First post nails it.If two books is not a dealbreaker, Hyperion + Fall of Hyperion. If you are very strict on one book alone... well, you can read Hyperion only I guess đź‘€
My girlfriend is reading some Clarke atm, and I'm kind of ashamed to say I've not read a single book of his. I watched Childhood's End the TV show, so I kind of spoiled the reveal of that one which is a shame... which one book of his stands out the most to you?Arthur C. Clarke - Earthlight, Rendezvous with Rama, Childhoods End, The Fountains of Paradise (seriously, get on Clarke if you haven't)
Poul Anderson - Tau Zero
Robert A. Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Thank you very much, noted all of these and will check them out!Let's see what I've got in my kindle here...
Legacy by Greg Bear: Interesting world where the only living creatures are entire biomes where everything living in it is just a part of the larger whole.
Fragment: Kind of a Jurassic Park-alike on an island full of ridiculously lethal and alien creatures.
Seveneves: Humanity has three years to get a self-sustaining population into orbit before the world is set on fire for 5000 years. Bleak as fuuuuuuuuck.
Anathem: I personally really enjoyed the book, but really like a good two-thirds of it are people standing in rooms debating philosophy. It goes places.
The City and the City: Not really sci-fi, but definitely the most speculative of speculative fiction. It's high concept as all hell, but it pulls it off remarkably well.
Snow Crash: OK, I haven't actually read it since high school, but I loved it.
Children of Time: Top contender for my favorite books I've read this past decade.
I thought Artemis had a really interesting idea and plot but the characterization of Jazz was soooooo bad. I feel like Weir totally missed the mark with that character and fell into so many tropes and really bad generalizations. I was almost cringing while reading it, and that is really hard to do with a book.
Most of what I can think of has been recommended already. I remember liking Foundation but im not sure how well it is as stand alone book since it's been nearly 20 years since I've read it. It has plenty of sequel books but I think I only read one other.
Guess I'll need to check out Hyperion after all the mentions here.
As the title says. I tried the Dune sequels years ago and, honestly, I like to consider the novel a single book.
I'm looking for something to read or listen to next.
I've read all Ian M Banks' Culture books, the books of Philp K Dick that I'm interested in, and a bunch more from other authors, but I know there are lots of sci-fi classics I've missed and plenty I should probably re-read.
So, if you could recommend ONE sci-fi book above all others (that wasn't written by the above two authors), which one would it be, and why?
My girlfriend is reading some Clarke atm, and I'm kind of ashamed to say I've not read a single book of his. I watched Childhood's End the TV show, so I kind of spoiled the reveal of that one which is a shame... which one book of his stands out the most to you?
Wonderful, listed, thank you very much.
Arthur C. Clarke - Earthlight, Rendezvous with Rama, Childhoods End, The Fountains of Paradise (seriously, get on Clarke if you haven't)
Poul Anderson - Tau Zero
Robert A. Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Rendezvous with Rama.
The sequels are bad, but there is no cliffhanger or anything that would make you feel like you need to read them.
If I were you I would just check out the overview of a bunch of his stuff and just pick one that appeals to you the most. Rama is about exploring an unknown alien technology, Earthlight is Moon/space settlement politics, The Fountains of Paradise is the construction of a space elevator. All good stuff.
Would second this. Another great classic, though less speculative sci-fi, is Earth Abides.Rendevouz with Rama
technically it's a series I guess but the first book wasn't written with the intention to be serialized so it's just a standalone story
I just don't want to be drawn into a long series, and I will be drawn in if I like the first book... I can't help it. And too many series drop off in quality, or have mid series slumps you have to wade though. Not really interested in that atm.Your no-sequels rule is silly, and I shall disregard it.
Read Isaac Asimov's Foundation. If you get to the end of that and don't want more, you should stop reading that series, then stop reading scifi altogether.
Really looking for sci-fi only atm, kind of on a kick.While not pure sci-fi, Kurt Vonnegut uses a lot of sci-fi elements in his work. Slaughterhouse-Five is my favorite book by a wide margin and I typically don't like fiction. Cat's Cradle is another good one.
Those are so cool, if you like old sci fi book covers you should really check out this awesome set of postcards. I own it and have a bunch of them on my wall.May I recommend The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe? This is only one novel, I just thought this image showed all the cool cover arts.
If that is cheating (as it is a collection of 3 inter-related Novellas), you could also give Peace a try.
I will recommend essentially Wolfe's entire bibliography, specifically Book of the New Sun. However, if you want to test his prose before you dive in, Fifth Head is a fantastic place to start.
I struggled mightily with this book. I got a quarter of the way through before stopping. I was intrigued by the premise but it is definitely hard sci-fi.
This one.The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin is pretty incredible. It's part of a bigger universe but it's a single-book story.
I just read it a couple months ago and I would say it only gets really interesting and compelling in the back half. But i did enjoy it.I struggled mightily with this book. I got a quarter of the way through before stopping. I was intrigued by the premise but it is definitely hard sci-fi.
Those are so cool, if you like old sci fi book covers you should really check out this awesome set of postcards. I own it and have a bunch of them on my wall.
OP said they were well versed in PKD, or else I would have listed a dozen and been yelled at for making too big of a list.
But yes, if anyone else reading this thread is also looking for good one-off sci-fi, Philip K Dick has plenty and Ubik is a great one to start with.
Those are so cool, if you like old sci fi book covers you should really check out this awesome set of postcards. I own it and have a bunch of them on my wall.