The 10 Best Science Fiction Books I've Ever Read
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2024
- Welcome to our in-depth look at the top 10 science fiction books of all time. This list features masterpieces that have shaped the genre, boasting compelling storylines, in-depth world-building, great prose, and philosophical themes. Delve into the worlds and ideas presented by these groundbreaking authors and explore the best that science fiction has to offer.
Enjoy!
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Begin 0:00
The Space Trilogy 0:30
Remembrance of Earth's Past 2:12
The Left Hand of Darkness 5:00
Earthseed 6:38
Dune 9:00
Book of the New Sun 12:38
A Canticle for Leibowitz 15:10
Player of Games 16:49
Anathem 20:18
The Dispossessed 22:38
![The 15 Best Sci-Fi Books I've Ever Read [Updated Again]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/k0H584ftkQU/mqdefault.jpg)
Neal Stephenson, of course, is the author of Anathem, not Neal Stepson. Let’s just say that proofreading has never been my strength.
No worries, we knew who you meant.
@@jamezkpal2361 yup, he definitely meant Neal Dickinson
No, no-it was Phillip K Svenson. That’s it.
I really enjoy Stephenson's work. I would suggest the Baroque Cycle is by far his best work
You review fairly well, you edit well too. You seem intelligent, and you make pleasant to watch videos.
My issue is your content. You don't seem very well read for what your channel is. That these are your favorites, which makes me think you read under your intelligence level. Also, you read scifi as a boomer would, and I'm 52 saying this.
That you just learned about Banks is a great example of what I mean. All of your books and writers except Stephenson are ancient or dead.
You picked amazing books, most I truly enjoy. But there are many, many more scifi books that are better. Only 2 are still actually relevant, socially, and more importantly intellectually.
Try Dan Simmons Ilium and Olympos, Alistair Reynolds, Peter F Hamilton, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Becky Chambers, Liu Cixin, NK Jemison, Peter Watts, Martha Wells, Ann Leckie, Andy Weir, James Corey, TC McCarthy's Germline series, I could keep going for a while...
And how is Margaret Atwood not on this list?
As I posted, you make videos very well that don't keep my attention intellectually. All of those books have been reviewed to death by a million youtubers because they are as mainstream as they come.
That’s a great list. I’m so glad you included A Canticle For Leibowitz. It was a huge influence on my game Fallout, and I’m always encouraging people to read it.
It’s no surprise that Fallout is one my favorite video game worlds.
@@_jared I am happy to hear that. The other designers and I always tried to include some philosophical and social commentary among the radiation, monsters, and plasma guns.
@@CainOnGames what books/influences did you and/or your team bring into Outer Worlds?
Sparrow by mary doria russel, under the pendulum sun bu jeannete ng, and the book of strange new things and hyperion canticle all are great companion read to canticle
@@TheWarmLettuce Sci fi novels influenced Fallout and fantasy novels influenced Arcanum, but The Outer Worlds was mostly influenced by movies and TV shows. I would list shows like Firefly, Deadwood, Futurama, and The Good Place as TV influences, and movies like Brazil or anything by the Coen brothers as movie influences.
Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama is a good read, too.
I have read countless science fiction books over the last 60 years. These are all great, but my favorite is "Hyperion" by Dan Simmons.
I'm so happy to find I'm not the only one) Hyperion is so good it changed the way I think and look on life)
Hyperion is better than the Culture series imo. A bit different and while I thought the first book was better than the later ones, the concepts, story and world were much more intriguing than what Consider Phlebas or Player of Games were offering, both being disappointments for me.
@@preppen78 I don't think that later books in Hyperion series are weaker. The first two make you a believer and the last two make you an atheist)))
Me too.
@@Sviorr Interesting point. What made me love the series so much is how the buildup in the first book was given in drops, but it all added up to a waterfall in the end. I'm still amazed at the ending of the first book.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by R.A.Heinlein is my favorite. I read it back in the 80's the first time and just recently re-read it.
As soon as you started talking I subscribed, and I looooved that you mentioned Cixin Liu's trilogy. Geez, those books blew my mind! Also, I'm definitely reading all the other books you mention. Thank you so much for sharing, I'll be checking out your other videos 😸🛸
I'm in the middle of my annual re-read of Anathem. I've been reading scifi for 60 years and it's in my top 3 of all time. Every time I read it I'm absolutely amazed at what Stephenson was able to do with this book, it boggles my mind that anyone could write so well with such creativity. I did start it and quit the first time after reading about 50 pages, I couldn't stand it. My daughter said "stick with it for 100 pages", I did and was hooked.
