The 100 Most Popular Sci-Fi Books on Goodreads

Daniel wrote: "I've read 52 of them. Some books in there but the only author I re-read is Neal Stephenson. I re-read about every five years and his work just keeps on giving. Cryptonomicon remains my ultimate and..."
I've added Cryptonomicon to my want to read list, I loved Snow Crash.

Point of order ⁦‪@goodreads‬⁩. Your parent company ⁦‪⁦‪⁦‪@amazon‬⁩ put #Thehungergames prequel on top sci-fi 2020. Perhaps the originals need to be added to your list of top sci-fi SINCE THEY TOP THE LIST BASED ON YOUR CRITERIA.

A nice list, but I am honestly surprised to see that I Am Legend by Richard Matheson has not been included in the list. Some people do categorize it as a horror story, but it should also be categorized as science fiction.

Supratim wrote: "A nice list, but I am honestly surprised to see that I Am Legend by Richard Matheson has not been included in the list. Some people do categorize it as a horror story, but it should also be categor..."

For fun I checked. I Am Legend would make it on the basis of average rating. However its review total might be its problem. Five thousand plus sounds pretty good but all the books I have looked at on these lists have at least over 6.000 reviews.

Josh wrote: "Point of order ⁦‪@goodreads‬⁩. Your parent company ⁦‪⁦‪⁦‪@amazon‬⁩ put #Thehungergames prequel on top sci-fi 2020. Perhaps the originals need to be added to your list of top sci-fi SINCE THEY TOP T..."

Hunger Games is not here as they are YA and books in that category don't seem to be considered for this list. Also under the rules set out in the opening paragraphs only one book from a series would make it on to the list. The rule does make sense actually if you give it some thought.

I have read many of these. While I am looking forward to new ones I am also looking forward to re-rereading some old friends. It's not listed but one of my all-time favorites is 'The Earth Abides' by George Stewart. I have started 'The Passage' at least three times. It is so overwhelmingly sad and brutal that I had to set it aside. Another not on this list is "Year One' presumably because Nora Roberts is just a romance writer. Lastly I read all of "The Raven Boys' this past year[ very good. It's a cliche but true - too many books, so little time.

Ender's game and Dune should be at top 5

I'm reading Never Let Me Go & I have a feeling that it's one of the most emotional Sci-Fi books written.

Joseph wrote: "Not read 1984 since I was in school. Must re-read it. I dont remember it being good enough to be in the top 50. Influential? Sure. But thats not the list title."

Maybe you should read it again??

Missing: "The Gone-Away World" by Nick Harkaway. Gritty, intriguing, literary, darkly hysterical. Alt-world dystopian mystery-thriller slam-bang plot-heavy slap-in-the-face terrific. Everyone I've recommended it to loved it.

They are all good. Does it matter what order they are in.

Alison de los Santos wrote: "They are all good. Does it matter what order they are in."

of course not, save that many people alsways figure that if they love a book everyone in the known (and possibly the unknown) universe should love it as much as they do. Of course that isn't the case but you can't confuse people with the facts.

Where is Vernor Vinge on this list!

Phil Hartley wrote: "Really? No Sanderson? Mistborn is absolutely epic, no Feist? Lawrence? GRRM? Gemmell? This list is terrible, old does not equal best."

This is the Science Fiction list. Not the fantasy list.

Hanlie wrote: "Phil Hartley wrote: "Really? No Sanderson? Mistborn is absolutely epic, no Feist? Lawrence? GRRM? Gemmell? This list is terrible, old does not equal best."

This is the Science Fiction list. Not th..."

Should have also pointed out this is a list of the most popular, not the best. And remember new does not equal best either.

Tiffiny wrote: "Where is Vernor Vinge on this list!"

Tiffiny wrote: "Where is Vernor Vinge on this list!"

You're absolutely right! A fire upon the deep is one of my all time favorites!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

If you check it out you will see that it has an average rating of 4.14, more than 50.000 ratings but only 2363 reviews.
That's maybe the reason... but...
If compared to the number 100 on the list (which I also liked by the way) that has an average of 3.82, 12665 ratings and 1659 reviews.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

So what is the reasoning behind choosing the one before the other?

Dirk wrote: "Tiffiny wrote: "Where is Vernor Vinge on this list!"

Tiffiny wrote: "Where is Vernor Vinge on this list!"

You're absolutely right! A fire upon the deep is one of my all time favorites!

https://w..."

That is a good question. Since no other book from the Vinge series is on the list the rule of only one book per series doesn't apply here. It would be interesting if someone from Goodreads could explain this discrepancy. They have been on this type of thread in the past but nothing on this one yet.

I have read most of these books. To me, "Foundation" and Foundation and Empire" are the greatest sci- fi books ever written.

