Thursday, January 17, 2013

How Many Have You Read?

Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)AbeBooks: 50 Essential Science Fiction Books: This was a virtually impossible task. Put together a list of 50 must-read science fiction books and don’t make anyone angry. Science fiction is the most discussed and argued over genre in literature but it actually goes way beyond books and into film, TV, video games and even toys.

Here are the criteria I used. One book per author, so that was hard on the big three of science fiction – Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke, who each have multiple classic titles to their name. Attempt to show as many sub-genres of science fiction and plot themes as possible. Include early stories that influenced the genre as a whole and launched popular themes, even if those books appear a bit dated today.

5 comments:

George said...

I've read 45 of the 50 books listed. And, I'm not sure I want to read the five books I've somehow missed.

Jerry House said...

I've read less than half; the skiffy part of my persona now feels sadly lacking :-(

Deb said...

I'm actually pleasantly surprised by my total of 21 because I'm not an avid sf reader.

Rick Robinson said...

I have read 32 of them, and most of the others I had no interest in then or now. Interesting list, I would agree with the comment (on the blog) that Clarke's CHILDHOODS END is better than his RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA.

James Reasoner said...

Only 13, which is a bad omen, I guess. There are quite a few books on the list I'd like to read, though, and I may still get around to some of them.