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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 4.0 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!
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What's your favorite science fiction book? Share it with us in the comments!
See the complete coverage of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Week including:
Top 50 Favorite Fantasy Novels on Goodreads
Top 10 YA Science Fiction Books
The Martian's Andy Weir Picks Space Colonization Sci-Fi
Comments Showing 351-400 of 454 (454 new)
I agree that a lot of books I'd like to see are missing here. Has anyone else looked at the Amazon 100 SFF books to read in a lifetime? https://www.amazon.com/100-Science-Fi...I've been drawing from here a lot, and also I just read Jo Walton's Among Others, which references a LOT of classic SF, and her companion book What Makes This Book So Great. I've been making up a reading list that should keep me busy until I'm 80 or so. Anyone else use any of these?
Thank you for the list great idea. So far I red 20 of based on the Hugo Award
Not sure if anyone's said this, but I wish this was a list I could like and refer back to next time I'm in a library...there's plenty on here that's either on my to-read list or should be!
My favourite Sci-Fi book(s). Star Trek/Wars would be near the top. But my favourite is one that on here has heard of...probably. It's called Hydro Force: The Empress of Xion. I am probably a little bias because it's mine. Want to learn about it check out my blog. www.mynameisbaynes.com
Kira wrote: "Not sure if anyone's said this, but I wish this was a list I could like and refer back to next time I'm in a library...there's plenty on here that's either on my to-read list or should be!"Creating such a list is very easy. However I've essentially already done that for you. To be fair it's not an exact match but it's close - it's every science fiction book on goodreads that has a 4.0 average rating and at least 25,000 ratings and only the first book of any series. Popular Highly Rated Science Fiction
There are also links to other useful science fiction lists - including sf by decade.
Erwin wrote: "Thank you for the list great idea. So far I red 20 of based on the Hugo Award"And for those who'd like to do that using the list feature, there is the list Hugo Award for Best Novel which contains both Hugos and Retro Hugos.
Interestingly enough - there are 71 books on that list.
But only 36 of 71 have 25,000 ratings or more.
And only 33 of 71 have an average rating of 4.0 or better.
And only 22 have both 25,000 ratings and an average rating of 4.0 or better.
And some of those are fantasy.
Thomas wrote: "So far, it appears the most often voiced comment is that more of Heinlein"s novels are not included. That the "DEAN OF SCIENCE FICTION" has only one novel on the list is a miscarriage."And yet only one of Heinlein's books have 25,000 ratings and an average of 4.0 or better. You might find the Your Favorite Heinlein Novel interesting.
Mitchell wrote: "Kira wrote: "Not sure if anyone's said this, but I wish this was a list I could like and refer back to next time I'm in a library...there's plenty on here that's either on my to-read list or should..."Thank you! Part of my frustration was simply that nearly every similar list I found on goodreads has hundreds of books, and frankly, I already have to weed through my to-read list. Yours will be an excellent place to look for ideas!
Three Body Problem is a stand out, and Snow Crash great fun. I've read 15 of your picks.
Looks like I've only read 8 and maybe another half dozen I've bought and waiting to get to. Add me to the list of people disappointed in the selections.
I've read 19, mostly the older ones from when I had a little more time... Clarke, Heinlein, Asimov, etc. I know every top N list excludes some things that "should" be in there, but I really think John Varley should have one book in the list. He's an amazing writer and it's hard to believe that he isn't represented.
I have read 11 books on this list, my favorite genre! I would include:* When Worlds Collide (and its sequel After Worlds Collide) by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie (my two favorite books)
* A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke
* The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
* The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
* Revolt on Alpha C by Robert Silverberg
* A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
"The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
I have read 16 of the books on the list, however I am a child of the 70's and read a lot of golden age SF which does not appear on the list, the list makes me feel old!
I've read six. Currently reading two. Own one more that I haven't read yet. And most of the rest are on my to-read list
Inspired by one of the best science fiction lists on goodreads, Best Science Fiction of the 21st Century, I just created Best Science Fiction of the 20th Century. Like that list, the new list also has a 1000 rating minimum.However since I can only seed it with 100 books. I could use someone to work backwards, starting with the 1990s. I just barely got into the 1970s and didn't make it into the 1980s at all.
So what makes the 21st century list so good? The minimum 1000 ratings. And the heavy moderation to keep spam off and non-science fiction and books without the appropriate number of ratings.
