The 30 Sci-Fi Stories Everyone Should Read

[Steffen]

Popular Mechanics has compiled a subjective but nonetheless quite interesting list of sci-fi stories that everyone should read. Included in the list is The Stand, by some guy you may have heard of.

How many of these stories have you read, and what would you have included otherwise? Personally, I think H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr Moreau should have been included. What with all the advances we've made in genetic manipulation, this book is even more relevant today.


The 30 Sci-Fi Stories Everyone Should Read

 

[GNTLGNT]

Popular Mechanics has compiled a subjective but nonetheless quite interesting list of sci-fi stories that everyone should read. Included in the list is The Stand, by some guy you may have heard of.

How many of these stories have you read, and what would you have included otherwise? Personally, I think H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr Moreau should have been included. What with all the advances we've made in genetic manipulation, this book is even more relevant today.


The 30 Sci-Fi Stories Everyone Should Read

.....why in all the levels of Hell, did PM think it was a good idea to do this going on 3 years ago.....it's Mechanics nor Fiction.....

 

[kingricefan]

Nice to see The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and Hyperion by Dan Simmons on the list.

 

[Steffen]

Can't remember if it was, but Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes should have been on it as well. (I'm seeing GNTLGNT's point on this)

 

[GNTLGNT]

Can't remember if it was, but Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes should have been on it as well. (I'm seeing GNTLGNT's point on this)

...shhhh, don't let on we agree....people will talk...

 

[Kurben]

I think there were to many recent ones. It is a bit misleading. More from 40-ties-70-ties but which titles are just a matter of taste. And Gibson ought perhaps to be there (never really a fave with me) but not with two titles. Asimov, Heinlein, Anderson, Silverberg, Wyndham, Tanith Lee perhaps? (not mentioning Leguin and Atwood because they were on the list but according to me with wrong titles).

 

[Kurben]

I think there were to many recent ones. It is a bit misleading. More from 40-ties-70-ties but which titles are just a matter of taste. And Gibson ought perhaps to be there (never really a fave with me) but not with two titles. Asimov, Heinlein, Anderson, Silverberg, Wyndham, Tanith Lee perhaps? (not mentioning Leguin and Atwood because they were on the list but according to me with wrong titles).

Qouting myself... Bad form. but i thought i should give examples from whom some should have been incorporated. Asimov (Foundation), Heinlein (Stranger in Strange Land or Methusalems Children or Double Star or Revolt in 2100 or The Moon isa harsh Mistress), Anderson (The People of The Wind), Silverberg (Hawksbill Station), Wyndham (The Chrysalids), Tanith Lee (Don't Bite the Sun), Kate Wilhelm (Where Once the Sweet Birds Sang), Jack Vance (The Anome or The Dying Earth or The Blue World), Harrison (West of Eden).

 

[Neesy]

Qouting myself... Bad form. but i thought i should give examples from whom some should have been incorporated. Asimov (Foundation), Heinlein (Stranger in Strange Land or Methusalems Children or Double Star or Revolt in 2100 or The Moon isa harsh Mistress), Anderson (The People of The Wind), Silverberg (Hawksbill Station), Wyndham (The Chrysalids), Tanith Lee (Don't Bite the Sun), Kate Wilhelm (Where Once the Sweet Birds Sang), Jack Vance (The Anome or The Dying Earth or The Blue World), Harrison (West of Eden).

The Chrysalids - John Wyndham - definitely a very good story

 

[CYRUS]

Limbo by Benard Wolfe A Dystopian science fiction novel and an excellent one.

 

[CYRUS]

The City of the Singing Flame by Clark Ashton Smith . He also wrote a sequel Beyond the Singing Flame . These are two great stories by one the greatest writers of all time.

 

[recitador]

what in the world was that synopsis of the stand they used? that was a terrible representation of the story.

 

[MadBoJangles]

Really enjoying Dark Matter at the moment.

Surprised WOOL didn't make the list as one of the recent ones, loved that.

 

[fljoe0]

It's kind of an odd title for that list. At least one book on the list is a collection of stories (Kurt Vonnegut's Welcome To The Monkey House plus it's kind of iffy to call that book completely sci-fi). So, is it supposed to be a list of stories or books? If it is supposed to be books, there are a few collections of short stories by the greats that should have made the list. Another problem is that any sci-fi list that doesn't include Robert Heinlein can't be valid.

 

[GNTLGNT]

 

[no bounce no play]

Popular Mechanics has compiled a subjective but nonetheless quite interesting list of sci-fi stories that everyone should read. Included in the list is The Stand, by some guy you may have heard of.

How many of these stories have you read, and what would you have included otherwise? Personally, I think H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr Moreau should have been included. What with all the advances we've made in genetic manipulation, this book is even more relevant today.


