this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2024
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Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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Our [New Scientist] writers pick their favourite science fiction books of all time (www.newscientist.com)
submitted 5 months ago by AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
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This is an interesting list. It's missing some of the true great classics, like Frankenstein, and it has a number of unusual, less well known titles, but there's a lot to like on it. There's certainly a lot for people to disagree about, but it may well have your less often cited favorites, too. What do you think?

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[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 44 points 5 months ago (5 children)
  • We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
  • The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
  • Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  • Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
  • The City & the City by China Miéville
  • An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
  • The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
  • The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  • Chelsea Whyte God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
  • 17776 by Jon Bois
  • War With the Newts by Karel Čapek
  • Flatland: A romance of many dimensions by A Square (Edwin Abbott Abbott)
  • Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
  • Neuromancer by William Gibson
  • Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
  • The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
  • The Culture series by Iain M. Banks
[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 8 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Really pleased to see 17776 getting some recognition. I don't even like American football and I love that story.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I couldn't decide if I wanted to add that one to my reading list or not. I hadn't heard of it before, and I'm not at all a sports guy, but it sounds interesting.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

reading list

It's not purely text. Wikipedia describes it as "a serialized speculative fiction multimedia narrative", which I think is pretty accurate.

Link here: https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Well that's... really interesting. I love it when people experiment with new ways of telling a story. That might move this up much higher on my list. Thanks for the link.

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

It's chaos, but Jon Bois is amazing at putting order to even the most chaotic things. If you don't know him, he's purely a sports guy, but he has a number of video series on YouTube that are absolutely great watches, regardless of whether you like sports. I hate (American) football, but he has a number of videos I watched intently, because he does a great job of analyzing random number sets and plotting them out in a way that is visually appealing. Guy is a nut, and it makes for great television (obviously not TV but yeah).

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I got around to reading 17776 today. That was fun, thanks for the recommendation!

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

Awesome, glad you enjoyed it!

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

If American Football was like that I would probably watch it.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

Yeah, the 17776 version sounds way more entertaining. Especially if it is commentated by three sapient space probes.

[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The Mars trilogy is good, although Blue Mars is my favourite, Hitchhiker's is good but is more of a comedy, Flatland is ok but is more of a satire of Victorian society. The Planiverse by AK Dewdney is a better 2d world book.

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Hitchhiker’s is good but is more of a comedy

You say that like that's a bad thing...

[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago

Oh no, it's not a bad thing at all. It just means it doesn't really belong in a list of sci fi books.

[–] Beaupedia@lemm.ee 5 points 5 months ago

Thanks for posting the list like this!

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

Thanks for doing that

[–] taaz@biglemmowski.win 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Long Earth was good, lots of classics here as well

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

I got it because I love Sir Perry's Discworld books, and was blown away by how much I liked it!

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

I've read quite a number of the books on the list, but hadn't read that one, so I put it on my list.