What are your favourite sci-fi books?
Anything by Alastair Reynolds - his Revelation Space series is great, and House of Suns is a fantastic one-off. He's probably the closest to Ian Banks in creating galaxy-spanning civilisations across eons of time.
Ian MacDonald is another good one. My favourite of his is The Dervish House, but his others are definitely worth reading.
Charles Stross is good. Didn't get on with Accelerando, but his Laundry books are a fun mix of HP Lovecraft/Len Deighton/IT Crowd. Halting State and Rule 34 are good explorations of pervasive augmented reality and intelligent algorithms. Also Glasshouse as an exploration of post-singularity society. Never managed to finish a Cory Doctorow book though.
I found William Gibson's Bigend trilogy a slog, but I really enjoyed The Peripheral - it's a fun read.
Enders Game and Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card are fantastic, but the remaining books suffer from diminishing returns (with the possible exception of Ender's Shadow). There are a lot of books in the series, but basically, the series finishes wherever you get bored reading it.
Anything by China Mieville is well worth your time.
Oh, I also really enjoyed Elizabeth Bear's Jacobs Ladder trilogy, set on a generation ship where the inhabitants have forgotten who they are and where they're going.
For some older stuff:
The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester – I was surprised at how good it is and how well it stands up. I couldn't believe it was written nearly 50 years ago.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein - possibly my favourite of his. I want to start a lunar revolution with a sentient mainframe...
I'm currently working my way through all the Hugo Award winners, from 1953 up, and there's some real gems there.
I have strong opinions about this. My criteria for a book being science fiction and not fantasy is that is must be based on scientific thinking. The author must have done some work to determine whether whats happening in his book is at least plausible according to real science, and then work out the details of how it would actually function. So I regard most "science fiction" books and almost all "science fiction" films as really being fantasy. Essentially they are works of fantasy or dramatic fiction re-skinned with lasers and aliens instead of magic and goblins (to a great or lesser extent).
So dune is a great book but it is 90% fantasy, there is only a little bit of research done by the author on desert ecosystems.
My favourite real science fiction author is Arthur C clarke. some good books by him...
earthlight
the fountains of paradise
islands in the sky
the sands of mars
rama
songs of distant earth
Also would recommend accelerando by Charles Stross and the mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson
Philip K. Dick (Ubik, Man in the high castle, Flow my tears the police man said)
Frederik Pohl (Gateway, the Space Merchants)
Ursula K. Le Guin (The Dispossessed, Left Hand of Darkness)
Iain M. Banks (Culture novels)
You will find many Sci-Fi treasures by just going through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SF_Masterworks
Neal Stephenson "Anathem"
Stanisław Lem "Cyberiad", "Solaris", "Futurologists' convent"
Greg Egan "Permutation City"
Jacek Dukaj "Black Oceans"
Iain M. Banks "Algebraist" (I read some books from culture series, but IMHO culture is just too overpowered to make an interesting story possible - you basicaly read to see at which point they will show their full superiority, and it doesn't work for me)
Stumbled across and started reading A. E. van Vogt's "The World of Null-A" last night.
Super trippy.
Just finished reading "Fiasco" by Stanislaw Lem. Between that "Cyberiad" I feel like Lem doesn't get enough credit. Maybe part of it is not being in the Western European writer's camp?
At any rate, I would say:
Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Heinlein
The Dispossessed, Le Guin
The Stars My Destination, Bester
Childhood's End, Clarke
Stand out as some of my favorites. I'm pretty terrible at making top-5 lists, but those stand out as ones that I would read again in a heartbeat if there weren't already 50 books on the floor next to my bed waiting for me :)
Most of Asimov's books, specially:
* Foundation Series / Robot Series / Empire Series
* The Gods Themselves
Anything by Iain M. Banks. Start with "The Player of Games" and "Consider Phlebas".
Anything by Vernor S. Vinge especially "Zones of Thought" series.
"Daemon", "Freedom(tm)", "Kill Decision" and "Influx" by Daniel Suarez.
"The Martian" by Andy Weir.
Anything by Neal Stephenson, especially "Reamde: A Novel" and "Cryptonomicon".
Anything by Hannu Rajaniemi, especially "The Fractal Prince".
Neal Stephenson, Anathem
Iain M Banks, Use of Weapons
Greg Egan, Diaspora and Permutation City
Frank Herbert, Dune
Kim Stanley Robinson, the Mars trilogy
Vernon Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky
[Note to Hollywood: can we please have a Culture movie?]
I maintain a community created list of Sci-Fi novels worth reading:
Since the OP asked about books not authors my favourite book is "Foundation and Earth" (Isaac Asimov), "Childhood's End" (A.C. Clarke) and Solaris (Stainslaw Lem).
Everything from Asimov.
The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.
The Culture books from Iain Banks.
The Rama series from Clarke although it got tiresome after a while.
The Sparrow and Children of God from Mary Doria Russell.
Contact by Sagan which by the way is one of the very few sci-fi books that were successfully depicted in movies.
