I like reading science fiction, and want to know what books I should
read. I?m aware of the lists at
(http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/), but so many of
these are really old. I obviously could also look at the recent lists
of winners of the Hugo, Nebula, and other awards, but that?s still too
many books, and my preference would be for books published more
recently (say in the last 20 years). Here?s some of what I?ve already
read (and mostly liked): (1) Most or all of Larry Niven?s known space
series (I loved Protector, World of Ptavvs, and A Gift from Earth);
(2) All 10 books in the Foundation series (liked it overall and my
favorites are Isaac Asimov?s Foundation?s Edge and David Brin?s
Foundation?s Triumph); (3) Much of David Brin?s work, including
Sundiver, Startide Rising, The Uplift War, The Postman, and Earth
(loved SR and TUW; the others were okay, but Earth was way too long);
(4) Classics like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Brave New World (absolutely
love all of these), and Flatland; (5) Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
(liked it); (6) The Hitchhiker?s Guide to the Galaxy series. In
addition, I?ll soon be reading both Ender?s Game and Neuromancer, have
seen both movie versions of Dune and plan to read it sometime, and
Cryptonomicon has already been highly recommended. In general I do not
like fantasy (but I loved the X-Men and other superhero comics and
movies). Also, I?m not at all interested in reading classics that had
a huge impact on the development of the field of science fiction, but
only want to read great books (if these are at all different). In
order to give a further idea of my tastes, I loved or liked the
following movies: Gattaca, The Fifth Element, the Star Wars, Star
Trek, Terminator, and Matrix series, Dark City, Total Recall, The 6th
Day, Westworld, A.I. ? Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, and
Enemy Mine (and I have this novella). I didn?t really care for 2001: A
Space Odyssey, Starship Troopers, the Men in Black movies, or the
Blade movies. So what should I read? Brief descriptions of any
recommendations would probably be helpful. Comments very welcome!

I highly recommend the work of John Varley. I've never read anything
by Varley that I didn't enjoy.

"Dhalgren" by Samuel R. Delany.
The works of Robert Heinlein.
The Heechee Saga ("Gateway," etc.) by Frederik Pohl.

You will seldom go wrong by picking a book or story that has been
nominated for a Nebula Award.

Here you'll find lots of past nominees and winners:

http://dpsinfo.com/awardweb/nebulas/

Other SF-lovers may clobber me for saying this, but I've always found
the Nebulas to be a more reliable indicator of high quality than the
Hugo Awards. The Nebula Awards are voted upon by writers, while the
Hugos are handed out by fans.

If something wins both the Nebula and the Hugo, it's usually a sure thing.

Joe Haldeman is a well-respected but not celebrated titan of science fiction.
He has won the Hugo and Nebula awards twice, as well as the John W. Campbell award.

In terms of sci-fi continuity, he can be seen as a bridge between
writers like Heinlein and writers like Gibson.

Many of his books are out of print, but you should easily be able to
find a copy of his classic _Forever War_.  It's a great book,
something of an update on the concept of _Starship Troopers_.  In fact
certain tropes from the movie adaptation were lifted from Haldeman,
not Heinlein!

John Wyndham - The day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos, The
trouble with Lichen and many more.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/John_Wyndham.htm

Fred Hoyle
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Fred_Hoyle.htm

Seminal and readable are not necessarily mutually exclusive, so for
that I would recommend Olaf Stapledon?s ?Sirius?.

Kurt Vonegut?s ?Mother Night? and ?Siren?s of Titan?.

Ursula K. Le Guin?s ?Left Hand of Darkness?.

M. John Harrison?s ?The Pastel City?.

Perhaps my all time fav, ?The Einstein Intersection? by Samuel R. Delany.

And there?s always ?Winnie the Poo? which is great for reading in bed
to girlfriends.

Best

Anything by Harlan Ellison. His short fiction is unsurpassed.  If you
can find an anthology that contains both "'Repent Harlequin,' Said the
Ticktockman" and "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," buy it
immediately.

Specifically, "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Heinlein.

Also, the Amber series by Roger Zelazny is excellent, although you
might find it tends toward fantasy a bit much for your taste.

