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    Your top ten sci-fi novels

    As someone relativly new to reading sci-fi, what's out there? I know I've barely scratched the surface of the genre, so what does everyone recommend as their top ten sci-fi must reads? Post a list!



    Sorry if this has been done, did a search and didn't find anything too similar listed.

    #2
    In no real order:

    Dune (Frank Herbert)
    Ringworld (Larry Niven)
    Foundation Trilogy (Isaac Asimov)
    Childhood's End (Arthur C. Clarke)
    Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes)
    Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in 5 Parts (Douglas Adams)
    "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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      #3
      Stranger in a strange land -- Heinlein
      Time enough for Love - The many Lives of Lazarus Long -- Heinlein
      The Foundation Trilogy - Asimov
      A Canticle for Lebowitz - Miller
      The Dune Trilogy - Herbert
      Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis
      Perelandra - C.S. Lewis

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        #4
        ok - im admiting I havnt read 10 sci fi novels, as i prefer crime and fantasy, but at the top of the ones i have read are the

        millenium DS9 series (WOW)
        Section 31 series
        Blitz

        www.myspace.com/twilightpeace

        One was an experiment made to cause destruction in any condition except water, the other was an aquatic expermiment to destroy the world...but in the end...Stitch and Nim: They made an amazing Hula team

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          #5
          Certainly recommend Hitchikers if you undersand british humour. Other than that, I read mainly fantasy so can't offer any other suggestions. although the Diskworld novels by Terry Pratchett are good - I think they are classed as scifi fantasy.
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            #6
            Probably can't give ten, but I'll try...

            In no particular order:
            Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
            Anything by Terry Pratchett (most are fantasy really, but it's close enough )
            Anything by Matthew Reilly (only Contest is really sci-fi, but a few of his other books have hints of SF - cloaking devices, planet-destroying nukes...)
            Incompetence - another comic-SF book, by one of the writers of Red Dwarf - not really SF, but it's set in the future, so it counts

            Some good tie-ins
            Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series (every bit as epic as the films - 19 books!)
            Stargate SG-1: A Matter of Honor and The Cost of Honor (two-parter)

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              #7
              Definitely Asimov. Not just Foundatio books - also the robot ones. Actually, pretty much everythig by Asimov.
              Herbert - I would recommend just th original Dune... but that's just me
              Heinlein - the books that have been mentioned and also Number of the Beast.
              Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano. I'm suggesting this one because while I'm a huge Vonegut fan, this one is probably the best to begin with, being sanest of them all - and most science fiction.
              Someone mentioned Pratchett - never forget his and Gaiman's Good Omens, while not being science fiction it's fantastic.
              And Hyperion. Can't remember who's it is.

              (Oh and I would definitely join on Ender's Game. And it's sequal, Speaker for the Dead. And then stop and never pick up another OSC book again. Honest.)
              Pinky, are you thinking what I'm thinking?
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                #8
                Regarding Dune, yes, just read the first one. I have never heard anyone say anything good about the sequels. Including my high school English teacher (who loved the first book), who was of the opinion that Herbert continued writing as he slowly went insane, resulting in crappy sequels.

                I should also say something about the Foundation books. I would highly recommend reading ONLY the original trilogy--that is, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation (in that order). Asimov picked up the series again 20 years after finishing Second Foundation, writing two more sequels (Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth) and then two prequels (Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation) because he had no idea where to go with the sequels any further.

                The original trilogy was outstanding, I couldn't put it down. I read all three in literally two days. Then I bought the two sequels, wanting to know what happened afterward. Foundation's Edge was, frankly, boring. It was a chore to get through it, and I only did so because I was already 100 pages in and wanted to know how it ended. The thing is, Foundation's Edge retcons a lot of established history of the first three books--not outright changing anything, just "explaining" things from the original trilogy that didn't really require any explanation, for the sole purpose of telling a new story.

                I was so unimpressed with Foundation's Edge that I didn't even try to read Foundation and Earth, even though I'd already spent the $12 on it. I probably won't be buying the prequels either.
                "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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                  #9
                  A bit of a warning about Heinlein. He was a real free love west coast kind of guy, so a subtext of his books is sort of an assault on tradtional values, but his conflicts and ideas are really mind expanding. The idea of Grokking from "stranger in a strange land" was a pivotal concept for me in my gowing up years.

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                    #10
                    I've also thought of a couple more in the last few hours.

