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Top 50 Science Fiction Books on Goodreads
-Ray Bradbury
Don't pack up your dinosaurs, fellow sci-fi readers. You're among friends here.
When we set out to uncover the top science fiction books on Goodreads, our journey—searching through hundreds of books and thousands of ratings and reviews—was a spacewalk down memory lane, from revisiting the sci-fi heroes we grew up with, like young brainiac Ender and hapless (and homeless) Arthur Dent, to returning to beloved worlds created by Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Octavia Butler, and many more.
The bar needed to be high. Every book on our list has at least a 4.0 average rating from Goodreads members. Unfortunately, this means that dinosaur king himself Michael Crichton failed to make the cut, along with other big names in the genre like Kim Stanley Robinson, William Gibson, and H.G. Wells. But while some classics may be missing, recent favorites from Emily St. John Mandel, Nnedi Okorafor, and Pierce Brown round out the list.
Without further ado, let's boldly go where many readers have gone before. Tell us how many of the top 50 sci-fi books you've read in the comments!
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What's your favorite science fiction book? Share it with us in the comments!
See the complete coverage of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Week including:
Top 50 Favorite Fantasy Novels on Goodreads
Top 10 YA Science Fiction Books
The Martian's Andy Weir Picks Space Colonization Sci-Fi
Comments Showing 1-50 of 455 (455 new)
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Laura
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Jul 29, 2017 08:01AM
most of these titles i have read or are in my TBR list, i´m a big fan of the genre :)
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I've read 30. I've given 12 of them 5 stars and 3 of them 2 stars. It's funny that Speaker for the Dead but not Ender's Game is on the list. The same goes for Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Justice.
I haven't heard of some of the others.
19 read, 11 more to be read! I'm a sucker for good sci-fi.
I've read many of these, but am shocked that Robert Heinlein isn't represented! What about Stranger in a Strange Land? Or Podkayne of Mars? or anything in between?
Laura wrote: "most of these titles i have read or are in my TBR list, i´m a big fan of the genre :)"Ditto!
Susan wrote: "I've read many of these, but am shocked that Robert Heinlein isn't represented! What about Stranger in a Strange Land? Or Podkayne of Mars? or anything in between?"Heinlein is there - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. This is a bit of an odd list though.
The Wind-up Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi), The Oryx & Crake trilogy (Atwood), the mad fever dream of Shadow & Claw/Sword & Citadel by Gene Wolfe and William Gibson's books were all enjoyable and/or meaty reads.Read 17, 9 on to-read list, and will be adding a few more now.
Another popular very recent sci fi book not on this list is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Highly recommended!
Phil wrote: "It's funny that Speaker for the Dead but not Ender's Game is on the list. "
It's there, fourth row down. That would have been an unfortunate omission.
I'd add any of the three books in the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, read those recently and was very impressed.
Star Wars but no Star Trek? Shame. I'm a complete Trekkie and love TNG Voyager & DS9. Especially Encounter at Farpoint Ghost Ship The Children of Hamlin Q-In-LawKahlessMetamorphosis Vendetta Dark Mirror Caretaker
Well, I've read 1 - Heir to the Empire and I'm about a third of the way through Station Eleven. But there a lot on the list that I have in the house to read.
19 for me so far. It was nearly higher but I stopped myself from claiming films I'd seen rather than having read the books. My all-time favourite on this list would have to be Foundation. My favourite recent read, Wool.
Definitely sparked enough interest to drag me back from the political suspense thrillers I've been mining recently. Thanks for the list.
Hmm.. 36/50 are read or to be read for me
Phil wrote: "I've read 30. I've given 12 of them 5 stars and 3 of them 2 stars. It's funny that Speaker for the Dead but not Ender's Game is on the list. The same goes for [book:Ancil..."
Ender's Game is there.
I apparently read 14 novels of this list... how is the dean of sci-fi Heinlein only represented by one novel? Where´s Stranger in A Strange Land? Also no Alastair Reynolds or Iain M. Banks? Even Elon Musk is a Banks fan.
I found it interesting that Kim Stanley Robinson and Michael Crichton didn't make the list. They're a couple of my favorite sci-fi authors.
Nothing from Stanisław Lem at all? He was one of the most imaginative sci fi writers...
