One book to get started

[paulwalker71]

I'm new here, so hello everyone

My situation is that I've suddenly found, rather later in the day (I'm 49 years old) that I really like Science Fiction. This has happened through watching a lot of Sci-Fi on TV - Stargate, Babylon5, Farscape and especially the new Battlestar Galactica.

So, anyway, I'd really like to have a go at reading a sci-fi book. I'm a goodreader, but I've never read a sci-fi novel in my life, and just don't know where to start. I also don't have huge amounts of reading time, so I just need a good place to start, and see where that leads.

What would be the ONE Science-Fiction novel that I should read to get started. I realise there are plenty of threads that ask similar questions but everyone dives in with huge great long lists of books, and its overwhelming.

Tell me one book to read

 

[Amalthea]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

It is the first science fiction novel I ever read. It's quick, easy reading, as well as a great story.

 

[Ice fyre]

DUNE would be my reccomedation for SCI-FI Would you like some fantasy reccomedations? I would try Assasins apprentice if you fancy somethinga bit different. Avoid Lord Of The Rings for a while till you warm up a bit!

 

[iansales]

Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space is a good start. Ender's Game is over twenty years old and its politics are not always palatable to a Brit.

 

[Switchback]

i think if i could only read ONE sf book in my lifetime, it would be DUNE. The problem with Dune, is after reading that first, I'm still searching for one that is on par. Dan Simmons Hyperion is also a personal fav....

 

[Amalthea]

Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space is a good start. Ender's Game is over twenty years old and its politics are not always palatable to a Brit.

Okay, so you think my selection was a bad choice.
Why not give reasons why your selection is a good choice?

Incidentally, I don't know why a book being over twenty years old would be a reason not to read it. A well-written story, one that can reach humans on a personal level, is timeless.

 

[paulwalker71]

Thank you for the replies thus far

With regard to fantasy, I think I'll stay clear for a while. I've read Lord of the Rings plus some of the Shannara books in a 'phase I went through' a few years ago.

'Dune' looks awfully big But two people have mentioned it, so...hmmm. maybe...

Keep 'em coming

 

[iansales]

I prefer to point people in the direction of novels that are current. The genre has changed so much that I think older fiction gives people false expectations, and possibly the wrong impression.

Why Revelation Space? It's a good introduction to Reynolds' fiction. The author is British, so his fiction is written with British sensibilities. It's high concept and some aspects will resonate with someone who has watched sfx-heavy sf television programmes. It's well written and features interesting characters. It's modern. It's readily available in high street book shops, and yet old enough to also be found cheap in second-hand and charity shops. It's a good indicator of the state of the genre in the 21st Century.

 

[Ice fyre]

Ah as I said a bit heavy is Lord of the Rings. Assasins apprentice is something totally different I feel I recommended it as its a lot lighter and written in the first person, which helps me. Besides once you meet Fitz and the other charicters in her books you may just keep reading the whole series.
Shannara isnt the most.....well....my opnion on them is they started to recycle the story lines after a couple of books and I moved on. I dont think they are badly written just for a younger audience.

 

[j d worthington]

The problem with narrowing it down to one book is that SF is an immensely broad field. There is no single type of SF, any more than there is a single type of fantasy. (LotR and the Shannara books are examples of one narrow type of fantasy for instance; there are many others.) There are the more adventure-oriented sf books; "hard" sf (dealing much more with the physical sciences and technical points); "soft" sf (dealing with sociological concerns, differences in culture, etc., which can include psychological thrillers with a futuristic slant, for instance); extremely literary sf and extremely pulpish sf. These are only a few, and if you like or dislike any of the above, it by no means indicates how you would feel about the others.

In addition, if you're getting your ideas of science fiction from television shows, then you're dealing with a type of sf that is itself almost certainly 20-40 years behind the major (written) trends currently. (With Hollywood movies, I think I'd put it back, in most cases, to copying story ideas from the 1920s and 1930s, actually....) This doesn't mean it's bad or not worthy of a read, but if you're looking for what the field is like currently... then it's not really an indication of what's going on in the written form.

All of which goes toward indicating why it's near-impossible to pick a single "representative" sf novel. Frankly, my suggestion would be to go for an anthology of shorter works -- or even short novels, as such anthologies do crop up -- either of older or newer (or a blending of both) works. This would give you a broader range of what's available in the field, and introduce you to a variety of writers and writing styles. Those you like, you can look into further. Those you don't... well, at least you have an indication of which writers to pass by. (Though, in this field at least, there are quite a few writers who experiment with different types of stories and different styles of writing, so even that isn't a certainty.)

I'd suggest, for more recent works, one of the "Year's Best" anthologies edited by Gardner Dozois or David G. Hartwell, or the more recent Nebula anthologies (these are stories chosen by the writers in the field as among the best of the current crop); for older works, those edited by Donald A. Wollheim, Judith Merrill, etc. Or, for general sf anthologies, you might try something like Damon Knight's A Science Fiction Argosy, which has a wide range of types of sf in it, or The Hugo Winners books (the first several of which were edited by Isaac Asimov). These, too, cover a wide range of what's out there.

As far as particular novels... if I had to pick a single one for someone who hasn't read sf, I'm not sure I could... though I would suggest such things as Flowers for Algernon, A Canticle for Leibowitz, or Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang as excellent examples from the field....

 

[Omphalos]

Whatever you wind up going with, you should stay away from the media-tie ins from the shows that you mentioned. Generally there is nothing good to be found there.

