Imagine I could only choose 5 sci fi books for a brand new sci fi reader – what would they be?

  • ZambonimanM
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    11 months ago

    Imagine I could only choose 5 sci fi books for a brand new sci fi reader – what would they be?

    • Dune by Frank Herbert
    • The Martian by Andy Weir
    • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
    • The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
    • Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

    That should be a nice cross section, though I completely ignored cyberpunk, near future apocalyptic (unless you include Hitchhiker’s Guide!), alternate history, and a few others!

    • TroyOPM
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      11 months ago

      Oooh, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a good choice, even though the tech now feels anachronistic (except Mike). I used to put it in my starter pack too.

      The Martian is an excellent starter kit choice – extremely approachable while still being largely representative of what sci fi can be! Nice!

      Tangent: I originally read The Martian while weathering a summer windstorm in the high arctic. My tent was threatening to blow away, bouncing down the tundra with me and all our supplies. It really added to the experience :)

    • 2Blave@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      Fully support these choices! This is a good cross section of classics and contemporary works.

    • Spluk42@sh.itjust.worksM
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      11 months ago

      Haven’t read Doomsday Book but did read To Say Nothing About the Dog. Interesting and well writ.

  • xiao@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    Foundation ❤ Foundation and Empire ❤❤❤ (The Mule 😍)

    By Isaac Asimov should be in the package in my opinion 😎

    • TroyOPM
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      11 months ago

      Oddly enough, the Mule drove me mad. I don’t like this old notion that “we only use 10% of our brain – imagine what we could do if we unlocked the other 90%” that was prevalent in sci fi of the era. So if you gave Foundation and Empire to me in your starter kit, and I reviewed it thus, what would you recommend as a followup knowing that I enjoyed it, but didn’t like the psychic (telepathic) elements?

      • xiao@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        That’s a good question, I need to think about it more deeply 😁 Thanks for developing the topic.

  • TroyOPM
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    11 months ago

    Oh hi Troy, what an interesting question. Over the years I’ve had a lot of thoughts about this and think the optimal set of books should be both highly approachable, but also cover a wide varieties of genres. Such that the prospective newbie can sample a bunch of different things and tell you what they liked best. Thus forming a nice basis for additional recommendations. To that effect, here’s my current list.

    (1) Ender’s Game (it’s a very approachable read with a good payoff and a lot of nice concepts)

    (2) The Left Hand of Darkness (largely to show that sci fi can be beautiful and contemplative, and by placing these ideas in a sci fi setting, you can abstract from all the baggage of modern politics)

    (3) Snow Crash (yes, it’s ridiculous, but it’s also super fun and somewhat pop-culturey and scratches the cyberpunk itch - it’s also the only earth-only book on the list)

    (4) Hyperion and Fall of Hyperon (because it touches on so many ideas and genres, one can ask “what was your favourite part” and it’ll form the basis for so many other recommendations)

    (5) The Player of Games (need something optimistic to balance some of the others - but also something where the tech level is indistinguishable from magic)

    What do you think?

    • Spluk42@sh.itjust.worksM
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      11 months ago

      That’s a great list. With the exception of Iain Banks. I have bounced off every book by him I’ve tried. Really should make another effort at Player of Games.

      • Drudge@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I feel the same about Banks as I’m reading them… But something about the books ages-well in my memory. It’s almost as if I prefer the after taste.

    • Drudge@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Hyperion was actually one of the very first scifi books I read, and I almost regret it. It’s absolutely brilliant, but because I had no frame of reference, nothing to compare it to, so I didn’t appreciate it at the time. I’m waiting until my memory fades so I can reread it :-)

      Snow Crash…ok you’ve got me interested… Adding it to the list

      • TroyOPM
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        11 months ago

        When reading it, remind yourself that it was conceived in the late 80s, so the tech is simultaneously amazingly well predicted, but also completely off the mark at times. I re-read it last year and I think it still holds up. Enjoy!

    • Jesse
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      11 months ago

      Ha! You and Troy seem to have lots in common you should consider becoming friends. Seriously though thanks for this thread I’m loving it.

  • Spluk42@sh.itjust.worksM
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    11 months ago

    I took a bit of a time off from reading so when I started again this is what I gleaned as recommendations from the other printsf:

    Three body problem - Liu Cixin Bobiverse - Dennis Taylor Daemon - Daniel Suarez Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky Pushing Ice - Alastair Reynolds

    Honorable mention: Blindsight - Peter Watts

    If I were to go with a mix of old and new: Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson I, Robot - Issac Asimov Dune - Frank Herbert

    Mix of old and new, short and far future.

