Gacked from many people, primarily
It’s an interesting list, maybe not of the “best” books (whatever
that means, and however you might quantify “best”), but certainly of
influential titles. I haven’t given the read/not read/partly
read/never heard of classification that other people have. Instead,
suggested in part by
with a “*” those books which I rate especially highly, and often which
I have two copies of – one for me, and one to lend. Conversely, books
that I read and disliked enough to never want to read again are marked
with a “-“.
- Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
- Foundation, by Isaac Asimov
- Dune, by Frank Herbert
- * Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick
- Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein
- Valis, by Philip K. Dick
- Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
- Gateway, by Frederick Pohl
- * Space Merchants, by C.M. Kornbluth & Frederick Pohl
- Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart
- Cuckoo’s Egg, by C.J. Cherryh
- Star Surgeon, by James White
- The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, by Philip K. Dick
- Radix, by A.A. Attanasio
- 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
- Ringworld, by Larry Niven
- * A Case of Conscience, by James Blish
- Last and First Man, by Olaf Stapledon
- * The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham
- Way Station, by Clifford Simak (why not “City”, which I feel is a great book?)
- More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon
- Gray Lensman, by E.E. “Doc” Smith
- The Gods Themselves, by Isaac Asimov
- * The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Behold the Man, by Michael Moorcock
- Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon
- The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne
- Heritage of Hastur, by Marion Zimmer Bradley (I have read most of the Darkover series, which rock)
- The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
- The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester
- Slan, by A.E. Van Vogt
- * Neuromancer, by William Gibson
- Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
- In Conquest Born, by C.S. Friedman
- Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny
- – Eon, by Greg Bear
- Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
- Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne
- Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
- – Cosm, by Gregory Benford
- The Voyage of the Space Beagle, by A.E. Van Vogt
- Blood Music, by Greg Bear
- Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress
- Omnivore, by Piers Anthony
- I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
- Mission of Gravity, by Hal Clement
- To Your Scattered Bodies Go, by Philip Jose Farmer
- * Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- The Man Who Folded Himself, by David Gerrold
- 1984, by George Orwell
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
- Flesh, by Philip Jose Farmer
- Cities in Flight, by James Blish
- * Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe
- Startide Rising, by David Brin
- Triton, by Samuel R. Delany
- * Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner
- A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
- A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter Miller
- Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
- No Blade of Grass, by John Christopher
- The Postman, by David Brin
- Dhalgren, by Samuel Delany
- Berserker, by Fred Saberhagen
- Flatland, by Edwin Abbot
- Planiverse, by A.K. Dewdney
- Dragon’s Egg, by Robert L. Forward
- Downbelow Station, by C.J. Cherryh
- Dawn, by Octavia E. Butler
- Puppet Masters, by Robert Heinlein
- The Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
- Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
- Deathbird Stories, by Harlan Ellison
- Roadside Picnic, by Boris Strugatsky & Arkady Strugatsky
- The Snow Queen, by Joan Vinge
- The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
- Drowned World, by J.G. Ballard
- Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
- Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Upanishads, by Various
- Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
- The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham
- Mutant, by Henry Kuttner
- Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
- Ralph 124C41+, by Hugo Gernsback
- I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
- Timescape, by Gregory Benford
- * The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
- War with the Newts, by Karl Kapek
- – Mars, by Ben Bova
- Brain Wave, by Poul Anderson
- Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
- The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton
- Camp Concentration, by Thomas Disch
- A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
On a related note, went to see I, Robot last night with
Les and Dave last night. It would appear that while I overestimated
the angular velocity of the esteemed Dr. A, he’s probably still
spinning at a steady 33 1/3 rpm. It didn’t help that I managed to work
out both whodunnits (who killed Alfred Lanning, and who is controlling
the NS-5s) within the first fifteen minutes. Anyway, the film has some
nice action sequences, and aside from some clunky exposition
(Calvin: The first law says that a robot may not harm a human, or
by inaction allow a human to come to harm. Detective: Yes, but the
second law says that a robot must obey the orders given it by a
human. Calvin: That would conflict with the first law. (etc)),
the dialogue was fine. Will Smith turned in an atypically straight
role – I couldn’t work out if he’s trying to be the new Laurence
Fishburn or the new Wesley Snipes.
The film had excellent art direction (apart from the “evil robots
have glowing red chest plates” schtick), so it was quite similar to
Minority Report (looks right, moves right, but bears no
resemblance to the story it’s adapting), expect for the fact that I
liked this and hated Minority Report.
Also saw the trailer for Alien vs. Predator, which really
does look dire – even worse than Alien 4. Might go and see it on
Friday with some colleagues, since they’re quite keen on seeing
it. Might still be a good popcorn film, I suppose…