I think you should pick up an old one and a new one, and see what you think. I dobut that reading old SF is going to fool you as to hwere the genre is going these days, and there are some damn good stories from the past that really are relevant today.

Why dont you give us some idea of the kinds of books you read now. Mainstream? Mysteries? Romance? Poetry? History and other non-fiction? Based on that, I feel confident that we can come up with some excellent suggestions of old and new books for you to go with.

 

[Connavar]

I prefer to point people in the direction of novels that are current. The genre has changed so much that I think older fiction gives people false expectations, and possibly the wrong impression.

Why Revelation Space? It's a good introduction to Reynolds' fiction. The author is British, so his fiction is written with British sensibilities. It's high concept and some aspects will resonate with someone who has watched sfx-heavy sf television programmes. It's well written and features interesting characters. It's modern. It's readily available in high street book shops, and yet old enough to also be found cheap in second-hand and charity shops. It's a good indicator of the state of the genre in the 21st Century.

I think its the opposite. People need something timeless,with broad appeal to become SFF fans. Hamilton's 1000 page SF isnt something a newbie should read.

Not saying there are current ones are timeless,broad appeal. They dont have the rep classic works of SF has

An Asimov or Dune is better cause people have knowledge of those books in the back of their minds cause mainstream fame for the authors,the movies etc

Im of course talking about a nun reader not people that read regulary other genres like fantasy for example.

For example i have tried luring my brothers in with Richard Morgan and other modern good SF but then i told them about PKD famous Andriods story, I,Robot,Foundation, Dune they became interested.

Just my personal view.

 

[BookStop]

I second Ender's Game. Flower's for Algernon is a favorite, but is not the same sort of sci-fi as the tv shows you mention. David Weber's Honor Harrington series is military science fiction along the same lines as Battlestar Galactica.

 

[Connavar]

I would say Foundation is the Battlestar Galactica of the 50's.

The struggle to survive in the huge galaxy. The space battles in later books. Mythical,supernatural things happening.

I agree with J.D SF is too big so narrow it down like this.


I think it would be better if the thread maker described what he was looking better.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I was going to suggest Flowers for Algernon, too, but as mentioned it's not quite "science-fiction" in the sense that people usually imagine it. Perhaps this would be a good thing for a new reader to the genre, perhaps not. It's a beautiful book, nonetheless.

 

[DeepThought]

For a classic try - Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke

For something modern (relatively speaking) - Consider Phlebas, Iain M. Banks

Cheers, DeepThought

 

[iansales]

The Dozois anthologies are not readily available in the UK, and certainly impossible to find second-hand - not that the OP said he was looking for a second-hand book, but if he doesn't like it at least he's not spent a fortune...

I wouldn't point anybody at a Peter Hamilton book.

Much as I love Dune, it's not very well written. I think you have to read it at the right time - in your teens - to truly enjoy it.

The Foundation books are also badly written. And badly dated. If you've been watching Battlestar Galactica and Dr Who, and then someone asks you to read Foundation... I wouldn't be surprised if you gave up on written sf...


Yes, sf is too broad a field to really narrow down. However, availability is also an issue here. Some of the classics mentioned are in the Masterworks series, but there's no guarantee those particular titles will be carried by a local book shop. In the UK, you're far more likely to find Dune than the Foundation trilogy, and far more likely to find Al Reynolds or Richard Morgan than either of those.

I stand by my suggestion

 

[paulwalker71]

I agree with J.D SF is too big so narrow it down like this. I think it would be better if the thread maker described what he was looking better.

See, the problem is that I don't really know what I'm looking for. I agree with the poster that suggested staying clear of TV show tie-ins, I know enough about literature to know that I really need to read 'proper' books!

As for what I read now, I actually don't read novels much - I do read a lot of books connected with my job. I'm also currently doing a part-time MA. The point being that reading a supposedly 'deep' book doesn't really faze me because (with bragging) I'm reasonably intelligent. So, there's no need to 'wean me' with books that are written for children

I mentioned the BSG tie-in because I love the whole man / machine angle, and the blurring of the lines between humans and cylons. There are also lots of religious and spiritual overtones about the meaning of existence, God and origins. Does that help at all? (Probably not...)

 

[Connavar]

The Dozois anthologies are not readily available in the UK, and certainly impossible to find second-hand - not that the OP said he was looking for a second-hand book, but if he doesn't like it at least he's not spent a fortune...

I wouldn't point anybody at a Peter Hamilton book.

Much as I love Dune, it's not very well written. I think you have to read it at the right time - in your teens - to truly enjoy it.

The Foundation books are also badly written. And badly dated. If you've been watching Battlestar Galactica and Dr Who, and then someone asks you to read Foundation... I wouldn't be surprised if you gave up on written sf...


Yes, sf is too broad a field to really narrow down. However, availability is also an issue here. Some of the classics mentioned are in the Masterworks series, but there's no guarantee those particular titles will be carried by a local book shop. In the UK, you're far more likely to find Dune than the Foundation trilogy, and far more likely to find Al Reynolds or Richard Morgan than either of those.

I stand by my suggestion

SF newbie wont know that whats bad written

He wants a good story. I know i was a SF newbie not so long ago.


Im your opposite i dont think Dune,Foundation are badly written at all. Sounds like you have too much respect for whats modern because its new and therfore better.....

Just as you might think i have too much respect for classic SF.

We just have to disagree on this.

 

[Pyan]

One book?

Ringworld, by Larry Niven.

Not too long, in print, and stuffed full of what makes SF just so damn enjoyable to read.