The group Science Fiction Aficionados has a living list of Science Fiction's Best Books. Each member of the group is allowed to add one book and one book only to the list. As well your choice can be a book in a series, but not the whole series. Here is the list so far. Nothing has been added since October of 2018.

Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner
Dune - Frank Herbert
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Dragonflight - Anne McCaffrey
Spin - Robert Charles Wilson
Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter Miller Jr.
The Rediscovery of Man - Cordwainer Smith
A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
Ubik - Philip K. Dick
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
Frysepunket (English title: Freezing Down) - Anders Bodelsen
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
Downbelow Station - C.J. Cherryh
Stardance - Spider and Jeanne Robinson
The Mote in Gods Eye - Niven/Pournelle
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Old Man's War - John Scalzi
The Warrior's Apprentice - Lois McMaster Bujold
Gateway - Frederik Pohl
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Consider Phlebas - Iain Banks
Altered Carbon - Richard K. Morgan
The Fifth Head of Cerberus - Gene Wolfe
Adiamante - L.E. Modesitt Jr.
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
Dawn - Octavia E. Butler
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Damnation Alley - Roger Zelazny
The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
Methuselah's Children - Robert A. Heinlein
Way Station - Clifford D. Simak
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Pandora's Star - Peter F. Hamilton
Battlefield Earth - L. Ron Hubbard
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell
Startide Rising - David Brin
To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Phillip Jose Farmer
Ringworld - Larry Niven
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Paradox Men - Charles L. Harness
Voyage of the Space Beagle - A.E. van Vogt
Native Tongue - Suzette Haden Elgin
Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delany
Diaspora - Greg Egan
Cities in Flight - James Blish
Schismatrix - Bruce Sterling
The City and The Stars - Arthur C. Clarke
The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
Glimpses - Lewis Shiner
Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Judas Unchained - Peter F. Hamilton
The Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov
Dying Inside- Robert Silverberg
The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
The Engines of God - McDevitt
War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
Nineteen Eighty-Four(1984) - George Orwell
The Gone-Away World - Nick Harkaway
The Shadow of the Torturer - Gene Wolfe
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
When Gravity Fails- George Alec Effinger
The Drowned World - J.G. Ballard
Blindsight - Peter Watts
Red Moon - David S. Michaels
Tower of Glass - Robert Silverberg
Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
Carve the Sky - Alexander Jablokov
The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
Nexus - Ramez Naam
Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon
Crystal Singer - Anne McCaffrey
The Gate to Women's Country - Sheri S. Tepper
Children of the Lens - E. E. "Doc" Smith
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
The Snow Queen- Joan Vinge
Thirteen (Th1rte3n) - Richard K. Morgan
Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward
Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle
Blades of Winter by G.T. Almasi
The Many-Coloured Land - Julian May
Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Last Legends of Earth - A. A. Attanasio
The Weapon Shops of Isher - A E van Vogt
City - Clifford Simak
The Martian - Andy Weir
Hard to Be a God - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Into the Gap - Stephen Donaldson
Solaris - Stanislaw Lem
The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon
The Icarus Hunt - Timothy Zahn

The order of the above list reflects the order to books were added. It i;s not a ranking.

I am astonished that so many dystopian novels are in the top ten; of the top four, Huxley's "Brave New World" is the only one I would call science fiction - 1984 and Animal Farm are among my favourite novels, but I don't count them as science fiction. If Animal Farm is to be counted as science fiction, then why isn't Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" in the list? And I don't understand why "The Mote in God's Eye" is as low as 64, because it is my number one amongst science fiction novels. At least "Dune" is in the top fifteen.

this is a better list than the fantasy list, probably because sci-fi BUYERS are more discerning than fantasy buyers; you see a lot of new trend stuff over there, more classics over here
No doubt having to do with the power of critical thinking engendered by sci-fi, and the rather opposite effect of fantasy, chaotic thinking, or 'creative'.

Jane wrote: "I was disappointed that Iain M Banks was not higher on this list. Consider Phlebas is one of my favourite books of any genre. His culture novels are epic."

Completely agree.

James wrote: "this is a better list than the fantasy list, probably because sci-fi BUYERS are more discerning than fantasy buyers; you see a lot of new trend stuff over there, more classics over here
No doubt ha..."

Just a supposition on my part but I am thinking there is more YA fantasy than science fiction. I know my oldest son's (he's 17) bookshelves have more fantasy than SF on them.

Людовика wrote: "Wow! Whole THREE books by not English-speaking authors! Congratulations."
Are you sure, that you did the counting right? I can count some more. But not much more. And I guess this has something to do with the page being English based and that many of the non-English books are not really translated... E.g. you wouldn't find Lem on this list, if it wasn't for the Holywood movie...
And I think the list is very surprising... I see a lot of classics and only a few new ones (i.e. things from the last 10-15 years).