Man it's so long, impressive you read it every year 😅. I have a copy but have not gotten to it yet.
Really glad you made another science fiction video because that's how i learned about your channel. I'm also glad because there seems to be a distinction between literature and science fiction(or just fiction) and I feel many people miss out on some incredible writing,ideas and concepts that fall under the umbrella of sci-fi. So it makes me happy to see a channel like yours which doesn't focus on a specific genre talk about sf
SO GREAT to see Gene Wolfe in this Top 10 list. He deserves it. And the 5th book (Urth) is quite possibly the very best one of them.
As soon as you started talking I subscribed, and I looooved that you mentioned Cixin Liu's trilogy. Geez, those books blew my mind! Also, I'm definitely reading all the other books you mention. Thank you so much for sharing, I'll be checking out your other videos
I absolutely love the Remembrance of Earth's Past series, which is why I was shocked when I saw it placed only at the 9th spot. I am very excited to read some of your recommendations!
This list is wonderful. I've read quite a few of them and I agree absolutely with your judgements! I'd love to read your fantasy and classics lists.😊
All good picks,
I'd put the Caves of Steel, Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn above a couple of those you've picked.
Great video! I’d love both a top 10 fantasy and classics. Thanks for making compelling videos!
Clarke's "Childhood's End" was masterful, as was the grandeur evinced in Niven's "Ringworld." Have you read either?
I have read "Childhood's End" because of your comment, and I have really enjoyed. Thank You :)
A Fire Upon the Deep is also a strong recommendation, the concept is extremely interesting. For some reason it lives in my head next to Use Of Weapons, keep thinking that it's a Banks book :)
Neal Stephenson is definitely one of my favourite writers, and until a few years ago, Anathem was his best SF novel. Then came Amalthea, and I found this book really mind-blowing. It's the kind of hard SF style that also characterizes Remembrance of Earth's Past. Absolutely fantastic!
Glad to see you mention Wolfe. Book of the New Sun was life changing literature, my best literary discovery of the past 10 years of life as a reader. I’m soon to jump into his Book of the Long Sun series.
That's great. I also love the Latro books and wizard/knight.
@@gregorde I’m very keen to read both. Which one would you recommend I read first?
@@feanor7080 Latro. But I love Greek mythology, so ymmv.
I got Gene Wolfe's autograph one time in the 80s.. The line for Larry Niven was too long..
You got me! Yes your list happened to be the perfect mix of books I have read and really liked and books that I have always wondered about. I need to read the rest of the Gene Wolfe series. The way you described it was what I always thought as well. It was one of those books that I had to be patient with the prose style. But about 100 pages in I really started to enjoy it and it just got better and better from there. Thanks! Liked and subscribed.
I'm surprised you didn't include the 4 book Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons. I just finished the series and it left me spellbound and enthralled like very few works of literature have. I would put it up there with Lord of the Rings in originality, scope and vision. I absolutely agree with your assessment on Remembrance of Earth's past, however. I LOVED that series and wonder if it could ever be made into a movie
Hyperion is great! I finished the fall of hyperion last year but haven't started endymion yet
Hey, is it really great?? I was thinking of buying it but someone said it was more of an Alien type monster sci fi book and I am more into philosophical and idea driven sci fi.
@rishabhaniket1952 yes! It's like a Canterbury tales book. Each character tells their own story for the main story and how they got to where they are. 100% recommend
More than 30 years have passed and Hyperion still no.1 SF book for me.
I love lists like this and yours in particular. I’m 73 and have been reading/listening to sci-fi since I was around 10. I particularly like that you included the CS Lewis Space Trilogy.
Excited for Player of Games, which I'm starting really soon!
What a fantastic list, and always love the Leibowitz praise! More than a little heartbroken that Dark Forest was a hard to digest work. But there's always more sci-fi, and always something better!
Great recommendations. Looking forward to part 2
We appreciate your recommendations. We look forward to seeing more videos like this.
I uploaded a video just like this yesterday! We have a lot of overlap. Great to hear another viewpoint
You should consider Stanislaw Lem; his philosophical ideas are fascinating (in particular his thoughts about the impossibility of human communication with alien species); my favourites are Solaris, The Invincible and Golem XIV
Exactly!
