The Sword and Laser discussion

am trying to decide what to read next and am curious like george to know what some of you think is the best science fiction book you have ever read?

I have already read Dune....

Thanks

I have read tons of science fiction, but there are only three books/series that have survived my purges before moving overseas:
1)Ender's Game-There are a whole series of these, but Ender's is still the best.

2-Foreigner by CJ Cherryh -Doesn't start off with a lot of sci-fi elements, but as the series progresses, there is more and more involvement in that area.
3-Anything by Jack McDevitt-started with Polaris and haven't stopped since :)

I can't choose just one. I agree that everyone should
read Ender's Game.
Three more of my faves:

Hyperion
Rendezvous with Rama
Rama II

It really is hard to choose one, but Ender's Game is a great book and is high on my list.

My favorite is Starship Troopers. If it's a sure thing you're looking for, then I'd recommend Ender's Game and read Starship Troopers when you're willing to take more of a chance. I've made it through the first 5 books of the Ender Saga and it's incredible. Starship Troopers is a stand alone novel.

Lots of Ender's Game love in here. I suppose I'll go ahead and recommend it too. I'm convinced that I'm the only person who doesn't like it and since you're not me, you should be safe.

Anyway, my personal favorite is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. The Forever War and Old Man's War are both great as well.

Cameron wrote: "Lots of Ender's Game love in here. I suppose I'll go ahead and recommend it too. I'm convinced that I'm the only person who doesn't like it and since you're not me, you should be safe."

You don't like Ender's Game??!! I suppose you don't like kittens, puppies, or chocolate chip cookies, either. Oh well, to each his own ;0)

Philip wrote: "You don't like Ender's Game??!! I suppose you don't like kittens, puppies, or chocolate chip cookies, either. Oh well, to each his own ;0) "

I know, right? It just didn't do it for me, though. I thought it was repetitive and lacked a main character that was likeable. It did provide some entertainment but, to me, it was a novel that got better the less I thought about it. The more thought I devoted to it, the more it bugged me.

As a kid: The Stars My Destination

As an adult, the 1st half of Old Man's War

I'm much more on the fantasy side of the line. Is Ilium considered scifi? I loved that book.

As far as the Dune Series goes, I think 5 Heretics of Dune and 6 Chapterhouse Dune, which in my opinion is one story and should have been one book, were by far the best. If I could pick 2 books as "the one" it would be these.

Both, Blood Music and Heart of the Comet are fantastic. If I had to pick one, it would be one of these. Hmmm, notice how I didn't pick one. :)

If you like your sci-fi a little on the lighter side, Cold As Ice and Friday.

I will of course nod in the direction of Ender's Game while adding a duh.

Cameron, I was afraid to jump in because of all the Ender love going on. I don't really like Ender's Game. I first read it a couple of years ago and I may have been too old and have read too much science fiction for it. It was good, but I didn't think it was great. It seemed kind of dated and predictable to me. I was surprised that it was written as recently and 1980-something. If I had read it in my teens or twenties instead of my late forties, it might have been the book that hooked me.

Matt, if you've already read Dune, your automatically an advanced SF reader. (Please, don't use "sy fy", it's made-up. SF or SciFi is better.) Some good choices for you might be:

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (They need to be read together.)

I also recommend reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and just about anything by H.G. Wells or Jules Verne so you can see where it all began. I really love Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Wells's The Time Machine

Matt wrote: "am trying to decide what to read next and am curious like george to know what some of you think is the best science fiction book you have ever read?

Thanks"

I'm an old geezer, :-), and I've read so many Sci Fi books over the past 50 years or so that it is difficult to just recommend only one book or series. I love the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey and now her son Todd, pretty much anything by Robert Heinlein, particularly liked The Number of the Beast, I also liked Kevin J. Anderson Saga of the Seven Suns series. I'm sure there are others I've missed, but that will do for a start.

I hate saying any one thing is my "favorite," but I would add my agreement on the Anderson Saga of the Seven Suns. I enjoyed Max Barry's Jennifer Government, as well.

Ix wrote: "I'm much more on the fantasy side of the line. Is Ilium considered scifi? I loved that book."

Scifi enough for me! I like it too :)

Admittedly, I have read much more fantasy and other fiction than I have SciFi, but to date my favorite is Old Man's War.

It's actually one my favorites in any genre.

Sandi wrote: "Cameron, I was afraid to jump in because of all the Ender love going on. I don't really like Ender's Game. I first read it a couple of years ago and I may have been too old and have..."

