Best Sci-fi books?

[sleestak]

Saw the post about water on Mars.  Rather than threadjack, thought I'd start a new one.  What's your favorite sci-fi book? 

I just re-read "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card, which is one of my favorites. Also like "Childhood's End" by Clarke, as well as most stuff by Heinlein and Asimov.  Can anyone recommend anything recently published?  Got some time this summer and would like to read some high-quality, intelligent sci-fi.

[DY]

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451(published in 1953  ), and his shorts, like "A sound of Thunder"

[sleestak]

451 is a great book.  I've read most of the classic sci-fi novels.  Any newer recommendations?

[Bun-bun]

If you like Ender's Game(and I do!) try Enders Shadow.
Also:
Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold. . . . . Start there, then read the rest of the Miles books.

Legacies by L.E.Modesitt Jr. . . .The Corean chronicles

1632  by Eric Flint

Callahans Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson

Military SF:
David Drake, John Ringo (Especially the posleen series), David Weber, Eric Flint, Elizabeth Moon - The vatta Wars saga.

Not Science Fiction per se, but still a damn good read: The Two Bear Mambo by Joe R. Lansdale.

Hope this helps.
Jeff

[zarn02]

if you've not read all of the 2001/2010/2061/3001 quadrilogy, then do it!

the otherland series by tad williams is good stuff.

and, uh... i don't read as much as i should.

[factorPlayer]

Recent? wow...  now that you mention it I think it's hard to find good stuff written in this decade.  The most recently published sci-fi novel I've bought would be "Manifold Time" by Stephen Baxter (2000)

I think I prefer the heady idealism of sci-fi from the last generation or two and when I'm in Half-Price Books that's what I usually walk out with.  Even if you've read all the classics you might have missed these gems -

"The Black Cloud"  (1957)
"October the 1st is too late" (1966) both by Fred Hoyle, the guy who thought the Big Bang theory is pish-posh, but he could write a good book 

Somewhat more recent and of a fantastical style are

"Radix" (1981) by A.A. Attanasio
"Mindflight" (1978) by Stephen Goldin

[Scottish]

+1, modern Sci-fi is rather lack luster on the whole. I can't come up with a single book I wouldn't be embarrassed to admit I read.....  but good thread, it may well turn over some good nuggets..... 

[roy-nexus-6]

I've been pushing the Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars trilogy in another thread - those books have won EVERY major sci fi prize their is.

Alastair Reynolds write gothic sci fi - startlingly good. Chasm City stands out most in the series. 

Oh, and THIS series will sit you back on you ass - Ilyium (book 1) and Olympus (bk 2): simply mind blowing.

[JohnnyDucati]

I have to admit it has been decades since I read sci-fi.  This will date me: I had a subscription to Omni Magazine for years.  still have a bunch of them.

I'd have to go with the classics:

Bradbury, Clarke, Henlein, Asimov, Philip K. Dick.  I remember trying to read William Gibson's Neuromancer in college, but I guess I was too distracted to ever finish it.  At the time I thought it was extremely dense, but in retrospect, I will have to go back and pick it up again as I recall it is just freakily prescient about many things (e.g., the Internet, etc.).

I'm embarrassed to say I can't recall any recent sci-fi that I've read, probably because I've displaced it with other contemporary literature and history.

Maybe I'll look at some of the suggested titles offered up here.  Thanks, dudes!

[DoubleEagle]

The Year Star Dust Fell...Raymond F. Jones......Chariot of the Gods ...Erich Von Daniken

[factorPlayer]

I have to admit it has been decades since I read sci-fi.  This will date me: I had a subscription to Omni Magazine for years.  still have a bunch of them.

That magazine was great!  it had a lot of good short stories too.  Perfect companion piece to Penthouse 

[DoubleEagle]

That magazine was great!  it had a lot of good short stories too.  Perfect companion piece to Penthouse 

I bet I can guess which one you would read 1st .

[Rev. Millertime]

The water on Mars thing made one thing pop in my head:

Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

[sbrguy]

the crazy thing is how much of the farenheiht 451 has actually come true over the years, ie, people getting bored with books wanting only snippets of stories, usuaing televisions as their "family time" for their "reality tv" that is crazy.

[HisDucness]

Asimov's Foundation Trilogy is one of my all time favs. Recently I've been into some cyberpunk. William Gibson's Nueromancer,
Neal stephenson's Snow Crash is a great example
Enjoyed Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies. Kinda noir detective/cyberpunk set in the far future
with Martian influence