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What's the best science fiction book you've ever read?

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the night's dawn trilogy by peter f hamilton was great, but dune takes the cake with hyperion by dan simmons a close second.

Woops. forgot about the culture series. player of games was a good book.
 
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Hey guys. So I need some advice. This thread has me interested in picking up a good sci-fi novel to read. Here's the thing. I don't read books all that often because I get side tracked easily or lose interest if the story doesn't pull me in quickly enough.

Anyway, as someone who gets distracted easily and loses interest I need something gripping to suck me in right away. A friend of mine recommended "Slaughterhouse-Five". That is apparently his favorite sci-fi. But what do you guys think? Should I dive into that book or try something recommended in this thread? What books out of all the favorites in here would have a good chance of reeling me right in? Thanks!
 
The Yiddish Policemen's Union won both a Hugo and Nebula award - so I guess critics deem it Sci-fi. To me it was just a noir story. But if that counts, YPU by a country mile.
 
Leatherface said:
Hey guys. So I need some advice. This thread has me interested in picking up a good sci-fi novel to read. Here's the thing. I don't read books all that often because I get side tracked easily or lose interest if the story doesn't pull me in quickly enough.

Anyway, as someone who gets distracted easily and loses interest I need something gripping to suck me in right away. A friend of mine recommended "Slaughterhouse-Five". That is apparently his favorite sci-fi. But what do you guys think? Should I dive into that book or try something recommended in this thread? What books out of all the favorites in here would have a good chance of reeling me right in? Thanks!
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Short story collection, which is pretty good for what you want. The advantage of the short story form is that the author is obligated to grab you right away, and that you don't need to pay attention for long.
 
Haly said:
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Short story collection, which is pretty good for what you want. The advantage of the short story form is that the author is obligated to grab you right away, and that you don't need to pay attention for long.
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Came here to recommend this book.
 
Haly said:
stories-of-your-life-and-others.jpg


Short story collection, which is pretty good for what you want. The advantage of the short story form is that the author is obligated to grab you right away, and that you don't need to pay attention for long.
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Thanks Haly. I think this is right up my alley right now. Thank you! I'll report back after I read some of it. :)
 
Macmanus said:
The Yiddish Policemen's Union won both a Hugo and Nebula award - so I guess critics deem it Sci-fi. To me it was just a noir story. But if that counts, YPU by a country mile.
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I debated mentioning that book since this thread was made way back when. I'm so glad to hear the sci-fi king maker's have approved it.

One of the best!
 
The Dunwich Horror, or any of Lovecraft's short stories for that matter.
The-Dunwich-Horror1.jpg


Note: Almost definitely not the original cover art of the book, or even book cover art at all.
 
The Dragon in the Sword by Michael Moorcock.



It involves dimension travel to steal the holy grail back from Adolph Hitler and things even more fantastic.
 
Hard to name one, but I think in terms of premise I'd probably go with 'Do androids dream of electric sheep' by Phil.K.Dick which of course was the book the film 'Blade runner' was based on. Albeit the central story line is the same (Guy hunts rogue replicants) there's a lot more to the book in terms of making you as the reader question the nature of the reality as presented through the protagonists eyes. Dick (likely as a resultant of his excessive speed habit) was just able to push his creativity beyond the frame of the conventional, and take you with him into this new foreboding place of personal uncertainty, and make you think about what it is (and what it's worth) to be alive, sentient and human.
 
I'm currently reading Hyperion for the first time I'm really digging it 55 pages in but now that I've read what kind of stupid right wing garbage Simmons has spread in one of his recent books "Flashback", I'm not sure if I feel like reading on anymore. :( I'm really, really stupid in that regard.

Please tell me, that I'm being irrational. My joy for the book has already decreased despite the storyline being pretty consistently good purely due to him probably being a Glenn Beck supporter. I just can't get my head off of that.
 
Imp the Dimp said:
I'm currently reading Hyperion for the first time I'm really digging it 55 pages in but now that I've read what kind of stupid right wing garbage Simmons has spread in one of his recent books "Flashback", I'm not sure if I feel like reading on anymore. :( I'm really, really stupid in that regard.

Please tell me, that I'm being irrational. My joy for the book has already decreased despite the storyline being pretty consistently good purely due to him probably being a Glenn Beck supporter. I just can't get my head off of that.
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Always divorce the author's personal life from their work.
 
For something a bit less grand in themes but has some of the best characters ever written, I'd say pretty much anything from Lois McMaster Bujold. All her stories are self contained, at least her sci-fi stories. I've given her so many recommendations on GAF. Quite a few Hugo Awards and nominations.

Of course Ender's Game has got to be up there.