                    Great Star Wars tie-ins:
                    Various Authors - Tales of the Bounty Hunters (takes place during and near-to ESB)
                    Steve Perry - Shadows of the Empire (takes place between ESB and ROTJ)
                    Timthy Zahn - Heir to the Empire (first part of the Thrawn trilogy, 5 years post-ANH)
                    Timthy Zahn - Dark Force Rising (second part of the Thrawn trilogy, 5 years post-ANH)
                    Timthy Zahn - The Last Command (third part of the Thrawn trilogy, 5 years post-ANH)
                    Kevin J. Anderson - Jedi Search (first part of the Jedi Academy trilogy, 11 years post-ANH)
                    Kevin J. Anderson - Dark Apprentice (second part of the Jedi Academy trilogy, 11 years post-ANH)
                    Kevin J. Anderson - Champions of the Force (third part of the Jedi Academy trilogy, 11 years post-ANH)


                    William Shatner's The Return is a pretty entertaining read, you just need to pretend that everything post-First Contact never happened (it was written prior to)


                    Some other great science-fiction books:
                    George Orwell - 1984
                    George R. Stewart - Earth Abides
                    William Gibson - Neuromancer
                    Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451
                    Carl Sagan - Contact
                    "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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                      #11
                      1) The Hitchhiker's Guide (all 5 but i'll just use 1 entry) - Douglas Adams
                      2) Stranger in a Strange Land - RAH
                      3) Friday - RAH
                      4) Neuromancer - William Gibson (it will seem somewhat dated or same as anything else out there in the genre, but this is the book that really started the cyberpunk movement)
                      5) the CJ Cherryh 'Merchanter' universe books...a loose set of books set in the same universe where much of the geography is the same as characters change.
                      6) Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
                      7) Farenheith 451 - Ray Bradbury
                      8) Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
                      9) Diamond Age - Neal Stepheson (his stuff really goes downhill after this.)
                      10) World's Fair 1992 - Robert Silverberg
                      Thanks!
                      Jordan

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                        #12
                        Great recommendations guys, I'll definitly have a good summer reading list, here are my favs:

                        Hitchhiker's Guide- love the books, just bought a new set because my old copy (which wasn't even mine really) was so battered, but I haven't read the last two in the trilogy yet for some reason. I've had this obsessive thing with looking for the number 42 ever since reading it.....
                        I, Robot
                        The Sparrow- One of the best books I've ever read, amazing, amazing, amazing, reading the Sequel Children of God right now
                        Dune- I've only read the first in the series, my first conscious choice of a sci-fi book
                        Ender's Game/Speaker for the Dead- just finished Speaker for the Dead a couple weeks ago, I think I'll continue with the series this summer
                        2001: A Space Odyssey- I thought the book was better then the movie, but I saw the movie when I was ten and swore never to watch it again. Might have to now.
                        1984
                        Farenheit 451

                        And that's all I can think of right now.....

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                          #13
                          As someone who has read a whole heck of a lot of sci-fi I think I can safely recommand these ten, they may perhaps not be the best (hard to remember things like this at the spur of the momment) but they are all great.

                          A deepness in the sky, by Vernor Vinge

                          Stars at war, series by David Weber and Steve White

                          The I inside, by Alan Dean Foster

                          Foundation series by Isac Asimov

                          Honor Harrington series by David Weber, at least the first four books as they are all great.

                          Eon, by Greg Bear

                          Uplift trilogy, by David Brin

                          A fire upon the deep, by Vernor Vinge

                          Kiln people, by David Brin

                          Enders game, by Orson Scott Card.


                          What kind of books to you favour? If your more into military sci-fi or into hard sci-fi the recommandations would be different, this is a balanced diet of all types (imo)

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by DigiFluid
                            Carl Sagan - Contact
                            Just saw this movie- which I absolutly loved, as I understand it, the book's supposed to be even better?

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Wyrminarrd
                              As someone who has read a whole heck of a lot of sci-fi I think I can safely recommand these ten, they may perhaps not be the best (hard to remember things like this at the spur of the momment) but they are all great.

                              A deepness in the sky, by Vernor Vinge

                              Stars at war, series by David Weber and Steve White

                              The I inside, by Alan Dean Foster

                              Foundation series by Isac Asimov

                              Honor Harrington series by David Weber, at least the first four books as they are all great.

                              Eon, by Greg Bear

                              Uplift trilogy, by David Brin

                              A fire upon the deep, by Vernor Vinge

                              Kiln people, by David Brin

                              Enders game, by Orson Scott Card.


                              What kind of books to you favour? If your more into military sci-fi or into hard sci-fi the recommandations would be different, this is a balanced diet of all types (imo)
                              I like a very balenced selection, I'll try anything really- I read the first Honour Harrington book and absolutly loved it (aside from a few sections that got a little too- explanitory, I thought there was quite a bit that could have been shortend at the beginning), do you know what the second is called? I was wondering if there were two different titles, or if the list I was reading had it confused- the title I thought was the right one didn't turn up in a search on my library website.
                              I've kept meaning to read Foundation since last summer, just haven't gotten round to it, love Ender's Game, read that not long ago.

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