The 12 Best Sci-Fi Books I’ve Ever Read [Updated]

[@JoeNicolosi-l8i]

Superb list!! Gateway, Ender's Game, Dune, 1984 and Brave New World are all in my top 10 as well. I like all five of your other choices too. My other five are The Left Hand of Darkness, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Hyperion, Fahrenheit 451, and More Than Human.

[@MichaelButtonBooks]

Thank you!

[@edouthouse613]

Neuromancer, William Gibson is a defining text for sci-fi and cyberpunk.

[@psifiguy]

I've read all but 2 on the list. I have the 3 body problem on my pile to be read. The one book that will not be on my best of SF list is Red Rising - like one of the other people that posted - it would more likely be on my list of books to avoid. I had high hopes for Red Rising given all the positive reviews. I have read the 1st 4 books in the series having heard it got better and darker as it progressed. I honestly don't see why it has gotten such great reviews. The main character seems to be in a constant cycle of trusting people then getting betrayed only to trust and get betrayed by the same people yet everyone flocks to follow him. He has no real plan. Contrast this to Ender's Game (that is also on the list) where Ender much more intelligent, invents tactics to manipulate and win the impossible. The world of Red Rising is simplistic and ultimately disappointing. I have the other novels in the Red Rising series but I'm not sure if I'll bother reading them. The rest of the books on the list that I've read are good and have re-read a few of them in the last few years.

[@ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

Stories of your life is great! Arrival the movie version was also a fantastic film. Hitchhikers Guide is a must read classic- I survived many a rough moment as a teenager thanks the humor of Adams. I just got to Foundation this year - I’ve read the first one and am looking forward to the next two.

[@Ubique2927]

Every book by Asimov, Pohl

[@fjdarling]

I've read all but two of the books recommended by Michael Button several times each. I've also read most of the books recommended by the commentators. Science Fiction has allowed me to stand outside of myself and the society in which I live. They have shown me the madness and self destructive behavior accepted as normal. I've been thinking about the "Three Body Problem as a potential read." Wee will see.

[@deqew1]

Oke list, no Jack Vance ? Did you read the hyperion series by Dan Simmons?

[@MichaelButtonBooks]

@@deqew1 not yet!

[@psikeyhackr6914]

*Voyage from Yesteryear* & *The Two Faces of Tomorrow* by James P Hogan

[@corneliusdobeneck4081]

Thanks for saying "MY favorite" and not "the best" Sci-Fi books. Salute. A few notes and then some recommendations: "robota":THE most famous word in Sci-Fi history actually is a Chzech word meaning something like "payed worker". It rose to fame through the stage play "R.U.R" (Rossums Universal Robots) by Carel Capek. The stage play actually is a comedy. "1984": which scares me the most about this book is the fact that it all happens TODAY. It almost feels like it shares the fate of great filmmaker Piotr Szulkin whose provocative movies have been used by the Polish oppressive government in the 1980s to train who to oppress peoiple even more. Some time before "1984" and "Brave New World" russian author Sergej Samjatin wrote a similar book called "We". Recommandations: Paul Scheerbart: german author Scheerbart wrote probably one if not the most unique Sci-Fi book ever -> "Lesabendio". The book follows the explaoits of a crystal based being on his trip on a come written 1913. No humans appear in this book. Robert Kraft: another german author whose book "The new Earth" left me speechless. On the surface "The new earth" seems like a usual Jules-Verne-like-proto-SciFi adventure written 1910. The story is simple enough: a comet passes the earth and the magnatic field rotates the continents, India becomes southpole, middle Europe becomes jungle ect, you get the picture. We then read about how all the people adopt to the new circumstances following daily life. Doesn't sound very thrilling right? Until you realice when you close the book that you have just witnessed the creation of mythology or rather - HOW mythology develops from simple customs to legedary tales. Robert Kraft gives us a book to train us on how to understand mythology in general. Sadly Robert Kraft could only finish a few chapter - the book is sepperated in various chapters concentrationg on different regions. Notes found in Krafts desk indicate he had more to come including titles and synopses for more chapters. I consider this one of the greatest losses for Sci-Fi literature. Robert Kraft's live is that of a classic adventure we read about in books by Henry Rider Haggard or Lules Verne even. He sailed the seas, went on hunting in Africa and India and had some other things going on until he was killed in WW1 by a granade. He was an incredible versatile writer with unique scenarios like "Poachers at the Kilimadsharo" in which a german hunter who teamed up with Siux tribesman in a "wild-west-show" is asked to track down poachers in Africa. So you end up with Siux in Africa! :D Another phenomenal proto Sci-Fi story by Kraft is "King, King": a man named King by a big ship and goes on a luxuary voyage with passergers. Things happen, lots of classic adventure stuff going on only to learn in the end that the ship never left port and King build a 360° movie screen around the ship on which he showed prefilmed adventures. Written 1910 mind you. And last but nor least we have "Detective Nobody" (in the german version he is called "Nobody" as well in english). Detective Nobody pretty much is a wild mixture of Ian Flemmings "james Bond" and classic Tolbor Mundy adventures written from 1906 to about 1910 I believe.

[@MichaelButtonBooks]

Thank you so much! I love comments like these and I’ll be sure to check those books out ☺️ have a great day !!

[@corneliusdobeneck4081]

@@MichaelButtonBooks Don't know if there is an english version of the german ones, sadly. Robert Kraft is an insanly overlooked writer.

[@Akira282]

@michael - What are your thoughts on Altered Carbon books?

[@MichaelButtonBooks]

I’ve actually never read them! 😫 are they any good?

[@MusicWordMusic]

@@MichaelButtonBooks Yes. There was a series too.

[@red5ish5]

You are very brave to publish this list.

[@MichaelButtonBooks]

@@red5ish5 thank you…? 🤣

[@codyardoin51]

You should totally read Ringworld by larry nevan

[@pauldonald4676]

You have obviously never read The black cloud by Fred Hoyle.

[@nogravitas1013]

no Banks? no bueno!

[@ironzep]

Can't have a Sci Fi list without Banks! RIP

[@corneliusdobeneck4081]

No, because as he said, this is HIS personal hit list. Not a general hit list. If you wanna make a "The best 1000 Sci-Fi books" video be my guest because that's at least the amount you need to cover the topic "best books" in that genre. And I assume there's a hell lot of books that would belong inthe list you never heared of! ;)

[@ironzep]

@@corneliusdobeneck4081 it's not that serious.

[@barryroode6409]

Ha ha... Red Rising is way up there on my list of worse books I've ever read. The entire second half is actually not readable. Just read the first and last paragraphs of each chapter...but even that is too much.

[@YaFeya13]

Wow, just wow… unreadable??? What is it you find readable? 😳