Hello Mharoks,

A quick look at the bookcases behind me to see which authors I tended
to purchase books for [attempting to ignore the authors already
mentioned]. Note that many are "older" books because that is when I
purchased most of them but some continue to be reprinted (or visit
used bookstores).
 - The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
 - Cities in Flight, James Blish
 - The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner
 - The Faded Sun series or Downbelow Station, C.J. Cherryh
 - Dorsai, Gordon Dickson
 - Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C Clarke
 - The Riverworld or World of Tiers series, Phillip Jose Farmer
 - Rocheworld, Robert L. Forward
 - The Stainless Steel Rat series, Harry Harrison
 - The Two Faces of Tomorrow, James P. Hogan
 - Systemic Shock, Dean Ing
 - [Red, Green, Blue] Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
 - Berserker, Fred Saberhagen
 - The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
 - The Weapon Makers, A.E. van Vogt
 - A Fire on the Deep, Vernor Vinge

Also, you might also want to look up books under the "Ace Science
Fiction Specials" series such as:
 - The Wild Shore

I'll echo that most of the other recommendations are "right on" as well.

  --Maniac

I really enjoyed Hyperion by Dan Simmons - perhaps the most literary
sci-fi I've ever read.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man by H.F. Saint.  Out of Print, but
available at Amazon.  Not at all like the movie.  A man finds himself
invisible after an accident and is pursued by government agents
through New York City.  There are many disadvantages to being
invisible.

May I suggest E.E. Smith's Lensmen series, I believe this is where
space opera in the style of Star Wars and other space adventures all
started.

How about the Darkover Series by Marion Zimmer Bradley?
Also, one of my favorite sci fi books is War Day by Whitley Streiber
and James Kunetka.  It's written sort of as a memoir of 2 guys who
travel cross country after a nuclear holocaust.  I think its out of
print so it might be hard to find

Battlefield Earth was a horrible movie, but a very good book!

- Hammer

I would suggest to read Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. One of my
favourites. Start from beginnig (as the The Color of Magic and The
Light Fantastic shoud give you good overview -- the latter is said to
be his best book).
http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/

Also, i noticed that you are missing Stanislaw Lem in your list.
Famous Polish fiction writer, author of Solaris and many other great
books.
http://www.lem.pl/cyberiadinfo/english/main.htm

Strugatsky brothers might be another interesting reading for you
http://www.rusf.ru/abs/english/

From classic readings you should read Arthur C. Clarke. My favourite
is "The City and the Stars"
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Arthur_C_Clarke.htm

Why not give the Frank Herbert's "Dune" series a try? Pretty heavy
going, more philosophical than some..

Hello to all,

Isaac Asimov used to be one of my favourites SF writer, along with
David Brin, Silverberg and some others, but lately I really enjoyed
works from Orson Scott Card recently. You can found some good
descriptions of two of his best series there (OSC's official website):

http://www.hatrack.com/osc/index.shtml


The "Ender" books: Ender's game, Speaker for the dead, Xenocide,
Children of the mind (and others continuing the saga)

The "Homecoming" series: The memory of Earth, Call of Earth, Ships of
Earth, Earthfall, Earthborn

Another good book from Orson Scott Card: Pastwatch: The redemption of
Christopher Columbus (a time travel novel).

Hope you'll some new roads to the stars...

Wezel

I agree with most everything averyone else has said, but must add one
more, Theodore Sturgeon. My first and favorite being The Stars are the
Styx (of which I've loaned and lost twice)! Outer space is good, but
sometimes it's nice to see it from inner space. Oh, and hey Spyder
Robinson is also a good bet.

The hichhikers guide to the galaxy series it is a really good series
by Dougles Adams it is kind of confusing though.

I just read this and highly recommend The KillWare Chronicles by K.D.
Kragen, if you like sci-fi meets psychological horror with a strong
philosophical slant and completely action packed then this is a truly
great read, $36.95 for both novels together in hardback edition.
Check out the authors site at <a
href="http://www.killware.com">www.killware.com</a>

The author is influenced by Ray Bradbury, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells,
H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert E. Howard but his books are new and have a
modern feel and subject matter. Seriously great work.

Ender's Game

It is the best by far.