3.91 avg rating — 1,892,456 ratings

"The beginning of the genre. Let us pay our respects."

4.29 avg rating — 1,629,052 ratings

"A cornerstone of world building. This book haunts me."

4.20 avg rating — 5,470,160 ratings

"It's this or Animal Farm, and this is the one that is referenced more, and the concept of Big Brother alone has had tremendous staying power."

4.15 avg rating — 2,426,975 ratings

"Adds the consideration of sexual politics to the dystopia."

3.99 avg rating — 2,079,299 ratings

"Honestly I can be persuaded that 1984 is sufficient, but the tropes here are still worth the read."

4.31 avg rating — 1,474,530 ratings

"More references, and only the third entry on my list that I would say I really, really enjoyed reading."

4.12 avg rating — 173,672 ratings

"The concept of a sudden singularity, after which no one who lived before it can understand those after, is given vision here. "

3.85 avg rating — 225,323 ratings

"Verne is another who needs to be on here, and I loved this book."

3.86 avg rating — 850 ratings

"Still the most chilling short story I've ever read, and all the intensity of things going wrong in space travel in a very compact place."

3.80 avg rating — 303,916 ratings

"Holy moly I almost forgot to add Annihilation y'all! This is simply great literature, and one of the best examples of a close encounter I have ever read, not to mention its place in the apocalyptic genre. (I personally do not feel it's necessary to read the rest of the series; I certainly haven't.)"

4.09 avg rating — 513,259 ratings

"Really you don't need to read this book, but you absolutely do need to see Blade Runner (the first one)."

3.97 avg rating — 2,841,611 ratings

"This is a hammer of a work with no subtlety in it at all, but it is referenced by so much. "

3.64 avg rating — 4,239 ratings

"Something of Lovecraft's science fiction should be here, and I think this story is the best example of his SF work. (You could argue it's cosmic horror, but I don't think Lovecraft's conception of cosmic horror is significantly different than what the rest of SF just calls a close encounter.)"

3.97 avg rating — 1,286,277 ratings

"My own first encounter with the concept of a tesseract, and still one of the better explained I think."

4.10 avg rating — 1,484,443 ratings

"You have to read a Vonnegut, and it should probably be this one."

4.22 avg rating — 2,017,528 ratings

"So, so many references. "

3.91 avg rating — 271,764 ratings

"Crichton does a very workman like job of taking a concept, finding a disaster, and building an adventure around it. He has to be on this list. I am partial to Sphere, and arguably Jurassic Park should take the prize given its pertinence, but I think the first is still the best, and goodness knows pandemic is a current subject."

4.23 avg rating — 41,596 ratings

"McCaffrey is frequently misclassed as a fantasy writer, but this specific book in her Pern series showcases her best SF writing as well as being a nice exploration of planetary colonization."

3.94 avg rating — 4,410 ratings

"Personal indulgence time. This book is pure fun."