Comments on: 10 Sci-Fi Books That Even Non-Geeks Would Love

By: Sven

Sven — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:31:11 +0000

To me the Mars Chronicles by Ray Bradbury appeal more to regular sci-fi fans than casual readers. But nice list though

By: Wodke Hawkinson

Wodke Hawkinson — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:55:55 +0000

Great suggestions. I have lately been exploring independents and self-published authors. I ordered a bunch of books off lulu. I love the masters of sci-fi, but I am ready to give some brave newcomers a chance. I am too curious!

By: Alan

Alan — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:48:15 +0000

The Sparrow, by Maria Doria Russell needs to be included here. Not because she’s a female author. Not because it was her first novel. But because it was an unpredictable, futuristic story that dealt with the realities of space travel/first contact.

By: Augie

Augie — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:56:00 +0000

Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series.

By: Larfin Jackarse

Larfin Jackarse — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:03:16 +0000

And so it continues…this is one of the bigger Neato threads I have seen since some of the ‘guns rights’ ones.

Ok:
-Day of the Trifdids.
-1984
-Death of Grass
-’Tripod’ series.
-Altered Carbon
-Starship Troopers (the movie, Verhoeven buried that fascist novel in well deserved satire).
-The Time Machine
-The Maker of Universes

More?
-The Island of Doctor Moreau
-Red Dwarf
-A Spell for Chameleon
-

By: yessy

yessy — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:08:39 +0000

you fogot the hunger games

By: Razor

Razor — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:24:00 +0000

armor, by john steakley great sf read
modessitt, fall of angels
peter hamilton, temporal void
r jordan
rr martin
enders game by scoot card must read! u decide
all good reads

By: Greatcecil

Greatcecil — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:17:43 +0000

I’ve very much enjoyed reading the list and all the comments. And WOW, I’ve read nearly every book mentioned! I need to get out more.

My 2 cents worth – Perdido Station & Snow Crash would be the only ones from that list I’d give to newbies. I would keep them well away from Asimov and any of the other grand daddies. Don’t get me wrong I dig their stuff but I can say from experience (I’m always out to convert) – not many newbies do. Their problems with it generally lie with the out-of-date philosophy, the rampant sexism, and the not-so-good writing skills. Stories, plots, originality etc ABSOLUTELY brilliant, but newbies find it hard to get past the cardboard characters and simplistic writing style – easy to miss when you’re already a convert and have nostalgic memories about their stories).

Ian M Banks & Richard Morgan has worked for me, as has Lois McMaster Bujold. Vampire Porn works really well to get women into fantasy and sci-fi. Don’t knock it. I’ve converted many this way : ) There are others, but the main thing I’ve learnt is that it needs to be modern in style and humour and a fairly recent publication for a successful conversion. Give them the classics later.

By: Adam Bruce

Adam Bruce — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:22:54 +0000

How could they not include Asimov’s “Foundation” series? It was what started the modern era of sci-fi and is arguably the most influential sci-fi novel of all time; and yes, I do mean even more than “Dune.” If you read both closely, you’ll see that Herbert took a lot from Asimov and put it in a less challenging context, which is why it tends to be more popular in general.

“The result is that Herbert’s magnum opus now comes across more like an epic historical novel that happens to be set in the future, not the past.”

-that’s the exact premise of Foundation which appeared two decades earlier, only the storyline in Asimov is much more complex and dialectical.

By: Arquebusier

Arquebusier — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:14:09 +0000

Why all the hate for Card? I’ve read 6 or 7 books by him, and it was after I looked him up on wikipedia that I found out his Christian beliefs. Classifying him as a religious nut and then refusing to touch anything he’s written is just intellectual laziness.

By: Virstin

Virstin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:09:12 +0000

No real comments here on Grass from Sherri Tepper. I remember reading it in the early ’90′s and liking it a whole lot. I try to keep my book diet varied and I too think it had a lot to offer the non-SF reader.

