Recommend me some SciFi books

Try Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination has always been a favorite, he is the grandfather of Cyberpunk.

Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash is great, I'll read anything he writes no matter how long or far afeild it is.

Richard K. Morgan is my current go to, try Altered Carbon or thirteen.
 
+1 on Dan Simmons' Hyperion Saga
+1 on John Steakley's Armor
+1 on Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination; also check out The Demolished Man
+1 on anything by Heinlein, particularly Time Enough for Love
+1 on Clifford Simak's City, but I found Way Station was better.
Just about anything by Alastair Reynolds or Iain Banks.
Stephen Baxter's Vacuum Diagrams and Raft
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is a classic, and deservedly so.
Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus has some refreshingly new ideas.
John Scalzi's Old Man's War is fast-paced, but still has some substance.
M. John Harrison's Light was an odd little number.
Richard Paul Russo's The Rosetta Codex was good, as was his cyberpunk crime series collected in Carlucci 3-in-1.
For cyberpunk, of course, William Gibson's early work is still the best.

While they're not hard SciFi, Ian McDonald's books are superb.

If you find yourself in the mood for something a little other, check out anything by China Mieville or Jeff VanderMeer.

Tim Powers is phenomenal (non-SciFi) writer whose books follow this premise: "I made it an ironclad rule that I could not change or disregard any of the recorded facts, nor rearrange any days of the calendar - and then I tried to figure out what momentous but unrecorded fact could explain them all." — Timothy Thomas Powers
I can't recommend him highly enough.

Finally, and again off the hard-SciFi path, but I feel worth mentioning is Stephen King's Dark Tower series. While it contains elements of horror, fantasy, and western it is also set largely on a world that is very much past its highly technological prime. (M. John Harrison's Viriconium takes a similar path, but tends to drag.)

Enjoy!
 
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If I can put in my 2 cents worth, anything by Arthur C. Clarke will do, even his short stories.

My personal favorites are :

The fountains of paradise
Rendezvous with Rama (not the later 2)
Childhood's end
Sands of Mars
A fall of moon dust
The city and the stars
Imperial Earth
The songs of distant Earth

Every one of these novels can be considered hard SciFi. And since you liked the first Space Odyssey novel, read 2010 and 2061 as well. Wasn't too crazy about the year 3000 version, tho.
 
Normally I don't like the fantasy stuff but I really enjoyed Anne Mccaffreys' "Dragons of Pern" series. It was balanced with a nice dose of traditional sci-fi.

Phillip Jose Farmers "Riverwold" series is another great collection. Brilliant concept and very different kind of sci-fi.

Since you're reading the Mote, don't forget the second book "The Gripping Hand". The Mote in God's Eye "Crazy Eddie" concept is great.
 
Samael said:
Chris, you're in the right place to have Rat Fink as your avatar. Did you know Ed Roth?
Click to expand...

I never got a chance to meet him, but I've always loved his cars. Hell I've always loved Hot Rods since I was about 8. Both my uncles raced on the weekends and I was always at the track.

Here are a couple of mine...The 57 was my uncles car, that picture is from 1971
 
Larry Niven's "Known Space" books were good.

Frederick Pohl had some good stuff.

Ben Bova and Jerry Pournelle had some good stuff.

David Drake, if you like "combat Sci-fi", as well as John Ringo. David Weber and his "Honor" series is in the combat vein.

Gene Wolfe has done some good stuff.

Robert Adams and his Horseclans books were good. May he rest in peace.

Heinlein was good pre-80's.
 
Lot's of good suggestions....here are mine:

David Weber start with the Honour Harrington series "On Basilisk Station"

William C. Dietz "Legion of the Damned"

John Ringo "A Hymn Before Battle"

Enjoy.....:)

Steven
 
If you like SciFi then you must read Neal Stephenson. Try Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon or Snow Crash. All really really good books, lots of action, but also lots of explanations of how the technology works and of lots of other interesting stuff. Cryptonomicon, while a fine book on it's own, is actually the prequel to 3,000 page (roughly) trilogy based in the late 16th and early 17th centuries called the Baroque Cycle.
Seriously, READ THEM!

-Chris




No, really though, do it. You'll love them. One of the main characters in Snow Crash carries a set of Samurai Swords
 
Well, if you like War based Sci Fi I definetly second, Enders Game and it's opposite Old Man's War. I found David Brins original Uplift War series to be quite good. Hell, just pick em all up and enjoy.
 
tjchung said:
My personal favorites are :
Rendezvous with Rama (not the later 2)
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I really enjoyed all of the Rama books!
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Also, if it wasn't mentioned, Larry Niven has written a few Sci Fi classics.
I think Ringworld is the most famous, but not his best, IMO
 
I enjoyed Way Station by Simak. Also his short stories like "The Marathon Photograph and other storie" are quite good.
 
I know it's one of his "Juveniles", but I love Heinlein's "Tunnel in the Sky".

Footfall and Lucifer's Hammer by Pournell and Nivens are also favorites.
 
Definitely William Gibson - the dirtier, more real side of science fiction. Start with "Neuromancer". If you like that, finish up that cycle of books - "Count Zero", "Mona Lisa Overdrive", and "Burning Chrome". If you like those, go to his second cycle - "Virtual Light", "Idoru", and "All Tomorrow's Parties". His new stuff is great too, just not science fiction - "Pattern Recognition" and "Spook Country".
 
I love Michael Crichton books my favorite is Jurassic Park followed by the Andromeda Strain. Disclosure and Sphere are good as well. Check out some of his books.
 
I recommend Stephen Donaldson's "Gap Series" as a good read.

Also, older Alan Dean Foster writings are worth looking into. I don't consider his newer stuff as good.
 
+1 for David Brin. Earth is an earlier one that is quite fun, if a little preachy.
Mainly I like Brin for the Uplift series. I'm reading through them for the 2nd time.

Orson Scott Card's: Enders Game, and Ender's Shadow.

Daniel
 
L.E. Modistt - Legroder's war
-two other space ones, a sequel and a prequel to legroders war, can't remember the name right now though
 
Just finished Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. I really enjoyed it and stayed hooked, hardly able to put it down. The plot was solid up until the ending, when I felt like it got a little rushed and kind of fizzled. Still a very entertaining read.

On to the next! Thanks for all of the great recommendations. My next book will be something from this thread.
 
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