Sci-Fi Books Everyone Should Read!
The last few weeks we've been consumed by the idea of creating a "must read" list of science fiction. Though we doubted it was even possible to capture all the must read titles in a short and tidy list (spoiler alert: it's not) we gave it a shot and thousands of you in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group lent a helping hand by way of both votes in our poll and—just as importantly— suggestions in the comments.
In this way, the resulting list became something of a co-creation: an amalgamation of a number of the top choices in the poll, as well as some of the titles mentioned in the comments as being glaring omissions. There are also a couple of instances where we swapped the title by an author presented in the poll for a different one even though the original suggestion received a high percentage of votes. This choice was also based on feedback from you, dear readers.
Is the list we present to you today a definitive one? Definitely not. Is it chockfull to bursting with must reads? Hell yeah! So without further ado, ready your pen and paper to note those you want to add to your TBR and scroll down read on!
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Filby became pensive. "Clearly," the Time Traveller proceeded, "any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and—Duration. But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives."
Read The Time Machine here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story’s protagonist. Huxley followed this book with a reassessment in essay form, Brave New World Revisited (1958), and with his final novel, Island (1962). In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Brave New World at number 5 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Read Brave New World here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook
1984 by George Orwell
In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.
Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s novel remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power.
Get your copy of 1984 here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Foundation by Issac Asimov
Read Foundation here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 by L. Ron Hubbard
Sadistic Aliens...
...Man is an endangered species.
Is it the end of the world or the rebirth of a new one?
NASA launched the space probe Voyager 1. One of its missions: answer the question—is there intelligent life beyond our planet?Fast-forward a thousand years. Question answered … by the Psychlos, an alien race who’ve proven just how terrifying intelligent life can be. Tracing Voyager 1 back to its origins, the Psychlos have scorched the Earth, all but wiped out the human race and stripped the planet of its natural resources.
Now, in the year 3000, humankind faces total extinction. But in this post-apocalyptic world, as a new millennium arises, so too has the courageous Jonnie Goodboy Tyler. A natural-born leader, Jonnie manages to raise an army out of the remnants of humanity, knowing that against the seemingly invincible aliens, the uprising will require a daring strike on an epic scale.
Is it the end of our world … or the dawn of a new one? Will the human race be an instrument of the planet’s destruction … or the seed of its rebirth?
Grab Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Bradbury's Mars is a place of hope, dreams and metaphor-of crystal pillars and fossil seas-where a fine dust settles on the great, empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn -first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow. The Earthman conquers Mars ... and then is conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race.
Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is a classic work of twentieth-century literature whose extraordinary power and imagination remain undimmed by time's passage. In connected, chronological stories, a true grandmaster once again enthralls, delights and challenges us with his vision and his heart-starkly and stunningly exposing in brilliant spacelight our strength, our weakness, our folly, and our poignant humanity on a strange and breathtaking world where humanity does not belong.
Grab The Martian Chronicles here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a true landmark of twentieth-century literature -- a chilling and still-provocative look at a post-apocalyptic future.
In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes. Seriously funny, stunning, and tragic, eternally fresh, imaginative, and altogether remarkable, A Canticle for Leibowitz retains its ability to enthrall and amaze. It is now, as it always has been, a masterpiece.
Get your copy of A Canticle for Leibowitz in paperback here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Dune by Frank Herbert
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for....
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.
A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.
Dive into Dune here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other.
This allegory about humanity’s exploration of the universe—and the universe’s reaction to humanity—is a hallmark achievement in storytelling that follows the crew of the spacecraft Discovery as they embark on a mission to Saturn. Their vessel is controlled by HAL 9000, an artificially intelligent supercomputer capable of the highest level of cognitive functioning that rivals—and perhaps threatens—the human mind.
Dive into 2001: A Space Odyssey here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Widely acknowledged as one of Robert A. Heinlein's greatest works, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress rose from the golden age of science fiction to become an undisputed classic—and a touchstone for the philosophy of personal responsibility and political freedom. A revolution on a lunar penal colony—aided by a self-aware supercomputer—provides the framework for a story of a diverse group of men and women grappling with the ever-changing definitions of humanity, technology, and free will—themes that resonate just as strongly today as they did when the novel was first published.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress gives readers an extraordinary, thought-provoking glimpse into the mind of Robert A. Heinlein, who, even now, “shows us where the future is” (Tom Clancy).
Get your copy of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god.
A holy war rages across the heavens and mankind’s fate hangs in the balance.
Start reading Lord of Light here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
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Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep
By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any living creature, and for people who can’t afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. They’ve even built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth. Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings, undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is commissioned to find rogue androids and “retire” them. But when cornered, androids fight back—with lethal force.
Grab Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants’ gender is fluid. His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters...
Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.
Grab The Left Hand of Darkness here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Louis Wu, accompanied by a young woman with genes for luck, and a captured kzin – a warlike species resembling 8-foot-tall cats -- are taken on a space ship run by a brilliant 2-headed alien called Nessus. Their destination is the Ringworld, an artificially constructed ring with high walls that hold 3 million times the area of Earth. Its origins are shrouded in mystery.
