Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?

Re:Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books? by dcminter on Sunday May 21, 2023 @10:00AM (#36020942)

Fair warning, I only liked the first part of Seveneves; I thought the second part was stupid. You'll get a lot of recommendations for Liu Cixin's "Three Body Problem" which I personally hate (though the first part of the first book is very well written), but if you like all of Seveneves then it might suit you.

My personal favourites that might not already be on everyone else's lists:

Fiasco - Stanisław Lem

This is how you lose the time war - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Feersum Endjinn - Iain Banks

The Dark Side of the Sun - Terry Pratchett (yes, that one)

Blindsight - Peter Watts

Bloom - Wil McCarthy

Good luck!

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Re:Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books? by meeech on Sunday May 21, 2023 @10:28AM (#36021214)

Feersum Endjinn is great, but would recommend starting with other culture novels first.

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Re:Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books? by dcminter on Sunday May 21, 2023 @10:32AM (#36021267)

Feersum Endjinn isn't a culture novel, so "other" doesn't really apply. I like the rest of his works, but this is my actual favourite of his SF genre stuff. Plus it's relatively short and self-contained which is often a plus for someone new to an author.

Of the Culture novels, my favourite is Excession - but I can't see it appealing to someone who hasn't already read any of the others.

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Re:Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books? by BlackjackCF on Sunday May 21, 2023 @10:48AM (#36021482)

I loved the first part of Seveneves. The second part… felt like a different book?

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Re:Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books? by agonmon on Sunday May 21, 2023 @11:20AM (#36021858)

I loved all of Seveneves, and hate Three Body Problem. The biggest difference in theme being, optimism that humanity can overcome any obstacle and flourish. If you want more in that vein, see:

Aurora - Kim Stanley Robinson

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

Delta-V - Daniel Suarez

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Re:Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books? by idontwantthis on Monday May 22, 2023 @11:39AM (#36032851)

Have you read other non-American/non-Western Scifi?

It's not a universal assumption that the future is good and technology will make us better. I love Soviet sci-fi for the completely different perspective.

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