50 "Must-Read" Science Fiction Books

[Fried Egg]

Did H.G. Wells identify with SF? Was the existance of such a genre even recognised in his day?

 

[iansales]

Wells wrote "scientific romances". The term "science fiction", the genre itself as a self-identified genre of fiction, didn't exist until after Amazing was first published in 1926.

 

[Connavar]

In one way it's good though F.E. as it provides people with a greater level of variety and as you say in general both choices per author are worthwhile.

Thats what the great about that list. Its not about the best SF books ever.

Its about mentioning authors who are worth being in that list. Doesn't matter its their best book or not.

1984 doesnt belong in that list, same with Wells,Verne. Those guys are mainstream classics no matter their genre. People who dont read SF knows them,read them.

 

[Fried Egg]

H.G Wells is on the masterworks list though.

"1984" is a masterwork of SF in my opinion...

 

[Connavar]

H.G Wells is on the masterworks list though.

"1984" is a masterwork of SF in my opinion...

Yes of course there are masterworks not on the list.

Philip K Dick weakest book in that list isnt a masterwork....

Some writers inside the genre need more spotlight on them than classic authors that are read in school is what im saying.

 

[clovis-man]

I've read 36 of these titles. 'Who Goes There' is a short story, and thus a bit of a stretch but certainly an important milestone for the genre.

Note that it's "books", not "novels". Who Goes There is the title of a book containing 7 stories. I, Robot and The Martian Chronicles are also collections, albeit tied together with a common theme.

Did H.G. Wells identify with SF? Was the existance of such a genre even recognised in his day?

Good point. The Poe book, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, doesn't really qualify as SF either. But maybe that's excused because of the genre's lack of history. BTW, one of my favorite pipe tobaccos is called "Gordon Pym".

I also find it odd that the most recent book on the list is 25 years old, as if sf either ceased to exist then or has stagnated ever since...

Bingo. My thoughts exactly. And, as I said earlier, this is a fairly recent publication. So I'm not sure what the justification might be. Hard to think of SF as something which must stand the "test of time".

 

[Fried Egg]

Bingo. My thoughts exactly. And, as I said earlier, this is a fairly recent publication. So I'm not sure what the justification might be. Hard to think of SF as something which must stand the "test of time".

If it's to be regarded as a "classic" of the genre, then I think it is a good idea to leave it a few decades to see how well it has stood the test of time. Although this list is defined as a "must-read" selection which I guess is a little different.

 

[Connavar]

I don't think you can be a classic if you dont stand the test of time. If you write a great book that have critical acclaim,lot love,hype but is forgotten in 20-30 years ?

Thats not a classic in any genre,type of book.

Otherwise we are making it classic simply because its new,not dated of time,references,its good.

Time is the enemy to beat if you will make it to classic status.

 

[iansales]

How many of the books which "stood the test of time" on that list are still in print? The Poul Anderson? The Aldiss? The Andre Norton? I think not...

 

[j d worthington]

These ones are unknown to me, and I considered myself pretty well-read in sf:

•360. "The Invention of Morel," Adolfo Bioy Casares
•368. "A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder," James De Mille
•375. "Two Planets," Kurd Lasswitz
•382. "Dwellers in the Mirage," Abraham Merritt
•389. "The Green Child," Herbert Read
•392. "Donovan's Brain," Curt Siodmak
•400. "Islandia," Austin Tappan Wright

(although I've heard of the film "Donovan's Brain")

I'm not sure the Siodmak belongs there, either. It's a good little novel, but I have my doubts as to it being either that influential, important, or among the "best" sf books, by any means....

Yes, Dwellers is a fantasy, or science-fantasy as such things were then; and Islandia is also much closer to fantasy than sf... by quite a long stretch. "Copper Cylinder" I have not read, but I have run into several mentions of over the years, usually in histories of the genre, as an early and important work....

An interesting list, but rather a quirky one, I think....

 

[Connavar]

How many of the books which "stood the test of time" on that list are still in print? The Poul Anderson? The Aldiss? The Andre Norton? I think not...

You have a very narrow view on classic. You can get many classic authors in second hand. Plus online you find which authors have many books running around second hand because people still want to read them.

Plus Poul Anderson,Norton has their most rated books in print.

That list is a personal list that didnt include the best works of those authors according to others.

 

[iansales]

For a book to stand the test of time, it still has to be read today. Which implies there's a market for it. So it would be in print. The Left Hand of Darkness, Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land, Nineteen Eighty-Four... all still in print.

I've not read Brain Wave or the Norton, and AFAIK they're not the most highly regarded titles by either author. Which suggests time has been less than kind to them...

 

[Parson]

Before I got involved in this forum I considered myself VERY well read in the SF category, now, not so much. Still I've read less than a dozen of those books, and there are more than 2 dozen I've never head of. In the end I think any list of the 50 greatest SF books is bogus without a classic which has been continuously in print since 1977, Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game."

 

[dask]

I've only read a dozen of the books on that list. Nice list. Like others have noted there are several I've never heard of. Don't know about the "must-read" part. I'm not above recommendations but the only book I must is the one that appeals to me for any number of reasons. But these things are legion; it's like a duel: pick your list! Personally I prefer the "5 Parsec Shelf" comprised by Baird Searles and cohort in their very readable and fascinating A READER'S GUIDE TO SCIENCE FICTION. This is not a best of, or must read, or most influential grouping, but a fifty book "basic reading list highlighting the history of and the various kinds of science fiction." Of these I've read sixteen, and no obscurities. (Not that obscure is bad; I like obscure.)