I figure the 20th century list has <500 books, so should be able to get them all on the new list eventually.
The 21st century list has 596 books, but getting recent books on a list is easier.
Someone else mentioned Well's "War of the Worlds" and I realized that neither Wells nor Verne is on this list! At least "The Time Machine" should be here to represent the classics.Personally I would take "The Martian" off the list. I really enjoyed the movie, bought and read the book and felt that the book really wasn't all that well written. It's a great idea, it's interesting, but I wasn't particularly captivated.
Douglas wrote: I have read 11 books on this list, my favorite genre! I would include:* When Worlds Collide (and its sequel After Worlds Collide) by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie (my two favorite books)
* A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke
* The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
* The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
* Revolt on Alpha C by Robert Silverberg
* A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
"The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
A truly great list! A Fall of Moondust captivated me totally when I was perhaps 12-13 years old, 1964 or so. I think it was in Reader's Digest. It was the first science fiction novel selected to become a Reader's Digest Condensed Book.
Thought Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury should have made the list.it is one of my favorites.
Pam wrote: "Thought Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury should have made the list.it is one of my favorites."
So you thought Fahrenheit 451 ought to have been slightly more popular. It had a 3.97 average rating. But that's because people like me didn't give it 4 stars. I thought the idea of a person becoming a book was pretty cool. But the writing style annoying, and Montag to be an idiot.
Mitchell wrote: "and Montag to be an idiot. "But Montag is us, asleep, and finally awake.
Susan wrote: "I've read many of these, but am shocked that Robert Heinlein isn't represented! What about Stranger in a Strange Land? Or Podkayne of Mars? or anything in between?"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress...
These are great recommendations. I would add Eifelheim by Michael Flynn, anything by Charles Stross (though I prefer the Laundry files and others to the Merchant series), anything by Terry Pratchett in the Discworld series as well as The Bromeliad Trilogy, and Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson (the rest of the series is excellent, though following all the threads and characters can get complicated - and entertaining if you enjoy doing that).
Alfred Bester's "Tiger Tiger" is my favourite Sci Fi book. He only wrote two books as far as I know and both are classics.
Colin wrote: "Alfred Bester's "Tiger Tiger" is my favourite Sci Fi book. He only wrote two books as far as I know and both are classics."So umm Tiger Tiger! aka The Stars My Destination
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sta...
is one of a number of books by Alfred Bester.
The other famous one is The Demolished Man, which won the first Hugo. But there are others.
I have owned The Computer Connection since the 70s - it's weird but interesting. And I've read Golem 100 but I don't remember it.
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_... he wrote 8 novels.
So "What's my favorite science fiction book?" Wow. That's a hard one. I guess if I had to go with exactly one book it would be Dragonsinger. It has 34,819 ratings and an average rating of 4.26 - so it could have been on this list.Other books of note that have been on my top 10 list for some time include
Emergence with 1512 ratings and an average of 4.17
The Dosadi Experiment with 5992 ratings and an average of 3.79
The Uplift War with 20,890 ratings and an average of 4.06 - so it also could have have been on this list, given it had more ratings than some books on the list.
Mitchell wrote: "...But that's because people like me didn't give it 4 stars. I thought the idea of a person becoming a book was pretty cool. But the writing style annoying, and Montag to be an idiot."Yeah, the idea that knowledge itself will be looked down on and destroyed, and people will be distracted by endless entertainment from huge TVs, what a ridiculous idea, no way that could ever happen, right?
Mitchell wrote: "So "What's my favorite science fiction book?" Wow. That's a hard one. I guess if I had to go with exactly one book it would be Dragonsinger. It has 34,819 ratings and an average rating..."I absolutely LOVE Dragonsinger. I wouldn't put it in the top 50 because I don't know if it really is "great science fiction" but something about it really appeals to me.
There are some books that I may be interesied in reading, but as soon as I see that they are part of a series, I dismiss them. I don't want to finish reading a book and not actually "finish" it because I have to read 2 or 3 more books......
like when you see a list of the best books ever written and you see The hunger games in the top ten :O
Phil wrote: "I've read 30. I've given 12 of them 5 stars and 3 of them 2 stars. It's funny that Speaker for the Dead but not Ender's Game is on the list. The same goes for [book:Ancil..."
Ender's Game is on the list.
I've only read 3 of them but the Red Rising series was my absolute favorite!
