,

The difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy is arbitrary but it should be clear enough for this list. Looking for SF books with over 99,999 thousand ratings on goodreads.

And in case it isn't clear - any book on this list with less than 100,000 ratings should be removed without any thought or notice. mjf

Other SF Lists of Note:
Best Science Fiction
Best Science Fiction of the 21st Century
Best Science Fiction of the 20th Century
Best Forgotten Science Fiction of the 20th Century
Popular Highly Rated Science Fiction
Best Science Fiction Fantasy Books

SF Subgenres:
Alternate History
Dystopian and Post Apocalyptic Fiction
Space Opera
Steampunk

Locus Recommended Science Fiction:
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015,
2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
2009, 2001, 2000

Sci Fi Award Nominees
2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
2009, 2008, 2007, 2006

Science Fiction By Decade:
1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s,
1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s

Science Fiction By Year:
2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
2009

Can't Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy By Year:
2021, 2020
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

New Speculative Writers by Decade:
2000s, 2010s

Science Fiction By Ratings:
100,000 and more, 50000 to 99999, 25000 to 49999, 10000 to 24999
1000 to 9999, 100 to 999, Less than 100
1

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4.29 avg rating — 1,609,166 ratings
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4.22 avg rating — 2,000,799 ratings
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4.31 avg rating — 1,466,344 ratings
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4.20 avg rating — 5,379,987 ratings
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3.97 avg rating — 2,794,958 ratings
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6

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4.42 avg rating — 1,271,520 ratings
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7

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4.17 avg rating — 591,543 ratings
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8

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3.99 avg rating — 2,057,207 ratings
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9

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4.23 avg rating — 1,288,956 ratings
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10

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4.35 avg rating — 9,789,407 ratings
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11

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4.27 avg rating — 294,914 ratings
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12

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4.15 avg rating — 2,388,776 ratings
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13

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4.16 avg rating — 283,963 ratings
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14

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4.21 avg rating — 376,476 ratings
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15

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4.10 avg rating — 1,472,951 ratings
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16

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4.23 avg rating — 222,039 ratings
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17

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4.24 avg rating — 784,495 ratings
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18

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3.97 avg rating — 1,275,453 ratings
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19

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3.90 avg rating — 1,852,763 ratings
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20

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4.09 avg rating — 507,874 ratings
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21

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4.35 avg rating — 828,789 ratings
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22

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4.14 avg rating — 179,469 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 334,510 ratings
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24

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3.92 avg rating — 325,756 ratings
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25

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4.13 avg rating — 1,053,185 ratings
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26

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4.11 avg rating — 269,949 ratings
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27

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3.89 avg rating — 561,268 ratings
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28

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4.20 avg rating — 314,152 ratings
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29

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4.12 avg rating — 172,535 ratings
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30

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4.12 avg rating — 2,780,684 ratings
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31

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3.83 avg rating — 347,300 ratings
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32

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4.12 avg rating — 182,799 ratings
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33

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3.89 avg rating — 361,250 ratings
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34

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4.01 avg rating — 296,612 ratings
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35

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4.35 avg rating — 4,105,645 ratings
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36

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4.32 avg rating — 179,345 ratings
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37

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,025,457 ratings
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38

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4.02 avg rating — 564,068 ratings
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39

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3.89 avg rating — 274,820 ratings
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40

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 764,584 ratings
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41

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4.16 avg rating — 249,226 ratings
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42

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4.39 avg rating — 591,145 ratings
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43

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4.13 avg rating — 4,346,311 ratings
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44

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4.08 avg rating — 143,294 ratings
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45

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,853,019 ratings
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46

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4.10 avg rating — 217,187 ratings
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47

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4.12 avg rating — 3,676,661 ratings
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48

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4.22 avg rating — 224,616 ratings
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49

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4.27 avg rating — 734,311 ratings
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50

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3.89 avg rating — 396,167 ratings
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51

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4.38 avg rating — 337,137 ratings
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52

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3.91 avg rating — 270,341 ratings
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53

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4.12 avg rating — 1,005,893 ratings
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54