Some other authors I like are David Brin especially Sundiver. Vernor Vinge and A Fire upon the Deep. Jeffrey Carver and the Chaos Chronicles.

From these recommendations you can tell I tend to like less thematic and moe character forcused Sci-fi.
 
Imp the Dimp said:
I'm currently reading Hyperion for the first time I'm really digging it 55 pages in but now that I've read what kind of stupid right wing garbage Simmons has spread in one of his recent books "Flashback", I'm not sure if I feel like reading on anymore. :( I'm really, really stupid in that regard.
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I got the suspicion that Simmons drank the neo-con kool-aid after 9/11.

It's been a while since I read Hyperion but isn't one of the protagonists (the dude whose purposes is to fight against the Shrike through time and space) a palestinian Muslim, or have I massively misremembered that part? Fairly certain he was arabic though. However Ilium/Olympos features one of the most offensively obnoxious anti-muslim tirades I've ever come across in a book and it comes completely out of left-field as well.

So, you're fine to continue reading Hyperion but be warned that Ilium and Olympos may well seriously piss you off.

As for me, the best science fiction book I've ever read? Either Stand on Zanzibar or Stranger In A Strange Land.
 
Ninja Beagle said:
Dune
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Should have been first post. Sooo good.

Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku! said:
The original Foundation series is the best but that's more than one book and the first Foundation book was the weakest IMO.

Best single book is Stranger in a Strange Land.
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I feel that the latter books in the Foundations series (beyond the original 3) retroactively made it worse (much like the Star Wars prequels).

Mild Foundation spoilers:
Hari Seldon martial artist?
Mind powers are something you're born with, no trained in, no given by the robots...

It's a big hazy since I read them so long ago, but I remember them being just terrible.
 
SquiddyCracker said:
I actually didn't like it because it turned the AIs, these beings that are so much more intelligent and superiour to the pleb humans, into such fragile and flawed beings.
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They do have their personalities and quirks and yes, I find it a little odd that they can be so petty, but it's hard to say what makes them really tick. You would think they would be purely logical but they have personalities so their logic can be flawed somewhat. It's hard to say.

Anyway, look at Skaffen-Amtiskaw from Use of Weapons. He's a mean,sarcastic drone with a violent streak a mile long. Why? How? Also, in Player of Games they show that sometimes AIs end up with personalities that are simply dangerous. I like that concept; that an all-powerful computer sometimes ends up just plain fucked up.

Besides, "Meatfucker" is such an awesome nickname for a ship that I won't complain.
 
When thinking sci-fi I really liked, I always think of this first

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and then a lot of Neal Stephenson books
 
Whichever member posted the giant flowchart image; thankyou.

I now have a nice selection of books to read through. Starting with Starship Troopers.
 
The Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem (sometimes translated as Memoirs of a Space Traveller, with second volume that includes other short stories with the same character) .
Great selection of short stories by the greatest Polish SF writer, that are sometimes funny, sometimes thought provoking, but always really interesting. Lem used a lot of novel ideas and set-ups, and the book starts with probably the best ever use of time-travel and multiple copies of the same universe, with hillarious results.

Other story, from the second volume, are about our hero meeteng a scientist trying to explain the universe by making a new, fake one. But the artificial, computer people he made, that are living in his universe, don't know that they don't exist outside of his lab, and glitches inside their world are problem with their creators machine. This made the scientist question his own existence, our own world, and the whole idea of God.

Other stories deal with flawed ideas of evolution, planets full of robots, a pastiche of enviromental pamphlets called Save the Cosmos, ideas of transhumanism and many more topics. All of those stories are just fantastic.

My favourite western book was Hyperion. I really liked Dune, but the later books kinda ruined the series for me.
 
Read Ted Chiang thanks to this thread, fantastically(heh) good stuff. Have not read such a thought provoking SF since Stanislaw Lem.
 
So I just finished Hyperion and while I loved some stories, I found myself somewhat bored by others. The ending was quite powerful however so that I immediately bought the Kindle version of Fall of Hyperion. Is this book more of a consistent page turner than Hyperion? I'll start reading it soon I suppose.
 
This thread got me to start reading the Book of the New Sun tetralogy. Two thirds into the second book, I have to say I appreciate the recommendation.
 
Book of the new sun....it was simply captivating, the world be creates is simply unmatched. I don't think any book in my adult life has awakened such interest and curiosity.

Be warned, the book doesn't always provide answers but the questions presented are so fascinating, it's worth reading anyway.
 
Might've been mentioned already, but William Gibson delivers a pretty cerebral vision in near poetic fashion. I started with Idoru years ago, check out his work.
 
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