I think his best novel is the Return from the Stars.
I agree. Based on this video, I think Lem would be a good recommendation.
golem xiv would be in my top 10
I also enjoyed Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, has a great opening.
I loved "The Faded Sun Trilogy" by C. J. Cherryh. It was the first science fiction I ever read. I was totally immersed in a fascinating alien culture. I read it about 40 years ago and have never forgotten it.
Your videos have inspired into reading Le Guin for the first time. Both Left Hand and Dispossessed were exceptionally good. She's now counted among my favourite authors.
The Lathe of Heaven.
Those two, with _Four Ways to Forgiveness,_ (or Five, if _Old Music and the Slave Weomen_ is included) are her best, IMO. Don't miss her shorter works (not only _The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas_ )
@@DocZom I put that into her second tier, along with, for example, _The Word for World is Forest._
As a nearly 60 year reader of SF I greatly enjoyed your list.(I've read 8 of the 10 you've listed) Like several other comments have mentioned, I'm surprised you did not include The Hyperion series by Dan Simmons.
A couple of lesser known great reads that you might want to consider: 'City' and 'Way Station's by Clifford Simak. 'City' is a very simple book consisting of ten separate stories that are all linked together. It touched my heart unlike no other SF book has ever done.
If you like Robert Heinlein, 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' is my runaway favorite by him. So worth reading.
Ben Bova is another excellent SF author that has written many fantastic books. The 'Red Mars' series is perhaps his best.
Thank you for the recommendations!
Hyperion series is top notch indeed. Always loved the dying earth stuff by Vance as well.
Great video! So many of your opinions lined up exactly with mine (including calling LeGuin a top 3 author). You've inspired me to try Player of Games (I didn't like Consider Phlebas, either, but I love the general tropes of the Culture, so I always felt disappointed that I didn't get past the first book). And I might even pick Dark Forest back up (I never made it to whatever this epic turning point is, so it just felt like it was going nowhere with worse prose than the first book...).
Thanks for making these videos. Best wishes.
Loved this list. Halfway through the Dispossessed atm, and have enjoyed all of the others you mention that I've read - which is great, as now I know I have a few awesome recommendations to add to my TBR.
I love to see lists like this that have literally none from my top 10. Great summaries and reasoning. Thanks!
I’ve read “The illustrated Man” by Bradbury back in my teen years and boy, I was impressed.
Thank you, Jared, for your top ten, I would love to see top 10 fantasy and classic as well. Some of those are in my top 10 for sure, but some are still unread, which I really would love to change. Your channel brings me so much joy and peace. Especially when you talk of Dostoevsky and Russian culture. I plan to re-read some of classics because of your videos. And special thanks goes to your essay on Zamyatin's We
It is interesting to see the Space Trilogy on this list. I am currently rereading the books after having read them more the 40 years ago. I was surprised that I don't like them nearly as much as I did when I first read them. I found the long descriptions and the pages and pages of nothing happening to be boring. I feel that way about "The Left Hand of Darkness" as well. I felt both writers padded their work A LOT.
Loved "Dune" and "A Canticle for Liebowitz."
I will have to check out the books on your list that I haven't read. The challenge I face with your channel is the my TBR list keeps getting longer and longer!!!
Usually I don't read this genre of books, but from the beginning of the video I realized that I will find here the book with which I start my way into the world of science fiction
If you're coming at this more from literature, the Butler and LeGuin books would be a great entry point for the genre. Doesn't go ham with the space-brain / hard physical sciences nerd stuff, but lots of lush well-crafted prose and puts a lot of IRL issues and character work up front.
Great video! I'll buy anathem for my kindle and start it asap. And definitely tell us your top 10 fantasy and Classic books. Cheers!
Good list. Regarding David Lynch: his biggest issue with Dune was that he didn’t have final cut in the contract. It is actually a tragedy that HOURS of that film were discarded on the cutting room floor by editors he had no control over. That said, the producer who butchered it was none of the Dino DeLaurentis. Because of the fall out, DeLaurentis promised Lynch he would have total control for the next film. That next film was: Blue Velvet.