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4.15 avg rating — 151,791 ratings
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55

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 285,779 ratings
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56

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4.15 avg rating — 434,416 ratings
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57

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4.08 avg rating — 184,388 ratings
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58

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3.82 avg rating — 164,929 ratings
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59

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4.27 avg rating — 201,334 ratings
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60

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3.88 avg rating — 136,939 ratings
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61

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4.26 avg rating — 323,749 ratings
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62

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3.85 avg rating — 841,875 ratings
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63

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3.59 avg rating — 233,710 ratings
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64

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4.23 avg rating — 272,161 ratings
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65

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4.07 avg rating — 605,992 ratings
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65

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4.16 avg rating — 359,499 ratings
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67

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4.01 avg rating — 4,481,791 ratings
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68

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3.63 avg rating — 215,498 ratings
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69

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3.84 avg rating — 706,107 ratings
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70

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3.97 avg rating — 148,013 ratings
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71

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4.15 avg rating — 156,618 ratings
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72

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4.31 avg rating — 314,498 ratings
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73

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4.01 avg rating — 245,047 ratings
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74

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4.17 avg rating — 184,827 ratings
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75

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3.87 avg rating — 216,277 ratings
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76

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3.88 avg rating — 178,982 ratings
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77

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 136,047 ratings
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78

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4.05 avg rating — 1,666,329 ratings
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79

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3.96 avg rating — 1,614,357 ratings
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80

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4.50 avg rating — 1,036,863 ratings
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81

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3.86 avg rating — 1,046,078 ratings
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82

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4.17 avg rating — 247,913 ratings
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83

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4.03 avg rating — 1,609,609 ratings
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84

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3.99 avg rating — 131,710 ratings
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85

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3.95 avg rating — 280,238 ratings
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86

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4.13 avg rating — 703,493 ratings
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87

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3.84 avg rating — 197,201 ratings
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88

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3.85 avg rating — 223,092 ratings
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89

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3.95 avg rating — 337,797 ratings
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90

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3.90 avg rating — 297,877 ratings
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91

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3.97 avg rating — 244,310 ratings
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92

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3.92 avg rating — 245,604 ratings
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93

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3.89 avg rating — 637,422 ratings
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94

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4.35 avg rating — 640,384 ratings
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95

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4.15 avg rating — 561,448 ratings
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96

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4.10 avg rating — 987,039 ratings
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97

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3.83 avg rating — 658,915 ratings
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98

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3.79 avg rating — 185,438 ratings
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99

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4.14 avg rating — 312,539 ratings
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100

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3.93 avg rating — 351,335 ratings
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264 books · 506 voters · list created April 12th, 2013 by Mitchell Friedman (votes) .
255 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Mitchell 11461 books
168 friends
Arielle 648 books
50 friends
Mike 3165 books
6 friends
Andrew 1761 books
51 friends
Steven 10802 books
235 friends
Cynthia 664 books
0 friends
Villain 6185 books
129 friends
Helen 2283 books
30 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-20 of 20 (20 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman wow. not a lot of classic sf has 50 thousand ratings.


message 2: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Hyperion didn't have quite enough ratings and was removed.


message 3: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman I added http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/39... for science fiction between 25 thousand and 50 thousand ratings. I'm certainly surprised at how few books are in this class but I am still looking.


message 4: by Lu (new)

Lu Thanks for the SF lists!


message 5: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Royal Assassin and Assassin's Apprentice removed due to being fantasy. I did review Robin Hobb's place on all the fantasy lists and at least one of her books was missing.


message 6: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman If you haven't voted on this list in awhile, you should revisit it as there are more sf books that have reached 50,000 ratings.

Also you should take a look at the other sf lists by ratings - I'm sure there are lot's of sf books missing on the <100 and 100-999 lists and event the 1000 to 9999 list.

All science fiction with 25,000 to 49,999 ratings
All science fiction with 10,000 to 24,999 ratings
All science fiction with 1,000 to 9,999 ratings
All science fiction with 100 to 999 ratings
Best Science Fiction on Goodreads with less than 100 ratings


message 7: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Not sure how I feel about A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Animal Farm being on this list. I just don't think of either one as being science fiction.


message 8: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Mitchell wrote: "Not sure how I feel about A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Animal Farm being on this list. I just don't think of either one as being science fiction."

