Since Mary Shelley published 'Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus' in the early part of the nineteenth century, there's been an awful lot of sci-fi written. Which books do you recommend I should steer well clear of and why?
Inherit the Stars by James Hogan<p>Like a lot of people, by the time I got to the end of the book, I just wanted to fling it across the room.<p>-----Here be spoilers--------<p>The entire premise of the book is that humans evolved on a planet called Minerva, which was in an orbit somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. The humans were descended from hominids brought over by space aliens millions of years ago. Some 50,000 years ago, these people had a war and blew it all up, leaving Minerva completely destroyed. The remains of Minerva become what is now the Asteroid Belt.<p>When Minerva was destroyed, its moon, having a colony of humans, somehow made its way to Earth and settled into an orbit around it. This moon is the Moon we see in the sky at night.<p>Never mind that millions of years of evolution has made life on Earth adapted to a moon that causes tides and shines brightly at night. Hogan's plot needs for us to have a moon that has only been around for 50,000 years!<p>-----------End spoilers------
Probably anything by L Ron Hubbard. To be fair I haven't read anything by him but if his religion is anything to go by the books are probably beyond insipid.
I'm probably the odd man out on this one, but I've honestly not read many, if any, sci-fi books. I've always been more interested in non fiction and realistic fiction, although I do get in to a bit of fantasy as well.<p>I thought I'd give it a go, though, and the copy of Crypotnomicon I ordered last week should be here soon.