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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 four-star 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!
How many have you read? Tell us in the comments!
Check out complete coverage of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Week:
The New Frontier of Science Fiction
The Most Anticipated Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Top 50 Science Fiction Books on Goodreads
Check out complete coverage of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Week:
The New Frontier of Science Fiction
The Most Anticipated Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Top 50 Science Fiction Books on Goodreads
Comments Showing 201-250 of 934 (934 new)
Ben, the title of this blog post is Top 50 Science Fiction Books on Goodreads.
10 - have read others by author's on the list, but not the books on the list. Really want to read the Heinlein "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" because I love all of his work and haven't read that one yet.
22 but I have read all the sequels as well. Station 11, the Handmaid's tale, Wool, the Sparrow (hauntingly good read this 3 x) , the parable of the Sower! Really I cannot choose.
29, a few others I have/plan to get to shortly!
I've read just 1 (sci-fi has always taken a back seat to fantasy for me), but i have 19 on my to read list!
Katherine wrote: "Not listened to any of these. I love Star Trek The Next Generation and Voyager books. Thanks for the recommendations."Yeah. We need a list of "best TV/movie tie-in novels"!
7 for me, but totally disagree with dark matter, it’s like a dumbed down version of quantum mechanics. Love that saga, v for vendetta made the list.
Bill wrote: "30. I used to read a ton of Sci-Fi, but I can't seem to find anything written in the last 20 years that appeals to me."I highly recommend "Three Body Problem" if you didn't already. For me, Cixin Liu is like Arthur C. Clark of 21st century.
What a shame of mine! Only one book of this list I have read: I, robot. But I have in my bedside table since long, filled with dust, Do androids dream of electric sheep? tonight I will begin to read it.
Janis wrote: "15 on the list. I grew up reading scifi, probably because my dad loved it."I grew up on Sci-Fi because I couldn't watch enough Star Trek and Silverhawks. (If only I knew what Japanese anime and manga were back then!)
I've read 9 of them, some of which I can't really remember. But the one's I do remember were boring. For example, Isaac Asimov. What's his most boring book? I would say "Foundation", and there it is in the list! Why not the excellent "the end of eternity"??
And King's 22/11/63 was mind numbingly boring.
I've read 10 of these, but am pleased to see a fair few from my 'to read' pile! I would add John Wyndham's The Crysalids to the list as it's a personal and much re-read favourite of mine.Oh, and yes! Thank you for the attention to a great and often marginalised genre!
21. Puts me higher than I expected, since I don't real much sci fi these days.
23 if i count the one i am reading right now The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and about 15 on my want to read list.i am glad the list is not ALL classics but have some newer stuff too.
24, but then, I'm old. Still, some added to my "want to read" list, so good stuff.
JT wrote: "The correct answer to Team Edward or Team Jacob is always "Team Van Helsing". ."No "Team Lestat"?
I have read 29 of them. Many of my top 25 are on there, but several are not. I would include:- Eifelheim,
- Pastwatch,
- Timeline,
- Guns of the South,
- The Time Machine,
- When Worlds Collide,
- Beggars in Spain,
- Ringworld,
- Dandelion Wine,
- Hominids, and
- Replay.
Bill wrote: "The Foundation trilogy needs to be included in this list."YES!
Toni wrote: "Looking at this has made me realise that I greatly prefer Fantasy over Science Fiction (at least with books) I've only read 2 from the list:- Ready Player One (Read this even if the film wasn't yo..."
Well, I say Dragonflight belongs on this list, but they've got it over on fantasy.
Adriana wrote: "This list is very light on fantasy books."It's not supposed to have fantasy--that's it's own list.
15, and many more science fiction novels which I would have put on a "50 Greatest" list instead, including different books by some authors listed here. For example, The Warrior's Apprentice, Memory, and Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold, instead of Shards of Honor.
Read 7 with a further 4 already on my shelves waiting. Wanting to work my way through some sci fi classics.
I have read 18/50... lower than I'd expect but still decent. Own several more.I'm more a fantasy geek though so I'm interested to see what my results are over on that list.
17.But I've read a lot of good SF from writers not on the list:
Alistair Reynolds
Neil Asher
Vernor Vinge
Iain M Banks
Peter F. Hamilton
Catherine Asaro
Roger Zelazny
David Brin
Julian May
Greg Bear
David Zindell
A.A. Attanasio
Charles L. Harness
Cordwainer Smith
Jack Vance
Charles Sheffield
John Varley
...
