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Good Sci Fi Books (Including Star Wars)


*Don*

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If you like star wars, pick up the Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn. I remember that as being a really tightly woven, but more simplistic plot wise than most sci fi. Really good chase book.

 

Also, Ender's game is an all time favorite. I thought about picking up some Niven, but have yet to get around to it.

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Essential authors:

 

William Gibson

Bruce Sterling

Isaac Asimov

Ray Bradbury

Iain M. Banks

Peter F. Hamilton

Stanislaw Lem

Arthur C. Clarke

Kurt Vonnegut

 

I'm sure more will come to me as soon as I click "Reply"...

Philip K. Dick ;)

 

My personal favorites:

The World Jones Made ~ Philip K. Dick

The Gods Themselves... ~ Isaac Asimov

Thrawn Trilogy ~ Timothy Zahn

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Philip K. Dick ;)

 

Yes, but reading Dick is dangerous if you're not prepared to be sucked into the whole messy world of "What is real?" :p

 

Then again, you can completely ignore that side of his books, if you like; he's a captivating author and one of the pillars on which cyber-punk was built. Everyone should read A Scanner Darkly and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep at least once in their life :). His paranoia (seemingly drug induced) seeps its way into his works so they end up telling us as much about the author as they do about whatever point he's driving towards.

 

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a good read, more relevant than ever and peculiar in that at the time, all the others were talking about the dangers of nuclear weapons while he was discussing genetics.

 

Unfortunately, I find a lot of science fiction misses out on what the genre is best at - deconstructing the world we live in and presenting us with alternatives (no matter how unlikely - though generally some sort of post-nuclear dystopia :xp: ) to explore philosophical notions or ideas. It's a great genre to deal with real social issues, even if it is by proxy (alien races instead of different ethnicities and so forth).

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The last Sci-Fi book I read was Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, the novel which later became Blade Runner, which is one of my favourite movies.

 

This was my introduction to Philip K Dick and indeed more modern Sci-Fi in general since before, the only books I'd read were The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The War Of The Worlds, by of course, H.G Wells. I also have The Island of Doctor Moreau, but I've yet to read it.

 

I try and read Wells from the perspective of someone who lived in the time the books were first published, since nowadays everybody seems used to the idea of alien invasions, time travel and suchlike.

 

I hear Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World are meant to be good,

they came highly recommended by my sweetheart :)

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Unfortunately, I find a lot of science fiction misses out on what the genre is best at - deconstructing the world we live in and presenting us with alternatives (no matter how unlikely - though generally some sort of post-nuclear dystopia :xp: ) to explore philosophical notions or ideas. It's a great genre to deal with real social issues, even if it is by proxy (alien races instead of different ethnicities and so forth).

That's why Asimov rules ;)

 

 

don't forget Frank Herbert's Dune series. its a bit like Star Wars in that its sci-fi fantasy and not true science fiction, but its still excellent stuff. ;)

Very good stuff indeed...The David Lynch movie is awesome!

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I preferred miniseries version of Dune (and Children of Dune) more than David Lynch's. The visual effects in Lynch's version was like jamming a knife in my eyes.

Meh, twas the 80's whatchu expect?

 

Story and acting was still good though...If you watch the 3hr version it'll give you a lot of the story too.

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Bobby Heinlein

Artie Clarke

 

Isaac 'Hayes' Asimov

Herbie Wells

 

Orson Scott Card

Mikey Cricton

Ray Bradbury

 

 

Authors that'll change your life:

 

Tevannian - (Shibumi, Summer of Katya, Eiger Sanction)

Ben Bova - (Colony, Orion)

 

Oh yeah, Frank Herbert Sucks!

I can't count how many times I fell asleep trying to read Dune.

But try it anyway. Some people say that about Asimov. You never know, it might work for you.

 

Phillip K. Dick is retarded, but the book is OK.

I very, very rarely say this, but Blade Runner was much better than his novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I like the film director's adaptation of the story better than the story itself. Wierd.

 

...but that's just me.

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Phillip K. Dick is retarded, but the book is OK.

I very, very rarely say this, but Blade Runner was much better than his novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I like the film director's adaptation of the story better than the story itself. Wierd.

 

Blasphemy! How can you not like Androids?

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