Brave new world from Huxley. Old one but still highly relevant.
The first ones from Gibson.
The Enter series by Orson Scott Card.
Bradbury's Farhenheit 451. This one is a classic.
Revelation Space from Alaistair Reynolds who writes the most hardcore sci-fi I've ever come across.
Peter Watts's Blindsight - easily the best SF novel I've read in the last decade. I haven't got round to Echopraxia yet, but I doubt it'll fail to live up to its predecessor.
Also, while I have no use whatsoever for Stross's "Singularity" stuff, his Laundry Files series excels, especially for an inveterate old Lovecraft fan such as myself. If you want a taste, there are some shorts available online -- "Overtime" and "Funny Farm" are good places to start; "Equoid" is the most recent, but it's not representative, and it's also the weakest entry in the series as a whole due to its poor characterization and reliance on shock and gruesomeness rather than the more insidious sort of horror in which the rest of the series specializes.
I'm sort of surprised to see that no one has yet mentioned Heinlein; I know he's a politically divisive figure in the fandom, to say the least, but he's also the great granddaddy of the modern field, and such prominence deserves recognition. (Hell, he was pushing the Rapture of the Nerds before any of its modern adherents was even born!) Granted that his later works tend to bog down in self-referentiality and author tracts on the evils of Communism and the benefits of casual nudism; in his prime, though, he was an author and storyteller practically beyond compare.
In particular, his The Moon is a Harsh Mistress remains a classic among classics; The Puppet Masters even more so, to the extent of spawning practically a whole subgenre of second-rate imitations; and, for a lighter entry, his oft-overlooked The Door into Summer is a sweet story in which all's well that ends well and the importance of feline companionship in a well-rounded life is not overlooked.
I wonder why no one mentioned "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy" (Douglas Adams) yet. I died laughing twice while reading it.
Doubtless there'll be lots of strong opinions, and (hopefully, usefully) lots of duplicates that you can then tote up to get a bit of a consensus.
Iain M. Banks - all his Culture books are fantastic, but I'll single out 'Excession' since you seek titles.
Neal Stephenson's 'Anathem'
Stephen Donaldson (most famous for the Thomas Covenant tri-trilogy) wrote a 5-book 'Gap Series'. I have very fond memories of it, though it's been two decades since I read it.
Philip K. Dick wrote a tonne of good stuff (and a bit of meh) but my two favourite are Clans of the Alphane Moon (the first Dick I read), and Valis (a bit more conventional to have on the favourite list)
Ursula Le Guin also has a huge body of excellent work - Left Hand of Darkness, and The Dispossessed are my favourites.
I really loved Roger Zelazny's Lord Of Light, though I understand it's not conventionally considered his best work.
For 22+ years I believed Foundation series by Issac Asimov was unparalleled, since first read when I was 10. It changed after the Three Body Problem, especially the 2nd and 3rd installments, The dark forest, The forever death. I don't expect to add more to the list in my life span.
Kim Stanley Robinson's "2312" carries on from the Mars Trilogy. Stephenson's "REAMDE", "The Diamond Age", "Cryptonomicon" and "Snow Crash" Does alternate history count her? If so, Robinson's "The Years of Rice and Salt" is great
Really surprised to see no mention of H. G. Wells here, so I'm just going to add it :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine
You can get it at project Gutemberg, so no excuse not to read it.
Any book by French author Barjavel are also worth reading in my opinion, especially "La Nuit des Temps" / "The Ice People" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_People_%28Barjavel_nov... ) and "Ravage" / "Ashes, Ashes" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravage_%28novel%29 )
Some which I have re-read recently and still enjoyed:
Some which I remember liking when I read them many years ago as a teenager:William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy Frank Herbert's Dune series Isaac Asimov's Foundation series Frederik Pohl's "Gateway" Robert Heinlein's "The Moon is a harsh Mistress"
Dawn trilogyE.E. Doc Smith's Lensman series David Brin's Uplift series Peter F. Hamilton's Greg Mandel trilogy and The Night'sOrson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" George R. Dickson's "Dorsai!"One of the read-worthy books which immediately came to mind is Neverness [1] by David Zindell. It is actually the 'prequel' to a series ('A requiem for Homo Sapiens' [2]) which I have yet to read, but it stands by itself as far as I'm concerned.
If you like SF, mathematics and deep ideas, this might be a book for you.
[1] http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/968997.Neverness
[2] http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/399921.David_Zindell
You realize not a single person has mentioned a female author? Let's fix that:
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Among Others by Jo Walton
Feed by Mira Grant
The Hunger Games!
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
Grass by Sheri S Tepper
Gate of Ivrael and Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh
And the fabulous space opera:
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Many of the already mentionned books. Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity, in the hard science genre.
As a kid I was absolutely stunned by The Tripods. I highly recommend these books (trilogy) for your kids (10-13 yo).
I'm currently working my way through Stephen Baxter's Manifold trilogy. His writing is incredibly insightful and psychedelic. I'd also suggest the Time Ships (only authorized Time Machine sequel) and anything from the Xeelee universe. Maybe start with Vacuum Diagrams?
