Pi in the Sky

SciFi Books

Publicado el 26 de Junio, 2007 a las 8:08am por Pi.
Categorías: Libros, Sin Traducción.

I wrote this many years ago and posted it in a forum. Here it is, mainly unchanged and uncorrected. I’ll do another list one of these days.

This is a selection I’ve made of the books I’ve read from a list of timeless SciFi classics. The comments are mine, I’ve read all the books except where noted. I hope this makes someone to get interest in SciFi, or if you already have that interest, makes you discover another gem.

Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus (1818) - Mary Shelley. I haven’t read yet what is supposed to be the first true SciFi book. A pending read.

From the Earth to the Moon (1865) - Jules Verne: Candid and naive, at the same time it’s insightful. The caricature made of USA (and other typicalities) is sometimes laughable, but the book keeps the drama and rhythm.

A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur (1889) - Mark Twain. The perfect match for Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, in the meaning that it’s again the trip not to the land of Houyhmhnms, but to the land of the Yahoos. Acid.

Brave New World (1932) - Aldous Huxley. So close, yet so far, it’s an antiutopy like 1984, scaringly near to some of the things we can see right now. A search for happiness which ends badly in a not so perfect world.

Animal Farm (1945) - George Orwell. One of my favorite books ever, tho I don’t really consider it SciFi. Moralistic, satiric, fun.

1984 (1949) - George Orwell. I feel unease when I read this book. He only got one thing wrong: the date. Probably the most known SciFi book, but have you read it yet? IMHO, the best novel (scifi or not) of the XX century.

I, Robot (1950) - Isaac Asimov. It’s a compilation of the famous robot stories from Asimov. While dealing with robots, Asimov can see inside the human. A must for the true SciFi freak.

Fahrenheit 451 (1953) - Ray Bradbury. Another antiutopy, another criticism against totalitarism. This time the concepts and plot are inspired, original and totally believable.

Tiger! Tiger! (1956) - Alfred Bester. Revised as “The Stars my Destiny”, often named as the best SciFi novel ever. The Count of Montecristo redux in the XXIII century (or something), this is an awesome story of vengeance. While not very “scientific”, it still sends shoots of adrenaline. Adventure and thrill at its finest, and epic ending.

Starship Troopers (1959) - Robert Heinlein. Despite some fascist smell, some of the ideas thrown by this novel look terribly right. Sour and sweet story, certainly it will not convert anyone, but at least will teach you to see things from a different view.

Solaris (1961) - Stanislaw Lem. Sometimes too complex to be understood, like the planet in the story. If you don’t like to read between lines, don’t try. Still pending read.

Dune (1965) - Frank Herbert. Again a planet is one of the main characters. The saga of Dune is weak, but the first book is a real masterpiece. Can’t be more solid. Hi-tech mixed with medieval environment, faced against dark magic and the beginning of the ecologic conscience. One of the greatest epic stories ever wrote.

Flowers for Algernon (1966) - Daniel Keyes. I still cry when I read it. Realistic SciFi, a dive in deep human feelings.

Ringworld (1970) - Larry Niven. Like with Dune, the sequels are dull, but the first book is brilliant. Inmense like the ring it describes, combines well adrenaline rush and slow paced descriptions. For the gourmets.

To your scattered bodies (1971) - Philip J. Farmer. The whole “Gods of River World” saga is great, and it has one of the most original plots (IMHO) in SciFi. Every human who ever lived is resurrected in a world crossed by an endless river, and the heroes go down the river searching for the Maker.

The Gods Themselves (1972) - Isaac Asimov. The whole sentence is “against idiocy, the gods themselves fight in vain”. This book proves that it’s true, at least sometimes. Truly convincing parallel universe and aliens.

Gateway (1977) - Frederik Pohl. Except the second book, which is a little soft, the whole Heechee’s Saga is great, I’ve read it recently while sick. The first book is awesome, but wait until you see a Heechee ^_^

Ender’s Game (1985) - Orson Scott Card. It was my favorite book for a long time. That was until I read the sequel. Awesome is not enough to describe it. It’s like a long poem about growing up in a hostile universe. The killing of innocence is sad, and in the end you don’t know if the winners were the good or the bad, because it blurs the line between it.

Speaker of the Dead (1986) - Orson Scott Card. In my opinion, the best SciFi book ever. Is that enough?

The Uplift War (1987) - David Brin. I’ve not read this novel, but I’ve read another novel by Brin placed in the same universe as this one. So it has to promise. Probably the next book I buy will be by Brin, and I hope it’s this one as it is named as the best in the Pupils series.

Hyperion (1989) - Dan Simmons. The saga is Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and The Raise of Endymion. Read them all together and be prepared for one of the best recent SciFi, and one of the most haunting stories ever.

I’d like to mention that there are some books which many people consider great, and I think are SciFi classics, and I’ve read and enjoyed, but still I don’t think they deserve to be in this selection. Things like Neuromancer (overhyped) or Lord of the Flies (I didn’t like it). And to finish, I’d like to recommend a graphic novel (no, it’s not “just a comic”) called Watchmen (1986), by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It’s much better than many SciFi books, and you will suffer a revelation when you read it.

That’s it :-p

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