What Classic Science Fiction novels should everyone read?

[C.W.Richeson]

You've made a new friend who is interested in Science Fiction but has never read a Sci-Fi book before. What do you recommend? Lets say time is limited and the person can't read more than 5 books. What books should everyone be exposed to?

[Iozz-Sothoth]

1) Starmaker, by Olaf Stapledon -- it does the glorious vision of a vast universe far better than most of his imitators in sf, and also betrays the workings of a keenly philosophical mind.

2) A Case of Conscience by James Blish. In all honesty, Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow is probably a better novel, but he did it first, and it's still very good.

3) Nova by Sam Delany. Glorious, exuberant, over the top space opera.

4) The Fifth Head of Cerebus by Gene Wolfe. It's more approachable than The Book of the New Sun, but just as full of allusive oddities.

5) The City and the Stars by Arthur C Clarke. Because he's Stapledon's best imitator, and it shows here.

[Something Else]

1) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. A classic science fiction war novel with characters and not violence as its core.

2) Star Wars by "George Lucas" (really Alan Dean Foster). Normally I don't recommend film novelizations, but this one really stands out.

3) Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. Very interesting science fiction portrait of the 1960s and its core values.

To be honest, those are the only three essentials I can think of...

[The23SidedDie]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke.

To me, it's the ultimate merging of 'hard' science fiction with mystical futurism, and is probably the best primer about what makes science fiction great. To someone who's more familiar with sci-fi tropes, it's not going to do a lot for them, but if they know nothing about it, this one book would get them up to speed.

2. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury.

Another classic that's so ingrained into our culture that for someone who's into it, they've covered the same ground. It'd also give a good idea of what writers can strive for.

3. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester.

Next, they can see how tense things can be when writers start playing with people having supernatural abilities. Besides, EVERYONE should read this book. At least once.

4. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman

Those dirty, dirty...uh...aliens. Plus, relativistic combat!

5. The War of the Worlds, H.G. Welles.

Those dirty, dirty martians.

[Graywolf]

I would recommend an anthology. Modern Classics of Science Fiction (http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Classics-Science-Fiction-Gardner/dp/0312072384) is an excellent collection.

[Godfather Punk]

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

[Borogove]

Dune, by Frank Herbert

[Jonathan M]

Ugh... Ender's Game is a terrible book. It's like Triumph of the Will (http://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html) with kids, but that's depressingly predictable given Card's politics.

Love Stapledon though, the only antique publication I own is this philisophy journal that has a piece by him about moral psychology.

[Jack]

Dune is a must.

[litlfrog]

I'm honestly not as well-read in science fiction as I'd like. With that caveat, the books that have most moved me are

1) More Than Human, Alfred Bester. A terrifically-written, moving exploration of gestalt consciousness.
2) Perdido Street Station, China Mieville. This and its sequels are my pick for the most exciting, intellectual science fiction of the last decade.
3) Neuromancer, William Gibson. Twenty years later, Gibson's vision is one of the most accurate in the literature.
4) The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson. A great examination of nanotech and its social implications.
5) Dune, Frank Herbert. 'Nuff said.

A longer list would certainly include Heinlein, Delaney, Card, etc.

[Elizabeth Brooks]

I'm going to steal from the above lists, because people already listed the books I'd recommend:

1) Dune - For its approach to worldbuilding, plus the rather epic scale.
2) Dune: Messiah - to show the fallout from Dune.
3) Stranger in a Strange Land - Basically for being a literary icon of the 60s.
4) Neuromancer - The seminal Cyberpunk work.
5) 2001: A Space Odyssey - As said before, a good primer.

[Phalanx]

1) Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
2) Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
3) Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
4) Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
5) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Edit: I'd also recommend just about any compilation of Clarke's short stories. The Tor double book with A Meeting With Medusa and Green Mars' climb of Olympus was my very first sci-fi book of my own.

[Soul Of Lost]

I'd say Herbert's Dune series, Ender's Game and the following books, and one that made the biggest impact on Starship Troopers.

While I enjoyed Friday, I never could get into the rest of Heinlein's works.

[O'Borg]

1 & 2 - Definitely Dune and Neromancer.
3 - I'm rather partial to Harry Harrison's work, from the comedic Stainless Steel Rat series to the stone-fi of the Eden series. If I had to pick one of his, it would have to be the first book of the Deathworld trilogy.
4 - The Death of Grass by John Christopher. It's more a post-apocalyptic thriller than conventional sci-fi, but I'd include it.
5 & 6 - Being a recovering cyberpunk junkie - Hardwired and Voice of the Whirlwind by Walter Jon Williams.


But this list goes to 6...[ /Spinal Tap]

[cubfinder]

1. Frankenstein - by Mary Shelley
2. The War of the Worlds- by H.G. Wells
3. 1984- by George Orwell
4. the Foundation series -by Isaac Asimov
5. Fahrenheit 451- by Ray Bradbury

The question said 'classic', these are about as classic as you get. (I'd have put Dune on the list, but it's been said enough already to make the point).