This is a really great list, I'm definitely adding some of these books to my reading list. As a hard Le Guin fan I'm also delighted that two of her novels made it into this list! I too love "The Left hand of Darkness" but I'd say my favourite one is "The Telling". It is a novel that I really learned to love as I grew older and as my love for books grew stronger.
I read Anathem because of your suggestion. Although it took me three weeks and wasn't the easiest read, I really enjoyed and got a whole lot out of it. Currently reading The Dispossessed and it's already one of my favorites.
Your recommendations seem to be particularly useful to me and I'm grateful for them.
I’m so glad!
The dispossessed is awesome
Dan Simmons books are the best by far. I have read thousands of Sci Fi books and short stories (the best form of writing). Poul Anderson has also written some of the best ever. But hard to pick just 10. I could pick 100 easily.
My favourite SciFi book is "The Voyage of The Space Beagle" (1950) by A. E. van Vogt. The great diversity of alien contacts and alien life forms written as a thrilling story is very entertaining. Maybe you find it worth mentioning in a future list.
Yes
You’re probably the first booktuber I’ve watched that places Dispossessed above Left Hand of Darkness. I’ve never read Le Guin, but recently bought The Dispossessed and am very excited to read it! Cheers!
I've only read LHoD from LeGuin and I found it an absolute slog. It's one of the few books I've contemplated abandoning midway. Nothing happens. In researching whether it'd be worth finishing, I found many of LeGuin's online fans saying 1) it gets better at the end, and 2) LHoD is not her best work. I stuck it out and indeed in the final 2 chapters the story finally started to move. It wasn't worth the journey but based on the experienced fans' sentiment I will give another of her books a try.
The Dispossessed is the place to start, for the Hainish Cycle. It was written sixth, but goes first, chronologically. The Word for World is Forest is the other Hainish book that I gave full marks to (might be my favorite) in addition to The Left Hand of Darkness. It's odd that Le Guin got two spots on the list, not because they aren't both great, but because they are from the same series, and all other series were combined for this list.
Great list. I’d be very interested in the classic and fantasy lists as well.
If you havent read, I highly recommend: Dhalgren (Samuel R. Delany), Hyperion (Dan Simmons), Sea of Rust (Robert Cargill), Foundation Series (Isaac Asimov), Blindsight (Peter Watts), Speaker for The Dead (Sequel to Enders Game).
Hyperion :)
I still don't understand Dhalgren.
@@gaileverett
I haven't read it in decades but if I remember correctly...
You never know which strange events are actually happening and which ones are part of Dhalgren's perception. You don't even know if he actually is William Dhalgren. He doesn't know. That is the name on his notebook but he doesn't know if he actually wrote it or perhaps he found it. He doesn't remember. He added to someone else's life story? Or maybe it is him. He did write it. He is William Dhalgren and he is adding to his own notebook his bizarre experiences and writing in the margins. Did he experience them or were they hallucinations? He never knows who he is. He never knows what is real and what is the distortion of his mental state. The point is to view through The eyes of someone who is brain-damaged. Things don't make sense to him. Then things would not make sense to you. Like him, you would question what is real and what is part of his mental condition.
@@gaileverett
And that is what we all do. We view life through our own ideological distortions and beliefs.
Hi Jared. I actually just finished "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K. Le Guin yesterday. I enjoyed your take on it. I do have some book suggestions for Sci-Fi: "A Fire Upon the Deep (Zones of Thought, #1)" by Vernor Vinge - amazing world building, excellent character development, very memorable story, a masterpiece; "Blood Music" by Greg Bear - really fun story that carries you away, has some funny moments, a pleasant read; "We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)" by Dennis E. Taylor - there are four books in this series and the first three stand really well, I laughed to much reading these, a very fun and wild ride, especially if enjoy nerd pop culture references. If you want a really pensive book that leaves you lingering about the story "Solaris" by Stanisław Lem is excellent, really a thinker. Have a good one! Love the channel.
As usual, Clifford Simak's little gem is left out -"City," a tale of a future of dogs, robots, the mutants, and the ants and more importantly, the entity called man. The dogs consider him myth, but the dog scholar Tige makes the case that man not only existed but that he built the dogs' prehensile servants the robots. It's a charming little book with a touch of melancholy.