The Three Body Problem Trilogy: best Sci-Fi ever!
what this list illustrates I think is just what a star rating means.What is a good book a good read?
If I don't enjoy a book I stop reading it. There are a few on this list in that category. Not all the books I read and enjoy are what I think as good books. To get a 4 or 5 star it must have something beyond something special that distinguishes it in this genre that I enjoy. Sadly then there are some books in this list that I consider OK but top 50 material really!!!!! So many classics missing! I rest my case on one very simple statement. How can a top 50 list exclude Dune to mention just one! 50 Popular perhaps and I suspect who ever compiled this list did some editing that reflects their taste. Oh, I counted 26 as read, all with 3 or more stars and a few as wanted.
Of the 13 I have not read, I'm not familiar with 8 of them. Some of my favorite SF novels are missing. Some of the ones on the list are not better than myriad others. But then, Bud Light is America's favorite beer.EDIT: I overlooked one of my favorites. I thought it had been omitted but it's there: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin
Ray wrote: "How can a top 50 list exclude Dune to mention just one!"First column, fourth row, next to Ender's Game
18 read, four to read. Love Ender's Game and the Ender's Shadow series.
Phil wrote: "I've read 30. I've given 12 of them 5 stars and 3 of them 2 stars. It's funny that Speaker for the Dead but not Ender's Game is on the list. The same goes for [book:Ancil..."
Enders Game is on the list.
Laura wrote: "most of these titles i have read or are in my TBR list, i´m a big fan of the genre :)"Same here!
Love that Octavia Butler got two nods on this list. She's awesome.
My favorite sci-fi book is Lady Midnight
Slaughter house five and 1984 I've read and love. I've started 11/22/63 and enjoyed what I've read.
I've only read about 13 of these - with a few of them I've half-read and a few I've seen the film versions of :) lots of good ones on this list!
I've read 19 of these. I'm not a huge fan of lists like this, they tend to be rather myopic, 15 of these books are less than a decade old. For literature, that's no time at all. It's like when they put out greatest hits of all time and over a third of the music was released in the last 2 years. There's still a few classics I haven't gotten around to on this list and there were a couple, like Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World I'd never heard of that I think I'll check out, though. Sounds suspiciously like something Isidore Haiblum would have written.
Olivia "Don't Blame Me I Voted for Hillary" wrote: "I found it interesting that Kim Stanley Robinson and Michael Crichton didn't make the list. They're a couple of my favorite sci-fi authors."They said it was because it didn't fit the ratings. Sad especially on Jurassic Park, which was a good, creepy novel.
I've sadly only read three, but have several more waiting to be read on my bookshelves.
Buck wrote: "Ray wrote: "How can a top 50 list exclude Dune to mention just one!"First column, fourth row, next to Ender's Game"
Whoops only excuse such a terrible cover grins Still have a point though
Susan wrote: "I've read many of these, but am shocked that Robert Heinlein isn't represented! What about Stranger in a Strange Land? Or Podkayne of Mars? or anything in between?"The Moon is a harsh mistress. it's on the list.
I could have sworn to have seen another list that showed "Enders Game" as the top Sci-Fi novel out there. Anyway still doing ok at 24 read.
I read 9 books so far. But I read much more sci-fi books and I miss some famous authors for this genre on the list. Stanislaw Lem for example. And don't forget the most successful science fiction book series ever written, Perry Rhodan. The series is written since 1961 and it's still going on, week by week. I'm a huge fan. But thanks for the inspiration. I will put some books of your list on my TBR.
From this list i miss some Heinlein's masterpieces.
Laura wrote: "most of these titles i have read or are in my TBR list, i´m a big fan of the genre :)"hola Laura!;)
I'd like to add Julian May's Pliocene Exile series
All William Gibson novels: "Neuromance", "Idoru""Spook Country"...
Ann Leckie's recent trilogy Ancillary Justice awakened the same wonder and joy that I had with Heinlein's Red Planet, my first-ever sci-fi more than 55 years ago. I was 13 and Red Planet launched me into reading with "escape velocity".Ancillary Justice
Wonderful.
Only 16 on read list, but all of them with 4 or 5 stars. I love SF!
I've read a few of these. Not my favorite genre.