By the way, I agree with the above concerning "Ender's Game." I admit I haven't read the book but I read the original story when I appeared in Analog. I was so impressed I wrote Orson Scott Card a fan letter or two. And he wrote back! (I still think "I Put My Blue Genes On" was his best story up to that time.)

 

[Omphalos]

Ive read a lot of these too, and I also consider myself to be a well-read SF fan. Ian's list of unknowns is mine too:

•360. "The Invention of Morel," Adolfo Bioy Casares
•368. "A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder," James De Mille
•375. "Two Planets," Kurd Lasswitz
•382. "Dwellers in the Mirage," Abraham Merritt
•389. "The Green Child," Herbert Read
•392. "Donovan's Brain," Curt Siodmak
•400. "Islandia," Austin Tappan Wright

(although I've heard of the film "Donovan's Brain")

. . . though Ive heard rumor of that copper pipe thing, Ive heard of Curt Siodmak, and I've seen Islandia on the shelf in a bookstore. I read a few pages and was bored to tears.

Can't see as if this is an objective list of SF classics. Probably should have been titled "SF books I like and recommend to my friends. There certainly are some must-reads on that list, and bully to her for identifying them, but a one-person created list is NEVER going to be complete. I'll bet I could sit down with three or four of the better read fans on this site and all of us would come up with individual lists that each omit some classics, and each of which have a few books very few have ever heard of.

 

[clovis-man]

For a book to stand the test of time, it still has to be read today. Which implies there's a market for it. So it would be in print. The Left Hand of Darkness, Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land, Nineteen Eighty-Four... all still in print.

I've not read Brain Wave or the Norton, and AFAIK they're not the most highly regarded titles by either author. Which suggests time has been less than kind to them...

How about this: I will propose another fifty books that have been published over a fifty year span, 1945 through 1994 (one for each year). That will emcompass a good deal of what is perhaps "contemporary", but not impinge upon the most recent fifteen "formative" years. Some will be duplicates from the subject list. I will not intentionally omit naming the same author twice and I will only use as a reference Clute's SF Encyclopedia. This is not to supercede the first list, but to augment it with titles that are more in tune with my perception of what SF has been for me over that span of time.

1945 - That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis
1946 - The World of Null-A - A.E. van Vogt
1947 - Doppelgangers - Gerald Heard
1948 - Against The Fall Of Night - Arthur C. Clarke
1949 - Nineteen Eighty-four - Orwell
1950 - I, Robot - Asimov
1951 - Foundation - Isaac Asimov
1952 - City - Simak
1953 - Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
1954 - Mission Of Gravity - Hal Clement
1955 - Not This August - C.M. Kornbluth
1956 - Double Star - Robert Heinlein
1957 - On The Beach - Nevil Shute
1958 - The Enemy Stars - Poul Anderson
1959 - A Canticle for Leibowitz - Miller
1960 - Rogue Moon - Algis Budrys
1961 - The Stainless Steel Rat - Harry Harrison
1962 - A Clockwork Orange - Burgess
1963 - Witch World - Andre Norton
1964 - Greybeard - Brian Aldiss
1965 - Dune - Herbert
1966 - Babel-17 - Samuel R. Delaney
1967 - Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
1968 - Stand On Zanzibar - John Brunner
1969 - The Left Hand Of Darkness - Le Guin
1970 - Ringworld - Niven
1971 - The World Inside - Robert Silverberg
1972 - The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov
1973 - Rendezvous With Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
1974 - The Mote In God's Eye - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
1975 - Dhalgren - Samuel R. DElaney
1976 - Man Plus - Frederick Pohl
1977 - Gateway - Frederick Pohl
1978 - The Stand - Stephen King
1979 - The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Adams
1980 - The Snow Queen - Joan D. Vinge
1981 - Valis - Philip K. Dick
1982 - Helliconia Spring - Brian Aldiss
1983 - The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers
1984 - Neuromancer - Gibson
1985 - Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
1986 - Speaker For The Dead - Card
1987 - The Uplift War - David Brin
1988 - Cyteen - C.J. Cherryh
1989 - Hyperion - Dan Simmons
1990 - Queen Of Angels - Greg Bear
1991 - Stations Of The Tide - Michael Swanwick
1992 - Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
1993 - Beggars In Spain - Nancy Kress
1994 - Feersum Endjin - Iain M. Banks

Perhaps a narrow view, but it's the way I might see it. I would welcome other such lists with all different titles/authors.

 

[Vargev]

I was surprised to notice that the war of the worlds was not on there, after all, it pretty much began SF as we know it.

 

[tangaloomababe]

They put Day of the Triffids at 401. You have to be kidding me! This is a brilliant book, 401! I just don't understand that. Even 1984 should have been higher placed.

 

[clovis-man]

They put Day of the Triffids at 401. You have to be kidding me! This is a brilliant book, 401! I just don't understand that. Even 1984 should have been higher placed.

It's not rank ordered. It's by alphabet within categories. SF was 352 to 401 and Wyndham was the last author alphabetically.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Note that it's "books", not "novels". Who Goes There is the title of a book containing 7 stories. I, Robot and The Martian Chronicles are also collections, albeit tied together with a common theme.

I didn't realise there was also a collection with that title. One to look out for, then.

Personally I think excluding Wells and Verne because mainstream fiction readers may read them, and because they predate the coinage of the term 'science fiction' misses the point. One may as well exclude Tolkien from similar lists of must-read fantasy on the same grounds.