"City" is a novel that will be a favorite for any dog lover, including me, but it's objectively not Simak's best work. Not because there's anything wrong with "City", but because Simak wrote so many great books. He's a criminally forgotten great in science fiction who wrote over 700 novels, which probably makes him the second most prolific sci-fi writer after Asimov. Check out "Waystation", "Time and Again", "Cemetery World", "Why Call Them Back from Heaven?", and others.
I've added a couple of these onto my to-read list, so thanks. Still, it's amazing how very different our personal lists are.
Fully agree about The Dark Forest, it inexorably changed how I view all other science fiction, especially first contact type stories, and even more wildly the series impacted my worldview generally. Maybe it’s time for a reread!
I read it for the first time this year and I see myself revisiting it.
I lost interest at some point with the dude's imaginary woman sidestory.
Also the aliens seemed to get less and less plausible as the book progressed.
But maybe those are just red herrings and it all makes sense in the end?
Right now people think they're from literally the next star system and want to settle ours, because of the earth. Doesn't make sense to me why they would need a planet if they can make interstellar craft.
@@MrCmon113 Very fair. Liu plays with ideas that appeals to many, hence the high score of Dark Forest. But in terms of character... I think many of us had major problems with Luo Ji and just wanted to get to the ending. The prose works for some, I personally agree that the quality dipped in Dark Forest dramatically.
I did reread the whole series and enjoyed it even more! Quite probable in the future I will again reread it
@@MrCmon113 it struck me the same, too. I'm under the impression that it "writes to its audience well" -- by holding back its thesis until the second book and otherwise being written like high quality scifi schlock it selects for readers who are fine with reading schlock and it becomes what they expect. This is why it's so highly reviewed; these people are delightfully surprised when it turns out to be fairly coherent and has something interesting to say, even if most of it is kind of bunk.
I'd not seen The Three Body Problem trilogy referred to as RoEP before but I rank it very highly. Some of the others I'd not heard of before. So pleased to see Iain M Banks get a mention - I think the culture series is outstanding, also the standalone, Feersum Endjin. I still rate Dune/Dune Messiah as the pinnacle, not overburdened with science, which I think is responsible for its longevity. I'll check out some of the other books. Thanks.
The Book of the New Sun changed my life. It is a spiritual experience going through it.
So glad you included Octavia Butler.
Fantastic video and list! I really appreciate your presentation. And thoughtfulness.. Obviously you absorbed these stories, and considered them for what they are, and love them. You certainly honored them here. But mostly it was your own sensibility what sold me, bruv.
I'm off to put a few in my cart right now. Thanks again, cheers 🥂🖖🏾
Ps. First time visitor, instantly subbed
Thanks for the recommendations, Jared.
I’ll add Leguin to my TBR.
Just something I’ve heard, the 1984 Dune film came in at about three and a half hours.
The studio made Lynch cut it down to a “normal” movie length and they added the Irulan narration to fill in gaps. It’d be nice to see the Director’s cut of it.
I would like to see a video of your favorite Literary Novels. Thank you for a very thoughtful and articulate presentation.
My absolutely favourite book of all times is Imajica by Clive Barker. This book made me say "This is how fantasy genre should be". Relentless and unstopable, its big size stones you about how many things can be said in so many pages. Amazing book, would love to hear what you think about it
Recommend Vernor Vinge's 'A deepness in the sky' and 'A fire upon the deep'. Fantastic reads full of imaginative ideas and surprises.
Dispossessed is also my #1. Ran me right through. For fantasy my favorite living author is Naomi Novik whose Spinning Silver and Uprooted are unique masterpieces
Thank you Jared. Nice list. I suggest reading Ira Levin's much underrated, This Perfect Day.
Great List. I too disliked Consider Phlebas, but may give Player of Games a shot. As for recommendations for great SciFi, my top 10 would include the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons, Speaker for the Dead by Card, and Great North Road by Peter Hamilton. The last is a mixture of a high tech police procedural/mystery and a first contact story - I was enthralled by the former despite how skeptical I was going into it.
I haven't read too much Sci fi, but "The Wanderer" by Fritz Leiber, which won a Hugo Award in 1965, made a huge impression on me. I liked it as much as "Solaris", which I also love.
"The Big Time" is another great Leiber book.
Fantastic video. These are many of my favourites as well. If I were to suggest another author along these lines, if you haven't read them already - Ada Palmer is well worth checking out. It's a wonderful blend of Wolfe, Banks and Le Guin, and her series is full of subtle literary and philosophical references.