All Cops Are Bastards wrote: "How is it even possible for this many people to click the headline and still not get that this list is not determined by the article author? Mystic up there is even whining that two books aren't on..."
U R funny... go to Gulag... (read with light russian accent...)

Definitely a list of the MOST READ Sci Fi titles by Goodreads. Read 48, want to read 12. The unread stuff is mostly novels written in the past 20 years. The field has grown HUGELY since the 60's and 70's when I was burning throught a book a day. For a BEST OF SF list, there are dozens of names missing, obviously, many have been posted in previous comments. There are some authors that should be here (statistically speaking) by sheer volume alone: Alan Dean Foster, Stephen Michael Stirling, Larry Correia, three authors whose body of work is extremely large and VERY popular. I guess their readers are not people who keep track of what they've read on Goodreads.

Людовика wrote: "Wow! Whole THREE books by not English-speaking authors! Congratulations."

I added those 3 to my "want to read list" ... It's a start, and I am excited to read books by Polish and Chinese authors.

Jodi wrote: "Людовика wrote: "Wow! Whole THREE books by not English-speaking authors! Congratulations."

I added those 3 to my "want to read list" ... It's a start, and I am excited to read books by Polish and ..."

You seriously expect non-english authors on an American book reading site? That's hilarious. And naive. Yanks consider their country to be "The World" and everywhere else a poor second.

I seriously expect books translated into English to be on this site. Many "Yanks" are interested in other countries and cultures. Some of the best books I've read were translated from another language....

Jodi wrote: "I seriously expect books translated into English to be on this site. Many "Yanks" are interested in other countries and cultures. Some of the best books I've read were translated from another langu..."

Empirical evidence and your own previous comment suggest otherwise. Have a great day.

The membership of Goodreads is not confined to just citizens of the US, as my friends list would attest to. Germany, Republic of Ireland and Poland are all represented and maybe others, I just recall those three.

I really can't understand why people are defending this list. It's flawed, it's based on popularity, not on quality, and it's biased towards certain race, gender and age. So exactly what is it good for? Just to have a list of Sci Fi books? Goodreads is a site about reviews, so it only makes sense to have some standartised metrics based on number of reviews vs number of stars vs number of reads vs time since written etc. I mean there's "Jurassic park" in the list! How do you compare it with Seven Eves for example. They are in a totally different genres. For me, this list is useless.

Not to mention the paid reviews that are serously ruining any objectivity in this site. I just rated a book 3 stars because it's totally unoriginal but ok, then I open the reviews and I read people swearing in their mothers this is the best book even written. How do you measure the performance of this book? It's all flawed. Unless more thoughts are put into the site algorithms. Like is this the only review made by someone? Are most of his/her reviews 5 stars? Is she or he reviewing often? Or too often? Etc.

C. John wrote: "The group Science Fiction Aficionados has a living list of Science Fiction's Best Books. Each member of the group is allowed to add one book and one book only to the list. As well your choice can b..."

There are at least a couple of sets in there - Cities in Flight and The Snow Queen

Peter wrote: "C. John wrote: "The group Science Fiction Aficionados has a living list of Science Fiction's Best Books. Each member of the group is allowed to add one book and one book only to the list. As well y..."

Don't know about Snow Queen but Cities in Flight i;s available as an omnibus volume. I had a paperback copy at one time.

Deni wrote: "Not to mention the paid reviews that are serously ruining any objectivity in this site. I just rated a book 3 stars because it's totally unoriginal but ok, then I open the reviews and I read people..."
How do you measure those? Have they only reviewed one book? Everyone starts somewhere. Have they only given 5 stars? Maybe they only rate book that enjoy. What does it matter how often they review? Not often enough doesn't sound like a bot. Too often is openended. I read about 15 books a month, is that too much. Obviously if they're reading 100 a month that is a little more suspicious, but theres no cut and dry line. What if I don't review for a year and review them all at once at the end of the year? I do have experience with malicious reviewers, but the majority I've come across systematically write one star reviews for either diverse books or YA books, just saying it was "too juvenile". I think they can do better, but I would hate to have legitimate users be banned or have reviews taken down for simply using the site.

1. How is this list generated exactly?
According to "we ran the data to reveal the most reviewed books on our site", it seems that they were sorting SF books by number of ratings/reviews - and the trend is obvious near the top of the list, but less so approaching the end. And I'm sure there are a lot of SF books with #Ratings/#Reviews larger than the bottom part of the list not showing.

2. Is there a way to export this list? Especially with more text-based info.
BTW, how do you guys count how many books you've read out of this list? Counting them one by one?

