14 Best Science-Fiction Books to Read
These days, it seems like the headlines being splashed across our TVs, phones, and computer screens seem more like they're from a book or movie than actual real life. It's all enough to make you think to yourself, "Wait, did they just... is this a science-fiction novel?"
Not quite — this is all very real, unfortunately — but science fiction writers did kind of nail it, prediction-wise. Ever read any Isaac Asimov? If not, now would be a good time to grab some of his best stuff and devour it. His work warned us of the kind of shifts in society we're seeing, as did Margaret Peterson Haddix's Running Out of Time. The latter has a lot to say about the dangers of nostalgia, living in a bubble, and running from your problems... advice we're in desperate need of right about now. We've put together a killer list of classic sci-fi that applies to the world today now more than ever.
1/15Neuromancer by William Gibson
William Gibson’s Neuromancer imagined the Matrix before The Matrix. In fact, he imagined it before the internet was a common every day thing. In his masterwork, he describes the Matrix as a virtual reality build to represent all of the data online. His main character, Henry Dorsett Case, is a former world-class data thief whose last employer robbed him of a functioning nervous system. To get it all back, he collaborates with his new employer – and a new hotshot thief – to take on powerful artificial intelligence.
2/15Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash is the kind of sci-fi novel that manages to be both instantly familiar and recognizable but also mind-blowingly innovative. We meet Hiro Protagonist, a pizza delivery guy who (as you could expect) is our main character. In reality he may just be pushing carbs and cheese but in the virtual Metaverse he’s actually a warrior prince on a mission to bring down a digital villain and a new virus that threatening the digital landscape.
3/15The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
It’s been adapted and imitated many times, but H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine remains a classic for a reason. In this 1895 novel, a Time Traveller journeys to the far future to discover that humanity has evolved into two distinct tribes, the peaceful, vegetarian, weak Eloi, and the meat-devouring, aggressive, hostile Morlocks. After a few close calls, he travels even farther into humanity future and what he finds shocks him into a return trip home. Unable to resist his curiosity, he takes one final trip to see what no present-day man could imagine.
4/15A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Many people count A Wrinkle in Time among their all-time favorite novels… and for very good reason. Meg Murray and Charles Wallace Murray are siblings connected by the special ability to communicate with each other non-verbally. When their scientist father goes missing while working on a secret project, the Murry children must team up with their new friend Calvin O'Keefe and three guides, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. Together, they travel to the planet Camazotz, where their father has been imprisoned by the evil being known to all as IT.
5/15The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Arthur Dent’s home is about to be demolished to make way for a freeway. In fact, all our homes are; moments before the planet earth is destroyed to make way for intergalactic travelers, he’s pulled off the planet by his friend For Prefect and whisked in a series of whimsical space adventures with a gang of misfits and weirdos. Douglas Adams’ sci-fi/comedy classic A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has been adapted many times in many ways but its original form still packs the most belly laughs.
6/15Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Jessie is living with her family on the frontier in Clifton, Indiana. The year is 1840 and diphtheria has struck her small village. When the children start dying, Jessie and her family become desperate for a solution. As a last-ditch effort, her mother reveals a shocking secret to her: It’s not 1840. It’s 1996 and they’re living in a tourist attraction contrasted to looked like America’s past. Running Out of Time borrows a bit from the original Westworld film, but expands the emotional and psychological stakes for its main character. It's a fascinating look at modern conveniences through fresh eyes, as well as a critical take on our modern obsession with the past.
7/15The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Over three decades years later, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is more relevant than ever. After a staged terrorist attack and assassination of the President and much of Congress, a new government known as the Republic of Gilead rises to power. We follow a handmaid serving the Commander and his wife who is comforted only by the memories she has of her life before: a husband, a daughter, a name of her own. She begins to use the information she has in attempt to bring an end the oppression that has taken a stranglehold on society.
8/15The Children of Men by P.D. James
P.D. James’ riveting tale of survival, The Children of Men, imagines a future where the entire human race has become infertile. The last generation has grown into adulthood and many have been driven to suicide and depression. We follow Oxford historian Theodore Faron who spends most of his life trapped in the past. When he meets Julian, who’s only looking to meet his more powerful cousin, she and her revolutionary friends awaken in him a yearning to survive.
9/15Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Published in 1968, Philip K. Dick’s timeless Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — which is also known by its film name, Blade Runner — is set in the year 2021. Wars have killed millions of people and driven the animal population to near extinction. Therefore, it’s become quite fashionable and admirable to adopt animals and pets and care for the remaining species. If you can’t afford a real animal to cherish, companies have begun manufacturing synthetic replacements to help you save face in society. They’ve gone so far as to even begin constructing mechanical humans. Humans so perfect in their duplication that you can’t tell the difference. Rick Deckard is therefore assigned androids that have gone rogue and retire them… but these robots aren’t planning to go quietly.
10/15The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War introduces us to Private William Mandella, who has a job to do. Earth is at war with an unbeatable interstellar opponent and Mandella has been shot through time and space to fight in the endless conflict very, very far from home. He’s doing whatever he can to survive the battles and make his way back to his home planet, despite the fact that as he ages just a few months during his service, his home planet is going through centuries of change. Does the home he’s fighting for even exist anymore?
11/15Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
Blending fantasy and sci-fi, Hiromu Arakawa’s highly celebrated manga series Fullmetal Alchemist, details the adventures of Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse who, thanks to some alchemical ritual gone wrong, have lost Edward’s arm and leg and Alphonse’s whole body (he’s just a soul in a suit of armor now, it’s a thing). With the assistance of some mechanical limbs, Edward takes on a role as a stat alchemist and begins his search for the one artifact that can make him and Alphonse whole again: The Philosopher’s Stone.
12/15Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Perhaps the most prolific sci-fi writer of the 20th century, the Foundation series is arguably Isaac Asimov’s crowning achievement. After 12,000 years of rule, the Galactic Empire has begun to decline. Only Hari Seldon, creator of psychohistory, sees the writing on the wall. As mankind begins to slip into 30,000 years of darkness, Seldon gathers the Empire’s greatest scientists and historians into a sanctuary for knowledge known as the “Foundation.”
13/15The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
In Ursula K. Le Guin’s confronting The Left Hand of Darkness, we enter on human ambassador Genly Ai touching down on Gethen, a planet so frigid it is also known simply as “Winter.” While on a peaceful mission, Genly becomes acquainted with the planet’s inhabitants, a genderless society which he struggles to understand. Their culture is beautiful, complex, ancient, and intriguing but his inability to move past his own concepts of gender may cause him – and his mission – to fail completely.
14/15The Wind-Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
In Paolo Bacigalupi’s Wind-Up Girl, audiences are taken into a future where calories have become currency. We meet Anderson Lake who is undercover as a simply factory manager in Thailand, searching for sources of food that were long thought lost to society. While on his mission in the streets of Bangkok, he meets Emiko, one of the “New People” who were engineered to service the needs of others. Many people simply see the New People as soulless slaves but after meeting Emiko, will Lake?