By: There are better books

There are better books — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 09:26:31 +0000

I really don’t recommend Perdido Street Station. The style of writing is rather old fashioned, full of antiquated words, most people will find it a very difficult and dull read. And while it starts out awesome, it begins to drag and then becomes very odd, including a ten page description of moth sex and bodily functions, just going downhill from there with an ending that doesn’t make sense. Instead “The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi is better written and readable by the average person. As for as “Stranger in a Strange Land” the only people who like it are members of NAMBLA and burntout hippies. This really isn’t a even a list of good SF let alone SF for first time readers.

By: davess

davess — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:07:37 +0000

Surely some Stanislaw Lem and some Strugatsky Brothers would not only balance out the English-language bias, but also add some works that have philosophical and literary merit beyond being specifically for ‘sci-fi buffs’, much like JG Ballard too (British, of course, not Eastern European), who not only wrote novels, but provided some themed collections, both of which are equally of value and interest to the more general lover of literature, thus why you don’t always find his work in the sci-fi section in bookstores, but in the general literature section.

By: Freya

Freya — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:18:28 +0000

The only books here that I’ve read that I’d suggest to someone who isn’t much into SF are Hitchhikers’ Guide and perhaps Snow Crash.

I definitely wouldn’t recommend Dune or anything really that long and philosophical to someone who generally wasn’t interested in SF already – your average reader tends not to like books over 250 pages (unless they’re Harry Potter, but those even started off pretty short).

By: gtcox

gtcox — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:04:19 +0000

nightfall was made into a movie, but a very bad one. childhoods end by clark is a great book love many years ago. also asimov’s the gods themselves is his best stand alone novel

By: bluepost

bluepost — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:49:35 +0000

I’m not a big Sci-fi reader, but have to agree with those who recommended The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.
A really great book.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:00:16 +0000

@Abhishek:

My favorite Asimov story is Nightfall. They should really make a movie based on that. So cool, even though he co-wrote that one.

By: Abhishek

Abhishek — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:28:58 +0000

You have forgot one of the most important science fiction novel of our century ’1984′. The novel itself started a new genre of science fiction and appears in almost every ‘to-read’ books.
Also, another sin was to not include Asimov. He was the grandmaster of science fiction and yet no attention has been paid to him.Foundation series should be on anyone’s list of read if he wants to read science fiction. To be SF fan and not to read Asimov is like to be in engineering and not knowing number systems….

By: plyles

plyles — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:14:47 +0000

Snow Crash? Please. I like Neal Stephenson but that one pretty much sucked. What about H.G. Wells? And Phillip K. Dick and Margaret Atwood and Iain M. Banks and Pynchon and Vonnegut and Asimov and Stanislaw Lem. You list books that hardened genre fans might appreciate but not potential crossovers.

By: James Caton

James Caton — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:26 +0000

What about any of the brilliant epic trilogies of Peter F Hamilton. Arguably the best current scifi writer.

By: psyphi

psyphi — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:04:55 +0000

I would add “nSpace” by Dovin Melhee.
A fun wild ride, lots of new ideas.
Completely out of the box.

http://www.amazon.com/dovin_melhee
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/nspace/7534554

By: psyphi

psyphi — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:33:50 +0000

Also, must try “nSpace” by Dovin Melhee

By: Candace

Candace — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:58:47 +0000

THE SPARROW by Mary Doria Russell, and its must-read sequel, THE CHILDREN OF GOD.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:10:46 +0000

Re: Heinlein

“people used the novel for years as a foundation for their own desire for hippie polygamy, and now they don’t so much”

Couldn’t be further from the truth. Polyamory is still quite alive and well, just possibly less publicized.

By: Rick Klaw

Rick Klaw — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:27:42 +0000

I have some serious issues with this list. The best way to get non-sf fans to read sf is to make them think they aren’t reading sf even though they are.

Michael Chabon’s Kavalier & Clay has all the elements of a classic alternate history sf story, yet won the Pulitzer. I’m betting 95% of the people who read and enjoyed it would never think of it as sf.

A good chunk of Margaret “Space Squid” Atwood’s oeuvre are actually sf novels.

1984 and Brave New World are excellent gateways. Hell, they’re literature. Literary pundits are they clearly can’t be sf. That’s bunk since they contain all the classic tropes.

The non-sf, more literary repackings of Philip K. Dick’s best novels are another great way to go.