Agree that Jared would like Ada Palmer, but there is nothing subtle about her philosophical and literary references. She names the philosophers and describes their main contributions to human discourse in long asides, in Too Like the Lightning.
I don't mean for this to sound negative, I loved that book, and can't wait to read the next. :D
@@apeculiarproject3501 oh I agree that there are non-subtle references too, of course, but there are without a doubt many works of both fiction and non-fiction that are not directly alluded to as well.
I hope you enjoy the other books when you get to them!
She's on my wishlist, but I'm not sure exactly when I'll get around to reading her.
I would like to see both your top ten of fantasy and classic novels. Thanks for the top ten list of sci-fi. I enjoyed it.
Wow! Inspiring list. Thank you. ❤
Lord of Light (Roger Zelazny). The Day of the Triffids (John Wyndham). Voyage of the Space Beagle (A.E. Van Vogt). Bedlam Planet (John Brunner). Earthman, Come Home (James Blish, part of his "Cities in Flight" series). Et al.
Frederik Pohl's Gateway has always been one of my favorites that I don't hear mentioned too often. Also Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.
I love the whole Heechee saga.
Very nice list. A lot of solid choices - may I also recommend a few other hard scifi/ space operas: Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space, Jason Russell's 224-Verse and of course Dan Simmons' Hyperion.
Genuinely surprised to not see Ender's Game or The Expanse Saga on here
I would def. add the Foundation trilogy and the Neuromancer trilogy. Not only are they probably the most influential sci-fi books of the last century but they are awesome aswell.
Foundation was one of the first sci-fi books I read. While I begrudgingly admit Asimov was not a great writer, he sure was a great inventor of alternate worlds. That alone is enough to keep Foundation in the list of my favorite sci-fi books/series. So many that were writing in that period were light on characterization but heavy on their what-if scenarios that kept me reading way past my bedtime.
I was going to suggest the Foundation series, definitely would be on a lot of lists and probably number one on many.
@@fidelogos7098What are your criticisms of Asimov as a writer?
Great list, and even greater narrative descriptions without giving them away. My current favorite scifi is The Three Body Problem, but I also love Octavia E Butler. She has short stories book that is *chef's kiss*. Will def look into her other works. I got Dune on my reading list but waiting for the right time for it. I was a little disappointed with The Left Hand of Darkness probably because of the hype I went into it, but interesting at the very least. Will def look more into the other ones you listed!
A very engaging video, thanks, I will be checking out what I don't know. I agree that LeGuin must be ranked at or near the top. I would have included something by Greg Bear as well, but luckily, we don't have to settle with just ten books.
cheers from sunny Vienna, Scott
Vinge - A Fire Upon The Deep, Douglas Adams - The Hitch-hikers Guide To The Galaxy series, Zelazny - Lord Of Light, Bob Shaw - Other Days, Other Eyes and Haldeman - The Forever War - just a couple that I owuld put up there with the best of the best, but WMMV
Great list. I really liked how you describe them and level of depth you put in to your research and descriptions. I am very curious about the Dispossessed, may have become top on my To Read list.
I am happy that you have started to like the Culture novels. you will love Use of Weapons, it is my favourite book.
As for one reccomendation: Adrian Tchaikovsky Cage of Souls. Children of Time is also a great read but I thought Cage of Souls is more focused on human behaviour and not like space fiction.
I’m new to the channel so this may be old news, but as an old guy who’s read it all I was recently excited to discover “The body problem” series.
Fun fact: Ransom, the MC of Lewis's Space trilogy is based on his close friend J R R Tolkien
I'd love your top ten of classics!
Great sci-fi recommendations.
I will prioritize the Dispossessed and Player of Games
Thanks so much
I totally agree. Many sci-fi authors fail to adequately establish the "frame/state of mind" or the internal lives as you say of the protagonists when the plot moves along. A few authors that do this well are Greg Bear, Frank Herbert and Kim Stanley Robinson. I look forward to reading Butler's novels. Thanks
Also, I am a huge fan of the Blackwell/Popular Culture and Philosophy series of books! All philosophy fans should check them out.
Jared, I enjoyed your list of top ten but being 82 years old and a life time of loving and reading sy-fy, I'm amazed that some of my (not just mine) greats are not in your listing.
Some authors I'm listing may seem simplistic but considering when they were written, I think they were great. E.E. "Doc" Smith, Issac Asimov and Gordon Dickson.