Susan wrote: "I've read many of these, but am shocked that Robert Heinlein isn't represented! What about Stranger in a Strange Land? Or Podkayne of Mars? or anything in between?"Exactly! Time enough for Love, Number of the Beast? Why are these not making the list?
Susan wrote: "I've read many of these, but am shocked that Robert Heinlein isn't represented! What about Stranger in a Strange Land? Or Podkayne of Mars? or anything in between?"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is on the list. One of his best, I think.
Unfortunately, this kind of popularity contest ends up including a mix of chestnuts and recent LCD (lowest common denominator) "Sci-Fi," while failing to include a host of great writers and their novels from every era of science fiction: John Brunner, Gene Wolfe, Harlan Ellison, Iain M. Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Cordwainer Smith, George Alec Effinger, Clifford Simak, Tanith Lee, Roger Zelazny, Fritz Leiber, Walter Jon Williams, William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Stanislaw Lem, Paolo Bacigalupi...Paraphrasing Ygritte, from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, "You know nothing, Joe Blow..."
Ivy wrote: "I've only read 3 of them but the Red Rising series was my absolute favorite!"I am about mid-way through Red Rising.
Marcello wrote: "Unfortunately, this kind of popularity contest ends up including a mix of chestnuts and recent LCD (lowest common denominator) "Sci-Fi," while failing to include a host of great writers and their n..."One way to avoid the recent LCD sf, is to disallow recent books. Of course this leads to other issues eventually. Check out Best Forgotten Science Fiction of the 20th Century. It's a pretty new list though, so there are a lot of books not yet on it.
Alicia wrote: "Exactly! Time enough for Love, Number of the Beast? Why are these not making the list?"Because other goodreads readers didn't rate these books as highly as you do. Or me for that matter.
check out Your Favorite Heinlein Novel. Only 6 books on this list have a 4.0 average or higher. Only 5 books have over 25,000 ratings. Only The Moon is a Harsh Mistress has both. And its first on that list.
C.J. Cherryh...either her Foreigner series or her Company War series. (Hell Burner, Heavy time, Infinity's End) This is a good list in that every one likes different books, but some do rise to the top. As a long time science fiction reader, and author, I know. I've read 35 on the list and saw a few as movies in addition. I'm always looking for good science fiction.
I completely loved Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe ("Company Wars"). Merchanter's Luck was a fabulous, breakneck paced, space romance. A joy.The other books in this universe are wonderful, with perhaps the exceptions of Heavy Time, Hellburner, and Forty Thousand in Gehenna.
William wrote: "I completely loved Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe ("Company Wars"). Merchanter's Luck was a fabulous, breakneck paced, space romance. A joy.The other books in this universe are wonderful, with..."
I'm also a huge fan of this series with their intricate plots and their sweeping scale. But Merchanter's Luck is a personal favorite, and it's a small story in a small book. It's one of my standing recommendations.
Consider though though C.J. Cherryh, as a big an author as we know her to be, and still writing and publishing successful books - on goodreads she has 150,000 TOTAL ratings. Her biggest book, Downbelow Station, a hugo award winner, has only 10,618 ratings. And the only standalone or #1 book in a series that has a 4.0 or greater rating is The Betrayal with only 738 ratings - there may be more books with even less ratings.
Mitchell wrote: "But Merchanter's Luck is a personal favorite"Made me feel like a kid again. Lovely!
I've read fourteen of these. My favorites aren't on the list, though--A Civil Campaign and Diplomatic Immunity, both by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Because of this thread, I have started reading Rudy Rucker books. Reading Postsingular now.
I love these lists because it awakens me to other books and authors I did not know existed. My wish list at my online library is now in the 600 range
I'm a huge fan of scifi. No Robert Heinlein? No Darkover?
Leif wrote: "15. And nothing by Harry Harrison on this list? H.G. Wells? Olaf Stapledon? Michael Moorcock? Greg Bear? Sheesh."Could not agree more! This is rather a shallow list hardly covering any of the golden agers, I am currently disseminating to like minded people at work my science fiction must reads - I shall convert them to the classics of the genre in the end.
I thought I was well read yet I don't know half these guys. I'm surprised and a little saddened Iain M. Banks (R.I.P), and Charles Stross didn't make it...
It's funny that Speaker for the Dead but not Ender's Game is on the list. The same goes for [book:Ancil..."
Enders Game is on the list.