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The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
191–200 of 291 posts
Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
#192Probably the most surprising thing about this list is that whoever made it didn't insert Amazon affiliate links into it. Anyway, these lists always raise the question of what does "good" mean exactly? Inevitably they're dominated by books that were, in their time, incredibly significant. You see the same things in computing books. Someone will always recommend "Design Patterns" but (IMHO) it is the dullest, driest bo…
Anyway, these lists always raise the question of what does "good" mean exactly? Inevitably they're dominated by books that were, in their time, incredibly significant. I just started reading David W. Galenson's Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity , ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691133808/sr=8-1/qid=13150... ), which is where Malcolm Gladwell stole / sourced his New Yorker…
> On a totally unrelated note, it'd be nice to have HN hyperlinks so one doesn't have to put URLs in parentheses.
And if it did, it't be nice if the syntax would be putting the url in parentheses.
Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
#193Obviously with any list there's going to be quite a lot of nits to pick... At any rate, here are mine. Sad to see Stanislaw Lem completely left out in favor of some obviously inferior books (Anathem!?). Also a curious choice for the obligatory Atwood novel. Surprised that Gravity's Rainbow was not on there- I'd put it near the top (maybe it wasn't "Sci-Fi" enough?) Good to see Canticle for Leibowitz as well as a fair…
I added Stanislaw Lem in the reddit thread, didn't get a single upvote :( He's one of my favorite (sci fi) authors. Deep, absurd, comical. By the way, I think Solaris is some of his weaker novels.
I particularly like The Star Diaries, The Cyberiad and His Master's Voice.
Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
#194I'm a bit disappointed to only see English books on there.
If you know of any (translated, given my lack of non-English speaking capability) non-English-origin sci-fi, I'd love pointers. I realize a lot is lost in translation, but I love the viewport into other cultures that fiction can provide.
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Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
#195I'm a bit disappointed to only see English books on there.
Agree, though the only non English science fiction book I've read (translated to English of-course) is Roadside Picnic, which probably would be in my list of the best Sci-Fi books of all time.
Also, don't miss the movie adaptation of Roadside Picnic by Andrei Tarkovsky: "Stalker".
Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
I never though much of Dune 2-5 either, but I guess I'm in the minority on this one.
It took me two or three tries, but now I put 2-6 up there with the first book. I think the reason people have trouble with 2-6 is that they're ultimately a reversal or deconstruction of the Hero myth. The first book is a fairly typical "Rise of the Superhuman Hero" tale, and that's why it's accessible. Book 2-6 explore the dark side of this myth, which is why they're unique, somewhat inaccessible, and really interest…
I thought they suffered too much from "scope creep". The scope of the first book was nicely limited, but the later books made the story's consequences so far-reaching I couldn't take them seriously.
As regards deconstruction, I think Gene Wolfe does it so much better than Herbert that I don't really consider it a selling point that Herbert tries to do it.
Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
#197Good list, thanks.
Weird to make the equation (writers / Margaret Atwood) = (bands / (Celine Dion | Nickelback)). I would make the right side (bands / (Tragically Hip | Rush)). There's nothing light weight about Margaret Atwood.
Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
#198Neal Stephenson really matures between Snow Crash and Diamond Age. I read snow crash after some of his later stuff and it's almost hard to believe it's the same author. Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon are great books but each has their own style and you would think it was a different author if you didn't know better. That's why I like Stephenson so much. He takes a topic and researches it so much that he brings it to li…
I've enjoyed every Stephenson book apart from Anathem - obviously a lot of people love it but I couldn't see it all, a smattering of maths & philosophy mixed into an overlong and pretty boring 'students journey' plot. Why do people like it so much?
Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
#199I would add Permutation City. It's about: what's it like to be a digital person in a virtual world? What are the psychological effects of knowing that you're virtual; how do you experience time passing; what are the social implications of changing your appearance at whim, etc. And, how do different interpretations of data compete to become "real"? For example, if you look at it one way it's a city, another way it's a…
For a more complete extrapolation of this concept, check out Diaspora by Greg Egan.
Disapora is a semi-sequel to Permutation City, both are written by Egan
Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
Something Dune accomplishes really well -- and which very few sci-fi books or movies have ever pulled off quite as effectively -- is weaving a lot of background, and culture, and esoteric terminology, into the story without disrupting the story's flow. There aren't lengthy, disjointed sidebars about what X means, or why Y exists. Instead, X and Y are woven into the narrative via context, allowing the reader to pick u…
I only read Dune last year (I'm in my thirties), and really disliked it. Your comment, however, emphasizes a virtue I did not sufficiently acknowledge at the time. It _is_ true that Dune was able to weave a lot of background into the story without resorting to technical infodumps. And at the time it was a rare and impressive achievement in SF, deserving of praise. But I don't think I'd agree that things haven't chang…
Admittedly, the book is more a triumph of imagination than of craft. I won't argue there.
That said, I agree with the comment that it takes a few reads to really appreciate. The writing has its flaws, but it has its real charms. And those charms can be lost on a first read-through. Many of them were on me when I first plowed through the book. (It is not a book to be plowed through, I would later learn).