5 Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Books

[@LiminalSpaces03]

Great video! I've read Lathe, Annihilation, and Stigmata. Ice Is high up on my TBR, and I've never heard of Norstrillia, but I'm going to look for a copy!

[@WordsinTime]

@@LiminalSpaces03 Thanks! Hope you enjoy those two!

[@clash5j]

I love that KZbin subtitles Norstrilia as Australia😉 I’ve read Lathe of Heaven and Annihilation and loved them both. I never recommend Jeff Vandermeer to anyone because his writing style is really divisive, although, I’m a fan Would Burroughs Naked Lunch be considered science fiction? If so, it’s trippy as hell

[@WordsinTime]

@@clash5j Haha close enough! I haven’t read Naked Lunch, I’ll have to check it out at some point.

[@alisonfarnell7228]

Will check out these, I love Lathe of Heaven. I really enjoyed Chris Beckett's Beneath the world, a sea. Weird, evocative book, that I don't remember much of, other than the general feeling of having experienced something unusual.

[@WordsinTime]

@@alisonfarnell7228 I’ll have to look it up, thanks!

[@maxturgeon89]

Annihilation is weird, Authority is less weird, but Acceptance is absolutely bonkers. I've yet to read Absolution, but I'm looking forward to it!

[@WordsinTime]

@@maxturgeon89 Haha nice!

[@Paul_McSeol]

Some of my favorite books. Love Annihilation and the sequels. I think they sort of make sense in a Lovecraftian kind of way but the not being able to understand is part of the journey. There’s things out there we simply cannot comprehend and any integration will lead to weirdness. Thanks so much. This was a great list.

[@WordsinTime]

@@Paul_McSeol That’s a good description. I’m glad you enjoyed them!

[@ajaxdavis]

Adrian Tchaikovsky's new book Alien Clay is pretty weird. And I would put Solaris in the trippy category, I remember it like a fever dream.

[@WordsinTime]

@@ajaxdavis I haven’t read Alien Clay yet but I like the cover. And Solaris is a great choice!

[@bartsbookspace]

Solaris is always a good choice! 😂 Trippy - Solaris Philosophical - Solaris First contact - Solaris SF Horror - Solaris

[@livriomer]

I enjoyed the first two books, and I want to read the 3 and 4. Nostrilia looks interesting. I have never heard of Ice, that's new for me.

[@WordsinTime]

@@livriomer Nice! Hope you enjoy the others if you read them.

[@livriomer]

@@WordsinTime Hopefully soon, but considering that I have to read other books first hehe, well, some day

[@colin1818]

I loved The Lathe of Heaven. As much as we talk about Left Hand of Darkness I think this is the superior book by far.

[@WordsinTime]

@@colin1818 Agreed!

[@roberthieber1]

PKD is my favorite sci-fi author by a mile. So unique and out there. There’s really no one like him.

[@WordsinTime]

@@roberthieber1 Definitely a unique voice in the genre!

[@kufujitsu]

PKD is pretty high on my list of this type of fiction. I could have included many other novels of his to put on this list. Even his pure Action/SF novels like Solar Lottery have weird little wrinkles in them - BTW, in the hands of the right director, Solar Lottery would make a great film IMO. LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven was good as well - I think you already stated it, but it was very PK Dickian in it's plot structure.

[@Twirlip2]

I read "The Lathe Of Heaven" recently, because it was selected by the Quantum Wheel. (That's what it's called, isn't it?) I loved it, but it wasn't at all what I was expecting from this author. Almost as soon as I started reading it, I felt that she was deliberately writing in the style of Philip K. Dick, she was having fun doing so, and she was writing a better PKD novel than PKD himself! (Sort of Ursula K. Dick?) Curious, I Googled around a bit, and it seems that the novel was in fact her tribute to PKD, and PKD himself liked it. There's an interview on KZbin in which Le Guin talks to Bill Moyers about the book - I haven't watched it yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so.

[@WordsinTime]

Yes, lots of great PKD options to choose from!

[@summerkagan6049]

A few additional recommendations are Nova Swing by M John Harrison, Son of Man by Robert Silverberg and Dr Adder by KW Jeter

[@WordsinTime]

@@summerkagan6049 Thanks for the recommendations!