But each to his own. Jerry
You should read Alastair Reynolds. 'Revelation Space' and 'House of Suns' are phenomenal books
Loved your list! Many of yours are on my top 10 as well. If you haven't read them yet, I highly recommend these: Hyperion by Dan Simmons, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, Gateway by Frederik Pohl, House of Suns by Alistair Reynolds, The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven, Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and the other classic dystopian masterpieces: 1984, Brave New World, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy,
I second Hyperion. Just finished the last book of the series. It is so good. Dan Simmons is a fantastic writer.
I love Hyperion and the first two Ender books (haven't read past that). I also really enjoyed Children of Time. 1984, Brave New World, and The Road could all be considered for a bigger list (maybe a top 25)!
Speaker for the dead is the best Ender book 👌🏽
Excellent list. I had all of these on my Top 210 video. I especially ranked high Death's End and The Dark Forest. Really amazing Science Fiction. I also love seeing a lot of Butler and LeGuin in your Top 10. If your up for it, since you love Left Hand, Dispossessed, and BOTNS, if its not too goofy for you, I have parody/tribute songs made with popular music, for those book reviews...you might enjoy it..
I'll check those out!
Great list, tough to argue with any of these novels. You would probably enjoy blindsight by peter watts. I agree with other commenters that have mentioned china mieville (especially embassytown) and samuel delany. Anything by the strugatsky brothers, stanislaw lem is worth a read in my experience
I'm not sure if you read anything by Alastair Reynolds, but I'd highly recommend House of Suns. He's more known for his Revelation Space novels (which are amazing) but House of Suns is an excellent standalone if you want to sample his writing. I also just finished the Children of Time trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky and thought it was brilliant.
House of suns is my all time favorite sci-fi book. Highly recommended
So glad you began with The Space Trilogy, even if #10. I've been reading on BART past week That hideous strength. I'd like to keep going to Berkeley as now riveting; must get off in Oakland. Very prescient his observation on prenatal education as aim of one group. I was quite amazed at visionary foresight, yet had to debark then!
I am a young sci fi reader. My favorite is the frontline series by Marko kloos. The first book is called terms of enlistment. Definitely worth a try
I just finished reading The Dispossessed the other day, having picked it up on your recommendation. I completely felt the same as you on finishing it and wanted to start it again. I love the way Le Guin writes, and her Earthsea Trilogy was a huge influence on me as a child. In this book I felt like it would have been so easy for her to score some kind of political points but she is too interested in pursuing the real dilemmas faced by the characters.
Well said. There's no obvious agenda in the writing even though there is so much potential to be one. She's a master
I have only picked up Earthesa as an adult and I am gutted I was not given these instead of Harry Potter. Still enjoyable though.
I did not like The Dispossessed at all -- it was a boring political commentary of the failings of mankind.
As you read more of the Culture series you begin to realise that Banks often set himself an author's challenge. Thus one book is mainly an 'epistolary novel', another has a barely literate protagonist and so on. It can be a bit of a challenge because Banks' 'author's voice' changes almost with every book.
I think you are lumping in some non-culture novels with the Culture series. Which one do you call epistolary and which one has a barely literate protagonist?
@@kid5Media The Epistolary novel would have been 'Inversions' and the one with the not very literate protagonist is, of course, 'Feersum Endjinn'. Both are Culture novels where the work of the Culture in shaping 'pre-contact' Worlds is shown. It's been 5 or 6 years since I read any of the novels so I apologise if I'm not going to be able to get into a detailed debate with you. I seem to recall at least one where a lot of the story is told from the perspective of a less-than-pleasant race who have just come into contact with the Culture and so on. He constantly shifts the view of the action to different perspectives; it's rarely a first-person narrative by one of the main protagonists. I think he liked to set himself little challenges when telling a story.
@@derekfancett8218 It has been a long time since I read Banks' culture novels, but my recollection aligns with yours about the multiplicity of voices and styles.
Jared, thanks for this video, I've read most of them and agree with your assessment. Consider Phlebas is indeed a rough one. I recommend you look at Alastair Reynolds, specifically his book 'House of Suns', I think he really knocked it out of the park with that one. His 'Revelation Space' books are also good, but the first one is a little rough and they quickly get better. They are based on hard sci-fi rules and a bit of Dark Forest shenanigans.