The adventures of Louis and his companions on the Ringworld are unforgettable . . .
Grab Ringworld here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Conscripted into service for the United Nations Exploratory Force, a highly trained unit built for revenge, physics student William Mandella fights for his planet light years away against the alien force known as the Taurans. “Mandella’s attempt to survive and remain human in the face of an absurd, almost endless war is harrowing, hilarious, heartbreaking, and true,” says Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Junot Díaz—and because of the relative passage of time when one travels at incredibly high speed, the Earth Mandella returns to after his two-year experience has progressed decades and is foreign to him in disturbing ways.
Based in part on the author’s experiences in Vietnam, The Forever War is regarded as one of the greatest military science fiction novels ever written, capturing the alienation that servicemen and women experience even now upon returning home from battle. It shines a light not only on the culture of the 1970s in which it was written, but also on our potential future. “To say that The Forever War is the best science fiction war novel ever written is to damn it with faint praise. It is . . . as fine and woundingly genuine a war story as any I’ve read” (William Gibson).
Grab The Forever War here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The united 'Second Empire of Man' spans vast distances, due to the Alderson Drive which has enabled humans to travel easily between the stars. After an alien probe is discovered, the Navy dispatches two ships to determine whether the aliens pose a threat… Called by Robert A. Heinlein: "Possibly the greatest science fiction novel ever written," this magnificent exploration of first contact and a truly alien society is a "must read" for science fiction fans.
Grab The Mote in God's Eye here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Startide Rising by David Brin
New York Times best-selling author David Brin's novels stretch the imagination while providing action and thrills galore. Packed with exotic aliens and ancient mysteries, Startide Rising delivers breath-taking adventure in the grandest tradition of space opera.
Grab Startide Rising here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.
Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.
Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.
Grab Ender's Game here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton
The year is 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars, contains more than six hundred worlds interconnected by a web of transport “tunnels” known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: over one thousand light-years away, a star . . . disappears. Since the location is too distant to reach by wormhole, the Second Chance, a faster-than-light starship commanded by Wilson Kime, a five-times-rejuvenated ex-NASA pilot, is dispatched to learn what has occurred and whether it represents a threat.
Opposed to the mission are the Guardians of Selfhood, led by Bradley Johansson. Shortly after the journey begins, Kime wonders if the crew of the Second Chance has been infiltrated. But soon enough he will have other worries. Halfway across the galaxy, something truly incredible is waiting: a deadly discovery whose unleashing will threaten to destroy the Commonwealth . . . and humanity itself.
Grab Pandora's Star here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.
Grab The Three Body Problem here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.
Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.
Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.
Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.
Grab Leviathan Wakes here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
Grab Project Hail Mary here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
How many of these must read sci-fi books have you already read? Which ones will make their way into your (e)bookshelf or into your ears? Have a personal favorite that didn't appear on our list? Give it a shout out in the comments here, or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group!
*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.
What about Starship Troopers?
I dunno, I think The moon is a harsh mistress is one of his best, but I am surprized I didn’t see stranger in a strange land
I have read all these books all excellent authors
What about ‘ DAY OF THE DRONES’?
Or ‘A CHILDHOODS END’?
Wonderful list and most of them are true classics and I’ve read almost all of them 😀
I’ve read all but 3 on your list. Great choices, but you should include “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Heinlein.
AND Methuselah’s Children / Time Enough for Love. Got to love Lazarus.
How about “Catseye” by Andre Norton.
Totally agree with “Stranger in a Strange Land” and “Starship Troopers” being on the list too.
What? No Martha Wells? No Ann Leckie? Nnedi Okorafor?
At least you included Le Guin.
Exactly what I was thinking! And no Becky Chambers 🙁
Heh,
The only one I don’t have is Weir’s, the last one. I got “The Martian” from Smashwords site when it was free…
Some excellent choices by some excellent authors.
I’d add the Heinlein suggested & others. Forming a science fiction Zoom group out of New York. Everyone welcome. Send me an email.
I see all these lists all the time, for both fantasy and science fiction. It just seems like Tanneth Lee is ignored. I feel like “The Silver Metal Lover” or “Sabella” should be here… Maybe it’s just that there is an overtly sexualization of sci-fi and fantasy in her books? But the fact is that she was an amazing and influential writer. Her fantasy series on the masters is not just amazing, but prescient as well. She was the first one to anthropomorphize. Great forces like love and death with any success. I feel like Neil Gaiman owes his whole career to her in some way. And yet she gets almost no attention…
Neil Gaiman’s major influence and (sometimes direct) inspiration was Diana Wynne Jones. He said so himself.
Tanith Lee is (was) a great writer, definitely.
Not one mention of the Grand Dame of science fiction: Octavia Butler?
The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin?
The Gunslinger by Stephen King?
All these lists are always the same. It’s not hard to find them and many people have read them all.
How about Phillip K. Dick? In my humble opinion the greatest science fiction writer of them all. He explored profound issues in an absurd way; issues such as: what is real, what constitutes being human, and he had an incisive understanding of human nature. He didn’t write “Buck Rogers” novels. “Flow My Tears The Policeman Said” would be particularly relevant in the present time of woke culture and people being cancelled.
