Top 50 Science Fiction Books on Goodreads

For Frank Herbert, The Santaroga Barrier is a far better book than any of Dune. Also, Eric Frank Russell and Theodore Sturgeon should be on every SF list!

23 and a couple I really should have read by now.

I read 35/50

5/50. I can do better.

A wrote: "I've read 21 of these. Not sure what that says about me...I don't think you can have a complete list of the best sci-fi without Iain M Banks, though!"

Totally agree.

Keyo wrote: "A wrote: "I've read 21 of these. Not sure what that says about me...I don't think you can have a complete list of the best sci-fi without Iain M Banks, though!"

Totally agree."

Indeed, Excession has a rating of 4.20 with 20778 ratings.
One of my all time favourite SF!

I have read 5: The Martian, The Three Body Problem, The Handmaid's Tale, 11/22/63, and Ready Player One

19 read, 6 more on my to read list.

Bimugdha wrote: "Paul wrote: "Dune is one of the best books ever."

please give me a reading order of the DUNE series :("

Here you go
https://www.goodreads.com/series/45935

32 - A lot of good ones in there. Of course the list is missing some greats as well. David Brin, William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson.

And yet... no Andre Norton... the Time Trader series and Space Adventure novels?

No Clifford SImak... City, Way Station, Cemetery World?

And where's CJ CHERRYH??? Chanur Series, Downbelow station, and the Foreigner series???

HYPERION CANTOS = 💯 x 💯

Graeme wrote: "HYPERION CANTOS = 💯 x 💯"

I'm with you. It's an amazing series.

I think everyone of us can come up with any number of books that probably belong.

So there are only 6 books on the list that I haven't read, which indicates that the list is valid. Can't wait to read the 6 I'm missing! Thank you, GR, for these recommendations.

18 for me. And several more from the list are on my shelf, unread. Perhaps I shall move some of them up in the queue. :)

Cloud Atlas!

17

I have read 13 of them. With a few on on my TBR list....

5

I've read 23 of these, 12 are on my TBR shelf, adding the rest.

Been a long while but I read Dune. Saw the original movie and the series or something like that many years later. As well as Children of Dune. It is a book series I never got to read fully but I read a few and liked it. I should maybe get back to it all.

I've read 20, but then I go through phases where I try to read all the Hugo and Nebula award winners, and had a boyfriend with an extensive sci fi book collection in college, so worked my way through a lot of the classics. Surprised Blackout and All Clear by Willis didn't make the list. I recommend those all the time to people who don't think they like Sci Fi. But two of her other books made the cut. So all good. LOVED Station Eleven. One of my favorites from the last 5 years or so. And I've sworn off Atwood. She's just too friggen bleak. That woman doesn't have a hopeful bone in her body. But I've added a lot of new finds to my "want to read" list. Thanks for this!

Elaine wrote: "For Frank Herbert, The Santaroga Barrier is a far better book than any of Dune. Also, Eric Frank Russell and Theodore Sturgeon should be on every SF list!"

I’ve read everything Frank Herbert published (at least I think so). Dune is a masterpiece. Santaroga Barrier is excellent, but I wouldn’t put that as his best non-Dune book. I’d give that to the Dosadi Experiment.

I've read 14. Most of them years ago. Current Sci-Fi doesn't grab me and there's too much fantasy stuff on the shelves.

Papaphilly wrote: "Pınar wrote: "Can someone please remind me what makes The Handmaid's Tale a sci-fi novel?"

It is dystopia, which is a sub-genre of science fiction."

Thanks for answering. I know that dystopic books are generally sci-fi books like Brave New World or 1984 but both of these books have scientific developments that didn't exist on the days that those books were written and consequances of those developments are related to their stories. I don't remember I read something like this in The Handmaid's Tale, Glead was almost like a country that can exist today. So I'm not sure if it's a sci-fi book.

I’ve read five on this list. I’m happy to see this as a whole category instead of being lumped in along with fantasy, as someone else stated. I’m surprised there isn’t more Ray Bradbury and Octavia Butler books among the list. Bravo GR !

I can't overstate how AMAZING Station Eleven is! I recommend it to everyone I meet!

I had no idea there were so many enthusiastic science fiction readers in GR! And I have to say, this is an interesting "top fifty."

I've read 13. I'm shocked that The Book of the Unnamed MIdwife didn't make the cut. It was SO good. But, maybe the ones that made it were even better. Guess I''ve got some reading to do!

35, with 5 more sitting around my house, waiting to be read. Great list! There were a couple on there I hadn't heard of, but looked interesting.

Only 14 and the majority of those were when I was in my teens, although I have a number of these on my kindle. Time to catch up.

Mystery wrote: "These lists are farcical because they are voted by folks who have read maybe five sci fi books in their life.

"Hey! I read that! I'll vote for it!

Heinlein? Never heard of him? David Brin, Will..."

You can tell the true SF fans! When I see/hear the word sci fi I cringe,

Pınar wrote: "Papaphilly wrote: "Pınar wrote: "Can someone please remind me what makes The Handmaid's Tale a sci-fi novel?"

