Here are some of my favorites...
For fellow sci-fi aficionados, here's a list of some of my favorite books, mostly in no particular order (ranking any of these being a rather pointless exercise).
- Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. Ender's Shadow was also a surprisingly worthy parallel book.
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley.
- The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson.
- The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. (Though in all other cases I like Niven's solo work much better, this one stands out.)
- Stand On Zanzibar, by John Brunner. (One of the harder-to-read books ever written, but if you don't mind needing to think while you read...)
- Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons.
- Nueromancer, by William Gibson; notable as one of the principal seeds for a sub-genre.
- The Gods Themselves, by Issac Asimov (particularly sections one and two, alone); I like the best of Asimov's short stories best -- in particular, the original "Nightfall".
- Dune, by Frank Herbert (but avoid the sequels, and the movie).
- Diaspora, by Greg Egan. (Brilliant. I recommend it highly, but only to the particularly hard-core.)
... and if you are looking for classic sci-fi short stories, I recommend The Science Fiction Hall of Fame collection, edited by Silverberg, ©1970.
Some of my favorite authors who are notably missing from the above list (having in many cases more very good books, but none that quite make the top-n) include Theodore Sturgeon (who mostly wrote short stories), David Brin, H. G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and, of course, Robert Heinlein (at least, nearly anything he published before 1970). Neil Gaiman seems likely to earn his way onto the list, when I get a chance to read more of his work.
I'm always seeking recommendations on good books to read. If you want to introduce me to your favorites, get in touch...
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