[Books] HELP! Sci-fi classics?

[Deleted]

So,

I'm leaving for one year in China and the last time I was there it was a real hassle getting any decent books (in English). So, this time I'm trying to stock up on stuff to read before I leave. This time, I'm really excited about reading some of the big sci-fi classics but since I am not very experienced in the genre I would really like some input from some well-informed, who might've already read some of these.

Basically, I want to read some books from Arthur C Clarke, William Gibson, Aldous Huxley and Philip K Dick. Judging from my list below, am I starting in the "wrong place" with any of them? Should I be aiming for some other series? Which books are the absolute must-read from these three writers? And, finally, is there any other famous sci-fi writer that I need to check out?


Arthur C Clarke (the Rama series)
Rendevouz with Rama
Rama II
Garden of Rama
Rama Revealed

William Gibson (the Cyberpunk series)
Necromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive

Aldous Huxley
Brave New World

Philip K Dick
The man in the high castle

[obdigore]

I think Gibson's only good book was Neuromancer (not necromancer)

Read Iain M Banks. His Culture stuff is great. Start with 'Player of Games'.

I love Richard Morgans 'Takeshi Kovacs' novels. (Trilogy).

Greg Bear if you are into very 'hard' (mathematically possible) sci-fi.

[Deleted]

Dune, War Of The Worlds, some people list Orwell's 1984, but I wouldn't class it as such, just because it is a dystopian vision of a hypothetical future. It's still awesome though.

I can't think of any more off the top of my head. It helps to google stuff like, "Sci-Fi classic books". You get tons of search results with interesting lists.

[Skizzit]

Looks pretty good. You could add Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly to the Philip K Dick list.

As for other authors, these are worth reading:

Robert A. Heinlein
Starship Troopers
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Isaac Asimov
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation

Asimov later worked his other two series into the Foundation series but I have yet to read most of the other books. Down near the bottom of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_series you can find a list of all the extended Foundation series books and the order Asimov suggested to read them in.

Orson Scott Card
Ender Saga:
Ender's Game
Speaker of the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Shadow Saga:
Ender's Shadow (most of the same events of Ender's Game, but from the POV of another character)
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the Giant

[Deleted]

Thanks for the input guys.

I've read the Ender's series and loved it. Thanks for the tip though!

From the sound of things I might pick up one or two more Philip K Dick books rather than William Gibsons. Probably some Asimov as well.

Thanks again!

[cudomix]

Gibson's Neuromancer is a must read for any Sci-fi fan, short story "True Names" from Vernor Vinge is also great, but i'm amazed that no one recommended true classic of the genre, "Stars my Destination" from Alfred Bester. Couple more:
Roger Zelazny: Lord of Light
Ursula K. LeGuin: Left hand of Darkness
Walter M Miller : Canticle for Leibowitz
Fritz Leiber: The Big Time

I extend recommendation for Player of Games, brilliant book.

[Autumn]

Definitely add some Ursula Le Guin eg The Dispossessed, Rocannon's World
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a classic

[Skizzit]

Thanks for the input guys.

I've read the Ender's series and loved it. Thanks for the tip though!

From the sound of things I might pick up one or two more Philip K Dick books rather than William Gibsons. Probably some Asimov as well.

Thanks again!

Gibson's Neuromancer is a great read. I was not as impressed by the other two books in the trilogy though. If you do read Neuromancer and enjoy it, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Tad Williams' Otherland series are a couple of other works in the cyberpunk genre I quite enjoyed. I don't think I would call them "classics" though.

I am glad to see there are other sci-fi fans on this site though. Just about every other thread about books is always about fantasy and I am not really a big fan of fantasy.

[Deleted]

Read Iain M Banks. His Culture stuff is great. Start with 'Player of Games'.

I love Richard Morgans 'Takeshi Kovacs' novels. (Trilogy).

I second these recommendations. Peter F Hamilton is decent also and of similar style.

also Dan Abnetts Black Library stuff. Not as hard sci fi but a hell of a lot of fun.

[obdigore]

I second these recommendations. Peter F Hamilton is decent also and of similar style.

also Dan Abnetts Black Library stuff. Not as hard sci fi but a hell of a lot of fun.

Hamilton is a good author, but the whole ghosts taking over and dissolving/melting sex scenes were just too messed up for me so I didn't finish his first trilogy.

Yes, Dan Abnett is easily Warhammer/WH40k's best author. Gaunts Ghosts is the best WH40k work by far, and those are very much sci-fi military.

[xylophone]

He who controls the spice, controls the universe.

[Jon]

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein.

[Howard Moon]

Hey guys, sorry to semi-necro this thread.

I read Gibson's Neuromancer a couple of years ago and I loved it. Now I wanted to continue with the next 2 books of the Sprawl Trilogy, but got somewhat discouraged by some people's opinions. Are Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive really that inferior to Neuromancer? What about some of Gibson's recent work like Pattern Recognition? Is that also considered Cyberpunk?

Gibson's Neuromancer is a great read. I was not as impressed by the other two books in the trilogy though. If you do read Neuromancer and enjoy it, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Tad Williams' Otherland series are a couple of other works in the cyberpunk genre I quite enjoyed. I don't think I would call them "classics" though.

I think I have my dad's old Tad Williams' Otherland books somewhere, so I might check them out.

---------- Post added 2012-10-16 at 05:28 PM ----------

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein.

Steve Harris is such a Sci-Fi geek

[Deleted]

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
The hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson

Out of the list you gave I got to recommend Neuromancer.

[Darth Steve]

I read Gibson's Neuromancer a couple of years ago and I loved it. Now I wanted to continue with the next 2 books of the Sprawl Trilogy, but got somewhat discouraged by some people's opinions. Are Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive really that inferior to Neuromancer? What about some of Gibson's recent work like Pattern Recognition? Is that also considered Cyberpunk?

They're... different from Neuromancer, kind of weirder, but definitely worth reading. And in order, too, as Mona Lisa Overdrive would be really confusing if you have no idea what occurred in Count Zero or Neuromancer. I haven't read any of his recent work, so I can't say.

Definitely agree with Scanner Darkly and Hitchhiker's guide.

I know it's not considered 'classic', but the Timothy Zahn Star Wars trilogy Heir to the Empire is really good as well.

[sinilaid]

I'd have to secound Childhoods end.

And Kevin J. Andersons "The saga of seven suns" is really good too

[Foosha]

Ursula K. LeGuin: Left hand of Darkness

God no, that book was awful to read. It was mostly a critique about our current society/culture than anything else. Blah blah blah everyone is male and/or female, because they have female organs and are more feminine they don't have wars! How interesting! Fuck, it was a feminist hog wash of shits.

Anyways, try the Strugatsky brothers. Start off with Roadside Picnic (Stalker was based off of this). It's really interesting seeing the Soviet pov during the Cold War of sci-fi. Be prepared, the government told them to put in a bunch of propaganda, but they are still great books.