David Brin's Uplift series is brilliantly written, and personifies non-human characters wonderfully.
Heinlein has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid, and his writing always makes me giddy.
Arthur C. Clarke: 2001
Arthur C. Clarke: Rendezvous with Rama
Pierce Anthony and Robert E. Margroff: The Ring
Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes: The Legacy of Heorot
Stanislaw Lem: The Invincible
Isaac Asimov: The Foundation Trilogy
The Space Merchants
A couple books that I'd recommend for their attention to biology and genetics as the scientific driver:
Julie Czerneda's Species Imperative Trilogy: Survival, Migration, and Regeneration.
Maragaret Atwood, anything, but recently the MaddAddam trilogy: Oryx and Crake, Year of the Flood, and Maddaddam.
Nancy Kress' Sleepless series: Beggars in Spain, Beggars and Choosers, and Beggars Ride.
I got hooked on SciFi with David Webers Harrington-Series which I found after enjoying the old Hornblower Series. Since then I enjoyed much omthe Kantaki-Cycle of Andreas Eschbach and the Collector/Justifier Series by Markus Heitz, even though they are what I would call typical german SciFi: Humans as nuisance in a peaceful and orderly Galaxy.
Eric Schwitzgebel composed a list of "philosophically interesting" SF from the recommendations of 34 professional philosophers:
http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/SchwitzPapers/SF-Master...
It also includes non-printed media.
Poul Anderson's "Technic" stories, e.g. "The Trouble Twisters". Must re-read some.
Somewhat more recent: pretty-much anything by David Brin.
For my taste, a lot of recent sci-fi seems to be a little too focused on politics and society vs. the exhileration of a good technical solution. But do enjoy Charles Stross and John Scalzi.
Haven't seen it mentioned, so I thought I'd chime in. My favorite new series has been 'The Expanse' by James S.A. Corey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Abraham_(author)#The_Exp...
There are some excellent books in this thread (makes sense that the HN community would know their sci fi) - a short story addition to the list is "The Machine Stops" by E. M. Forster. Totally changed my opinion technology's impact on the modern world.
Hey, I'd say Snow Crash (for history in geekery). The Ender series. Some of Neil Gaiman (I do love TPratchett, though not on this list) ..
At the moment I'm a lot into short stories, and that'd mean Ted Chiang of course, and Greg Evan, as well as some of Vinge Vernor.
http://akkartik.name/post/scifi
Recommendations here that I consider over-rated: Ramez Naam, Daniel Suarez, Reamde. I also couldn't get through Three-body Problem. I might try again, though.
I enjoy The Queendom of Sol series, by Wil McCarthy.
Also, A Fire Upon the Deep / A Deepness in the Sky.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is some of the best science fiction/space opera that I have read in several years (it won both the hugo and nebula).
It is well written and a good story. Its kind of a strange story of revenge with a AI as the protagonist.
The Three-body Problem. It raises the bar of sci-fi literature in China.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/07...
Dune - Frank Herbert
There's something mystical and very powerful about this book and the theme of conquering fear. It also reads surprisingly well considering how dense some of the political and technical descriptions are.
I agree with many of the recommendations here, but am surprised to see no mention so far of "the three B's": Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, and Ben Bova. All excellent hard science fiction authors.
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan is one of my favorite books of all time, and if you like it there are 2 more in the series.
Very smart, noir sci-fi with a lot of heady concept play -- some consider it to be genre-defining.
Top 3 for me, would be 1. Ender's Game
2. 2001 Space Odyssey - I sit down with Arthur for Tea at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka - He gave me a copy of his article in which he first described telecommunication via satellites
3. Snow Crash
Lot's of my favorites already listed
Some more good ones: Ilium/Olympos - Dan Simmons Centuries - A. A. Attanasio Callahan's Crosstime Saloon - Spider Robinson Signal to Noise - Eric Nylund
Remarkable consensus regarding Iain M. Banks and Vinge being top choices. Vinge I would have expected due to his background in Computer Science, but M. Banks is a very positive surprise.
What about Lois McMaster Bujold ? 4 Hugo Award gota count for something ! The Vorkosigan serie is space opera so not hard scifi but it's damn good.
A Fire Upon the Deep A Deepness in the Sky
both by Vernor Vinge
Isaac Asimov Foundation (beside mangas!)
Everything from John Scalzi, start with Old Man's War and then read through everything else.
The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons.
Greg Egan - Permutation City
Peter Watts - Blindsight
'Deep Six' (short story anthology) and 'Wind-up Girl' by Paolo Bacigalupi.
Joe Haldeman, The Forever War.
Michael Moorcock, An Alien Heat & Behold the Man.
Prey is a novel by Michael Crichton - @everyone
Snow Crash edit : and Ambient, by Jack Womack
The three stigmata of palmer eldritch
Snow Crash Childhood's End
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon.
Lord of the Light
Dune
Neuromancer
Hyperion
Snow Crash
Use of Weapons
Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained