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The 100 Most Popular Sci-Fi Books on Goodreads
Dystopias, alien invasions, regenerated dinosaurs, space operas, multiverses, and more, the realm of science fiction takes readers out of this world to tackle all-too-real issues, including oppression, bigotry, censorship, and the horrors of war. To celebrate the most inventive of genres, we’re exploring readers’ 100 most popular science fiction novels of all time on Goodreads.
As all good sci-fi readers know, the science behind the story is half the fun. To create our list, we ran the data to reveal the most reviewed books on our site. Additionally, each title needed at least a 3.5-star rating from your fellow readers to join this list. And, since science fiction is known for its continuing voyages, in the case of multiple titles from the same series, we chose the one with the most reviews.
Here are the top science fiction novels on Goodreads, listed from 1 to 100. We hope you discover a book or two you’ll want to read in this lineup, whether it’s a classic of the genre or one of the newer entries to sci-fi.
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#100
How many of these books have you read? What’s your favorite sci-fi novel of all time? Let’s talk books in the comments!
Comments Showing 201-250 of 521 (521 new)
Personal favorite is The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem.
Ya'll, it's scifi not fantasy. Yes, I know that most places lump them together but they aren't generally the same thing, barring the stuff that mixes the two (Glynn Stewart's Starship's Mage series, for example).Also, it's the 100 top scifi on Goodreads. I take that to mean the most often read and scored above 3.5. From the original article above:
"To create our list, we ran the data to reveal the most reviewed books on our site. Additionally, each title needed at least a 3.5-star rating from your fellow readers to join this list. And, since science fiction is known for its continuing voyages, in the case of multiple titles from the same series, we chose the one with the most reviews."
So it's got very little to do with subjective individual preference.
I've only read 23. This is a great list for when I just don't know what I want to read next!
Anne wrote: "What about "on the Beach" by Neville Shute which was foretelling the future- or not!"Yes! "On the Beach!" One of Shute's best - great movie too!
Davids wrote: "Where are Simak, Sheckley, Ellison, Pohl, Blish, Farmer, Lafferty, Silverberg plus a lot more. However there are seven I will hopefully read."Yes! Thank you for mentioning Robert Sheckley! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_... He was brilliant! Loved his AAA Ace Interplanetary Decontamination dudes! Several of his stories and books were adapted into movies, including his short story, "Seventh Victim" which became a cult classic, "The 10th Victim," (1965) and "was also the first movie to feature the reality TV death game theme." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_10t...
Людовика wrote: "Wow! Whole THREE books by not English-speaking authors! Congratulations."Good point, this needs a separate list actually. International SF, especially in translation, is really growing at the moment.
Michel Faber's Under the Skin did not make this list but as someone whose first choice would never normally be any sci-fi work, I really enjoyed it.
41 I do not include on my list to read, or I did read next in a series but not on the list. Maybe more, I do not remember all books I ever read - who can?
Rawzer wrote: "looking forward to spending some time working through this list. Obviously its wrong because Dune is definitively No 1 on any list of greatest SciFi novels, but looks like its got some great stuff ..."Rawzer wrote: "looking forward to spending some time working through this list. Obviously its wrong because Dune is definitively No 1 on any list of greatest SciFi novels, but looks like its got some great stuff ..."
The ranking is not by most number of stars, it's by most number of rankings. More Goodreads readers have read 1984 than Dune.
Fay wrote: "Omar wrote: "Oona out o..."Oona was such a disappointment for me and I am a huge time travel fan. I think there were enough people who didn't like it to keep it off the list"
It's too new and doesn't have enough readers yet.
John wrote: "How are these sorted? For example, Crouch's Recursion has about 5,000 more ratings than Morgan's Altered Carbon, and has an average rating of 4.17 vs. 4.05. But it's ranked lower?Not to mention A..."
The list is "most popular," meaning "most read." 1984 is the book that the most Goodread readers have read.
Fiona wrote: "Strange list - not one Anne McCaffrey title?!"Anne McCaffrey is fantasy, not science fiction. Different list.
I have only read #7 and #15. Sci-Fi and Fantasy are my least favorite genre. I am more of a Mystery/Thriller fan. But this list is interesting.
Li 14 dos livros. Até muito, para um gênero do qual nem sou fã. Talvez meu sci-fi favorito, se é que o há, seria a trilogia cósmica de C.S. Lewis.
Goodreads readers need to read more older sci-fi, more stuff by Iain M. Banks, and the classics like Verne and It wouldn't hurt if we had more science fiction from foreign languages translated into English.
One does wonder what the critiera are for these lists... how is Ender's Game (over 1m ratings) not on the list, Or Foundation (just under 400k), but Gideon the 9th (20k ratings) is? IN fact, no Asimov at all??? how???... If they're going to really call the list 'most popular' then it should simply be the 100 books with the most ratings (or the most reviews).. some sort of objective criteria that can be shared. Otherwise, label it what it really is '100 sci fi book Cybil likes'
I am truly astonished that there is not one N.K. Jemisin book on the list.
Angie wrote: "You missed any book by N. K. Jemisin, especially The Fifth Season (Broken Earth Series, #1)."Agreed!