Well, I was a teenager when I read it and I still didn't like it. I wonder if many people like it simply because it won awards and everyone else seemed to enjoy it. I can't find any other explanation for its legions of fans. Of course, though, everyone has their own opinion and all that jazz, but I just don't see it.

I'll nominate The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. One of my absolute favorites!

Best is soooo hard to decide:

Probably Excession or The Player of Games because I have gone back and re-read the Culture books more than any other books in my library and that is as good an indicator as any of what I personally consider "best".

(but man, it was hard not to say
Dune, or Accelerando, or Neuromancer, or The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer each of which pushes a lot of the right buttons for me)

Sandi wrote: "Cameron, I was afraid to jump in because of all the Ender love going on. I don't really like Ender's Game. I first read it a couple of years ago and I may have been too old and have..."

Jason wrote: "As far as the Dune Series goes, I think 5 Heretics of Dune and 6 Chapterhouse Dune, which in my opinion is one story and should have been one book, were by far the best. If I..."

Sandi: liked your comments. Simmons is great Nd doesn't get mentioned much

If you lean towards satire try some Lem: The Futurological Congress is probably one of his most accessible satirist works. Follow it up with Peace on Earth if you liked Ijon Tichy.

Definite top two Rendezvous with Rama and The Reality Dysfunction

tons of good picks here, am going to pick up enders game , will get the semi-updated version that came out in early 90's, and will look into some of the other picks in the thread.... thanks a bunch

Matt wrote: "tons of good picks here, am going to pick up enders game , will get the semi-updated version that came out in early 90's, and will look into some of the other picks in the thread.... thanks a bunch"

Let us know how you like it!

Cameron wrote: "Lots of Ender's Game love in here. I suppose I'll go ahead and recommend it too. I'm convinced that I'm the only person who doesn't like it and since you're not me, you should be safe. "

Your not alone. To me it was like Harry Potter in space.

Some of my favorites would be:
Eon
The Mote in God's Eye
Ringworld
and almost anything by Iain M. Banks

OK, my criteria will be books that had an impact, some kind of "woah, that was good" factor. Some may not have the same impact now, however.

Ender's Game
To Your Scattered Bodies Go the first River world book
Ringworld
Rendezvous with Rama
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Many-Coloured Land under-appreciated book, won the Locus award for best novel, but rarely do you see it mentioned nowadays. I was absolutely fascinated by it.

Now that I look at this list, I see that most of them are "concept" books, where the sheer IDEA is so intriguing that the plot and characters need not be stellar. I would add the Hitchiker's Guide, but I really view that as more humor than science fiction, really. Like the Discworld books are more humor than fantasy.

put enders game on my library hold list and am going to start on "Old Man's War" tonight.

have a car ride from upstate ny to cape cod this weekend hope to read old mans war, the kite runner and the 3rd dean koontz Frankenstein book over the weekend

Dune is the one SF novel I keep coming back to are re-reading every decade or so.

I'll confess I'm much more of a sword person, generally speaking, than a laser person, but there has been some science fiction I've gotten into. Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow are two that I keep on my iPod at all times (not only do I like the stories, I really like the narrarators). I also keep Stephen Fry's nararation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on there.

I don't know if Neal Stephenson's books always qualify as science fiction, but my gateway drug into Stephenson's work was Snow Crash, followed quickly by The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, then onto Cryptonomicon, Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World (the last 4 are even less science fiction than Snow Crash and Diamond Age, though).

I've tried some of the "laser" books we've read here and really couldn't get into them (like Dune), or just really didn't like them (Childhood's End). I suppose Dan Simmons' Hyperion is considered science fiction, and I enjoyed it well enough, though hated the ending (and was told I needed to read the other two Hyperion books to really "enjoy" it).

I guess if I had to say "favorites" it would be the first 5 I listed (Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, H2G2, Snow Crash, and Diamond Age). But my exposure has really been limited.

For me, "Best" is not about quality but enjoyability. A book that I keep coming back to. Childhood's End is just that book.

Every time I see something that was directly influenced by this book :: As in the case of the new 'V' series :: I keep wanting to go re-read it.

I just finished and liked "Old Man's War" did not love it but liked it very much, was hard for me to get a good visual mental picture of the worlds they were fighting on as they did not go into detail with the settings in the 2nd and 3rd parts of the book, really really liked the first part of the book and the very ending.

Right now, my favorite science fiction novel is absolutely Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" followed by "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes.

Matty Van wrote: "I just finished and liked "Old Man's War" did not love it but liked it very much..."

