Looking for a good science fiction book.

[RandySF]

And by book, I mean BOOK. I don't read from screens. Any suggestions?

[ret5hd]

1. The Truth Machine

i forget the author

[annabanana]

2. The Time Cellar by our own DFW!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018729663

[Lochloosa]

3. The Foundation Trilogy. Asimov

[antiquie]

4. The Last Policeman Trilogy by Ben H. Winters.

I agree with annabanana about The Time Cellar. I just reread it after six months and found more things to like about it. I like all kinds of SF, any specific genre?

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. What type of Science fiction?

and you might find this helpful:
http://www.isfdb.org/

My sons ( in their 40's) are pushing me to read Neal Stephenson's works.

[sharp_stick]

8. I know Neal

he and my cousin have been buddies for years so I'll hype his stuff to the end of the Earth.

Just make sure you have some time to commit. I tell people to start with Snowcrash and The Diamond Age.

If you're interested in cryptology, Cryptonomicon is a lot of fun, although I wasn't all that thrilled with the way he wrapped it up...and I'm in the minority at least according to him.

My favorite is the three book Baroque Cycle. I just loved every minute of that series but each of them was pretty big. Neal isn't a big fan of editors and I love the way they turn out. So be careful how much of the wiki entry you read if you might be interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. I am gonna have to read them just to keep family peace.

You know how that goes.

[sharp_stick]

12. Try Snowcrash

if you like cyberpunk kind of novels. For Neal Stephenson it's pretty much a novella...I think less than 500 pages ( and it's a lot of fun.

And oh yes I know how that goes.

[antiquie]

9. I don't know Neal but I, too, will hype his stuff to the end of the Earth

I recommend everything.

[sharp_stick]

6. Fun, fairly new space opera

http://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-James-S-A-Corey/dp/0316129089

Leviathan Wakes, and actually the entire series has given me a lot of enjoyment.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

Old school post-apocalyptic science fiction written in 1949 that still reads well today.

[Special Prosciuto]

16. Stewart also did Ordeal By Hunger

in the 30's, non-fic about the Donner Party. And a similar Pickett's Charge, mid 1950s. Favorite writer of mine.

[lastlib]

18. An excellent choice! One of my all-time favorites!

"Men may come and go, but Earth abides."

[First Speaker]

10. A few suggestions, all classics--

1. Isaac Asimov, Foundation Trilogy. Whatever "modern" science fiction is supposed to be, this is it. Don't look for Shakespearean depth of character, but utterly unique in its historical scope.

2. Robert A.Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. You could see it as a Libertarian manifesto, and many do. It remains an unmatched fictional study of revolution, and has maybe SF's greatest character in Mike.

3. Frank Herbert, Dune. Classic SF adventure on a desert planet, unmatched for political skullduggery and plot-and-counterplot. It really resembles a Shakespearean history play more than an epic novel, but is intensely readable.

4. Theodore Sturgeon, More Than Human. A study of human evolution in the form of several characters creating a collective Gestalt Personality. Wonderfully written, warm, very sympathetic characters.

5. Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination. In a world of instant teleportation, one man sets out on a mission of interplanetary vengeance. Unmatched for intensity, gripping plot, unforgettable protagonist.

[Paladin]

13. "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank (nt)

[lastlib]

19. good one!!

. . . . . .

[Bosonic]

14. consider phlebas

[cemaphonic]

22. I was going to suggest Banks as well.

I think Player of Games is probably the best Culture one to start with though.

[eppur_se_muova]

29. Ditto on that. Player of Games preceded Consider Phlebas ...

and there's something to be gained by reading them in order, although they don't depend on each other.

I occasionally get depressed when I remember that we won't be reading about the good people (and drones) of Special Circumstances again.

As someone remarked, even his worst stuff was good, and his best stuff was great. I just wish I'd started reading his books earlier.

[cemaphonic]

38. Have you read his non-sf stuff?

Much like his scifi, the weaker novels are ok, and the best ones are awesome. "The Wasp Factory" and "The Crow Road," are probably his best, with "The Bridge" being up there too, and being a good transition from his scifi.

[HeiressofBickworth]

15. The Ship Who Sang - McCaffrey

The parents of babies with severe physical disabilities — but fully developed and exceptionally talented brains — may allow them to become "shell people" rather than be euthanised. Taking that option, physical growth is stunted, the body is encapsulated in a titanium life-support shell with capacity for computer connections, and the person is raised for "one of a number of curious professions. As such, their offspring would suffer no pain, live a comfortable existence in a metal shell for several centuries, performing unusual service for Central Worlds." (Wikipedia) These shell people became the operating systems in various situations, like on board a rocket ship.

When I lived in Germany (65-67) we had no TV and there wasn't much for me to do while husband was at work. There was a small library at the base and after I read all the romance novels, historical novels, etc., I turned my attention to science fiction. There are two books that stood out -- The Ship Who Sang and Children of Wonder, an anthology of stories about children. It's been a lot of years, but I still remember them.

[hankthecrank]

33. McCaffrey did a whole series on the ships that sang

You should check them out. I like almost all of her books.

[RebelOne]

17. Any book by Ray Bradbury is worth reading. n/t

[hay rick]

20. Riverworld series, Philip Jose Farmer.

Space opera. I haven't read scifi in years, but remember this series as stimulating.

