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[SuperEpicMan]

The other day I was looking for a book to read and found a really cool sounding book called Inverted World. Turns out this book is part of a collection of sci-fi books all of which are deemed by many as being the best sci-fi books ever written. This inspired me to make a thread so that people can get inspiration for what to read if they are looking for their next favourite book.

Anyway, here are the books from the current run:

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

Spoiler

Tells the story of soldiers fighting an interstellar war between Man and the Taurans.

I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

Spoiler

Story about Robert Neville who is the apparent sole survivor of a pandemic whose symptoms resemble vampirism.

Cities in Flight - James Blish

Spoiler

A series of stories about cities which are able to fly through space.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick

Spoiler

Story about Richard Decker who is faced with tracking down 6 androids.

The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

Spoiler

In the 25th century, "jaunting" – personal teleportation – has so upset the social and economic balance that the Inner Planets are at war with the Outer Satellites.

Babel-17 - Samuel R. Delany

Spoiler

During an interstellar war one side develops a language, Babel-17, that can be used as a weapon.

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

Spoiler

Inspired by the Hindu religion. The story takes place on a planet where a colony of humans have evolved through the use of chemical treatments to almost immortal beings which have adopted a type of cast system.

The Fifth Head of Cerberus - Gene Wolfe

Spoiler

The title story is in the form of a biographical study, the narrator of which looks back on his boyhood and youth on the planet of Sainte Croix, and the events which led to his long, harsh incarceration, and eventual freedom.

Gateway - Frederik Pohl

Spoiler

Gateway is a space station built into a hollow asteroid (or perhaps the dead heart of a comet) constructed by the Heechee, a long-vanished alien race. Humans have had limited success understanding Heechee technology found there and elsewhere in the solar system.

The Rediscovery of Man - Cordwainer Smith

Spoiler

A collection of stories set in a universe featuring the re-introduction of chance and unhappiness into the sterile utopia that they had created for humanity.

Inverted World - Christopher Priest

Spoiler

About a city which forever moving along a huge series of rail tracks and the mysterious world it moves within.

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke

The Island of Doctor Moreau - H. G. Wells

Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delany

The Time Machine - H. G. Wells

Helliconia - Brian Aldiss

The Food of the Gods - H. G. Wells

The Body Snatchers - Jack Finney

The Female Man - Joanna Russ

Arslan - M. J. Engh

The Difference Engine - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

The Prestige - Christopher Priest

Greybeard - Brian Aldiss

Sirius - Olaf Stapledon

Hyperion - Dan Simmons

City - Clifford D. Simak

Hellstrom's Hive - Frank Herbert

Of Men and Monsters - William Tenn

R.U.R. and War with the Newts - Karel Čapek

The Affirmation - Christopher Priest

Floating Worlds - Cecelia Holland

Rogue Moon - Algis Budrys

Dangerous Visions - Harlan Ellison

Odd John - Olaf Stapledon

The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells

Synners - Pat Cadigan

Sarah Canary - Karen Joy Fowler

Ammonite - Nicola Griffith

The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe - D. G. Compton

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban

Doomsday Book - Connie Willis

Unquenchable Fire - Rachel Pollack

The Caltraps of Time - David I. Masson

Engine Summer - John Crowley

Take Back Plenty - Colin Greenland

Slow River - Nicola Griffith

The Gate to Women's Country - Sheri S. Tepper

The Sea and Summer - George Turner

The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells

A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller

Wasp - Eric Frank Russell

To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis

The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov

This Is the Way the World Ends - James Morrow

The First Men in the Moon - H. G. Wells

The Deep - John Crowley

Time is the Fire: The Best of Connie Willis - Connie Willis

No Enemy But Time - Michael Bishop

Double Star - Robert A. Heinlein

Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds

Random Acts of Senseless Violence - Jack Womack

Transfigurations - Michael Bishop

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams

The Door Into Summer - Robert A. Heinlein

Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams

Dr. Bloodmoney - Philip K. Dick

Half Past Human - T. J. Bass

The Long Tomorrow - Leigh Brackett

The Godwhale - T. J. Bass

Jem - Frederik Pohl

The Shrinking Man - Richard Matheson

A Case of Conscience - James Blish

Her Smoke Rose Up Forever - James Tiptree, Jr

Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner

Mission of Gravity - Hal Clement

The Word for World Is Forest - Ursula K. Le Guin

Downward to the Earth - Robert Silverberg

Hard to Be a God - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Night Lamp - Jack Vance

Life During Wartime - Lucius Shepard

Nova - Samuel R. Delany

Monday Begins on Saturday - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

*I will be updating the OT with links and descriptions of the books as I can.

 

[SuperEpicMan]

reserved for more stuff if needed

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

There's a corresponding fantasy one with stuff like conan, dragon waiting & anubis gate

 

[SocksAndShoes]

Wow, there are no Culture Series books on that list? That's a damn shame. It's one of the best sci-fi series of all time.

 

[SuperEpicMan]

So far I have been really enjoying Inverted World, it does a pretty good job of drip feeding you weird information about what is going on, so that you are constantly trying to think of how it will end.

It would make a great movie if someone like Alex Proyas or even Chris Nolan were to direct it.

 

[BorkBork]

The Full List

Out of the OP's list, I think Cat's Cradle and Her Smoke Rose Up Forever are probably my favourites. But there are a lot of books I haven't read.