Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading (with poll)

[Extollager]

Now for (in some cases) contrast, here's the chance to choose what you personally cherish.

My (and Your) Own Personal Up to 50 or so Science Fiction Keeper Books

 

[Bick]

So mention them! It's too late for the poll but this thread was originally a list/discussion thread prior to the poll being added anyway. I don't think the OP would mind more suggestions.

Yeah fair enough, I was stupidly trying to post something intelligible on a phone, and I wasn't up to providing examples with that media. Now I'm in my office, on a laptop with my books behind me, its a different story. What should be on the list (imho) but was missing:

Aldiss: Greybeard, Hothouse
Ballard: Drowned World, Short Stories
Wyndham: Day of the Triffids, The Crysalids
Poul Anderson: The Broken Sword, The Boat of a Million Years
Silverberg: Downward to the Earth
Moorcock: Dancers at the End of Time
Cherryh: Morgaine
Delaney: Nova, Babel 17
Dick: Flow my Tears the Policeman Said, The Man in The High Castle
Farmer: To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Simmons: Hyperion
Bear: Eon
Bayley: The Garments of Caean
Butler: Dawn
Niven & Pournelle: The Mote in God's Eye

...which is not exhaustive, but I can only think of so many things while keeping the long list in my head.

 

[J-Sun]

What should be on the list (imho) but was missing:

Yep, IMO, most of those should be on the list. (Simmons is in the poll, though.) I'm not directly familiar with some of them and don't love all those I am familiar with but, in terms of reputation, they have it. Now that you mention them, probably the most striking omissions to me are The Man in the High Castle, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Eon, and The Mote in God's Eye. Aside from those, while not as striking an omission, I love the Morgaine books. (Speaking of striking omissions, I'm not a fan but it is kind of amazing A Canticle for Leibowitz, which Extollager noted, didn't get mentioned in time for the poll.)

Also, just as Extollager noted Black Gate had a Mission of Gravity-relevant post, they've also just posted this on the Ballantine/Del Rey "Best of" series: Keith West on the Ballantine Best of Series and Why We Need it More Than Ever. The main article it's referencing is An Ode to the Ballantine Best of Series and Why We Need it More Than Ever.

An observation on the poll (and apologies if any of these comments or lobbying are improper while the poll is live): I wonder if there isn't some poll fatigue. It makes perfect sense for more essential things to have been mentioned earlier, generally, and, thus, for things earlier in the poll to get the most votes and some things late in the poll have gotten several votes but, even so, there really seems to be a massive weighting of votes towards the stuff listed earliest in the poll. I wonder if some people don't just start checking things off until they get bored or run out of votes.

Also, I have to wonder if people are even understanding what The Past Through Tomorrow is, though I would have assumed it would be familiar to every SF fan. That is an omnibus of all of Heinlein's Future History stories (excluding Orphans of the Sky) - allowing for a non-FH story or two swapped out with an FH story or two swapped in, that's The Man Who Sold the Moon, The Green Hills of Earth, Revolt in 2100, and Methuselah's Children in one volume(!) and, yeah, I know, it's just my opinion but this has to have about as many votes as anything else in terms of a touchstone of the field.

 

[BionicGriff]

Yep, IMO, most of those should be on the list. (Simmons is in the poll, though.) I'm not directly familiar with some of them and don't love all those I am familiar with but, in terms of reputation, they have it. Now that you mention them, probably the most striking omissions to me are The Man in the High Castle, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Eon, and The Mote in God's Eye. Aside from those, while not as striking an omission, I love the Morgaine books. (Speaking of striking omissions, I'm not a fan but it is kind of amazing A Canticle for Leibowitz, which Extollager noted, didn't get mentioned in time for the poll.)

Some of these titles I've heard of, but I don't really know anything about them. For what it's worth Athur C. Clarks Space Oddysey series was never mentioned so I added that when creating the poll. I've yet to read it, but it seemed like something that should be included, unless people were excluding it for a reason...

An observation on the poll (and apologies if any of these comments or lobbying are improper while the poll is live): I wonder if there isn't some poll fatigue. It makes perfect sense for more essential things to have been mentioned earlier, generally, and, thus, for things earlier in the poll to get the most votes and some things late in the poll have gotten several votes but, even so, there really seems to be a massive weighting of votes towards the stuff listed earliest in the poll. I wonder if some people don't just start checking things off until they get bored or run out of votes.

I can see this, it is rather large poll, maybe we could have broke it up by SF and Fantasy, though I think they would have still been fairly large. Perhaps more of a tournament style poll would have worked better, 4 polls of about 50 items, top 10 or so going to the final round, that would have been fun, but I think you risk burning people out there as well.

 

[J-Sun]

For what it's worth Athur C. Clarks Space Oddysey series was never mentioned so I added that when creating the poll. I've yet to read it, but it seemed like something that should be included, unless people were excluding it for a reason...

