Thread: Your favorite Sci-Fi books

I haven't read anything lately that blew me away, but you can't go wrong with some classics:

Ursula K. LeGuin--The Left Hand of Darkness, or any of her Hain books

Arthur C. Clarke--Songs of Distant Earth, Childhood's End, or his recent Time Oddysey series w/ Stephen Baxter

Greg Bear--Blood Music (Moving Mars is also pretty sweet)

Orson Scott Card--Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus, and I can't fault Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, though the series goes south fast from there

Asimov + ??--The Positronic Man

Lawrence Manning--The Man Who Awoke (it's a rarer pulp novel from the '30s, but I think there's been a recent reprint)

And if you don't mind veering a bit into magical realism (I highly recommend that you do ),

Vonnegut--Cats Cradle

Italo Calvino--Cosmicomics (on a less sci-fi note, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller is probably the best novel I've read in the last five years).

Originally Posted by Taosaur

I haven't read anything lately that blew me away, but you can't go wrong with some classics:

Ursula K. LeGuin--The Left Hand of Darkness, or any of her Hain books

Arthur C. Clarke--Songs of Distant Earth, Childhood's End, or his recent Time Oddysey series w/ Stephen Baxter

Greg Bear--Blood Music (Moving Mars is also pretty sweet)

Orson Scott Card--Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus, and I can't fault Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, though the series goes south fast from there

Asimov + ??--The Positronic Man

Lawrence Manning--The Man Who Awoke (it's a rarer pulp novel from the '30s, but I think there's been a recent reprint)

And if you don't mind veering a bit into magical realism (I highly recommend that you do ),

Vonnegut--Cats Cradle

Italo Calvino--Cosmicomics (on a less sci-fi note, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller is probably the best novel I've read in the last five years).

which one of those was your favorite. I have heard of Asimov though i read the slightly newer books, although starship troopers was written in 1952 and neuromancer and I will fear no evil in the 70s. Snow crash was 1992 (it was written when the basic internet was prevelant thus is the most accurate depicition....as the metaverse actually does pretty much exist. Second life is a pretty faithful depiction of it and Uru online is more faithful but second life is a much more popular game.

Old man's war and ghost bridges are just fun novels.

It's hard to play favorites. Cats Cradle (1963) was my favorite book, period, through my late teens and early twenties. For just a fun adventure story, probably Time's Eye (2003), the first book of Clarke & Baxter's Time Odyssey. For a philosophical mind bender, Blood Music (1983). For more social commentary, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) or Pastwatch (1997).

Oh, and I left these out, but for crazy-fun-brain-candy-space-adventure, you can't beat David Brin's Uplift series ('90s-'00s)

My dad used to have a whole attic full of old scifi pulp from the 50's to the 90's, literally boxes and boxes full... i only managed to save a few... mostly asimovs and heinleins, some other assorted stuff. I loved the Foundation series by asimov, and there's this one book that blew my mind... I forgot what its called, my friend has it now... Some random author, but about discovering an orb so large it had a star in the middle, so you could live inside... ther was so much space, each species that discovered it eventually devolved from advanced spacefaring species to simple pacifistic agrarian societies because of the enormous amount of resources living space and energy inside the orb. Well i kinda spoiled it now but I really loved discovering that concept.

Originally Posted by CT

My dad used to have a whole attic full of old scifi pulp from the 50's to the 90's, literally boxes and boxes full... i only managed to save a few... mostly asimovs and heinleins, some other assorted stuff. I loved the Foundation series by asimov, and there's this one book that blew my mind... I forgot what its called, my friend has it now... Some random author, but about discovering an orb so large it had a star in the middle, so you could live inside... ther was so much space, each species that discovered it eventually devolved from advanced spacefaring species to simple pacifistic agrarian societies because of the enormous amount of resources living space and energy inside the orb. Well i kinda spoiled it now but I really loved discovering that concept.

A Dyson Sphere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere

I think one showed up in Star Trek TNG, and maybe in Brin's Uplift series, too. Greg Bear's Hegira is along similar lines, as well, but heads in a different direction.

Hmm...I don't read a lot but my favorite sci-fi book would have to be Storm Theif.

It's an awesome sci-fi, action, adventure thing and everything in it just seems to tie up at the end.

I'm currently loving the Takeshi Kovacs series by Richard K. Morgan, but in reality I don't do nearly enough reading. I also have Ringworld by Larry Niven but it'll probably take a while to get to it. Anyways I highly recommend it.

There is only one: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I liked Frank Herbert's Dune.

Originally Posted by MrDoom

I liked Frank Herbert's Dune.

My dad read that book, said it was amazing.

Originally Posted by Sound

There is only one: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Saw the movie and loved it....i just bought the book but I haven't started yet.

BTW i just picked up "the last colony" cause I finally found a book store that had it . Its the sequal to the ghost brigades/old man's war. I also picked up gridlinked.

but damn I have a lot of reading to catch up to all of you

I just read snow crash, the god father, tuesday's with murrey, the last colony

Snow crash atm is my absolute favorite book. God that book was amazing. It was like a ride i read it in two days and savored every bit of it.

Reading stranger in a strange land which is really really long but quite awesome.

The Foundation books are pretty good.

isnt that asimov?

Yep.

Originally Posted by archdreamer

Yep.

thats on my personal reading list. Than after the foundation series...dune

Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut

I read a book by the name of "The Duplicate" in like 8th grade, about a teenage kid who cloned himself, was pretty interesting, I hear the auther has some other pretty interesting books.

My favourite short story is by Isaac Asimov: The Last Question

I just finished that book stranger in a strange land in a strange land and it is by far the best book i have ever read. It was really long book but the sheer depth of his psychology, philophy, and analysis of government and religion.

But snow crash was a completely different book it was a little bit easier of a read and a better book for entertainment.

Ok, whoever thinks Hitchhiker's Guide is good is officially a hipster doofus and a twat.

Ender's Game. Read it. Now. It's basically Starship Troopers, except original.

so u are saying that Starship Troopers isn't original? its one of the first book's heinlien wrote. And unlike most space novels it didn't focus on the fighting. It was about philosophy (which i love).

The movie was horrible because you can't make a movie from a book that is basically focused on philosophy.

Originally Posted by aceofspades

The movie was horrible because you can't make a movie from a book that is basically focused on philosophy.

Well, I only saw the movie, but it looked EXTREMELY similar to Ender's Game and took many cues from dozens of other space movies.

No doubt the Jump 325 trilogy, starting with Infoquake (sorry, its late no links at this time)

And the foundation series by Issac Asimov (sp?)

Originally Posted by drewmandan

Well, I only saw the movie, but it looked EXTREMELY similar to Ender's Game and took many cues from dozens of other space movies.

oh the movie...now the movie I will agree....SUCKED. you see hienlien has never been one for that kind of stuff. He is big into philosophy and the plot of the book is just a way to tie in a certain philosophy that he is trying to show u.

But yah i really want to read the foundation series because ive head such ogod things about it from everyone i know.