I’ve read 24 out of 50, with another 10 on my “to read” list. Hard to believe there were only 50 with a rating of 4 +, so I wonder how they chose the 50 books that made the cut here. To me, the graphic novels on the list are a questionable choice. I think they belong in a separate category. Some of the older books feel like a bit of a ‘dated’ read these days, and are probably highly rated because they made such a big impression on beginning sci-fi readers. I would like to see a list containing sci-fi published just within the last 20 years.
No Iain M. Banks? No Peter F. Hamilton? No Alastair Reynolds? No C.J. Cherryh? No Andre Norton? No Martha Wells?There's a lot to find fault with in your Top 50 if not one book by any of these authors is included. Maybe take some of the newer stuff out (Martian, Station Eleven, Three Body Problem, Dark Matter, Ancillary Justice etc...) and put books on there that actually belong in a Top 50 All-Time list.
Let's look at the entire scope of the century and a half's worth of SF instead of including many of the hottest books from the past decade. Just my opinion.
I have read 22 books in this list. My favourite book will forever be Slan by A. E. van Vogt.
Nick T. wrote: "No Iain M. Banks? No Peter F. Hamilton? No Alastair Reynolds? No C.J. Cherryh? No Andre Norton? No Martha Wells?There's a lot to find fault with in your Top 50 if not one book by any of these aut..."
It's judged purely by rating on the site, not the compiler's personal opinion.
From the opening paragraph:
The bar needed to be high. Every book on our list has at least a four-star 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.
Amber wrote: "JT wrote: "Amber 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!
Heinl..."
I figure a hale and hearty, "The Power of Christ COMPELS YOU!" might get the point across.
Bill wrote: "30. I used to read a ton of Sci-Fi, but I can't seem to find anything written in the last 20 years that appeals to me."Try Andy Weir. The Martian was brilliant; both technical and humorous. Just read Artemis and, if anything, Andy Weir was even more technical with this one. It's set on the moon and has more characters than The Martian. When I say technical, I don't mean as in Asimov's novels; just extremely well plotted with sufficient facts to support the story without 'going over your head' with jargon.
Janice wrote: "JT wrote: "Sheila wrote: "Kindred and Parable of the Sower look very interesting."The Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Talents should be read back to back. They are mindblowing."
Did ..."
Just starting out on Butler. Took me a while to lever myself out of the puppy kennel, if you will. "Speech Sounds" is the one that turned me on to her. The Parables were next. At this point, I'm in the middle of a dozen series, so I am trying to wrap them up before I start any more.
20-ish. Probably the older ones among this crop, and then half of those would actually not make it to my personal Best Of list ;)
Fun list, there are some books I'd never consider. But Connie willis and neal stephenson get two, and no Neuromancer from William Gibson? Or Iain Banks? For shame! :-p
I've been reading sf for about 55 years, but I've read only about 14 or 15 of these books, and some of those I didn't like. Taste in fiction is individual and particular.
Wendy wrote: "JT wrote: "The correct answer to Team Edward or Team Jacob is always "Team Van Helsing". ."No "Team Lestat"?"
If I have to pick a Vampire, I'mma go with Team Don Simon Ysidro, since he's loyal to his friends and has class out the wazoo, whereas Lestat seems awfully childish to me.
If I'm going for a Werewolf, I'd go with the one in "The Wolfman of Alcatraz" (Waldrop).
However, Van Helsing does it for me most of the time.
Have read 14 and am glad that Octavia and Ursula are well-represented!Tried one Willis and couldn't get through it.
43/50. Looks like they just used GR ratings, a lot of great authors and books that could have been on there.
Where is K. K. Rusch? Her Anniversary series has got to be one of the best SF sagas ever!
18 of them for me - and there are books I'd have on my list of top 50 that were not on this list
Paul wrote: "Dune is one of the best books ever."I agree
Great list, missing one of my old time favourites though: Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars). And surely one of the Culture novels of Ian M. Banks is worthy of a recommendation?
10 read, and now I want to read the rest of them!
Because this is the Science Fiction specific list, not the Fantasy list."
The banner says Fantasy.