He’s in there.
I agree wholeheartedly with each of these – but I think you need to add Neuromancer to this list.
This list has some serious gaps!
SF has a long history of women authors. Arguably the first SF novel, Frankenstein, was written by a woman. At least you got Le Guin, but come on! What about:
Octavia Butler
Margaret Atwood
NK Jemsin
Nnedi Orkorafor
Mary Shelley
Ada Palmer
Arkady Martine
Alice Sheldon (aka: James Tiptree Jr.)
Martha Wells
Tanith Lee
…
And what about these authors?
Neal Stephenson
Kim Stanley Robinson
JG Ballard
Ian M. Banks
Harlan Ellison
Samuel Delany
William Gibson
Dan Simmons
Alan Watts
Tade Thompson
Charles Stross
The Strugatsky Brothers
Stanislaw Lem
Maybe retitle this as “Sci-Fi books that (mostly) don’t deviate from the Hard-Sci-fi Space-Opera trope”?
Don’t get me wrong – I have read nearly all of these, plus most of the other books by these authors, and many of them are great books, but this list has such a narrow scope of what Sci-Fi is.
It should be noted that most of the authors on the list created the “tropes”.
Msking your own list is an option
Thats ok, the list i saw yesterday, had no men….
I would add more Philip K. Dick, esp The Man in the High Castle (AND the tv show)
One woman in the whole list? Really? All the best scifi is by women.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Julian May
Diana Wynne Jones
Diane Duane
Ann Leckie
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Rosemary Kirstein
Martha Wells
etc
… and that’s not including the many outstanding women fantasy writers.
Calm down, the list i reviewed yesterday, had no men at all yet no one making comments whined about it
These lists always lack in some way – mainly because there are so many great sci-fi stories that unearth profound truths of contemporary existence. I personally would’ve liked to see Last And First Men, or Gateway mentioned; but they’re not for everyone I guess. That said: Weir’s ‘Hail Mary’s is one of the worst most derivative space survival stories ever, and quite out of place on this list in that it’s the only one that does not even attempt to lift the lid of the human condition and peek inside – a disappointing addition to this list of classics.
Your all missing C J Cherryh.
So… 1 (one) woman?
“Solaris” by S.Lem is missing.
Wow. White men’s SF. A tiny nod to Ursula. Maybe expand your reading to include women and people of color.
Slan by AEVanVogt
I really liked the weapon shops of Isherwood by A. E. Van Vogt.
Isher
Orwells 1984 and Huxleys, A Brave New World were meant to be stories, not blueprints for the WEF
For influential E E Doc Smith’s Lensmen series should be included…I dare say George Lucas got inspiration for Star Wars there…a personal favorite, Shockwave Rider by John Brunner, is Huxley n Orwell lite updated. Read most but not all, that’s what I like about these, new authors to explore.
How about a list of best humorous Sci-Fi book? POHLS Venus Merchants War as an example…ironic…The Mutant Plastic Eaters, might actually be happening now, lol (might not be full title, read it in junior high 50+ years ago)…
Love sci-fi humor, Hitchhiker’s, Vorkosigan saga, Robert Aspirin, Boyd, murderbot…
My two favorite sci-fi novels are
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.
I’ve read 13, own a couple more as yet unread, and am putting the rest in my TBR list…assuming that stack of books on my nightstand doesn’t fall and kill me in my sleep LOL
OTOH I have read many more over the years, from many brilliant authors – both men and women – who didn’t make this brief and therefore limited list. Sure, I see flagrant gaps both in quality and other qualifications, but all things considered at least it was a pleasant reminder of reads past.
Not a bad list but missing my personal favorite Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Good selection for those who don’t read much sci-fi. It might Kickstart some to do so.For the rest if us it’s hard to pick a few ..but classics are needed to be read. Remember,, Sci-fi is the freest for of literature,made illegal by police states, because the protagonist is the Idea.
I’m impressed this writer remembered David Brin, but what about Samuel Delaney?? Clifford D. Simak??? C. J. CHERRYH!!! And what about Alan Dean Foater?? Kurt Vonnoget??
Unfortunately, there are too many excellent writers,and any list under 100 best, will be lacking …
But, hey, that’s just my opinion- and we all know what opinions are like!
Everyone– have a beautiful day! I’m outcha!!
Where’s Jack Finney’s Time and Again? Pick at least one (or several) of Harlan Ellison’s short story collections. Spider Robinson’s Callahan series? All of the books on the list are great, but these articles reference the same books over and over again.
Glad so many people here saw how cut&paste and sooooo 1990 this list is. Feels like clickbait. Feel like buying the murderbot diary or ancillary justice series again just out of spite
Several years ago, I compiled a bunch of “Top 100” SF&F lists to come up with a composite list. Nearly all of these were in the top 30 or so. Yes, there are omissions, but it’s consistent with the composite. For my part, Hail Mary was ok, but has no business with these others. How about lesser-known classics, such as On The Beach by Nevil Shute, The Drowned World by JG Ballard, The Voyage of the Space Beagle by AE van Vogt?