    • Jesse
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      11 months ago

      If you’re going to include a Michael Crichton book in a sci-fi list, Sphere is a far better choice IMO.

      • TroyOPM
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        11 months ago

        Sphere is a wonderful choice. I read it as a teenager and it was one of my first non-StarTrek sci fi novels. Picked it up at a truck stop on a road trip and read it in the passenger seat haha

  • sleisl@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    I guess I’d try to give as broad a view as possible, kind of to show that sci-fi can be literary as well as purpose-built to explore specific ideas.

    The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

    The Left Hand of Darkness

    The Sparrow

    Player of Games

    The Quantum Thief

  • RatTub
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    11 months ago

    Lots of great recommendations here. I haven’t seen anyone mention John Scalzi!

    Both the Old Man’s War and Interdependency series are amazing!

  • hazeebabee@slrpnk.net
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    11 months ago

    I second alot of these and wanted to add: octavia butlers work, especially the liliths brood series!

    • TroyOPM
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      11 months ago

      Oh wow, Gene Wolfe for a new reader – maybe if they are the type that thinks sci fi is lasers and blue babes and needs to be shown that some sci fi can be serious business, haha! What would you recommend as the followup, aside from more Gene Wolfe, if they said that was their favourite? I might select Anathem and Gnomon.

      • huskypenguin@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        Oh yea I was kinda blanking on Stephenson. There’s a lot to choose from. Anathem is a masterpiece, I guess I’d swap Wolfe out for that. Maybe Fall as well.

        And I guess I didn’t really think of “first time sci-fi reader”. I would have to throw Silo on there.

  • Drudge@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Ok ok, I might not get a lot of support with this list, but SciFi is actually what turned me into an avid reader…now it’s not just SciFi but also non fiction (gasp!). So the list below is somewhat the path I followed, with some mods

    • Ready Player One
    • Project Hail Mary
    • Murderbot
    • Bobiverse
    • Pandora’s Star

    The list starts off with some quick, punchy brain candy then graduates into big ol’ operas :-)

    • gaydarless
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      11 months ago

      Project Hail Mary is so good! It’s a great example of sci fi that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but has a lot of actual science involved. I was just getting the itch to re-read it the other day!

      • Drudge@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        agreed!! I’m generally a slow reader, but I hammered through that one in 3 days…with kids climbing on me…at Christmas…

    • RatTub
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      11 months ago

      I haven’t read Pandora’s Star, but I love everything else on that list. Since we seem to have similar tastes, I’ll give it a shot next!

    • TroyOPM
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      11 months ago

      Pandora’s Star really is just part one of a two part book. That said, there’s a chapter in there where MLM is introduced that, if read alone without any context, might be the single best chapter ever written in sci fi. If that doesn’t hook a reader, I don’t know what will.

      • Drudge@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Agreed, that intro to MLM is pretty epic. I also found the prologue to the first book super memorable…basically an intro to the gateways. The whole series is around 7 books, but I had a tough time with the few Judas books. A friend and I were reading them at the same time, and he just skipped all Judas chapters, hehe.

    • ___spannungsbogen@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      My family has two people that are avid Murderbot fans. My library never has any copies, but maybe it’s time to cave and buy the first novella…

  • Underwaterbob@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    Trying to diverge a bit from what’s already in here:

    • Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
    • Arthur C. Clarke - 2001: A Space Odyssey
    • Isaac Asimov - Caves of Steel
    • Greg Bear - Blood Music
    • Frank M. Robinson - The Dark Beyond the Stars

    The latter is a bit of a dark horse, but I unabashedly love it. It has one of my favorite endings of any novel ever.

    Honorable mentions to Ender’s Game, and Old Man’s War for sure.

  • peeBox
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    11 months ago

    I haven’t seen this author mentioned and as a bonus, he’s Canadian :)

    A. E. van Vogt

    Check out his Null-A trilogy !

  • timidgoat
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    11 months ago

    I’m not the most prolific reader, and pretty new to sci-fi books in general, but I came here to mention The Book of the New Sun (mentioned in another comments as Shadow and Claw, the first half of the series), as well as Dune. Both these books really drew me in with their world building.

    • TroyOPM
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      11 months ago

      In that case, I recommend CJ Cherryh (maybe start with Downbelow Station) as she is one of the master worldbuilders. And given your selections, I’d specifically also recommend Hyperion (and Fall of Hyperion); Gnomon by Harkaway; and Anathem by Stephenson.