Tricky thing. The movie would be on a shortlist of essential movies, I'm sure, but that makes it hard to separate from the novel. I think most people (including myself) would regard the novel as good and important but perhaps not extreme top tier. Then I personally like 2010 (both book and movie) but many don't. And I don't like 2061 at all and thought 3001 was only okay - good compared to #3. So I think adding the first book is a good add but it's not as surprising that it wouldn't have been on there as some others are. The series as a whole, I don't think is essential, though. But that's just me and my impressions of what others think may be off there.

Perhaps more of a tournament style poll would have worked better, 4 polls of about 50 items, top 10 or so going to the final round, that would have been fun, but I think you risk burning people out there as well.

That crossed my mind but I couldn't think how to make it work - but I guess just like you say. And very fitting in my part of the world as it's been "March Madness" with the NCAA tournament brackets. But, if folks didn't catch the competitive excitement, you're right: they could burn out on that as well. Ah well, it's all in fun anyhow. I just hope it produces something useful for you.

 

[BionicGriff]

Tricky thing. The movie would be on a shortlist of essential movies, I'm sure, but that makes it hard to separate from the novel. I think most people (including myself) would regard the novel as good and important but perhaps not extreme top tier.

That's funny you say that, I've actually read 2001 before (just not the rest of the series) and I enjoyed it. I tried watching the movie after and I stopped part way through, it was just so slow to me, it seemed like it took forever for anything to happen. For example, there's the scene with the guy jogging in the space ship, I swear it felt like you followed him around for like 10 minutes! (I know it wasn't really that long, but it seemed much longer then necessary). Maybe I'll have to try and revisit it and stick through it.

Ah well, it's all in fun anyhow. I just hope it produces something useful for you.

I'm sure it will, even if the poll ended up being a complete flop (I don't think that will be the case, I think we already have a handful of participants), I still have a very solid list to browse through from the group brainstorm that took place.

 

[hitmouse]

Yeah fair enough, I was stupidly trying to post something intelligible on a phone, and I wasn't up to providing examples with that media. Now I'm in my office, on a laptop with my books behind me, its a different story. What should be on the list (imho) but was missing:

Aldiss: Greybeard, Hothouse
Ballard: Drowned World, Short Stories
Wyndham: Day of the Triffids, The Crysalids
Poul Anderson: The Broken Sword, The Boat of a Million Years
Silverberg: Downward to the Earth
Moorcock: Dancers at the End of Time
Cherryh: Morgaine
Delaney: Nova, Babel 17
Dick: Flow my Tears the Policeman Said, The Man in The High Castle
Farmer: To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Simmons: Hyperion
Bear: Eon
Bayley: The Garments of Caean
Butler: Dawn
Niven & Pournelle: The Mote in God's Eye

...which is not exhaustive, but I can only think of so many things while keeping the long list in my head.

Agree most of these. Also The city and the Stars by Arthur C Clarke, the Cornelius Quartet by Michael Moorcock, Vermilion Sands by JG Ballard, Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Aerodrome by Rex Warner, a collection of Kafka stories, soemething by Stanislaw Lem (Pirx the Pilot or Solaris), either Slaughterhouse 5 or Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley, Grimus by Salman Rushdie. Ralph124C41+ by Hugo Gernsback. Is there any Verne on the list?

I will undoubtedly think of a dozen more in 5 minutes.

 

[hitmouse]

Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars , Tarzan of the Apes

If we are allowing Narnia, Watership Down et al then I would argue for the following as essential:
The Jungle Book
The Wind in the Willows
Winnie the Pooh
Alice in Wonderland
The Wizard of Oz
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Anderson

 

[BionicGriff]

Thanks again to everyone who participated, both with brainstorming and the poll.

Could it have been done better? Probably!
Were things missed? Likely!

But I think we can call this experiment a success. Here is a final, cleaned up list of the poll results.

It looks like we got a three way tie for the undisputed heavyweight champion of essential reading between Herbert, Tolkien, and Asimov each selected by more then 80% of the voters (if I did the math right we had 16 participants).

(Sorry, I couldn't figure out a way to cleanly paste it into the comments. A nice clean PDF version is attached as well.)

(Author - Title - Total Votes)
Frank Herbert Dune 13
Isaac Asimov The Foundation Series 13
J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings 13
H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds 11
H.G. Wells The Time Machine 11
Ray Bradbury The Martian Chronicles 11
Goerge Orwell 1984 10
Joe Haldeman The Forever War 10
Alfred Bester The Stars my Destination 9
Mary Shelley Frankenstein 9
Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde 9
William Gibson Neuromancer 8
H.P. Lovecraft At The Mountains of Madness 7
Larry Niven Ringworld 7
Various The S.F. Hall of Fame Anthologies 7
Aldous Huxley Brave New World 6
Arthur C Clarke Childhoods End 6
Clifford D. Simak Way Station 6
Frederick Pohl Gateway 6
Poul Anderson Tau Zero 6
Richard Adams Watership Down 6
Ursula K Le Guin The Left Hand of Darkness 6
C.J. Cherryh Downbelow Station 5
Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon 5
Hal Clement Mission of Gravity 5
Jack Vance The Dying Earth 5
Robert Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land 5
Ursula K Le Guin Wizard of Earthsea 5
Verner Vinge Deepness Duo 5
A.E. Van Vogt Voyage of the Space Beagle 4
Alfred Bester The Dmeolished Man 4
Arthur C Clarke Rama 4
Arthur C Clarke Space Oddysey 4
C.S. Lewis Out of the Silent Planet 4
C.S. Lewis Narnian Chronicles 4
Dan Simmons Hyperion 4
Fritz Leiber Lankhammer 4
George R. Stewart Earth Abides 4
H.G. Wells The Invisible Man 4
Isaac Asimov I, Robot 4
Isaac Asimov Caves of Steel 4
Orson Scott Card Ender's Game 4
Phillip K. Dick A Scanner Darkly 4
Pohl & Kornbluth The Space Merchant 4
Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 4
Robert E Howard Conan Hour of the Dragon 4
Robert Heinlein The Past Through Tomorrow 4
Robert Heinlein Starship Troopers 4
Susanna Clark Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell 4
A.E. Van Vogt Null-A 3
Algis Budrys Rogue Moon 3
Arthur C Clarke A Fall of Moondust 3
Brian Aldriss Helliconia Series 3
Corwainer Smith The Rediscovery Man 3
G.K. Chesterton the Man Who Was Thursday 3
H. Rider Haggard She 3
H.G. Wells The Island of Dr Moreau 3
John W. Campbell Jr. Who Goes There? 3
Mervyn Peake Titus Groan 3
Ray Bradbury Something Wicked this way Comes 3
Robert Heinlein Juvenile Series 3
Robert Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 3
Robert Silverberg Dying Inside 3
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Lost World 3
Abraham Merritt The Moon Pool 2
Charles Finney the Circus of Dr Lao 2
Douglas Adams The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 2
George McDonald Lilith 2
Harry Harrison The Stainless Steel Rat 2
Iain M. Banks Excession 2
Jack Finney Time and Again 2
Peter Beagle The Last Unicorn 2
Poul Anderson Brain Wave 2
Roger Zelazny The Chronicles of Amber 2
Roger Zelazny Lord of Light 2
Terry Pratchett Guards! Guards! 2
Ursula K Le Guin The Dispossessed 2
Various The Hugo Winners 2
A.E. Van Vogt Weapon Shops 1
Abraham Merritt The Ship of Ishtar 1
Angela Carter The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories 1
Balmer & Wylie When/After Worlds Collide 1
Bruce Sterling the Crystal Express 1
Charles Williams the Place of the Lion 1
CJ Cutliffe Hynd The Lost Continent 1
Clark Ashton Smith The City of Singing Flame 1
Fred Saberhagen Berserker 1
Fritz Leiber Conjure Wife 1
Fritz Leiber Our Lady of Darkness 1
Gordon Dickson Dorsai 1
Gordon Dickson The Dragon and George 1
Greg Bear Blood Music 1
Greg Egan Diaspora 1
Harry Harrison Make Room! Make Room! 1
Isaac Asimov The God's Themselves 1
James H. Smith The Witches of Karres 1
James Tiptree (Alice B. Sheldon) Star Song of an Old Primate 1
John Varley Persistance in Vision 1
Jorge Louis Borges The Aleph and Other Stories 1
Keith Roberts Pavene 1
L. Sprague de Camp Lest Darkness Fall 1
Moore & Kuttner Vintage Season 1
Norman Spinrad Bug Jack Barron 1
Phillip K. Dick Martian Time-Slip 1
Richard Mathieson I Am Legend 1
Richard Mathieson the Shrinking Man 1
Robert Heinlein Double Star 1
Robert Holdstock Mythago Woods 1
Robert L. Forward Dragons Egg 1
Roger Zelazny The Door of his Face 1
Stanton Coblantz The Caverns Below 1
Theodore Sturgeon More then Human 1
Ursula K Le Guin The Winds Twleve Quarters 1
Various The Big Book of Science Fiction 1
Various Ballentine/Del Ray "Best Of" 1
William Gibson Burning Chrome 1
Zenna Henderson The Anything Box 1

 

[psikeyhackr]

William Gibson Neuromancer 8

I read that back in the 80s not long after it came out. I finished it, but was not impressed. Years later after it was becoming The Thing to read I tried it again and could not finish it. I have since listened to the audio book and still do not see what is so great about it.

I consider The Two Faces of Tomorrow by James P. Hogan to be one of the best sci-fi stories about Artificial Intelligence. I concede it is not the best for the Writing. I recently read a comment about Gibson, saying he was notorious for his ignorance of computers when he wrote Neuromancer. Hogan worked for Honeywell and DEC and knew whereof he wrote. With all of the talk and writing about AI now Hogan's book makes way more sense to read. In 1979 computers had not yet beaten masters at Chess and Go. I have a few of the $9 CHIP computers on order and each one is more powerful than the desktops I worked with in the early 90s. So the ubiquity of computers presented in Two Faces is really what our future will be like.

Not the manga graphic version though.

psik