
Ask HN: Recommend a Good Sci-Fi Book - macando
I&#x27;ve recently read:<p>-  The Gods Themselves, Asimov: The second story is brilliant. The other two are meh.<p>-  Neuromancer, Gibson: So disappointing I couldn&#x27;t finish it. Is there a better cyberpunk book out there?<p>-  Ready Player One, Cline: Loved the book, loved the movie.<p>-  Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut: Not a pure Sci-Fi book, but loved it nonetheless.
======
__d
CJ Cherryh, Cyteen (and then the rest of the Merchanter universe).

Iain M Banks, Player of Games (and then everything else)

For cyberpunk, Neuromancer and the sprawl trilogy have not aged terribly well.
I still like them, but they're from a certain context.

Try Greg Egan's Permutation City; Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather, Islands in
the Net, or Holy Fire.

Lauren Beukes, Zoo City.

There are so, so many ... ;-)

------
scottdw
Blindsight, Peter Watts
[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight_(Watts_novel)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight_\(Watts_novel\))].
Avaliable free in a number of formats from his website:
[https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm](https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm)

------
phillc73
Vernor Vinge: A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep.

Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (and then spend the following months reading
all the rest of the Culture series)

~~~
__d
If you're familiar with Usenet, A Fire Upon the Deep has extra good moments.

------
lm28469
[http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Roadside_Picnic](http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Roadside_Picnic)

------
inianvasanth
"Story of Your Life" By Ted Chiang (source for the movie "Arrival")

------
Phithagoras
"Schild's Ladder" by Greg Egan Really, anything by him is good but Schild's
Ladder is the best.

------
DaOne256
Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash

------
brudgers
_The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_

------
osullivj
Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon

~~~
__d
For me, Snow Crash was awesome, but like early Gibson, it's lost a little with
the passage of time.

His middle-period work did nothing for me at all. Just overdone, to my taste.

I haven't read anything after the Baroque Cycle put me off.

~~~
osullivj
I enjoyed the Baroque Cycle, but at the end was left with little sense of
resolution. I have enjoyed Anathem since.

