• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

What are the best Sci-Fi books to recommend to a novice?

ImaginalDisc

Penultimate Amazing
I
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
10,219
The professor I have for Technical writing (That's memos, reports, instructions and so on) mentioned to me that is nephew is reading Ursula K. LeGuin, and he asked me to recommend some Sci-Fi books after we discussed the genre. He asked to send him an email with a short list.

He's an educated man in the humanities, but not so much in science and math. I explained the difference between hard and soft science fiction, and he seemed interested in both.

What would be your picks for the best soft Sci-Fi book and best hard Sci-Fi book to recommend to someone new to the genre? I was thinking of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "Remnant Population", but I'm not so sure.
 
Tunnel in the sky.

Enders Game

Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy

Starship troopers

Have spacesuit will travel
 
ImaginalDisc said:
The professor I have for Technical writing (That's memos, reports, instructions and so on) mentioned to me that is nephew is reading Ursula K. LeGuin, and he asked me to recommend some Sci-Fi books after we discussed the genre. He asked to send him an email with a short list.

He's an educated man in the humanities, but not so much in science and math. I explained the difference between hard and soft science fiction, and he seemed interested in both.

What would be your picks for the best soft Sci-Fi book and best hard Sci-Fi book to recommend to someone new to the genre? I was thinking of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "Remnant Population", but I'm not so sure.
Click to expand...

The obvious selection would be to suggest he borrows some books from his nephew - after all LeGuin is rather good.

I'd also highly recommend Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow" and it's follow-up see: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/mary-doria-russell/sparrow.htm A modern classic in my opinion.
 
Dune.Series
Enders game Series
And the accompanying Shadow series.
The Robots - Empire - Foundation series by asimov is also good, though some of them (mostly Foundation) start off pretty vague (ie, the writing feels empty and superficial in comparison to newer works).
Hitchhikers is always good.

I am also pretty fond of Dan Simmons Hyperion Series.
Ringworld is also a great scifi book.

I'm not THAT fond of 2001,2010,2061,3001 series, but i guess it is ok.

I prefer Rendezvous with Rama when it comes to ACC.

I just read Manifold by Stephen Baxter which is a very odd collection of 3 books. It claims to be hard scifi, but it has too many errors that piss me off.. Still, he might enjoy it. All three books occour at almost the same time, with almost the same characters, and the stories have the same purpose. But the conclusion is different, i really like the idea.

Currently i am reading the Xeelee Sequence by Stephen Baxter. It is odd, but i like it.

For both Manifold and Xeelee we don't really have a series of books, more like books in the same universe. But it isn't like any of the books are sequals to any of the others.

I will very much recommend that he DOES NOT read "The Night's Dawn Trilogy" by Peter F. Hamilton. Each book is about 1600pages, there are 3 books. And it ends with the biggest deus ex machina ever. I fail to see what, if anything, was accomplished through out the trilogy, which had about 20-30 main characters.

I also liked Greg Bear's - The Forge Of God series.

I'm sure i have forgotten some.

Even though it isn't scifi, i think he would enjoy Discworld.
 
Personally I don't think you can get much better than 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress', but for the sake of argument, and off the top of my head:

Dune - Frank Herbert
Player of Games - Iain M. Banks
Cobra - Timothy Zahn
I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said - Philip K. Dick
Neuromancer - William Gibson
 
Darat said:
I'd also highly recommend Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow" and it's follow-up see: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/mary-doria-russell/sparrow.htm A modern classic in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I second.


* * * * *


ID,

Do you know what other types of fiction this fellow prefers? There are many subgenres within SF, and quite possibly one or more of them overlap with something he's more familiar with and partial to, which might provide easier entry into SF. For example, is he fond of detective novels? Political thrillers? Historical epics? Humorous writing?

When I was first getting into science fiction I read a number of paperback anthologies of award-winning short fiction. I quickly picked up the names of a lot of authors who seemed worth investigating, and if someone's writing left me cold I could just flip ahead to the next story.
 
Last edited:
I highly recommend Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun series of four books, which now have been combined into two, consisting of Shadow and Claw and Sword and Citadel, although these might more be considered science fantasy. Still a damn fine read.
 
This is for the professor, or the nephew? Ray Bradbury's short stories are a good introduction. (The Martian Chronicles, R is for Rocket, S is for Space, et al)
 
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle

If he's pressed for time, a collection of short stories by Niven, Clarke, Asimov, Silverberg, et. al., will give him a good flavor for the genre (at least the 'hard SF part of it)
 
When it comes to hard science fiction, I recommend starting off with short stories rather than full novels. Some people get tired of the hard stuff if they try to take in whole novels at one time.
 
It was short stories got me into SF Robert Shekley, Ray Bradbury, Bob Shaw, Arthur C Clarke. Asimov's robot stuff

Mote in God's Eye, while a fat book, is one of the best first contact I've ever read. The aliens are different and very plausible. I also liked their book about the city that was a building, can't remember the title, and Lucifer's Hammer was good too.
 
In a somewhat different sub-genre, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is outstanding. Very enjoyable. I also loved his Cryptonomicon - I think it may be his best, though I guess it's debatable whether or not it's really sci-fi. In any case, it feels like sci-fi.

Stephenson is an odd one - people either love him or hate him.
 
Oh, and I almost forgot: Stanislaw Lem. Practically anything the man wrote. Solaris, of course, is the most famous - and it's wonderful. But I found Fiasco even better. Neither are very happy books, though - be warned.

He has a more fun-loving side, which surfaces in his short stories. The collections The Cyberiad and The Star Diaries are two excellent ones.

Also, he has a number of fascinating essays about sci-fi as a literary genre. (Check out The Stanislaw Lem Reader.

His death earlier this year was a great loss.
 
I have a big huge collection of Arthur C. Clarke's short stories, from the 30's to the 90's. Awesome stuff, from a master of the craft.

My favorite novels of his: Rendezvous with Rama, The Fountains of Paradise, The Songs of Distant Earth.

You can't go wrong with Bradbury, although I wouldn't call his stuff sci-fi; even his Mars stories feel more like fantasy with rayguns and rocketships.

Dan Simmons' Hyperion? Oh hell yes.

And for another twisty time-travel story that'll leave your brain both shaken and stirred, I recommend The Last Legends of Earth. It's apparently the last book in a series of 4, but it stands perfectly well on its own.

The Book of the New Sun is a trip, but very challenging. Not for the faint of heart!
 
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
Anything by John Wyndham or HG Wells.
To ease him in to Asimov gently, I, Robot or the Gold and Magic anthologies
Hitchhikers as per everyone else's post
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
 
Philip K. Dick: Martian Timeslip
William Gibson
Greg Egan
Gregory Benford: Timescape
Christopher Priest
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy
Brian Aldiss
For space opera, how about Iain M. Banks?

Oh, and what about John Sladek?

And I hope the Ursula LeGuin is The Left Hand of Darkness.
 
Card's Ender's Game, but not the rest of the series as much.
Asimov's Foundation 3 books
Asimov's I,Robot series of short-stories
Asimov's Caves of Steel, Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn
Delany's Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
Brin's The Postman and Uplift series
Heinlein's juvenile series (have spacesuit will travel, starship troopers, tunnel in the sky), and future history short stories (the past through tomorrow)
Stephenson's Snow Crash
Gibson's Neuromancer
Clarke's 2001 (not so much the rest of the series), and short stories (especially those collected in the 9 billion names of god)
Bradbury's Farenheit 451
Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

ETA: E.E. Doc Smith's Lensmen series and Skylark series
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom