
Ask YC: What's the most inspiring sci-fi book you've read? - moog
Since Mary Shelley published 'Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus' in the early part of the nineteenth century, there's been an awful lot of sci-fi written. Which books do you recommend and why?
======
cocoy
Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune by Frank Herbert are my favorites. the
sequels God Emperor, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse were good as well but I
like the 1st three the most.

Dune was about how people shouldn't let supermen lead. it was complex. it was
an ecological novel. they had quotable quotes like "thou shall not make a
machine in the likeness of the human mind". people say it's the lord of the
rings of science fiction. the characters are rich, the plot thick. i highly
recommend Dune.

~~~
knv
+1 for Dune (my favorite in the series is the 5th book - Heretics).

By the way, don't expect the prequels and sequels have even half the quality
of original Herbert works.

~~~
cocoy
yep. that's true.

------
rms
I consider this to be the greatest sci-fi short story of all time.

<http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html>

I'm a big fan of the book 1984, along with the full length works of Asimov.

~~~
jcl
I also liked Fredric Brown's shorter, funnier (and earlier) version:

<http://www.alteich.com/oldsite/answer.htm>

(For some reason, I had thought this was one of Asimov's as well...)

~~~
rms
That's great, I didn't know this existed! I had heard people retell Fredric
Brown's version of this story and thought they were talking about Asimov's
story. Thanks for the link.

------
demallien
Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It starts off with separate storylines touching on
all the great sci-fi clichés - time travel, FTL travel, computer nets, out-of-
control AIs, lost civilisations, humanity scindered into two estranged parts,
mysterious monsters, strange maladies, it has everything. Except, at first,
this pastiche just feels disjointed. But then, near the end, all of this wierd
stuff, that you never really understand, gets pulled together into one,
cohesive whole.

Hyperion is basically just a brilliant story, very enjoyable to read.

That said, if I was to criticise Hyperion, it would be that it doesn't fulfill
very well one of the important functions of science fiction - the examination
of the impact of technology on society.

Which leads to my second recommendation - The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula
Le Guin. Le Guin in general is excellent for examining in depth the effects
that small changes in technology may have on human society - it follows
naturally I guess from the fact that her father was an anthropologist...

------
nazgulnarsil
depends on the subgenre :)

Superhuman: Slan by A.E. Van Vogt More Than Human by Theodore STurgeon Odd
John by Olaf Stapledon

Post Apocalyptic: The Day of The Triffids by John Whyndham Earth Abides by
George R. Stewart A Canticle for Lebowitz by...don't remember

Space Opera/Adventure: any of The Culture novels by Iain M. Banks The Reality
Dysfunction series by ...don't remember Hyperion series by Dan Simmons To Your
Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer

Dystopian: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin <\---highly overlooked, predates 1984 and
Brave New World

But the Absolute Best would be anything by: Stanislaw Lem (Cyberiad,
Futurological Congress, Solaris) Alfred Bester (The STars my Destination, The
Demolished Man) or Samuel R. Delany (Babel-17, Dhalgren, Trtion, Nova) oh and
Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light and This Immortal are both great.

Some of Philip K. Dick's stuff is great, but everyone recommends him. :)

almost forgot John Brunner, check out Steel Beach, The Sheep Look Up, and
Stand on Zanzibar.

~~~
kryptos
Stanislaw lem.. i agree... Solaris was special.. and most purists seemed to
suggest the translation from Polish was bad!... Olaf stapledon's last and
first men, starMaker were both stunning... Ursula le guin also come to mind

------
brentr
Brave New World, by Huxley

I read this book in the eighth grade. I was fascinated by the classes the
society was divided into. In the book you were born into a certain class, and
I saw many similarities to today's world. It was not the most inspiring, but
definitely it was the most interesting.

~~~
jauco
Yes, i was reading this book while commuting and thought that the mantra's
those people said while swallowing anti-depressives was a bit over the top.
Then the guy in the opposite seat swallowed a peppermint and said 'no smint no
kiss' to the guy next to him...

------
aoeuid
I can't imagine why nobody even mentioned Greg Egan so far.

Reading Permutation City left me in a dazzled state for days because of the
sheer number of reality-altering concepts it throws at you in such a short
span.

