danlo's Alltime Top 60 SciFis

[danlo]

Ok, 33 years of reading SciFi and over 2000 books have led me to this (gulp!):

1. The Broken God (A Requiem for Homo Sapiens)-David Zindell
2. Neverness-David Zindell
3. Hyperion (The Hyperion Cantos)-Dan Simmons
4. Shadow of the Torturer (Book of the New Sun)-Gene Wolfe
5. Startide Rising (Uplift series)-David Brin
6. Aristoi-Walter Jon Williams
7. Dune-Frank Herbert
8. Metaplanetary/Superluminal-Tony Daniel
9. Nueromancer-William Gibson
10. The Inverted World-Christopher Priest
11. Green Eyes-Lucious Shepard
12. More Than Human-Theodore Sturgeon
13. The Left Hand of Darkness-Ursula K. LeGuin
14. The Heart of the Comet-David Brin and Gregory Benford
15. A Canticle for Liebowitz-Walter M. Miller Jr.
16. To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Riverworld series)-Phillip Jose Farmer
17. Second Foundation (Foundation series)-Issac Asimov
18. A Dark and Hungry God Arises (The Gap Sequence)-Stephen R. Donaldson
19. Jem-Fredrick Pohl
20. Whipping Star-Frank Herbert
21. Days of Atonement-Walter Jon Williams
22. The Stars, My Destination-Alfred Bester
23. Stranger in a Strange Land-Robert Heinlien
24. Snowcrash-Neal Stephenson
25. Triton-Samuel R. Delany
26. Islands in the Net-Bruce Sterling
27. Childhood's End-Arthur C. Clarke
28. Solaris-Stanislav Lem
29. Lord of Light-Roger Zelazny
30. Silence in Solitude-(Silence Leigh series)-Melissa Scott
31. The Wanderer-Fritz Lieber
32. Brave New World-Aldous Huxley
33. Dragon's Egg-Robert L. Forward
34. Contact-Carl Sagan
35. Metropolitian/City on Fire-Walter Jon Williams
36. The Wild (A Requiem For Homo Sapiens)-David Zindell
37. Stand on Zanzibar-John Brunner
38. The Man in the High Castle-Philip K. Dick
39. Hardwired-Walter Jon Williams
40. This Day All Gods Die (The Gap Sequence)-Stephen R. Donaldson
41. Glory Season-David Brin
42. War in Heaven (A Requiem for Homo Sapiens)-David Zindell
43. Indoctrinaire-Christopher Priest
44. A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (HGTTG series)-Douglas Adams
45. Beyond the Blue Event Horizon-Frederick Pohl
46. Titan-John Varley
47. War of the Worlds-H. G. Wells
48. Babel-17-Samuel R. Delany
49. Earth Abides-George R. Stewart
50. City of Golden Shadow (Otherland series)-Tad Williams
51. Star Maker-Olaf Stapledon
52. 2001, A Space Odessy/2010-Arthur C. Clarke
53. The Broken Land-Ian MacDonald
54. The Fountians of Paradise-Arthur C. Clarke
55. The Postman-David Brin
56. The Sheep Look Up-John Brunner
57. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea-Jules Verne
58. The Mote in God's Eye-Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell
59. What Entropy Means to Me-George Alec Effinger
60. The Lathe of Heaven-Ursula K. LeGuin

(except for Zindell, Brin, Asimov and Donaldson if I listed a book from a series I'm paying tribute to the entire series. There may very well be a "better" book in that series)

...again I haven't had the chance to read some newer authors yet, such as Vinge, Harrison, May and Banks...

[Cail]

Interesting list. It's always comforting knowing I'm not the only fan of the Riverworld books.

But only one Arthur C. Clarke book? I thought 2010 was excellent.

And no Harlan Ellison?

[danlo]

I was wary of listing short story collections.

Bradbury
Ellison
Dick
W. J. Williams
Brin
and Simmons

are probably my top 6 SciFi short story writers

oh and George R. R. Martin for Tuf Voyaging.

Hey, Childhood's End is up there!
I liked 2010 and The City and the Stars/Beyond the Fall of Night too...and I particularly liked The Fountians of Paradise and Rendezvous with Rama--I'll kick out Vonnegut and stick Fountians & 2010 up there.