It is dystopia, which is a sub-genre of science fiction."

Thanks for answering. I kno..."

I am not so sure that there are fast and hard rules for science fiction. It is not all the time travel and rocket ships. However, I think that 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale have much more in common than you may guess. They are both societal studies of a civilization that went wrong. Neither have much "science" contained in them. Fahrenheit 451 is one of the great science fiction novels and that too has more to do with society than "science". Brave New World, another great science fiction novel has more science contained within, but it is really a societal study.

NO novels in languages different from English in top-50. Is it because they are not good or because they are not considered at all?

6

I've read more than 30 of these. I'm glad to see a mix of classics and "new classics", but there are authors and titles missing from this list and many are the classics of the recent past. Where's the work of Norman Spinrad? Joanna Russ? Nancy Kress? John Varley? David Brin's Earth or Startide Rising belong on this list; also Kim Stanley Robinson's Hugo award winning Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars); omitting William Gibson's Neuromancer is an obvious fail. Bacigalupi's The Windup Doll won both Hugo and Nebula more recently and is a masterpiece of dystopian scifi. Of Heinlein's books, why not the obvious choice Stranger in a Strange Land? As Mystery commented above, a list of Hugo and Nebula award winners and nominees might have been more useful.

Ellen wrote: "Mystery wrote: "These lists are farcical because they are voted by folks who have read maybe five sci fi books in their life.

"Hey! I read that! I'll vote for it!

Heinlein? Never heard of him? ..."

That is your problem. I thought the Sci-Fi/SF wars of the seventies were behind us but apparently there are those who still see the need to fight them. Personally I use Sci-Fi, SF or even Stf. interchangeably. I presume most people in this discussion know what Stf. is an abbreviation for.

Just 4... can't wait to catch up!

I've read fifteen of these, some of them back when I was a teenager. Of those I haven't read, most are on the list.

So this list selection is fairly clear.

What isn't clear is how many books on goodreads actually meet the criteria. Very few.

I've tried to make that very clear on the list Popular Highly Rated Science Fiction. Using the criteria of 25,000 ratings, first book in a series only, and an average rating of 4.0 or above leaves not a lot to choose from. 122 books in fact.

Or with slightly different criteria, there are only about 228 science fiction books on goodreads with 50,000 ratings or more, irrespective of average rating. There are not a lot of books on either list that were not originally written for English.

John Varley's most popular book on goodreads is Titan and only has 7,162 ratings and an average rating of 3.94.

David Brin's most popular book on goodreads is Startide Rising and has only 26,509 ratings though it does have an average rating of 4.04. But technically it is a book 2.

Norman Spinrad's most popular book on goodreads is Bug Jack Barron and has only 1,638 ratings and an average rating of 3.79.

If you want to see more selections of what is at least somewhat popular of slightly older science fiction, check out Best Science Fiction of the 20th Century. It is restricted for science fiction books published before Jan 1, 2000 and with at least 1000 ratings. So far it has 401 books.

Kim Stanley Robinson's most popular book on goodreads is Red Mars which does have 55,475 ratings but only has an average rating of 3.85. In fact he does not have a single book with an average rating of 4.0 or higher.

Theodore Sturgeon's most popular book on goodreads is More Than Human which has only 13,164 ratings and an average rating of 3.98.

Rendezvous with Rama has 112,379 ratings with an average rating of 4.07 and clearly meets the criteria.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August has 45,406 ratings with an average rating of 4.04 and basically also meets the criteria - depending on exactly where the threshold is placed.

As for Robert A. Heinlein

Starship Troopers has 161,330 ratings with an avg of 4.0
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress has 93,181 ratings with an avg of 4.17
The Door Into Summer has 19,426 with an avg of 4.0

28. But the books I read 40 years ago are very different to many of the more contemporary ones. And when is Hal Clement?

How can you not list "Stranger in a Strange Land"!?
Needs more Robert Heinlein.

From that list, 17.

6, more to go. But I do agree this is not the Best of Sci-Fi objectively. Missing some of the classics.

Giuliana wrote: "Just 4... can't wait to catch up!"

From the books I read from this list(21), I think that good places to start from this list are:
- Asimov's Foundation Trilogy
- 2001 Space Oddisey
- Ender's game
Bujold's (But not Shards of Honor - it's so so. Warrior Apprentice and the Vor Game are better)
- The left hand of darkness

C. John wrote: "Ellen wrote: "Mystery wrote: "These lists are farcical because they are voted by folks who have read maybe five sci fi books in their life.

"Hey! I read that! I'll vote for it!

Heinlein? Never ..."

No, never saw stf. - What is the opinion on "SYFY" as a icon or a logo??

I've read 23 of these, but now I'll probably read a few more from the list. I tend to go in phases, reading sci-fi for a while, then another genre such as Fantasy, then three or four genres later its back to sci-fi. I probably missed some of these while I was surfing ' off-genre'.
A good few of these are part of a series, so they won't have been stand-alone reads.