The 100 best books of the science fiction genre as listed in Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels and selected by one hundred well-known speculative fiction authors.

See also https://www.worldswithoutend.com/list... for the actual list to verify that no one added any books to this list. Apparently this list only contains books from 1949 and 1984 - so that might make it easier to spot additions.

See Also:
Science Fiction The 101 Best Novels 1985 2010

Please do not add books to this list! Only books listed in Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels should be listed below!
1

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14

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15

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16

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17

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18

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19

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20

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4.03 avg rating — 30,131 ratings
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21

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22

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23

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24

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25

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25

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27

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4.15 avg rating — 160,223 ratings
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28

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3.83 avg rating — 11,381 ratings
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29

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3.93 avg rating — 17,463 ratings
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30

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31

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32

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33

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3.64 avg rating — 32,640 ratings
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34

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35

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3.94 avg rating — 34,666 ratings
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36

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36

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38

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39

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40

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41

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42

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3.80 avg rating — 9,173 ratings
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43

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43

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45

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46

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3.87 avg rating — 17,178 ratings
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47

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3.78 avg rating — 14,671 ratings
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48

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3.64 avg rating — 418 ratings
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49

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50

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51

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52

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53

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54

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55

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56

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57

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58

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59

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60

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60

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62

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63

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64

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65

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66

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67

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68

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69

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69

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71

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72

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73

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73

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75

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76

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77

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78

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79

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80

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81

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82

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83

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84

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85

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3.63 avg rating — 537 ratings
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85

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3.21 avg rating — 193 ratings
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87

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3.75 avg rating — 8,823 ratings
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87

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4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings
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89

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3.09 avg rating — 283 ratings
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90

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3.49 avg rating — 1,703 ratings
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91

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92

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3.55 avg rating — 238 ratings
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93

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3.57 avg rating — 72 ratings
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94

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95

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96

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3.60 avg rating — 4,873 ratings
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97

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3.57 avg rating — 3,263 ratings
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98

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3.52 avg rating — 3,242 ratings
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99

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100

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102 books · 107 voters · list created September 28th, 2012 by Charles Patterson (votes) .
72 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Charles 1788 books
12 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3388 books
851 friends
Pichicarro 683 books
10 friends
Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) 546 books
365 friends
Penny 832 books
80 friends
Pickle 523 books
51 friends
Sharon 207 books
103 friends
Charles 7206 books
128 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Sérgio (new)

Sérgio How can someone be serious about making a list like that and avoid completely any type of non-american/british SF?

No Stanislaw Lem, no Strugatskys... Weird...


message 2: by Mustafa (new)

Mustafa Ahmad I am so happy that Larry Niven is not on this list.


message 3: by Adrian (new)

Adrian What no H.G.Wells? He is the Godfarther when it comes to sci-fi novels.


message 4: by Bettie (new)

Bettie Betcha I won't be buying the book!


message 5: by Jonathan (last edited May 20, 2014 06:57AM) (new)

Jonathan Harbour This appears to be a very old list and not based on Goodreads users but on a publication. What would be much more useful is an actual list of member-suggested books that can be voted on to come up with a "real" top 100 of sci-fi based on votes.


message 6: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Jon wrote: "This appears to be a very old list and not based on Goodreads users but on a publication. What would be much more useful is an actual list of member-suggested books that can be voted on to come up ..."

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...


message 7: by Kevin (new)

Kevin Anyone can add books to this list. If you don't like what you see, add a title or two of your choice. That's what these list are for: REFERENCE!


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads And this list's subtitle info includes "Please do NOT add books to this list." There are plenty of other more open lists for science fiction.


message 9: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Kevin wrote: "Anyone can add books to this list. If you don't like what you see, add a title or two of your choice. That's what these list are for: REFERENCE!"

And comparing https://www.goodreads.com/list/user_v... to https://www.worldswithoutend.com/list... it would seem that Kevin added 4 books not on the list specifically:
The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story
Eon
Stranger in a Strange Land
Downbelow Station

which is why the list reads 104 books. though I'm sure with this reminder he'll remove his votes, rather than make a librarian do it for him.


message 10: by Kevin (last edited May 05, 2015 08:54PM) (new)

Kevin My bad folks, I do apologize.
The titles have been removed. Carry on.


message 11: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Kevin wrote: "My bad folks, I do apologize.
The titles have been removed. Carry on."


Thanks Kevin. This would have been more obvious with a locked list. But that feature isn't generally available. I think it may be limited to goodreads employees only. It certainly isn't available to volunteer librarians.

And it's good to remind people that the list process on goodreads is more confusing than it looks to those already familiar with it. I have often seen people complain that a book should be on a list who doesn't realize that they can and should add it.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Yep. (If you want to add a book - to another list! - it's easy. At the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes.")


message 13: by Will (new)

Will Shogren Mustafa wrote: "I am so happy that Larry Niven is not on this list."

Larry Niven is on the list, with a somewhat odd choice: Oath of Fealty.


message 14: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Sep 19, 2020 02:51AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Deleted one (Mars Base 1: A new discovery!), as the creator of this list didn't vote for it and the title clearly says 'The 100 Best Novels' (and the description says 'Please do not add books to this list!').


message 15: by Omar (new)

Omar Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels: An English-Language Selection, 1949-1984 by David Pringle. It details why each entry is on the list, a great way to start info more 'classic' SF.

The idea was continued in Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010 by Damien Broderick and Paul Di Filippo.


message 16: by Adam (new)

Adam Can anyone explain why there are 113 books on the list?

Cheers :)


message 17: by Bonnie (new)

Bonnie Adam wrote: "Can anyone explain why there are 113 books on the list? Cheers :)"

One person had added 13 books that were not from the book - mostly Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and other Arthur C. Clarkes. Removed.

Reminder: this is a list of books from
Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels : An English-Language Selection, 1949-1984
by David Pringle.


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