[lastlib]

21. Arthur C. Clarke

Fountains of Paradise - a collision of cultures bound up in an epic science project.
The City and the Stars - WOW. You just have to read it! A GREAT work!
Childhood's End - "Flyin' Mother Nature's silver seed to a new home in the sun".......
Rendezvous With Rama
The Hammer of God
Imperial Earth
The Sands of Mars
A Fall of Moondust

These are a few of his many great works, each one presenting an exciting new idea in science literature. I don't think you can go wrong with reading any of Clarke's earlier works, but his later ones (many sequels to earlier works) don't have the same pizzazz, and tend to wear out the original formula. (that's why I don't list 2001: A Space Odyssey and its three sequels, and the sequels to Rendezvous With Rama.)

[sarge43]

37. And his short stories

The Star and Superiority are must reads.

Second that about The City and The Stars - epic prose poetry.

[cemaphonic]

23. Gene Wolfe is great

as long as you don't mind being confused a lot of the time.

[Dr. Strange]

24. I was blown away by the Travis Chase series by Patrick Lee.

It starts with The Breach.

[Cheese Sandwich]

25. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was pretty good.

fairly classic

[longship]

45. Best in the audio book version with Douglas Adams reading.

He does voice characterizations and everything. It is brilliant.

And Zarquon's ghost! It is far more than fairly classic. Once more mistake like that and we're going to have to get another fairy cake -- into the Total Perspective Vortex with you.

A good recommendation nevertheless, so you are safe for now.

[murielm99]

26. A Canticle for Liebowitz. n/t

[CBGLuthier]

27. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

A classic alternate history in a world where Germany and Japan won WW II

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

An alien planet where technology has allowed an elite few to set themselves up as Hindu gods

The Many-Colored Land by Julian May

The start of a series about time travel into the Pliocene and aliens and psychic powers and such

Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg

A brutal personal novel about a man who can read minds.

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
One of the most incredible novels ever written about a depressing over-populated world

The Man who Folded Himself by David Gerrold

Time travel novel that really explores the potential for paradox.

To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer

Alien planet where everyone who ever lived over the age of five is resurrected

[mrmpa]

28. Joshua Son of None............

which I think is out of print, but you could find it for sure at abebooks.com. It's about a doctor who present at Kennedy's assassination scrapes cells from Kennedy's neck to clone him. He clones him not only physically but enters him into a family that is a near replica of the Kennedy family.

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Alastair Reynolds -- all four books in the Revelation Space trilogy

I read Chasm City as the second book; it fits right in.

http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780441010646

House of Suns was also a great read.

[eppur_se_muova]

32. Anything without "Ender" in the title is probably OK. nt

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

34. Samuel R. Delany's Nova

A great read.

Also, John Brunner's great dystopian trilogy- Stand On Zanzibar, The Shockwave Rider, and The Sheep Look Up.

[Paulie]

35. Kovacs series by Richard K. Morgan

Altered Carbon
Broken Angels
Woken Furies

Just finished the first two again, third about a quarter way though.

Something more obscure:

"Me" by Thomas T. Thomas. About a self aware computer program.

On folded hands/the Humanoida by Jack Williamson. Androids take over everything because someone wanted peace and security above all.

Enjoy!

[Enthusiast]

36. RandySF, I love the books by the writing team Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

Have a look at their books here on Fantastic Fiction. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/douglas-j-preston/

Both Preston and Child also write books independent of one another. And I have read about every one. I especially like Douglas Preston's Wyman Ford series. Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child reminded me of the old Sci-fi movie—The Thing. I guess they did a recent remake of The Thing.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

39. Here's one I liked;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye

[seveneyes]

40. The acceptance of reality is the best of science and fiction to be disproven

What we are, is not what we will forever be. To truly understand where we are in evolution is to be current for the moment, yet desire to know more. It is a paradox...

[OxQQme]

41. Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax Series #1, 2, 3)

Robert J. Sawyer

Hominids examines two unique species of people. We are one of those species; the other is the Neanderthals of a parallel world where they became the dominant intelligence. The Neanderthal civilization has reached heights of culture and science comparable to our own, but with radically different history, society and philosophy.

Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist, accidentally pierces the barrier between worlds and is transferred to our universe. Almost immediately recognized as a Neanderthal, but only much later as a scientist, he is quarantined and studied, alone and bewildered, a stranger in a strange land. But Ponter is also befriended-by a doctor and a physicist who share his questing intelligence, and especially by Canadian geneticist Mary Vaughan, a woman with whom he develops a special rapport.

'Humans' is the 2nd
'Hybrids' is 3rd

[PassingFair]

42. VALIS....and anything else by P.K. Dick.

Also, if you want take a look at marketing in the future,
the prescient "The Space Merchants" is one of my all-time favorites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants

Funny and unsettling.

[Hiro Case]

43. a few of my favorites

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (In fact anything by Neal is fun)
Doughnut by Tom Holt (reminds me of Hitchhikers)
Short story anthologies - The Years Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois currently on its 31st year.
If you like classic sci-fi I recommend the anthology Adventures in Time and Space originally published in 1946.

[longship]

44. The Martian, by Andy Weir.

The plot is an engineer's nightmare. You are an injured astronaut engineer and you are stranded alone on the surface of Mars in a dust storm. The idea is to try and survive, if you can.

Just bought it the other day. I could not put it down until it was done. In other words, a good read. Very science and engineering oriented. Many plot twists.

(Relatively new and available in paperback.)

[oldandhappy]

46. Ursula K LeGuin is my favorite science fiction author

She is excellent at cross-cultural stuff, tremendous imagination, nice variety of books. Most libraries with have some of her books. Have fun!