If by inspiring, you mean something that will give even the most ardent SF
addict future shock, then his books are absolutely what you're looking for.
His BS in Math and background in programming give him a great perspective on
some of the most challenging mysteries of the universe -- and his work still
manages to be the hardest SF I've read.

Check out Diaspora if you like what you see in Permutation City.

~~~
ews
I came directly by searching Egan in the comment tree :)

Permutation city (or any of the Egan's short stories such as 'Closer') is
probably the one of the most intense mind blowing experiences I ever had (at
least regarding books), it shouldn't even be called "SciFi" it is... something
else

BTW: Diaspora is the next book in my list.... I hope not to be dissapointed.

------
Prrometheus
No hacker site would be complete without mention of Cryptonomicon.

That being said, I always liked the epics in the style of Poul Anderson,
Robert Heinlein, and the like.

~~~
huhtenberg
I find Stephenson to be somewhat hard to read due to his peculiar use of
present tense. His Snow Crash novel is an absolute must read in a cyberpunk
genre. It is really vivid, bizarre and quite believable version of a near
future. Only if he'd opted for using past tense .. :)

~~~
lee
His Baroque Trilogy I found to be the most inspiring read in the last few
years - while it's easy to argue that it isn't strictly science fiction. Since
it sets up characters who appear in Cryptonomicon, I feel I can get away with
it.

What the trilogy has in common with inspiring sci-fi is that it changes the
way I look at the present - drastically. His characters are present for the
beginnings of what we call science, the current economy and also on slave and
pirate ships. He has brilliant physicists who are also alchemists and at war
with themselves over not being able to resolve their own contradictions.
(Newton) It's fiction about the history of science - and it's weirder and
whackier and grander than anything else I've ever read. (Take THAT Tolstoy!(
(you hack!)

Of course, I'll also second Snowcrash as a must-read. Same with Cryptonomicon.

------
manvsmachine
Ender's Game, because of the age at which I read it. I was 12 or 13 at the
time, and it definitely affected how I viewed my peers in school.

~~~
Frocer
Agreed, this is probably one of my favorite sci-fi novel of all time.

Excellent story, well-developed characters. I think what makes this novel so
popular is because all of us can related to the main character, Ender, on some
level. Highly recommended if you haven't read it. It's too bad the sequels
aren't nearly as good.

------
fish
Neuromancer by William Gibson, though it might not be inspiring, is a must-
read; it's practically internet heritage!

~~~
airhadoken
I thought Pattern Recognition (same author) was quite inspiring, though I
don't know if it counts as most people's definition of science fiction.

------
seregine
Monday Starts on Saturday (by the Strugatskii brothers)

A programmer on a road trip through Siberia picks up two hitchhikers, who
recruit him for the ideal job: to take over the computation center at the
research institute of enchantment and applied magic. Fantasy sets the mood,
but the book is really about people who love what they do because it's
challenging and meaningful and fun.

One of my unfinished projects is translating it to English.

~~~
Tichy
It seems to be available in German, but comments on Amazon say the translation
is abysmal. Hope you manage your translation soon ;-)

------
nickb
My favorites:

Childhood's End by Clarke: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood%27s_End>

Foundation series by Asimov:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_Series>

City by Simak: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_>(Clifford_D._Simak_novel)

------
ericb
Probably a book of Phillip K. Dick's short stories. If you want to inspire
imagination, nothing's better than sci-fi short stories for a hit of
imagination-crack, and Phillip K. Dick is a master.

You've probably seen movies based on his stories, including: the Minority
Report, Total Recall, Blade Runner, Screamers, A scanner Darkly and a few
others.

------
huhtenberg
Read the question, people, it's a trick one. The _inspiring_ sci-fi book, not
just a favorite one.

While I have a long list of favorites, I can't readily think of one that would
stand out as inspiring. Virtually any good sci-fi book is impressive as it's a
result of imagination at work, but this does not equate to be motivating.

So in this light the question is not that simple at all. I'm very curious to
see if there's an answer to it :)

(edit)

Got it ! _Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island_. I read when I was 14-15 years
old and the amount, details and clarity of science exposure in the book was
really astounding. In a very positive, inspiring way.