I’ve spent a good chunk of my adult life introducing sf to non-sf fans. It’s not so much the ideas in sf that turn people off but rather the often lurid packaging that proudly says “science fiction” and all the negative stereotypes that accompany those covers.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:02:29 +0000

I read your list and there is not one book I would want to read. Not one

By: Remicks

Remicks — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:48:44 +0000

The Golden Globe by John Varley!!!

By: yeahhhh

yeahhhh — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:09:16 +0000

list is alright. i truly thought dune to be one of the best novels i’ve read, but as to his next five in the series…a little boring and convoluted. hyperion is a great series, as is HGTTG, which in my opinion, everyone on the world should read if just for the laughs.
if i had to choose one book that should be included here though it would definitely be Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination – nearly forgotten about now, which is unfortunate.

By: Tess Elliott

Tess Elliott — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:36:55 +0000

OMG! I forgot Clifford Simak!

By: Tess Elliott

Tess Elliott — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:36:03 +0000

Read Sci-fi for the first 30 years of my life, well, since I was about 13, but school and career got me off the track. I read all the old ones but really missed Asimov on that list, and adore all of Heinlein’s juvenile books for teaching good science. Will look forward to reading the authors mentioned that I never read because they sound like fun. Liked Freeman Dyson a lot in college. Had many “water brothers” back then when it seemed so new and strange. Love the genre thanks to my father.

By: Irvine Black

Irvine Black — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:56:26 +0000

Needs moar Vonnegut tbh. Cat’s Cradle should be at the top of every list ever.

By: mike w

mike w — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:07:43 +0000

I absolutely loved the Hyperion cantos and every other book on this list that I’ve read, which incidentally, is every one but snow crash and grass. They’ve now been added to my almost impossibly long list of books I need to read this year. Very good article, I shall pass it along!

By: akram

akram — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:00:59 +0000

the only 2 on there i would even mention to a beginner sci-fi is hitch hikers and peridio street. every one is stuck on old shit all the others on the list are pretty ancient AND mostly crap particularly for beginners. the new stuff ia awsome anyone read any peter f hamilton lately he is epic and galexy spanning belivable tech for a possible human evol. storrys and worlds and chars are rediculously awsome. the new void seirise is awsome but i hear the trillogy of is is amazing too and i would recomend reading them before The Dreaming Void beacuse that takes place 1200 years after the trillogy and explains alot. it is funny too that the tech in the novels litteraly makes 1000 year gaps seem no more than several centurys in the feel of the novels. also most all larry niven books i would recomend they are freeking brilliantly imaginative very interesting and charichters are awsome even his new stuff like the sequel to his vertion of inferno, Escape from hell they both are awsome altho not exactly sci-fi.

By: Marian

Marian — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:33:26 +0000

If I could make people read only one Heinlein book…it would be ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’. FANTASTIC book. I have to agree that Stranger in a Strange Land is *not* one of the Master’s best, but it is one that people who aren’t RAH fans often love, even if they love no other book by him. If I had to name the top five by RAH

1)The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
2) Starship Troopers (ignore the movie, please)
3) Puppet Masters (this was well before body snatchers)
4) Double Star
5)…tough call…I’ll reserve this for his juvies…my favorite being ‘The Rolling Stones’

I’d also recommend, ‘Friday’, ‘Citizen of the Galaxy’, ‘Space Cadet’, ‘Podkayne of Mars’…and many others.

Time Enough for Love is also good…but has unusual sexual situations that many would find disturbingly perverse. If you can get past that…it’s a damn fine book.
======
I also can’t recommend the entire Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold highly enough. I like it even better than the Honor Harrington books!

By: manofpowah

manofpowah — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:52:02 +0000

I grew up in my grandmas bookstore, her sci fi section was really disappointing. When I read Enders game I told her to read it and she thought it was a great book. Scott Card is a genius. To hear someone say they would have liked it when they were 13 tells me they just don’t have the balls to admit that it is a good book. Anyway im gonna make sure my grandma puts this list of books in her bookstore so that we can get real opinions.

