Ted Chiang, popular, better than the movie too like Story Of Your Life
William Gibson, for cyberpunk.
Ursula Le Guin her Hainish stories, social SF.
And many more…
WankFan443 on
Origin of the Species
kevinbogues on
Wayward Pines Trilogy
dangleicious13 on
Some that are currently on my bookshelf a few feet away from me:
Lucifer’s Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
The first 3 books in the Old Man’s War series by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Last Colony)
The Postman by David Brin
World War Z by Max Brooks
The Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy by Cixin Liu (The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End)
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Hatherence on
A lot of sci fi is written expecting readers to already be familiar with the genre, such as using made up sci fi words that it will *feel* like you’re supposed to know, but you’re actually supposed to keep them in mind until they’re explained later or you pick up on the meaning from context clues. Dune and Altered Carbon being two such examples.
Here’s some sci fi I think is easy to get into for those not as familiar with the genre:
* Rocannon’s World by Ursula K. Le Guin
* Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
* Have Space Suit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein
* We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker
Sorbet-Same on
Foundation by I. Asimov. The very best of the history of the genre.
Also “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by P. K. Dick is a great classic
Artistic-Frosting-88 on
I think the Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky is similar to Weir in terms of how much science is in the science fiction. I thought it was great, and it’s often recommended on this sub.
knowledgebass on
First 3-4 books of the Expanse series are good.
Books_Of_Jeremiah on
Genome by Lukyanenko might be an interesting one.
Zyklon3_ on
Foundation
Squirrelhenge on
All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Fun, smart, sweary, action-packed, and surprisingly moving.
12 Comments
I know Dune is going to be a top comment. Discworld is commonly suggested. The foundation trilogy as well
Well it’s a huge genre with sub categories…what sort do you want?
Connie Willis, Time TRavel, some serious, some not.
Gregory Benford “university” books, Artifact, Cosm, Timescape..
Ted Chiang, popular, better than the movie too like Story Of Your Life
William Gibson, for cyberpunk.
Ursula Le Guin her Hainish stories, social SF.
And many more…
Origin of the Species
Wayward Pines Trilogy
Some that are currently on my bookshelf a few feet away from me:
Lucifer’s Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
The first 3 books in the Old Man’s War series by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Last Colony)
The Postman by David Brin
World War Z by Max Brooks
The Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy by Cixin Liu (The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End)
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
A lot of sci fi is written expecting readers to already be familiar with the genre, such as using made up sci fi words that it will *feel* like you’re supposed to know, but you’re actually supposed to keep them in mind until they’re explained later or you pick up on the meaning from context clues. Dune and Altered Carbon being two such examples.
Here’s some sci fi I think is easy to get into for those not as familiar with the genre:
* Rocannon’s World by Ursula K. Le Guin
* Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
* Have Space Suit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein
* We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker
Foundation by I. Asimov. The very best of the history of the genre.
Also “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by P. K. Dick is a great classic
I think the Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky is similar to Weir in terms of how much science is in the science fiction. I thought it was great, and it’s often recommended on this sub.
First 3-4 books of the Expanse series are good.
Genome by Lukyanenko might be an interesting one.
Foundation
All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Fun, smart, sweary, action-packed, and surprisingly moving.