A few lesser known but great sci-if books:
-Permutation City
-Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect
-The Egg (Andy Weir short story)
Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
21–30 of 165 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
#22Two favorite books of mine I've seldom seen mentioned but I think are gems: The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and Time out of joint, both by Philip K. Dick. The first plays with several layers of reality along the book. One time I found myself re-reading some passages because there were so many layers it was hard to follow, but it's worth it. The second is (if I recall correctly) the inspiration for a 90s pop movie starring Jim Carrey. I won't mention the name because it might give away some plot points.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
#23I've recently been enjoying "The Murderbot Diaries" by Martha Wells.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
#24Bobiverse series (Dennis E. Taylor) Old Man's War series (John Scalzi) The Murderbot Diaries (Martha Wells)
I haven't read any of the Bobiverse books, but I recall reading a review that stated something like "I realise this isn't going into what's so bad about it, but I honestly don't know where to start. It would be like explaining why murder was bad." :D Annoyingly I can't find the original any more, but I do note that most of the 1 star reviewers are angry about anti-religious tone, so perhaps that was the bee in their…
I really enjoyed the Bobiverse books, but could understand why folks who favor authoritarian theocracies as a government structure might feel that the novels don’t convey zealots that start planet-destroying conflicts optimistically.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
#25I like Ivan Efremov’s works, if you can find those in English.
Wool by Hugh Howey (Silo is now steaming on AppleTV).
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
#26Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds Wireless - Charles Stross Stories of your life and others - Ted Chiang Moonrise - Ben Bova Last Plane to Heaven - Jay Lake Best of Greg Egan - Greg Egan
I heartily second Ted Chiang. He is an expert at the craft of the short story despite it being his first whole compilation that was published.
Short stories have historically been the way science fiction was popularized starting in the early 1900s. Novels and series would develop out of those successful shorts or if an author becomes successful enough.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
#27Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds Three Body Problem Series - Cixin Liu Salvation Sequence - Peter F Hamilton (and by listing these I just realized I like stories about humanities doom)
I liked The Prefect and its sequel, which are also in there Revelation Space universe but take place during its heyday rather than in the post apocalypse.
Chasm City is also a pretty incredible whodunnit/thriller. I liked that the Reynolds books tie together but also kind of stand alone, so you're not stuck reading them in order.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
#28I read Snow Crash growing up. It is a wonderful weird cyberpunk novel that (metaverse aside, unfortunately) turned out to be kind of Nostradamusly. Easy read. Higly recommended!
With the recent advancements in LLM/AI, I've been thinking more and more about Stephenson's "The Diamond Age" (also titled "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer").
One of the major plot points is the development of a sophisticated interactive book that patiently individually educates and entertains one of the characters; greatly positively impacting her life.
We're much closer to being able to build that now than we were 6 months ago.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
#29Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds Three Body Problem Series - Cixin Liu Salvation Sequence - Peter F Hamilton (and by listing these I just realized I like stories about humanities doom)
I liked The Prefect and its sequel, which are also in there Revelation Space universe but take place during its heyday rather than in the post apocalypse. Chasm City is also a pretty incredible whodunnit/thriller. I liked that the Reynolds books tie together but also kind of stand alone, so you're not stuck reading them in order.
Yeah I read everything written in the Revelation Space Universe. Also Chasm City is really good.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?
#30All of Asimov, Philip K Dick, Jules Verne.
Asimov wrote too widely to recommend “all of him”.
For an entrance into Asimov and his incredible Sci-Fi voice, check out “I, Robot” and the Robot detective series. He was really the originator of the term and popular idea “robot” and “robotics.” He would eventually turn to writing popular science to mixed results.