations? Really?


Seriously.

I'm adding a number of titles to my sci-fi list (and enjoying just how many of my favorites are making the list here).

Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

Came here for Dune, Ringworld, Foundation, Fahrenheit 451, and leaving with a whole lotta nuthin.

Good additions so far.

I would change Banks' novel from Consider Phlebas to Excession.

DonkeyDixon: List wins by excluding Ender's Game. I can accept just about any aspect of Sci-Fi/Fantasy with the whole Suspend Disbelief mindset, but never been able to get past "super intelligent 5 year old saves the planet"

To be fair, at least Card sets it up properly. They're testing billions of humans for the specific markers they need, and in Ender's case, they had him for well over half his life, from age 5 or 6 to something like 12 or 14 when he actually saves the world. And they train him brutally hard throughout that period, he doesn't get weekends off and only one vacation that bears mentioning, and that only because he burnt out.


A major point in the novel is that Ender is a Messianic figure. But he's not The Chosen One, he's The Manufactured One. I find it a lot less irksome than pretty much every other messianic story out there, including the Harry Potter series which I would suggest is the best modern analogue, given that they're intended for similar audiences.

Invisible Pedestrian: It isn't. Again, if you're going to pick something introductory either Snow Crash or Diamond Age are much more approachable.

Totally agreed. Anathem is a great read, but it's a dense read, and it's very theory-heavy. Snow Crash is basically a fast-paced sci-fi romp, Anathem is a monk's study of the beauty of science, basically.


Then again, I hate lists like these because they shouldn't end. There's way too much out there that's worth reading.

Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 1. It's stuffed full of golden age short stories from the masters.

Came for Neuromancer, leaving satisfied. That's one of the first books where I really thought to myself "damn, this guy can write!" And I mean the actual construction and wording of each sentence. In fact, my next book was American Gods and I remember thinking "why all the hype for Gaiman?" The prose was chunky and pedestrian compared to Gibson, kind of like going into daylight after being in the dark, or vice versa. Nevertheless I "adjusted", and enjoyed Gaiman all the same.

Starting Perdido Street Station tonight, Anathem next on my shelf.

Invisible Pedestrian: As much as I enjoy Philip K Dick's work, his novels are not introductory level material. Any one of the volumes of the five volume short story collections of his work would be a much better pick and show a wider range of his work.

I love PKD, but lord yes, his short stories are where it's at

Agree with many suggestions (Herbert, Heinlein, Niven, Walter Miller Jr., Dick, Bradbury, Pohl and Poul).

As one of the world's biggest fans of Chip Delany, I can say that Dhalgren was absolutely, positively no fun, pointless in its pornography, and not very fulfilling in the first half (all I managed to get through). I suppose if I read Ulysses by Joyce I might have enjoyed it. or not.

Babel-17 or Einstein Instersection (A Fabulous, Formless Darkness) or Nova or Trouble on Triton would have been much better ways of getting into Delany.

So many good suggestions - can we get the farker list of books synopsized? I need a list!!!!

My last read with Christopher Moore's Fool but I'd like a good list of sci-fi's to start on...

Entity79: No Martian Chronicles? List is fail.

I hated Martian Chronicles. Turned me off from serious sci-fi for the duration of my high school and collegiate careers.

Came here for Snow Crash, Hitchhiker's Guide and Jules Verne (Journey to the Center of the Earth, specifically). Leaving satisfied.

/actually just started Snow Crash for the first time...really digging it so far.

Dorf11: I'd add Cat's Cradle and Galapagos, but I don't think Vonnegut fits so neatly into the SF category.

It's weird because I love me some Vonnegut, and I couldn't bring myself to get through either of those books.