The Sentinel #25: Best Science Fiction

A Gap post.

Apologies. For various reasons, the week and the weekend have almost gotten away. I had been working on the role of Supply Chains in US-India cooperation in the context of the Indian PM’s state visit to the White House (the term showed up dozen times in their joint statement!). I feel there is a lot to say, over and above the knee-jerk reactions.

To keep with the promised cadence, until it is ready, here is a numbered “gap-week” post (a “chamber play” so to speak). I had mentioned Science Fiction books when I began the newsletter. So, based on a reader's suggestion, here are my recommendations for the best Science Fiction books.

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Photo by Luis Vasconcelos on Unsplash

Between work and family commitments, I doubt that I will ever be able to read all Science Fiction that I would like to read.

I also tried to limit one book per author and pick one book from each series. For the list, I consider books that I loved reading when I read them (some in my late teens) and some books that I have continued to come back to and enjoy, with no allusions to critical literary value. I also did not consider books that I think are primarily in the fantasy genre.

Here are a dozen (not the top ten, sorry!) SF favorites in no particular order. (Martin Amis in his 16 rules for writers, says “Never say ‘sci-fi.’ You’ll enrage purists. Call it SF.” I am wholly in agreement).

1. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.  For its truly breathless beginning and psychedelic ending. Like the Count of Monte Cristo in space.

2. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. The best alien invasion book. (Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos is not far behind in its foreboding sense of impending nightmare).

3. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin brought lyricism to Science Fiction.

   (Le Guin is my favorite author on the list. She placed the dilemmas of our lives in distant universes. In doing so, she broke genres, borders, and constraints of literary classification. She flipped the script on dystopian literature with her ambiguous Utopia, in Dispossessed, explored the role of sex by minimizing it only during Kemmer in The Left Hand of Darkness, and she made Philip K Dick’s alternate universes poetic in The Lathe of Heaven.)

4. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke. The deep mystery of space exploration.

5. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. It captures the ruggedness of the Wild West, libertarian hope, and sense of joy.

6. Ringworld by Larry Niven.  Best “hard” Science Fiction, perhaps. Physics of world-building, and mathematical acknowledgment by picking a character (Teela Brown) only for “luck”.

7. A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller Jr. is A reminder that nothing is permanently cool and all Tech is ephemeral.

8. Dune by Frank Herbert. A beautiful and contemplative blending of religion, culture, and science.

9. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.  Humor in space. Vogon Poetry, Depressed Robots, Dolphins, and Being Drunk. And thanks for all the fish!

10. Gateway (Heechee Saga) by Frederick Pohl. A brilliant exploration of memories, and the angst of the past.

11. Neuromancer by William Gibson. The book that birthed Cyberpunk and the Sprawl.

12. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. First contact with aliens is truly beyond our imagination.

Notes:

I left my top Fantasy books and short stories out. Perhaps, for a future gap week.

The list has only one woman writer, Le Guin.  I have to acknowledge this fact is both a deficiency in my reading and a commentary on how SF literature has evolved. However, Le Guin is a better writer than the rest of the authors on the list.

In recent years, reading Science Fiction has taken a backseat, giving way to reading papers for work and reading non-fiction for downtime.  

I am also not enamored by the recent SF evolution. The Three-Body Problem, by Liu Cixin, is just OK, in my view. I went back to rereading older books and have enjoyed the works of Lois McMaster Bujold and Anne McCaffrey, which I consider more in a fantasy vein.

The Last Book I did not add (13):

Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov. I loved the Mule more than I liked Harry Seldon. I would skip the latter Foundation novels where Asimov tries to mesh all his works into the same “universe”.  The main reason that made me take Foundation off of the list was the fact that I enjoyed Asimov’s short stories (and his “I, Robot”) significantly more.  His style is somewhat dated and his fiction is underwhelming. However, Asimov’s exploration of the three laws of robotics, and the world of robot-human interactions was prescient, impactful, and delightful.

Those ideas still influence my thoughts about AI research and the future of work. Asimov was also a much better writer of non-fiction, which he wrote at a prodigious pace of output.

What SF Books almost made the list?

• Time Machine, and The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

• The Player of Games by Iain Banks.

• Heliconia Series by Brian Aldiss.

• Star Tide Rising by David Brin.

• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.

• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick.

• Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

• Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

• A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge.

• Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (A much better book than Ender’s Game, which is terribly over-rated).

• Hyperion by Dan Simmons (Excellent, but I think belongs in Fantasy.).

• The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.

• Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (although he would probably dislike the SF moniker).

Let me know your own favorites in the comments or by emailing me.