Science-fiction book recommendations?

I need to read some sci-fi. What are your favourite titles?

The Hyperion and Endymion books by Dan Simmons. You can read the first two only (Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion) or you can continue with Endymion and The Rise of Endymion. It may be space opera, but they're absolutely brillant.

Hmmm … this could get lengthy. In no particular order:

Neuromancer by William Gibson
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick
Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep by Phillip K. Dick
Dune by Frank Herbert
Foundation by Issac Asimov
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (also kind of borders on fantasy)
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King (also mixes in Western, horror and fantasy genres)
Fahrenheit 451 by Kristi Hiner
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (usually classified as "Literature")
Cat's Cradel by Kurt Vonnegut (ditto)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Are you looking for classics or contemporary?

Metalface hit a large cross-section of classics.

For something more contemporary, I like Richard K. Morgan's stuff. (I haven't read his recent fantasy novel, just the SF).

I also liked the Stephenson's future-set novel "The Diamond Age" more than any of his other books (yes including Snow Crash, haters.)

About "Hyperion", you'd better go ahead and plan to read at least the first two, because the first book literally just stops in the middle.

(hey, since when is Fahrenheit 451 by Kristi Hiner? Mine still says Ray Bradbury on the cover... gotta go, firemen at the door.)

The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester is one of my all-time favorite books. Some bits are dated but overall it's a fast wonderful read. Just re-read it lately so it's on my mind.

Not Sure wrote:

(hey, since when is Fahrenheit 451 by Kristi Hiner? Mine still says Ray Bradbury on the cover... gotta go, firemen at the door.)

Ha! Good question! I was skimming through Amazon trying to rack my brains for what I've read over the decades, saw Fahrenheit 451 and just copied the title and author. No clue why it said that. It was on somebody's Listmania.

Loved some of the ones mentioned like The Stars my Destination and most of the ones Metalface recommended (I'm currently re-reading the Foundation books which I last read about 15-20 years ago. First time I read them as originally written too

I'll add The Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (those are my favorites, but her Science Fiction is amazing). Also loved Merchanter's Luck, a very short novel by C.J. Cherryth in her Trader's universe. Anyone that likes Merchant of Venus or the old Elite games should read that one Her other books on that series are also quite good (I especially enjoyed Rimrunners).

And I just remembered a very unusual short novel from Asimov that amazed me a few years ago when I read it for the first time. The Gods Themselves. Read it, even if you don't usually enjoy Asimov. It's amazing.

metalface13 wrote:

Fahrenheit 451

Brave New World?

Other than these two I haven't read any sci-fi.

Maybe some Stanislaw Lem? Memoirs Found in a Bathtub?

'The Player of Games' or 'Use of Weapons' by Iain M Banks.
Man Plus by Frederick Pohl
'Ringworld' and 'The Mote in God's Eye' by Larry Niven
'Perdido Street Station' by China Melvielle

My wife says that everyone interested in sci-fi should read 'Mission of Gravity' by Hal Clement but this is hard to find )her father is a big nerd so she grew up with a big collection of 50's and 60's sci-fi paperbacks).

I also regard The Diamond Age as Stephenson's best work, mainly because the others felt like they were retreading very familiar territory and I hadn't read anything else looking at nanotechnology.

Also the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars).

Thanks for all these great suggestions, and thanks in advance to any other suggestions people may have!

China Miéville is awesome, but I probably wouldn't call him SF, more like weirdo fantasy. With that in mind, he's one of my favorite currently-working authors.

Another great SF book is Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep". (there's also a sequel I've never read.)

This reminds me I don't really read much SF anymore, maybe I should try to fix that.

Often overlooked:

Frank Herbert's "Destination: Void", about an attempt to create an artificial intelligence without it destroying its surroundings with "rogue consciousness".

Not Sure wrote:

China Miéville is awesome, but I probably wouldn't call him SF, more like weirdo fantasy. With that in mind, he's one of my favorite currently-working authors.

Yeah, I've only read part of "Un Lun Dun" but I'd classify him as urban fantasy like a lot of Neil Gaiman's stuff.

How do you guys feel about urban fantasy? Is it science fiction or is it fantasy? Or is it the sweet spot in the middle?

Another vote for Iain M. Banks. Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons are two of my favorite sci-fi books of all time. IMO, if you read sci-fi, at some point you must read both of these. Player of Games is a close third, but both of these are Banks at his best.

I'd echo the prior comment on Dan Simmons and the Hyperion series. Additionally, if you don't mind something with a bit more of a horror slant, Carrion Comfort (again, Dan Simmons) is a great read.

If you are in the mood for something more light, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is always entertaining.

Did someone already suggest Neuromancer?