The 30 Sci-Fi Stories Everyone Should Read

I've read eight of them...
Hyperion
Flowers for Algernon
Welcome to the Monkey House (I would have listed Cats Cradle instead)
The Stand (I think of The Stand as apocalyptic horror rather than sci-fi. I guess the man-made virus makes it sci-fi.)
The Lottery
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dune
Gateway

Qouting myself... Bad form. but i thought i should give examples from whom some should have been incorporated. Asimov (Foundation), Heinlein (Stranger in Strange Land or Methusalems Children or Double Star or Revolt in 2100 or The Moon isa harsh Mistress), Anderson (The People of The Wind), Silverberg (Hawksbill Station), Wyndham (The Chrysalids), Tanith Lee (Don't Bite the Sun), Kate Wilhelm (Where Once the Sweet Birds Sang), Jack Vance (The Anome or The Dying Earth or The Blue World), Harrison (West of Eden).

The Chrysalids - John Wyndham - definitely a very good story

I found my old paperback copy of Re-Birth (US title of Chrysalids) this morning! It's so old the cover price is 75 cents lol. I can't wait to start re-reading it

Really enjoying Dark Matter at the moment.

Surprised WOOL didn't make the list as one of the recent ones, loved that.

I would have included Wool. I guess none of the Popular Mechanics consultants are into world-building sci-fi. They didn't even include Ringworld by Larry Niven and it's a classic fergoodnesssakes

 

[Kurben]

Oh, the heck with it..... This is MY list . Just one book for each author. No particular order. No Fantasy though, just SF.

1. The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
2. Where once The Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
3. The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov
4. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
5. The Left Hand Of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin
6. The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Atwood
7. The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
8. The Stand - Stephen King
9. The Death Of Grass (aka No Blade Of Grass) - John Christopher
10. The Man In The High Castle - Philip K. Dick
11. Neuromancer - William Gibson
12. Dune - Frank Herbert
13. Childhoods End - Arthur C. Clarke
14. The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
15. The Years of Rice And Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson
16. 1984 - George Orwell
17. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
18. Solaris - Stanislaw Lem
19. Roadside Picnic - Arkady & Boris Strugatskij
20. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
21. The Female Man - Joanna Russ
22. Greybeard - Brian Aldiss
23. Hawksbill Station - Robert Silverberg
24. Dayworld - Philip Jose Farmer
25. The Anome (aka The Faceless Man) - Jack Vance
26. Make Romm! Make Room! - Harry Harrison
27. There will be Time - Poul Anderson
28. Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
29. The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
30. The Islanders - Christopher Priest

 

[no bounce no play]

Oh, the heck with it..... This is MY list . Just one book for each author. No particular order. No Fantasy though, just SF.

1. The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
2. Where once The Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
3. The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov
4. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
5. The Left Hand Of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin
6. The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Atwood
7. The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
8. The Stand - Stephen King
9. The Death Of Grass (aka No Blade Of Grass) - John Christopher
10. The Man In The High Castle - Philip K. Dick
11. Neuromancer - William Gibson
12. Dune - Frank Herbert
13. Childhoods End - Arthur C. Clarke
14. The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
15. The Years of Rice And Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson
16. 1984 - George Orwell
17. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
18. Solaris - Stanislaw Lem
19. Roadside Picnic - Arkady & Boris Strugatskij
20. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
21. The Female Man - Joanna Russ
22. Greybeard - Brian Aldiss
23. Hawksbill Station - Robert Silverberg
24. Dayworld - Philip Jose Farmer
25. The Anome (aka The Faceless Man) - Jack Vance
26. Make Romm! Make Room! - Harry Harrison
27. There will be Time - Poul Anderson
28. Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
29. The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
30. The Islanders - Christopher Priest

I've read eleven of the books on your list. I've probably read more than eleven because I know I've read novels by some of the authors you listed but I don't remember the titles.

The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
The Stand - Stephen King
The Man In The High Castle - Philip K. Dick
Dune - Frank Herbert
Childhoods End - Arthur C. Clarke
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
Dayworld - Philip Jose Farmer

 

[Mr Nobody]

I've read 10 on their list and 14 on Kurben's (excellent list, btw, and thanks for mentioning Roadside Picnic).
I was disturbed by PM's lack of love for HG Wells, though. As Steffen said, The Island of Doctor Moreau deserves a mention, as does The Time Machine (with a nod to Kurben again) and The War of the Worlds.
As for John Wyndham, The Chrysalids and The Day of the Triffids have surely got to be there.

Looks like I'm going to be raiding the book store again soon, though. I really need to stop looking at these threads...