House of Suns is probably my favorite Reynolds and I've read everything by him.
I don't know why Consider Phlebas is getting such a rough ride. I enjoy a lot of Iain M Banks novels and Consider Phlebas is one I've re-read several times. I've even enjoyed his non-SF novels that he has authored as Iain Banks , 'The Wasp Factory' has to be one of the most astonishing debut novels I've ever read. If you are struggling with the morality of one of the main characters in Consider Phlebas you won't handle The Wasp Factory at all.
Where's the Heinlein?
Wow ! Glad you mentioned the space trilogy. Perelandra in particular has beautiful descriptions. I think Parable of the Sower
should be required reading. Too close to reality. I am going through a Remembrance of Earth's Past phrase now-mindblowing !
Your list was fun. Many I recognize and have read. It made me think of old favorites I haven’t revisited in a while. Course it gave me the urge to recommend some that I think you might like too. One that seems lesser known, but just has a fun build up and twist is more classical SF by James P. Hogan. The Giants trilogy. It starts with what you think is a simple detective story where a body is found…on the moon. Except none of our astronauts are missing. And the body has been there a long time. A REALLY long time. And then slowly unpacks from there into a multi-layered world building of the series. That makes you question the origin of what we think about our civilization and our solar system. The second book in the series is my favorite. Like SF from yesteryear some of the science is a bit dated. But it’s still really interesting journey. I also like, SF books that take humans and interact with them from an alien perspective. There’s one that may or may not be your speed. But it’s a little palette cleanser of a book so I recommend it just in case you want a short break between things. H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy. The fuzzies have a deceptively simple culture and perspective, but like a clean pen and ink drawing of a story.
I'm so glad you had Iain M. Banks on your list. I think it's a shame that a lot of people want to begin reading his culture books in the order they are published since Consider Phlebas isn't the best. They are all stand-alone, though there are a few references to events in others and I think just one character that appears in multiple books but is only central to one. Each book has it's own way of telling the story and its own feel. I started when my mom bought me 'Excession' which remains one of my favorites. It is told much more from the point of view of the culture's minds and drones and has a more galactic scale and more action than the others. I also highly recommend the audiobooks as Peter Kenny does an amazing job.
Interesting list, thank you. I am a Finn who started reading scifi in the midseventeens in translations from various languages. Later of course in English, too. All but one of the books on your list are among my favorites also. Anathem I haven'r read but I bought it after watching your video. I have to say I hated Consider Phlebas too. But Use os Weapons is my choice when looking for Bank's best. I find it intriguing you place the Dispossesed on top. I got it for Christmas in 1980 in a beautiful folio bound Finnish edition. Still love it. At the moment working through Finnish translation of Wolfe's magnum work, which I found first in the early eighties in the original, which was hard going for a rookie in English prose.
I think Childhoods End is probably my favourite Sci Fi book I've ever read. But theres a lot on your list I havent checked out yet so Im excited to try those ones.
Well done, I would have shared quite a few of your choices.
Marc
An interesting list, thank you for sharing. I would like to suggest to you one of my my all time favorite authors, one of the grandfathers of American Science Fiction, EE "Doc" Smith. He was one of the more prolific writers of the 30s and 40s, continuing into the 50s, and right on until his death in the early 60s. Two of his most notable works are the Skylark series and the Lensmen series. I most heartily recommend both series.
Asimov wrote (and Clarke concurred) that E.E. "Doc" Smith was the first of three novas in 20th century science fiction writing (the other two being Stanley G. Weinbaum and Robert A. Heinlein). I think that you'd have to accept that you were reading an older style of writing, similar to viewing movies from the 1920s, in order to appreciate it. I accidentally read the final book in the Lensman series ("Children of the Lens") and enjoyed it enough to read the rest of the books in the proper order. A name I haven't seen here yet is Roger Zelazny. I especially enjoyed the first five-book Amber series. Maybe it's more of a Fantasy series....
Great list pal! Try reading Hyperion written by Dan Simmons...considering your choises you'd absolutely love it.
Excellent monologue, thank you for describing your reactions to the themes and structures of the books without devolving into plot summaries.
Of all the science fiction I've ever read Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga is top of my list. Just a joy to read and reread. p.s. I had a collection of 5000 or so sci-fi paperbacks that did not survive a leaking garage roof.