That is exactly my doubt Ryan. The bottom part doesn't make any sense.
No, I don't think we can export the list but you can save this webpage. Yeah, you'll have to count.

Ryan wrote: "1. How is this list generated exactly?
According to "we ran the data to reveal the most reviewed books on our site", it seems that they were sorting SF books by number of ratings/reviews - and the ..."

2. Yes, but with my tastes it doesn't take long.

Mystic wrote: "That is exactly my doubt Ryan. The bottom part doesn't make any sense.
No, I don't think we can export the list but you can save this webpage. Yeah, you'll have to count."

On a second thought, it could be that they are sorting entries by "views" instead of reviews. That is, the back-end data of page views.
A lot of casual readers may generate a huge page view count, while yielding no ratings or reviews at all.

@Infinity's I never said people should be stopped from reviewing, what I said is that the algorithm making those lists should be made more balanced. Meaning - you allow everyone to review the way the want to, but when you make the charts, you give different reviewers different weights. There are tons of ways to do that - you can remove some of the best and worst reviews, you can rate reviewers and use that for weights etc etc. I mean there are very easy to implement machine learning algorithms, which will do a better job than what we have. Also, I'm sorry but I don't buy someone can read 100 books per month. Or even 15. Unless they just scroll trough them, in which case, that's not really reading or appeciating the book itself. In which case why should I trust such review? Sure, there are people who can do 15, but there are so very few, statistically they shouldn't matter for such lists. Not that they don't matter at all (!), just for making top 100 lists.

Deni wrote: "@Infinity's I never said people should be stopped from reviewing, what I said is that the algorithm making those lists should be made more balanced. Meaning - you allow everyone to review the way t..."
Ok, I can agree with making the algorithm better, but I definitely don't agree with you saying someone can't read 15 books a month. I used 100 as an example of someone who is just rating without reviewing, but my monthly average is 12.5 books, with my max this year being 19 in a month. I review books as a hobby and have a blog. I am not skimming my books, but I spend about 2 hours a day dedicated to reading. that means I read about 150 pages a day, but on good days that can go up to 300-400 depending on my free time. You might be a "book purist" but audiobooks help a great deal with increasing reading volume. I also follow many of the tips given in "how to read more" videos. I enjoy reading and make time for it in my daily schedule. Sorry for this little rant, I just don't like it when someone says I cant be really reading! If I wasn't really reading I wouldnt be having any fun would I!

Infinity's wrote: "Deni wrote: "@Infinity's I never said people should be stopped from reviewing, what I said is that the algorithm making those lists should be made more balanced. Meaning - you allow everyone to rev..."

I don't use audiobooks for the simple reason that they become like a CD or my iTunes library, background music for whatever I am doing, which means that I end up missing stuff. I simply can't sit and listen to anything without doing something at the same time. Maybe it is due to some bad experiences in University, like having the TA sit and read his Masters thesis to the class over several sessions, and doing that with his head down.

C. John wrote: "Infinity's wrote: "Deni wrote: "@Infinity's I never said people should be stopped from reviewing, what I said is that the algorithm making those lists should be made more balanced. Meaning - you al..."
I know it doesn't work for everyone. I'm actually so glad it works for me, as I only started listening about a year ago and I've never had a bad experience yet. I've seen some people complaining about narrators and I can honestly say I've never noticed any issues. I usually just relax and listen, rather than doing anything, but I can understand some people might have issues. Hopefully, if you want to, you will eventually be able to. I find listening to something you've read before makes things easier.

I agree, the list is a bit strange:))
What about Charles Stross books, not a single mention?

James wrote: "40/100. Lists are a perversion, even if they are interesting! Utterly begs the question of what we feel "science fiction" to be. Get away from a linear presentation with no indication of how many n..."

Your forgetting that list people do better if they write a list...it's not for you to know... but for people interpret that data for the better

Wow these look good

Tim wrote: "HAVING A Long and Thicker PENIS gives you a 100% guarantee when meeting your girlfriend or wife and as well makes her respect you more as the real man for being able to satisfy her sexual needs. wa..."

Wow. I never suspected that reading the books on this list would give me a longer and thicker penis. I didn't think that they were that sort of books...

Leeja wrote: "I can't believe not one Scott Sigler book made the list! Scott has a huge cult following, and has not only written alone, but with other, better known authors. His latest completed ..."

You have answered your own question. Cult followings tend to be somewhat small (small is admittedly a relative term).

Apparently a company called Armchair Fiction is reprinting at least some of the old Ace Doubles. They are reprinting books in the SF, Mystery and Western genres. Here is a link for anyone interested. Since Amazon in Canada is carrying at least some of them I should think Amazon in the US is as well. Oh yest, it would appear that the company is a division of Sinister Cinema.

https://www.armchairfiction.com/