[@BookishChas]

Great video Jonathan! I’m hoping to read Lathe of Heaven next year, and I also want to try Vandemeer.

[@WordsinTime]

@@BookishChas Thanks Chas! Lathe seems popular in the comments and Annihilation seems hit or miss. Hope you enjoy them both!

[@nightsazrael]

Norsrillia is one of my faves. 😻😻😻😻😻😻

[@WordsinTime]

@@nightsazrael I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@keithdixon6595]

Ha, just bought Lathe of Heaven last weekend. I had a copy years ago but never read it. This time lucky ... I loved 3 Stigmata back in the day, I should read it again. As always after I watch your videos!

[@WordsinTime]

@@keithdixon6595 I hope you enjoy The Lathe of Heaven and your Three Stigmata re-read!

[@AnonymousAnonposter]

We couldn't have a list like this without good old Dick. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is great and was one of those books that made me stop several times to take notes and analyze. And it still wasn't the best PKD book I read this year.

[@WordsinTime]

@@AnonymousAnonposter What was? 👀

[@stevenwitt1812]

Wow, some really excellent choices. I especially love Jeff VanderMeer and Philip K. Dick. Both authors have some truly mind blowing stories.

[@WordsinTime]

@@stevenwitt1812 I’m glad you also enjoyed them!

[@kufujitsu]

I haven't read Norstrilia as yet, but if his short story collection : The Instrumentality of Mankind, is anything to go by, then Norstrillia sounds like a real treat.

[@WayneRossi]

Yes, Norstrilia is a full novel set in the Instrumentality universe and has a lot of the same appeal.

[@WordsinTime]

I haven’t read The Instrumentality of Mankind, although one of the stories is included as a prelude in my edition of Norstrilia.

[@WayneRossi]

@@WordsinTime the Instrumentality of Mankind is actually the title of an older collection. All of the stories except Norstrilia are in a single volume called The Rediscovery of Man. It's a pretty wild variety, covering thousands of years in the fictional future. All of it has the same charm and irony that mark Norstrilia.

[@khomo12]

Good list!👍👍👍🤖🚀🐲📚 I'm reading john varley's titan just now. Very enjoyable so far, but it's really trippy!

[@WordsinTime]

@@khomo12 I’m looking forward to reading Titan!

[@thekeywitness]

I’ve read a few of these books and have them all. I’m a big fan of Three Stigmata and first read it after a reread of UBIK, which got me back into SF after many years. Other trippy SF books: Son of Man by Silverberg Dhalgren by Delany Radix by Attanasio Other Days, Other Eyes by Shaw The Futurological Congress by Lem

[@WordsinTime]

@@thekeywitness The Futurological Congress is great! Thanks for the recommendations!

[@cherylmccutchan1282]

Annihilation for the win! I really think of Annihilation as Part 1 of a 4 part book. I still need to read Absolution. After Do Androids Dream, I am excited to read more PKD.

[@WordsinTime]

@@cherylmccutchan1282 Good luck to all the readers that have waited 10 years for part 4 haha. Hope they enjoy it!

[@kid5Media]

Yeah. The fourth book should be called Annoyance. I was so annoyed I didn't bother to read the third book.

[@cherylmccutchan1282]

@@kid5Media 🤣

[@dqan7372]

Good list. Looking forward to part 2.

[@WordsinTime]

@@dqan7372 🫡

[@primerim2799]

5 Mind-Bending books and 1 shirt.... here, that's a proper title.

[@WordsinTime]

😅

[@Kim_Miller]

I've read three of these, Lathe of Heaven, Three Stigmata, and Norstrilia. The first two I gave 4.5 stars but Norstrilia 3.5. As somebody who grew up in country town Australia I found it often cringey as his broadside of Australian outback life became a bit too forced. However, I enjoyed the fantasmagorical absurdity even with its savage twist.

[@WordsinTime]

@@Kim_Miller Haha I don’t think I ever used those Australianisms but I lived in Sydney

[@JoeNicolosi-l8i]

I've read all but the last one. Hurray for your opinion of Three Stigmata! I think it's my favorite Dick novel, slightly edging out Androids.

[@WordsinTime]

@@JoeNicolosi-l8i I’m glad you’re also a Three Stigmata fan!