By: TheCommoner

TheCommoner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:08:22 +0000

How ridiculous that people take shots at Scott Card. I have worked with him on several occasions and found him to be one of the most brilliant and sane men on the planet.

He himself wouldn’t call his works the scientist’s science fiction. He writes about what he cares about. If you don’t like his religous-socio-political contemplations, go back to reading comic books!

But his character “Jane” was a pretty cool science fiction invention.

Enough of that. Thanks for all the OTHER comments though. Some great suggestions.

Any Henry Kuttner fans out there?

By: mookee

mookee — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:13:19 +0000

Wow, pretty old school list. What about Iain M. Banks (pick anything, they are all good) or Alastair Reynolds (same again), or Robert J. Sawyer,s Neanderthal Parrallax. Ken Macleod is another bright author along with Stephen Baxter. The choices never end even if you are a casual or hardcore sci-fi type.

By: teej

teej — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:05:27 +0000

hey great list i’ve read most, but when i was turned on to the genre it was j.p.hogan’s code of the life maker i,ve been reading sci-fi ever since.

By: Billy P

Billy P — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:26:39 +0000

I think you’ve got it wrong. The type of scifi books non-geeks like are:
“Slaughterhouse 5″ Kurt Vonnegut
“1984″ George Orwell
“Oryx & Crake” Margaret Atwood

By: Bensilver

Bensilver — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:15:58 +0000

I think Perdido is really the one for me.Also check out Newtons wake,the worthing saga by Orson,the world jones made they are among the best

By: yeremenko

yeremenko — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:32:29 +0000

I love sci-fi writing. Dune was a wonderful series and the Dead Empires Fall was very imaginative too.
I have written a sci-fi novel called Doom Of The Shem.
Doom Of The Shem is a science fiction novel that incorporates the horror of military action with the unavoidable hostilities that occur when an alien species invade a planet in search of food. The barbarity of war is brought to light by the work achieved by the nurses and medical personnel of the planets inhabitants. While a full blown military action story emerges from an ensuing war that involves the whole planet. It is especially centered on a squad of the planets army forces, who fight the alien invaders.
doomoftheshem.blogspot.com

By: George

George — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:16:32 +0000

Hi All, I read a series about 15 years ago and can’t recall the title. If you’re up to the challenge, here’s what I remember.

Inter-galactic battles. Earth new to the fight, recruited by a society that becomes physically ill when confronted with violence. Possible planet names/races Weebles, Vox Pop?

Can you help?

By: Mark Vorkosigan

Mark Vorkosigan — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:18:52 +0000

That would be ‘Rendezvous’

By: Mark Vorkosigan

Mark Vorkosigan — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:17:27 +0000

I second ‘The Sparrow’

Also – ‘Accelerando’ by Charles Stross and ‘Barrayar’ by Lois McMaster Bujold. Bujold’s stuff is pure space opera, but oh so well done.

I think ‘Rendesvouz with Rama’ by Arthur C Clarke should be here, as well as something from Asimov. The ‘Foundation’ trilogy is dry but brilliant, and ‘I, Robot’ is also pretty special.

By: John Price

John Price — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:56:05 +0000

I like the list for the most part, might not put them in the top 10, but I have read all but 2 of them, and enjoyed them all.

My wife is a non-sf reader, and she really liked the Rowan books by Anne McCaffery.

By: Mike Hunt

Mike Hunt — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:12:04 +0000

Vonnegut doesn’t even make the top ten. Or Asimov.
My pick, Charles Stross, Jasper Fforde, Robert Rankin.

By: sparrow

sparrow — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:16:56 +0000

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – a sci-fi book recommended to me by a non-sci-fi reader. It was like a better Speaker for the Dead, alien culture clash sort of thing.

By: emma ford

emma ford — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:01:43 +0000

What a great list! I have tried a few of these and I agree. I am not a sc fi enthusiast but an avid reader. I will be trying the other titles.

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ghjgkjgkjg jjhjh — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:00:30 +0000

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By: Adventurous Wench women's travel

Adventurous Wench women's travel — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:42:37 +0000

Whoa! I haven’t read any of these except for Hitchhiker’s Guide. It’ll be a long list for me, I start by picking up a copy of Grass…

Thanks!