[Loredoctor]

I will have to make my list. Shame you didnt list Stapledon.

[danlo]

Damm it! (and you look so pitiful when you say "shame" ) How could I forget! Ok I've replaced The Martian Chronicles (which really are short stories) with Star Maker, thanks for the reminder!

[Metal-Demon]

A very interesting list Danlo, but I noticed you didn't include any Thomas Covenant books ... which I found surprising.

[danlo]

It's SciFi only MD!

[Metal-Demon]

Oh ... I thought it was Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

Sorry 'bout that.

[Loredoctor]

Damm it! (and you look so pitiful when you say "shame" ) How could I forget! Ok I've replaced The Martian Chronicles (which really are short stories) with Star Maker, thanks for the reminder!

Sorry, danlo. I didnt mean to come across as rude or arrogant.

[danlo]

No! You didn't come across that way at all! You're absolutely right that Stapledon be included on anyone's SciFi list, if not all Top 50s. It's your avatar that looks pitiful-if you don't change it I've got a custard pie with your name on it! (besides you look tired...and with a new baby I don't need tired!)

[Loredoctor]

No! You didn't come across that way at all! You're absolutely right that Stapleton be included on anyone's SciFi list, if not all Top 50s. It's your avatar that looks pitiful-if you don't change it I've got a custard pie with your name on it! (besides you look tired...and with a new baby I don't need tired!)

LOL

Changed!

[matrixman]

Tremendous list, danlo! It's a good reference for people like me who are in the dark about all the great and hidden gems of sci-fi out there. I haven't ventured much beyond Clarke and Herbert (not a bad starting point, however).

I likely won't even get to a tenth of the books on your list, though. I've become a painfully slow reader over the years, like SRD I guess. Plus I'm not enthusiastic about lugging books around anymore. E-books are looking more and more appealing...

[Ainulindale]

I really like this list, I have to read more Clarke apparently. going to have to check out The Lathe of Heaven Ursula K. LeGuin , recently I have been on a legion first print hunt. I don't have that.

[Variol Farseer]

Being an illiterate chump, I've only read 12 of those books, but based on those 12 I certainly can't disagree with your taste.

Alas, I've pretty much given up reading novels (with rare exceptions, such as Runes), because I have a painfully small book-buying budget and that all goes for nonfiction. Right now I'm shelling out $50 a pop for books on various Germanic languages. It doesn't take long to use up a budget at that rate.

So it doesn't look like I'll be able to read the other 48 anytime soon.

[Avatar]

Some really great ones there, some I haven't read, and some that are definitely on my list. In fact, beause of your list, I'm going to make my next read Triton. Have owned it for ages, but somehow never gotten around to reading it. Surprising when I think how much I enjoyed Dahlgren.

--A

[danlo]

Dahlgren very good and should have made my list-don't let Triton floor you, though. You have to keep going--It's almost a little too heady (at least back in the day, it was) and detailed in the beginning. But if you make it past the first 150 pages you will be rewarded. Babel-17 is probably Delany's easiest and fun read-alot more "Star Warry-straight foward" space opera than the others and the characters are very endearing...another little Delany gem is The Einstien Intersection.

Triton was tough: I threw my hands up at least three times, and almost threw the book away-but forced myself to keep going, I'm glad I did.

[dANdeLION]

If you seriously think Theodore Sturgeon doesn't crack the top 60, then I seriously think your list sucks.

[danlo]

Well I'm so sorry that I am human Master (please don't beat me) dAN It's not that easy to compile one of these kind of lists. And suck is such a strong word...but you do have a point and, as a matter of fact, we had a conversation about Mr Sturgeon about 5 months ago, or so. I agreed then that he was an undeniable Master. So you will now notice that I have edited my list and that More Than Human-Theodore Sturgeon is listed as #12. Thanks for reminding me and thanks for your help--but you're still mean!

[dANdeLION]

Heh. Show me a nice lion....and I'll show you a fraud.

[danlo]

I'm copying this for Ahira's Hangar--but I thought a bump might be interesting.