------
karthikv
I love 1984. I wouldn't say it was inspiring (its dystopian) but rather an
eye-opening experience. It made me change the way I look at security and
privacy.

~~~
dkokelley
If you liked 1984, then you might also like "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_>(novel) (don't follow the link. copy-paste
it with the (novel) part.)

I've never read 1984 (I hope to when I make time), but I understand that they
are similar. In fact, I heard that "We" was the inspiration for 1984.

~~~
SwellJoe
Read the whole set:

We

1984

Anthem

Brave New World

I love dystopias, and these four have always seemed to work together, to me.

------
Eliezer
"True Names and Other Dangers". Reading a remark by Vernor Vinge on his
concept of the "Singularity" led to my current career as a Research Fellow of
the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

~~~
as
I actually read True Names at your suggestion. The concepts were worthwhile
but it exemplifies the reason many consider Scifi to be a literary ghetto -
that for many sf authors the story is just a vehicle to get an idea of theirs
across, artistic consideration being secondary. Not to say literary ends are
more valid than conceptual ones, but it seems unfair to scifi that the genre
has it's artistic merits judged by averaging both.

~~~
as
And somewhat improbably, I just finished Great Mambo Chicken today.

------
hernan7
For some reason I misread "the most insipid". Oh well...

Personally the one that inspired me the most was the Foundation trilogy, with
its nerd-propelled universe.

~~~
TrevorJ
Yes! :-)

------
TrevorJ
Asimovs' "Foundation Trilogy" was among my most inspiring reads, however I
loved his short stories even more.

------
tibia
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin made me aware that the way society is
organised is not permanent and can be changed

------
SwellJoe
Asimov's two big universes, found in the Robots series and the Foundation
series, (which turned out to be the same when he revisited them in the 70's
and 80's) are simply wonderful. By far my favorite sci-fi, and among the most
enduring works in the genre. I read them both every two or three years, and
sometimes grab one off the shelf when I just want something to read. The early
Foundation is sort of a future history version of "The Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire" (I seem to recall that was intentional, actually). Asimov's
autobiographies and the posthumous book of his correspondence are all
fantastic and insightful. I learned a lot from them, and my admiration for the
man increased even more upon reading them.

Dune is also astoundingly good, though after the first three, the quality goes
downhill (slowly, but surely). Definitely lots to think about.

Rendezvous with Rama left me breathless...and I could not put it down until
I'd read the last page. I've returned to it a couple of times, and loved it
every single time. The later Rama books are deeply flawed, and should have
never happened (they were not written by Clarke, and it shows), as they make
Rama seem...hmmm, I can't really think of the right word that expresses it.
Cheap, dinky, small, something bad. But Rendezvous is a must read for
everyone.

Douglas Adams, of course. The whole Hitchhikers' series is a must, while the
Dirk Gently stuff is also funny, but not sci-fi and not mandatory.

I mentioned in another thread my love of dystopias, and one of the best ever
is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. She's one of the best sci-fi
writers alive (she doesn't exclusively write sci-fi, however). Oryx and Crake
is also fascinating.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. I enjoy all of Vonnegut's work, but Cat's
Cradle is a magical perfect novel.

I don't know if everyone would agree that it's sci-fi, but Mark Twain's
Letters from the Earth was an eye opener for me when I was a kid (I went on a
Mark Twain kick when I was in elementary school...no one ever told me that all
of his books weren't kids books, so I read everything I could get my hands on
after being hooked by Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn). Turns out Mark Twain
was seditious, heretical, and quite the troublemaker all around.

------
Flemlord
Anything by Ian M. Banks. His Culture books are about a post-singularity
universe where humans and superintelligences live in harmony. I'd recommend
starting with Player of Games.

------
noodle
i can't narrow this down to one. some of these are already named:
Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, "The Last Question", Ender's Game/Shadow, Dune,
Slaughterhouse 5, Ringworld

------
mattculbreth
The Mote In God's Eye, Niven & Pournelle

------
dronethebone
Carl Sagan's "Contact" was surprisingly good, educational, and even a bit
inspirational. The movie was only so-so, so don't let the movie put you off.

------
dhimes
The Lathe of Heaven (also: The Forever War; The Einstein Intersection).

Hmmm. My favs seem to all start with "The."

------
jobeirne