Do you plan on reading its sequel, The Ghost Brigades? It has a slightly less stellar beginning, but much stronger 2nd and 3rd parts.

I'm a laser! pew pew pew.
Bump up for Old Man's War, haven't read The Ghost Brigades but will check it out soon.

The first novel in the Ender's Game saga was great but not my favorite anymore and the next ones weren't as good.

Any votes for Pandora's Star, Oryx and Crake, Protector or some old timey SciFI like Looking Backward?

Cameron wrote: "Matty Van wrote: "I just finished and liked "Old Man's War" did not love it but liked it very much..."

Do you plan on reading its sequel, The Ghost Brigades? It has a slightly less s..."

I will probably get to it eventually... there are so many things I have not read yet, as far as sequels go will probably give books 2 and 3 in the Dune series a try even though I have been told they are not as good as the first, I just really like the Dune universe

I think my favorite books would be between
The Mote in God's Eye and
Dune

Besides Dune and LOTR I have to go with Lord of Light by Roger Zelany....

Besides many of the books mentioned above, as a semi-old man, I think the books I love to go back to in the science fiction vein are:
The Postman and Sundiver (and the rest of the Uplift Saga)by Brin
and The Difference Enginewhich I think was probably the last best work from Gibson.

Matty Van wrote: "I will probably get to it eventually... there are so many things I have not read yet"

Seriously. My stack of books to read was already taller than me before this discussion popped up. Now it's up to the ceiling.

Hack wrote: "Besides many of the books mentioned above, as a semi-old man, I think the books I love to go back to in the science fiction vein are:
The Postman and Sundiver (and the re..."

David Brin is one of my favorite authors but the one of his I like the most was Practice Effect. It was never followed up and it begged for one. I love the ideas that were behind it even if they fly in the face of physics. It's not the most deep, and sure others may not like as much, but I enjoyed how the protagonist discovers the rules behind the practice effect.

I really like the Star of the Guardians series by Margaret Weiss. The Lost King

Dune is up there for me, as well.

I've always preferred fantasy over SciFi.

Ender probably is actually the best one but I thought I'd throw in a few more suggestions:


The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Snow Crash

I, Robot


Honestly, read Ender's Game first but if you don't read these you aren't a fan!

I'll throw in one of my favorites merely because it's got a little something for everyone; sci-fi, magic, murder mystery, fantasy roleplaying and it was written by a pair of great authors.

Dream Park by Niven/Pournelle.

Robotguy wrote: "I'll throw in one of my favorites merely because it's got a little something for everyone; sci-fi, magic, murder mystery, fantasy roleplaying and it was written by a pair of great authors.

Dream P..."

Ha, I'd forgotten about that book. I enjoyed it as well. I even have the tabletop RPG sitting on my RPG shelf.

Dream Park was great. As were it's sequels The Barsoom Project and California Voodoo Game (I like this site - I had completely forgotten the name of the third one).

I tried re-reading them recently though, and they don't seem to have stood up that well. My wife appears to disagree though, as I saw that after I dug them out they mysteriously made it into her bed-side table pile.

Best Sy Fy book you have ever read?
Though it's not hard Sy Fy I have to say Dragonsdawn

First thought for me would have been Ender's Game.

Upon further reflection... I, Robot.

My favorite SF book? That seems like trying to pick the prettiest orchid in a rain-forest.

For the sake of discussion, I'm going to go with The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Simply an exemplary specimen of "hard" science fiction at its finest.

Some runners up:
Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold (got me hooked on the Vorkosigan saga).

Neuromancer by William Gibson (I'll never forget my first Cyberpunk experience).

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds (a triumph for a fine author who has now fully mastered his craft)

Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker (think "Lost" - in space!)

...and about a hundred others that I can't be bothered to try and think of off the top of my head.

P.S. I have decided to go to the used book store and try to get a copy of Midnight at the Well of Souls today. Well past time for a re-read. I wonder if it is still as grandiose and strange and wonderful as I remember?

I agree with one of Vance's picks, Stranger in a Strange Land. I thought Ender's Game was good, but certainly not my favorite SciFi book ever. I think Starship Troopers is a little bit overrated.

Wayne wrote: "For me, "Best" is not about quality but enjoyability. A book that I keep coming back to. Childhood's End is just that book.

Every time I see somet..."
I was bored one day and read it in one sitting, just couldn't put it down.
The book that got me reading scifi was http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... Startide Rising by David Brin. I couldn't get into the sequel but I think this book stands by itself.