[@SciFiFinds]

I hated the reading experience for Ice and it's not really even science fiction in my mind. Loved Norstrilia and The Lathe of Heaven though and have got Three Stigmata coming up for a reading challenge that I'm doing. Cheers!

[@WordsinTime]

@@SciFiFinds Hope you enjoy Three Stigmata!

[@FishDoExist]

Huh! I literally just read _Ice_ like two weeks ago (making my way through Penguin's Classic Sci-Fi Collection) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Moody and shifting and strange. Read it before bed each night. I agree with his description...it's basically a bad dream you wake up from, then you fall back asleep and it's a variation or iteration of the same dream over and over again. I agree that it's kinda weird to categorize it as sci-fi just because it has dystopian elements...same thing with _The Ark Sakura_ and _A Voyage to Arcturus_ which are both part of that Penguin list.

[@Twirlip2]

​@@FishDoExist Shouldn't that be "A Voyage to Arcturus"?

[@FishDoExist]

@@Twirlip2 How embarrassing for me! Just fixed it...thanks :-) And for those who haven't read either, I should probably clarify my own comment: _Sakura_ has dystopian elements but _Arcturus_ is a philosophical fable/fantasy which only gets categorized as sci-fi because it takes place on another planet. Tolkien loved it, though poo-pooed the silly "technology" used to get them to the planet: "back-rays" and a crystal torpedo ship 🤣

[@bartsbookspace]

Truth is you could’ve put five randomly chosen titles by PKD 😂 But seriously, great list.

[@WordsinTime]

@@bartsbookspace Haha he certainly fits the bill!

[@e7engle]

FYI. Nostrilia’s chapter is labeled with Altered Carbon.

[@WordsinTime]

@@e7engle Corrected, thanks!

[@Tetsujin-28]

Chthon (Piers Anthony) goes beyond all those books by a factor of 10. Mind bending: #ThatShirt ⚛☸♍♋

[@WordsinTime]

@@Tetsujin-28 I’ll have to look it up!

[@Tetsujin-28]

@@WordsinTime I think you'd like the 1980 PBS offering of "Lathe" (Bruce Davison).

[@jackwalter5970]

Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney

[@WordsinTime]

@@jackwalter5970 I’ve read Nova, but not Dhalgren yet!

[@davidrobertson5996]

Great choices, but I really didn't like Annihilation. Might have been put off by the film. Anything by PKD is a decent choice! Liked Lathe of Heaven and am reading Norstrilia at the moment. Very strange opening!

[@WordsinTime]

@@davidrobertson5996 Haha it’s a weird one. Hope you enjoy the rest!

[@chromabotia]

Brilliant!

[@WordsinTime]

@@chromabotia 👊

[@guillermogarcialopez256]

Crazy choices!!

[@WordsinTime]

@@guillermogarcialopez256 Crazy indeed.

[@Siderite]

No House of Leaves? Or don't you consider it sci-fi?

[@WordsinTime]

@@Siderite I haven’t read House of Leaves. But this isn’t a “top 5”, it’s just the 5 books I wanted to talk about in this video.

[@douglasdea637]

This past summer I read Best of Cordwainer Smith then Norstrillia. Can't say I was impressed. He's got some good ideas but has trouble putting them into a logical story where I cared about the characters. (For example, in the story "Mother Hittons Littul Kittons" a master thief who intends to rob Norstrilia questions then murders a random child believing he'll gain valuable intel. No logic to that idea at all and what he does learn he doesn't follow up on much and gains nothing from it. He moves on with his plot though unaware that the authorities are now on to him.) I didn't really buy the culling in Norstrillia as the wealthy always have ways to keep themselves and their progeny safe. The events on Earth were mildly interesting but don't seem to come to much. I've been hearing about the book for decades and was greatly disappointed. Maybe it was hot stuff back in the day but is now woefully dated. Never read Ice but I was struck by how much your comments mirror my feelings toward Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. A fairly tale/nightmare where the main character bumps into the same people again and again and again. The main character, Severian, I found unlikable and unreliable. Etc... I will never understand the love that series gets.

[@WordsinTime]

@@douglasdea637 I liked Norstrilia but agree with some of the flaws you mentioned. And I tried The Shadow of the Torturer and it didn’t work for me.

[@FrankOdonnell-ej3hd]

⚛❤

[@WordsinTime]

@@FrankOdonnell-ej3hd ❤️