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Technically, it's sci-fi. Neuromancer a close
second.

------
Kaizyn
Asimov's First Foundation book. There's something beautiful about the notion
that human behavior can become predictable when you take people in a group -
Seldon's "psychohistory".

------
endergen
Ender's Game:

Inspired my company: www.endergen.com. Who's goal it is make systems of play
that augment intelligence as well as hopefully laterally solve world problems
as you use them.

Frakenstein:

For the morality that you must take responsibility for the consequences of
your inventions.

Cryptonomicon:

Inspired most of the work on endergen(See Ender's Game Above). Introduced me
to the concepts of privacy/security implemented in technical form and the
conflict between the two.

------
benl
Firestar by Michael Flynn. It's a little-know book by a little-known author,
but it's the best near-term space sci fi I've ever read.

------
doubleplus
The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton

------
inklesspen
Lady of Mazes, by Karl Schroeder.

Simply the most idea-packed book I've ever read that was actually
entertaining. It also has some interesting discussions about meaningful post-
singularity life (which are at least partially applicable to our lives today).

<http://www.amazon.com/dp/0765350785/>

------
NoBSWebDesign
I'm definitely bookmarking this thread. Maybe one day, I'll have read all of
them mentioned here.

But seriously, how has no one mentioned Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?!

It's a great book with a surprising amount of actual theoretical science (you
know, stuff that could technically work). Douglas Adams writes the way I
think. I wish I could do that :(

------
sammyo
Grey Lensman by E.E. 'Doc' Smith

I still believe that a radical (slightly mad) scientist tucked away in his
garage lab will come up with the Inertialess Drive and we will all be off the
planet at will.

More pragmatically I doubt I could get through this book now and it would be
just old hat to anyone post Star Wars.

------
mkanemoto
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, followed by Blue Mars and Green Mars. These
to me are the only ones not mentioned already and are set in an inspiring way
that celebrates humanity. Also the Rama Series by Clarke and Lee starting with
the second in the series "Rama II".

------
bootload
_"... What's the most inspiring sci-fi book you've read? ..."_

I Robot: The 3 laws of robotics, robbie, positronic brains, susan calvin. Got
the lot ~ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot>

------
tjr
Growing up, I read a series of "children's sci-fi" books by Louis Slobodkin,
the first being "The Spaceship Under the Apple Tree." These books played a
significant role in my developing scientific interests.

------
christefano
Flatland.

------
andreyf
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned most of Vonnegut's work, although it doesn't
all count as sci-fi, it's inspiring in a very unique way (and worth reading a
couple of times over).

------
dcminter
Tales from the White Hart (Clarke, RIP) kicked off my interest in science and
thus in IT. So that inspired me most.

Still, I think the best SF I've read was Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks.

------
mflinsch
Snowcrash...

------
gcheong
2001: A Space Odyssey - What hacker read that and then didn't want to create
HAL?

HHGTTG: Insipired me to keep the relative unimportance of most things in
perspective

------
anupamkapoor
i like heinlein's "moon is a harsh mistress" and alfred-bester's "tiger-tiger
/ stars-my-destination". kinda old school though.

------
bayleo
Gene Wolfe's two 'Sun' series, though in many cases you might be hard-pressed
to recognize that his work is actually sci-fi.

------
ken
Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey".

I kind of wonder about the people who are claiming books like "1984" are
inspirational.

------
Novash
I wish I could save this thread for future reference when buying books, like I
do in reddit.

~~~
Retric
FYI: If you up mod the thread it's saved.

Click on your name then click on the number next to "saved:"

------
dedalus
The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle

~~~
bstadil
excellent choice.

For many years I always looked at the animation when I was defragging my
windows disk and thinking about the end of Black Cloud. (Hint. The janitor
looking at the screen)

"October the first is too late" is another Hoyle classic.

------
newtoncorp
City from Clifford D. Simak

------
FleursDuMal
The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse

------
tokipin
David Brin's Uplift novels

------
albertcardona
"The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman, among others.

The book will put the timeline of your life into context, outline your
limitations, and provide a grandiose example on the importance of
communication.

("Ender's Game" and "Stranger in a Stranger Land" are among my top 5, but I
thought the gem described above deserves attention.)

