32 Sci-Fi novels that you should add to your reading list

The Orion SF Masterworks collection is much better, exhaustive, and actually published as a series (not in the US unfortunately). Take a look lots of awesome books you may or may not have read... <a href="http://www.sfsite.com/lists/orion01.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.sfsite.com/lists/orion01.htm</a>

With all due respect, and it's a great novel, Animal Farm is not a <i>science</i> fiction.

In other words: 32 science fiction books by someone who has read most of the bestsellers in the last few years, and a few classics. Or is there some other reason that Accelerando and Spook Country are on the same list as PKD?

So why did Timeline make the list?<p>I was thinking about leaving it off because it is really, really bad for anyone who actually reads Sci-Fi. I put it on the list because despite the fact that it's almost completely unreadable because the Wal*Mart set needs their Sci-Fi too. I wanted the list to cover as broad a spectrum of sci-fi as I could without making it 100 items long.<p>I left off a lot of greats including:<p>Vernor Vinge Dan Simmons Arthur C Clarke Iain M. Banks<p>and other works by Stross and a few others<p>Why is Rand on this list? Well, besides the Bible (go figure) Atlas Shrugged is apparently the most influential book ever written. Do I agree with the whole Objectivist shtick? Not hardly but it is still worth mentioning.<p>The Giver? Like Anthem it's Sci-Fi for grade schoolers, worth mentioning because a lot of people were introduced to Sci-Fi with books like this.<p>Leave suggestions, as many as you want. If you don't see it on the list it probably would have been there if I had remembered it while I was compiling.

There are a couple odd choices on that list. I thought Timeline was pretty entertaining, but it's a typical Michael Crichton made-for-tv story and probably not worthy of such a list. I guess it sort of makes quantum physics palatable to the average joe but you could hardly say it's pushed the boundaries of the genre.<p>It's also worth mentioning that Minority Report isn't even a novel. It's a short story than spans maybe thirty pages. Still, virtually anything by Philip K. Dick could make it onto a list of the best sci-fi.<p>Anyway, there's still quite a bit of good stuff there- even the ones that aren't exactly sci-fi.<p>There was also a list of the top 100 sci-fi books that was going around on Reddit or Digg a while back that looked really good. Here's the link for anyone interested: <a href="http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html" rel="nofollow">http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books...</a>

Snow Crash is awesome. I finished it and "The Diamond Age" last week and I can vouch for them as a worthy read.

Here is a real list, shorter and MUCH higher quality: 1. The Cyberiad 2. Babel-17 3. The Stars My Destination 4. The Sheep Look Up 5. More Than Human 6. Lord of Light 7. To Your Scattered Bodies Go 8. Earth Abides 9. Dying Inside 10. City 11. Last and First Men 12. Slan 13. The World of Null-A

no greg-egan or ian-m-banks or arthur-c-clarke...what gives ?

Awesome, that had 3 books I hadn't read.<p>My list of remarkable sci-fi: <a href="http://www.reddit.com/info/72lt/comments#c735f" rel="nofollow">http://www.reddit.com/info/72lt/comments#c735f</a>

Interesting list.<p><i>Timeline</i> by Michael Crichton is only worth reading because of how it portrays history. As sci-fi or entertainment it’s horrible and it basicly assumes everyone is an stupid but it does show history far more accurately than most books.

Neuromancer is even better than I remember. I saw it at a book sale for $1 and picked it up and started re-reading it. Its awesome. Very believable - gritty and messy like real life. Great characters and just flat out virtuoso writing by Gibson.

The Andromeda Strain is really, really dated. Shouldn't be on the list.

Really, really glad to see that Down and out in the Magic Kingdom made the list!

most of those got turned into movies. Speaking of which, I'd love to see Ender's game movie but it'll probably suck since it'll be a bunch of new young actors

Where's "Dhalgren"?