1
Dune (Dune Chronicles) Start here
Hugo winner 1966The whole series over time shows the colonization and taming of the wild planet Dune over thousands of years.
Top 25 Science Fiction Books
The Best 25 Science Fiction Ever Written (Updated January 2016)
See the rankingLove Science Fiction? Hate wasting time reading the trash? Then read this definitive guide to the Top 25 Science Fiction Books in the genre.
It's been a long time in coming, but the NEW Top 25 Best Science Fiction list has been released January 2016. There's a LOT more thought put into the list here than the old list (which is still a great list) and the picks are more representative of the genre as a whole. We've also filled out every section with MORE information about why we consider each entry the best of the best. It's a COMPLETELY NEW list from start to finish. You can STILL read our previous version of the Top 25 list as the Alternative Top 25 Best Science Fiction Books list.
This list presents my picks for the Top 25 Science Fiction Books. It’s a broad list that covers a lot of subgenres and draws from a number of “eras” from the early science fiction to hot-off-the press works that have garnered critical acclaim. These are the best in the genre and are the absolute “Must Reads.”
I know that just like my Best Fantasy Books list, you can’t please everyone. There will be some glaring omissions of some classics, but with these sort of lists you have to exclude more than you include especially if you want to include any recent science fiction. This list tries to balance "modern" science fiction with classic reads. Keep in mind that there will be a "Classics" list and a "Modern Classics" that will help fill out the "holes" that a list like this in-veritably ends up with.
You can read my deeper look into the Science Fiction genre and my reasoning’s for my picks below, or you can just jump to the list.
What’s Qualifies as “The Best?”
This is a tricky one. The “best” science fiction books ideally combine fine story telling with brilliant, exploratory questions that have us asking all sorts of challenging questions about the fundamentals of everything – society, religion, politics, race relations, space, time, the destiny of man, our place in the universe, etc. I posit there is a lot more you can do with science fiction to ask deep questions than one can do with fantasy, if only because science fiction tries to cloak itself in the appearance of reality or at least a possible reality.
Of course, it’s easy to get so lost in ground breaking ideas that the actual mechanisms of storytelling become merely a vehicle to carry the idea; this is one of the problems with science fiction: ground breaking ideas, settings, and questions or strong plot with deep characters but rarely both. I try my best to pick out books with great ideas that have influenced the genre, but I also select based on the strength of the story and characters. Alas, some compromises have to be made, especially in this genre.
Many of the best “classics” science fictions are heavy on ground breaking ideas but pretty light on story and characters. Modern science fiction puts a lot more emphasis on story and characterization, however. I generally find science fiction written the past twenty years more entertaining (from a story standpoint) than some of the older classics due to the inclusion of things like a solid plot and strong characterization. But the older classics, light on story and plot that they might be, still deserve a place for the sheer influence they have had on the genre. True classics stand the test of time and the ideas presented still age well. Science Fiction has it a bit harder than other genres because the science in the books might end up wrong in light of recent discovery which then puts the book in an awkward place -- a classic for it's time but with faulty science.
These are my top 25 picks for the best science fiction books ever written. Some are well known, some are less so, but all are absolutely worth reading. I’ve tried to draw on a variety of different Science Fiction subgenres (Cyberpunk, Space Opera, Hard Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Dystopian, Alternate History, etc.) from a variety of different periods, from the early period to the Golden Age of Science Fiction to Contemporary Picks that have been published within the past five years.
It's always a tough choice making a Top 25 list as it excludes so many good books. To do justice to the some of the other books that deserve to be on the list, I've included an Honorable Mentions list after the Top 25 Science Fiction Books List. If you read everything on the Top 25, definitely read the Honorable Mentions
So challenge your mind, get lost in another world, and read some of the best of what the genre offers.
If you want MORE recommendations, check out our Top 100 Best Science Fiction Books Ever, which continues on from this list, starting from #26 and ending at #100.
You can view the crowd-ranked version of this list and vote on the entries at the bottom of this page.
Note, if you want to see our older best list with the older crowd list rankings for that, visit the Top 25 Alternative Best Science Fiction Books list and view the crowd list there -- we have several years of crowd ranking data for the best SF books there.
The ranking
2
1981: The Shadow Of The Torturer (The Book Of The New Sun) Start here
by Wolfe, Gene
The sun has dimmed, the Earth is cooler and has been transformed in wondrous ways.
3
To The Moon
An award winning novel about a colony that rebels against the Lunar Authority that controls it.
4
The Left Hand Of Darkness (1970) (Hainish Cycle)
Pacifism and a anarchy—both have merits.
5
Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos) Start here
by Simmons, Dan
Hugo winner 1990So most of this series is in fact, not Dying Earth but it is a pinnacle of science fiction. The Poet's Tale: Hyperion Cantos in the first novel of Hyperion is a part of the Dying Earth sub-genre and it is the connection the readers have from Earth to the strange new universe of Hyperion.
6
Neuromancer (1985) (The Sprawl) Start here
Gibson is the father of Cyberpunk and this novel in particular is significant. In this novel the term cyberspace is coined.
7
The Stars My Destination
A mechanic is the sole survivor on a ship that is just a wreck.
8
9
Use Of Weapons (Culture)
Features a Utopian society (culture) that's post scarcity, controlled by benevolent A. I.'s who act for the good of the society. When Culture encounters less enlightened societies, the fun begins.
10
Foundation (Foundation)
Some softer elements, like FTL and antigrav cars, but otherwise a rational series.
11
2001 A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey) Start here
This novel is an epic story, a story in which two astronauts must fight for their lives, against an extraordinary computer named HAL.
12
The Forever War (1976) (The Forever War) Start here
In this novel, time travel is a kind of side effect of space travel at near light speeds.
13
Red Mars (1994) (Mars Trilogy) Start here
A mission is launched to terraform Mars in this scientific epic.
14
The New World (The Age Of Discovery)
A startling look at the role of government, including eugenics.
15
A Fire Upon The Deep (Zones Of Thought) Start here
by Vernor Vinge
Hugo winner 1993The first book in the Zones of Thought series and tells the tale of a galactic war. In the story the mind's potential is determined by its location in space.
16
Solaris
A trek across an alien planet is also a coming of age story.
17
Falling Free (1989) (Vorkosigan Saga)
A long running and award winning series that mixes politics, romance, medical ethics, personal identity, and hierarchies.
18
The Time Machine
by Wells, H. G.
Follow a time traveller into an alien-like future Earth to witness the consequences of humanity's social and biological choices and evolution.
19
20
The Martian Chronicles
A chronology of the human colonization of Mars, after fleeing an atomically devastated Earth, including the conflicts between humans and the native Martians.
21
The Female Man
by Joanna Russ
The book intertwines the lives of four women who live in parallel worlds—when they meet it is their views on gender roles that startle one another.
Trending Books in Top 25 Science Fiction Books
The shortlist
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