Tarawyn wrote: "Anne McCaffrey is fantasy, not science fiction. Different list."Not if you asked her. She spent her entire career insisting that Pern was science fiction with some fantasy cross over, but definitely scifi.
You'd think since this site is for readers, its users would actually be able to read. The list is literally called "The 100 Most Popular ... On Goodreads". Translation: it takes the number of times users read/reviewed each book and ranks them from highest read to lowest, and then picks top 100. The description says :"To create our list, we ran the data to reveal the most reviewed books on our site."This has nothing to do with the quality of the book!!! So all of the comments just complaining why one book was higher on the list than the other, and why some authors are missing - has nothing to do with the way the list is constructed!
More people read 1984 than Dune - simple as that. Since a disproportionate number of users are from English-speaking countries, there are very few authors in translation. More classics were read than new releases, because they were around longer. Etc, etc, etc....
Read 69 of the 100. It is surprising to me that so many of the commenting "readers" so obviously failed to read how the list was generated. Orwell is excellent and, unfortunately, still relevant. Numbers 1-4 were all 5 star in my judgement. Dune is the next 5 star rating I gave in this list. My personal all time favorite SF novels are C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. I am not surprised that he didn't make this list. There are many great newer authors that will, no doubt, change this list in future years.
I think thay should have the book: the host by Stephanie Meyer
Людовика wrote: "Wow! Whole THREE books by not English-speaking authors! Congratulations."I believe this is a web page for great SF books that can be read in English. If you care to recommend any great SF books translated into English, I am sure your suggestions would be interesting to myself and other readers.
The first 8 books on here are books I read because I was assigned them in school, not out of choice and definitely not books I'd go back to read for pleasure.Of the highest on this list Dune is my number 1.
Really surprised that:
The Stand is considered Science Fiction. Most places I've seen have it classified as Horror or fantasy.,
Shards of Honor is the one Bujold book on here. I liked that book but it isn't even the best of the series.
That Mary Robinette Kowal's astronaut book even made this list but McCaffery is not considering how seminal some of the Pern books seem to be for many.
Not sure how Animal Farm is science fiction. Talking animals might allow for it to be classed as fantasy, but I wouldn’t say it was science fiction, unlike 1984, which certainly is.Also, I think The Man In the High Castle is more alternative history than science fiction. It’s based on the hypothetical question of what might have happened if the Nazis had won WWII. I don’t really see that as science fiction, though.
Disappointed not to find any Star Trek The Next Generation or Voyager books. I also very much enjoyed the TV shows Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek Picard.
Sorry if it's a stupid question, but since when The Handmaid's Tale is scy-fi?
I've read quite a few. Most of the ones I haven't are by writers who just aren't my style.
I have read a lot of these books! Sci-Fi is one of my favorite genre's out there. It really stretches my mind to think about what might be possible. I think the genre as a whole opens the imagination of readers, thinkers and scientists to envision what might be possible. It is amazing!My favorite sci-fi book of all time... I just read "Wanderers" by Chuck Wendig and my mind was blown. For now, we'll go with that one. Check it out: Wanderers
I've read 58 of these, some like "Sirens of Titan" nearly 50 years ago. And 3 of them are in my "did not finish" shelf.
Людовика wrote: "Wow! Whole THREE books by not English-speaking authors! Congratulations."Perhaps you should try a website not massively populated by English speakers then.
Well I would expect to see Tolkien at least somewhere... is it done by Goodreads editors selection or by listing the statistics of favorite books on Goodreads from the system?
David Gemmell for those wanting to know, pretty good fantasy.
Terry Mark I agree, read some of his a long time ago.
Louise Robinson, I love Sherri Report, have most of her books, although a recent read from the library was disappointing, can't remember the title.
Ivan L Hutton, just by the way hate the term Si Fi or Sci Fi, SF much preferable in my humble opinion.
I’ve read 22 of these while I got 24 on the fantasy list. 😛
Vojtěch wrote: "Well I would expect to see Tolkien at least somewhere... is it done by Goodreads editors selection or by listing the statistics of favorite books on Goodreads from the system?"Read the article, it is based on most reviewed by reader with a 3.5 or above rating. Tolkien is fantasy not SF, take a look at the fantasy list.
Ley wrote: "Ivan L Hutton, just by the way hate the term Si Fi or Sci Fi, SF much preferable in my humble opinion."You are so right, the SF community spent years trying to get rid of the Sci-Fi nomenclature, then that bloody TV channel comes along...
Read 38 and just added a bucketload to want to read
Gerhard wrote: "Людовика wrote: "Wow! Whole THREE books by not English-speaking authors! Congratulations."Good point, this needs a separate list actually. International SF, especially in translation, is really g..."
Completely agreed. Some of us can read in other languages, and it would be good to see what international readers enjoy, as that might bring attention from English translators as well.
The list should also include Friday (Heinlein) for a good old fashioned romp.
The Caves of Steel - made such a deep..."
Just my opinion here but I think they limited it to 1 book of a series. I see at least Dune, Leviathan Wakes, Jurassic Park & Ready Player One are the 1st book in a series, on this list. I've only read Starship Troopers by Heinlein, perhaps I should begin another. And the debate goes on...