[the_redstar_swl]

I, Robot by Issac Asimov.
The War of the Worlds by HG Wells.
Dune by Frank Herbert.
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein.
Ringworld by Larry Niven.

[nargun]

You've made a new friend who is interested in Science Fiction but has never read a Sci-Fi book before. What do you recommend? Lets say time is limited and the person can't read more than 5 books. What books should everyone be exposed to?

Left hand of darkness, UK leGuin.
And four other books, but absolutely that one.

[Evil Doctor]

On a more modern note, anything by Iain M Banks and Alistair Reynolds are a must to me. Bank's Culture setting is one of the best thought through settings for sci fi I have come across, and Reynold's dense, gothic sci fi is incredibly atmospheric.

I'd love to play a game based on either!

EvilD

[Anna]

Nearly everything I would have suggested has been suggested, but I shall do it anyway ;)

1) The Forever War - probably the first hard sci-fi book I ever read, when I was about 15. I couldn't remember the title until about two years ago, just the plot, and the name of the main character. Thank heaven for the internet! Then I went and bought a copy :D

2) Ender's Game - The first time I read this it was a short story in a book called Unaccompanied Sonata, and it really stood out for me then. I didn't even know it was a novel until much later.

3) Neuromancer - I didn't even really know about the whole cyberpunk genre until a friend recommended this to me. I just love it.

4) The Stainless Steel Rat - and all its sequels. I have this thing for charming, witty criminals as the main character/narrator (the same thing makes me love the Taltos books by Steven Brust), and the Stainless Steel Rat is probably the reason why. The whole series is smart and funny, and I have read them often.

5) Telepathist by John Brunner - I have heard stories about the author being a bit of an ass, but I still love this book. It's probably allegory or something, but I enjoy it as a really well written, well plotted piece of fiction.

[mcrow]

Star Ship Troopers (Asimov)
Forever War (Hadelman)
Enders's Game (Card)
I, Robot (Asimov)
Neuromancer (Gibson)
Dune (Herbert)
Ring World (Niven)
A Brave New World (Huxley)

[Seroster]

I can only think of two right now.

Lord of Light (Roger Zelazny)
Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

[Something Else]

Ugh... Ender's Game is a terrible book. It's like Triumph of the Will (http://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html) with kids, but that's depressingly predictable given Card's politics.

Love Stapledon though, the only antique publication I own is this philisophy journal that has a piece by him about moral psychology.
I hear this a lot, but I don't really get it. I'd like to know how many people pick up this supposed militaristic, violent subtext before reading Orson Scott Card's blog or other writings. Yes, today Card is a bigoted asshole, and it shows in a lot of his work. But if you read many of his older books, such as Ender's Game or How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, you do not find this subtext. Just because someone is an asshole now does not mean that they always have been.

Even if Card was a bigot when he wrote Ender's Game, saying that the book is evil because he is is an ad homonim attack on the novel; the ideas put forward in the book must be shown on their own merits, not based on who said them.

[The Last Conformist]

I don't know if I'm qualified to write such a list, but let's pretend ...

Frank Herbert, Dune.

Arthur C. Clarke, 2001, A Space Odyssey

Olaf Stapledon, Star Maker

Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars

Boris & Arkady Strugatsky, The Beetle on the Anthill

[Wakboth]

Here's my list of five Must-Read Classic SF novels:


Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester. The plot is basically Count of Monte-Cristo in space, but the ideas and the setting are absolutely gorgeous.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley; the other great dystopia, and IMO more relevant and plausible than 1984.
Neuromancer, by William Gibson; although others had dealt with the same ideas and issues before (Brunner's Shockwave Rider, for example), nobody had written them like this. The birth of cyberpunk.
Ringworld, by Larry Niven; the quintessential Big Dumb Object book, and a fun read, too.
Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula Le Guin; thoughtful, interesting, alien and familiar at the same time.

[ShannonA]

The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov. A classic space opera that covers huge swaths of time and introduced a new type of science.

The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury. One of my personal touchstones, since my father and I read it together when I was young. Still a beautiful, melancholy, and touching work.

Something, by Arthur C. Clarke. I've honestly never been too fond of him, but there's no doubt he's one of the three core writers that shaped the genre, along with Asimov and Heinlein. My favorite Clarke is The Light of Other Days, which he wrote with Baxter, but it's much too new to be a classic. 2001, Childhood's End, or Rendezvous with Rama would all probably be perfectly acceptable here.

The Past through Tomorrow, by Robert Heinlein. In my opinion, Heinlein's best, and wonderful for its near-future look at Earth. Stranger in a Strange Land is an acceptable substitute if the reader prefers the psychedelic 60s to the more conservative 50s.

Dune, by Frank Herbert. Dune has always felt like it was just barely SF to me, but it wasn't on my fantasy list, so I've included here instead. It's no doubt one of the best books in the genre for its scope and originality.

[mcrow]

Here's my list of five Must-Read Classic SF novels:



Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley; the other great dystopia, and IMO more relevant and plausible than 1984.



Exactly my thoughts. IMO, more people should read this book. It is interesting how you can see out own society slowly edging it's way towards a "Brave New World".:D