Removing Animal Farm as fantasy rather than science fiction. And it is #26 on https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...


message 9: by Laura (new)

Laura L. Van Dam I fail to see how The Hunger Games is a science fiction book.


message 10: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Laura wrote: "I fail to see how The Hunger Games is a science fiction book."

The problem is with the term science fiction, it's not really a big-tent kind of term. Where speculative fiction is a heck of a lot more open. Alternate History isn't an obvious fit for science fiction for me. And I kind of like the idea that says that faster-than-light travel is fantasy.

This list at least is taking one of the bigger views of what is science fiction with the only caveat being not-fantasy.

Personally I prefer the Damon Knight approach - "At the start of a series of book review columns, Knight stated the following as one of his assumptions: "That the term 'science fiction' is a misnomer, that trying to get two enthusiasts to agree on a definition of it leads only to bloody knuckles; that better labels have been devised (Heinlein's suggestion, 'speculative fiction', is the best, I think), but that we're stuck with this one; and that it will do us no particular harm if we remember that, like 'The Saturday Evening Post', it means what we point to when we say it." This definition is now usually seen in abbreviated form as "Science fiction is [or means] what we point to when we say it."


message 11: by J_BlueFlower (new)

J_BlueFlower Batman: The Killing Joke? Really?

Not SF: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Yes, Verne was in general a Science Fiction writer, but not this book.


message 12: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman J_BlueFlower wrote: "Batman: The Killing Joke? Really?

Not SF: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Yes, Verne was in general a Science Fiction writer, but not this book."


as far as I'm concerned, if it was sf at one time it can remind sf. And if it has over 500 shelves as science fiction, it also can be counted as science fiction.

As for Batman the Killing Joke - that's a bit of a different case - I'd definitely rather have more books on this list than less - there just aren't that many with over 50,000 ratings.


message 13: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman I have not read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I am wondering if this isn't clearly fantasy?


message 14: by Laura (new)

Laura L. Van Dam Mitchell wrote: "J_BlueFlower wrote: "Batman: The Killing Joke? Really?

Not SF: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Yes, Verne was in general a Science Fiction writer, but not this book."

as far as I'..."


It wasn´t science fiction at the time it was written. Verne got the idea from a newspaper article that stated that due to new technologies in ships and railways, it was then possible to go around the world in less than 3 months.
I read it in a biography of Verne some time ago.


message 15: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Just a heads up... I will be splitting this list sometime soon. This list will switch to require 100,000 ratings. A new list will be for 50,000 to 99,999. There are are just over 100 books on this list with less than 100,000 ratings.


message 16: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman this list has been renamed to "Most Popular Science Fiction on goodreads" and the minimum criteria changed to 100,000. A new list has been created as Popular Science Fiction on Goodreads with between 50000 and 99999 ratings. Books from this list that have less than 100,000 ratings have been added to that list, and are in process of being deleted from this one.


message 17: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman And all but the last few books have been moved over to the new list. Which could use some votes - since I'm limited to 100 - and there are a few book more to move.


message 18: by Emrys (new)

Emrys It seems Goodreads members aren't able to post links to external websites, but if you search for "100 Years of Science Fiction" by Bethanie Maples, Srini Kadamati, and Eric Berlow, you should be able to find a map of books based on Goodreads data that groups books by level of similarity.


message 19: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Just added 10 more books to this last, graduated from the 50,000 to 99,999 list. You can find them at the end of this list. As always, to help maintain any of the science fiction lists, the easiest way is to vote for 100 books already on that list - that have only one vote.

As of 2024-03-17 this list has 222 books with 524 voters and only 34 books have only one voter.


Mynameisntcollins Three books on this list do not belong (less than 20 ratings)

The Arbonox Syndrome by Michael Spitzkoff (currently #64)

Imber by Deborah Mistina (currently #184)

The Woman in the Well by Dmetri Kakmi (currently #250)


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