Sunday 11 March 2007

"Important" SF

The latest spreading blog-meme is to identify which of the "most significant" SF and Fantasy books of the last 50 years we have read. I rate this like I rate the "100 movies you must see before you die" or "classic" novels one should have read. Basically, why should I trust someone else's opinion that something is a classic/must read/must see/important thing? Popular does not equal correct.

Anyway, there's the list. Bold I have read, or at least have deluded myself into thinking that it's so familiar that I must have read it.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Timescape, Gregory Benford
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

(Tip of the hat to Pharyngula.)

2 comments:

Paul Scoones said...

I think I've read most of that list. Not so much recently, but I read an awful lot of SF when I was at university. Apart from the fantasy stuff, which I really cannot get into. I read Snow Crash just last month and it's really good. Highly recommended.

Jamas Enright said...

Yes, we can trust your unbiased Neil Stephenson opinions. :) (Just like my Stephen Donaldson ones.)

Not actually sure I have read "Childhood's End" and I always meant to read "Starship Troopers".

Currently there's a blog-chat on the Skepchick blog about the minimal female representation.