What are the top 3 science fiction books ever written?

Answer 1

Some really cool science fiction books are 1) Frank Herbert's "Dune" 2) Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" and the "Ender's Series", and pretty much anything by Phillip K. Dick and a lot by Isaac Asimov. The original short story Minority Report was based on was written by Phillip K. Dick, and a lot of movies have been based on Isaac Asimov's short stories as well.

Note: Lord of the Rings by John Ronald Reul Tolkein is Fantasy, not science fiction. Also, Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhicker's" is way funny! If you saw the movie and liked it, you'll like the book a lot more probably. If you saw the movie and didn't like it, don't give up hope on the book, the movie can't do justice to Douglas Adams' language used in his books.

Answer 2

By "top" do you mean best-selling or best?

The Bible is probably the best-selling.

As for best, my opinions at this moment (there are so many greats) are:

Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein
1984 - George Orwell
Lost Horizon - James Hilton
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Bug Jack Barron - Norman Spinrad

I included a fourth and fifth, because some would dispute that the Orwell and Hilton are science fiction.

As a bonus, I'll toss in:

The Time Machine - H.G. Wells

Answer 3

Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein
Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Have Space Suit Will Travel by Robert A Heinlein

Answer 4

Be easier if it was WRITERS... and even then a tough choice as there are just so many who all write different types of stuff and some of it is more weighty than others but...

1. Babel 17 by Samuel R Delaney (Nova is also amazing but Babel 17 pips it to the post due to its fascinating ideas about language. SRD is a terrific writer generally though)

2. Dune by Frank Herbert. Who has also written some other wonderful books which aren't in the Dune series...

3. Flow my Tears the Policeman Said by Philip K Dick although any of his books are fantastic.

4. Tiger Tiger by Alfred Bester

5. The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin although I've loved all her books.

6. Grass by Sherri S Tepper as a representative novel.

And then there are writers such as Ray Bradbury, Frederick Pohl, Doris Lessing (in particular Memoirs of a Survivor), William Gibson, Arthur C Clarke (although he doesn't do charactors), Isaac Asimov, Margaret Atwood (Handmaids Tale), Greg Bear, Roger Zelazny, Robert Silverberg, Theodore Sturgeon, James Blish, Robert Heinlein (though now I find him a bit off), Marge Peircy (Body of Glass), Brian Aldiss, Iain M Banks, John Wyndham, Clifford D Simak etc etc.

Answer 5

War of the Worlds by H G Wells
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell

there are many great science fiction works, and many great authors, but these three books can honestly be said to have changed society, views and attitudes - even to the extent of entering the language (for example, the concept of "Big Brother" and "Big Brother is watching you" is taken directly from 1984)

{{Lord of the rings? science fiction?? Hah!}}

Answer 6

Excesssion -Iain M Banks
Learning The World- Ken MacLeod
Diary of A Spacewoman- Naomi Mitchison

Answer 7

The White Dragon- By Anne McCaffrey

Killashandra- By Anne McCaffrey

The legend of Huma- By Richard A. Knaak

Answer 8

Highly subjective but I'd recommend:

Nova by Samuel R. Delaney

The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (4 volume story)

A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller

Answer 9

1. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep- Philip K Dick
2. Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy- Douglas Adams
3. Lightning- Dean Koontz (it's a personal favourite, and although it's categorized as horror I think with the time travel theme it's a sci-fi classic)
ttfn ;o)

Answer 10

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
Up The Line - Rober Silverberg
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne

(IMHO, of course...)