Straight Hedge Yardcore ([info]marlo) wrote,
@ 2008-12-17 12:36:00
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Entry tags:books

Stolen from [info]kadath.

These are the 50 most significant SF & Fantasy Books of the last 50 Years, 1953-2002. Bold the ones you've read, strike the ones you hated, italicize the ones you couldn't get through, asterisks for the ones you loved (more asterisks, more love).

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
3. Dune by Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
6. Neuromancer by William Gibson ****
7. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom by Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight by James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany (ASIDE: THIS AUTHOR IS SO OVERRATED, OMG)
21. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway by Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling *
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams ***
28. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin ****
31. Little, Big by John Crowley
32. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
35. More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach by Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld by Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut***
43. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson*
44. Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
49. Timescape by Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer

Whatevs, there are better science fiction books that weren't on this list (maybe not important, though...). Glad Neuromancer and Hitchhiker's Guide made it.



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[info]evilprodigy
2008-12-17 09:21 pm UTC (link)
The Left Hand of Darkness is indeed totally amazing.

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[info]redskiedmorning
2008-12-17 10:29 pm UTC (link)
Yay! The top fifty books mostly written by white guys!
Seriously.

My current favourite sci-fi author? Ursula K Le Guin.
One of my favourite books? Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

I do like a lot of books by white guys, I admit - love the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson and I first read Eon by Greg Bear when I was 10 and I reread it every few years.

but still! Diversify!
For Reals dudes, I wanna go to WisCon! http://www.wiscon.info/

Random aside: I like this story a lot: "And Then There Were None" - published in 1951 (I fucking LOVE vintage sci fi), featuring an army sent to deal with an anarchist pacifist planet. HILARIOUS. The whole story is available online here: http://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.php, albeit in a totally obnoxious format. Not perfect, but hilarious and rad especially in the context of its era. And an example of what draws me to sci-fi - the way authors use it to explore social constructs, politics, culture, gender, etc etc...

Okay.

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[info]evilprodigy
2008-12-17 10:41 pm UTC (link)
Wiscon is fucking amazing, I went last year for the first time and I recommend highly. /geek

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