THE 25 BEST SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS I'VE EVER READ (Part One) #sciencefiction #sciencefictionbooks

Does anybody have the full list of authors and titles in this video?

Jesus, what pretentious horseshit. 😆 🤣 😂

Most of my experience in short SF comes from reading a good number of the chunky Year's Best volumes by Gardner Dozois - but I've branched out towards the older stuff, & developed a soft spot for Kuttner from reading his short stories - found out that Kuttner & Moore collaborated on many stories - you're right about Shambleau by Moore : it is an alien/vampire story that has aged very well.
I have a fantasy collection by Moore called Jierel of Jorey (I know I've misspelled it) ...& several collections of Kuttner which I'm working my way through.
Both authors have been forgotten by most of today's readers, so I'm glad they're getting a mention from you.

Hawkwind t shirt, subscribed!

Clutching at straws here thinking that you may be able to help me find book. Borrowed from Holyhead library in the later 60s. Here's what little I can remember: Humorous book where aliens visit earth but reveal themselves to just one man. They take on human form but when they sit on things the springs don’t bend. Since this man is the only person to have met aliens he is made head of science institute for extra terrestrial beings where scientists balance and unbalance equations, plot a straight line graph each day to monitor time . . .

Don't suppose it rings any bells. Maybe a lot of that paperbacks from that era just get forgotten.

you've given me lots to explore. thanks . where's your bookstore ?

Great work very educational thanks

😊

Dear @outlawbookseller, @MediaDeathCult, @Bookpilled, much as I appreciate your book reviews and lists, I am rather surprised that, sofar, I have not found any mention in any of your videos of James Tiptree Jr (Alice Bradley Sheldon), winner of 2 Hugo Awards, 2 Nebula Awards, etc., etc., and source of inspiration for the Otherwise Award. Have I simply missed a relevant review in one of your videos?

Alright, this is a terrific list. 25 is rather daunting, but here's what I would say are ten of the best of my experience (one per author)Sun:

Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama
Isaac Asimov, The robot trilogy [Caves of Steel, Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn]
David Brin, First Uplift Trilogy [Sundiver, Startide Rising, Uplift War]
Robert Heinlein, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel
Frederik Pohl, Gateway
Brian Aldiss, Galaxies Like Grains of Sand
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Joe Haldeman, The Forever War
Madeleine L'Engle, The Time Trilogy [A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet]
Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles

List aside, your t-shirt rules.

Read any books dealing with panphysicism/other forms of consciousness-first theories?

I just discovered your channel and am loving it! A wonderful range of titles on this list so far and some authors that are completely new to me (Moore, Wilson.) I'm on a big Delany kick right now and plan to start Trouble on Triton next based on your recommendation. Keep up the great work!

She talks about racism instead of tons of feces floating on top of Asian rivers towards the seas coming to Africa and Europe?
Asians,Africans,South Americans since 2002 etc coming to europe to get free houses,benefits while white poor people barely pay the bills or sleep on the streets.
What about Chinese smuggling wildlife inside books ..using the DARK WEB?
Don't see future for europe if racism don't start to kick in in all countries ...and socialism/communist completely annihilated.🪦

Political correctness does not belong in books...or in any thinking real.

Love love ur channel ...really enjoyed watching your picks ...ive struggled to read older science fiction previously but think i may have to change the way i appoach it. Its nice to see where ideas emerged from

Great video as always Steve and good to see you are getting plenty of views, congratulations. As an aside I read Pavane by Keith Roberts over the weekend, my first Roberts book and really from your recommendations of him, absolutely loved it such a great book, it's stuck in my mind and just keeps going around and around.

This is my first time watching your videos. If you’re looking for real science fiction with new ideas (post 1980s 🤣), try “House of Suns” by Reynolds. He does beautiful things with Ai/robot characters.

Love the Hawkwind t-shirt

I just started watching, and this is already my favorite sf channel!

What is it about the end of the 80s that led to less innovation in genre fiction? I would argue a similar thing happened in comic books. I’m being rhetorical but I tend to agree with your assessment of science fiction writing’s plateau for the last 30 years.

You mentioned The Philosopher's Stone, and have made two videos about Colin Wilson. I find his work fascinating. I wish you would make an even more extensive video about his philosophy and life. He seems to have been forgotten in our age of AI and ChatGPT.

Just finished GRRM’s A song for Lya and other stories, and have greatly enjoyed them. Didn’t realize George did science fiction so well!

Everyone has their favorites, Moore is the only one of these I kept.

Hmm. C. L. Moore was great, wrote a lot with her husband Henry Kuttner. They produced quite a catalog.

Great choices! No surprise considering the quality of your book. I have that same copy of Northwest Smith and agree with you completely about that book.

Excellent! I enjoyed Part 1, and I'm looking forward to the rest of your list. I have felt for a very long time that The Left Hand of Darkness is one of the best science fiction books ever written.

I've been reading SF since 1970. I have to take a little exception with your blithe dismissal of science fiction written in the past 40 years as "nothing new under the sun". While I've only read about 5000 SF books, I did find Blindsight to be saying something new, quite spectacularly new, so I'm curious what you see as having said those things before. Likewise, Alastair Reynolds stands quite differently to his space opera predecessors with his sticking to the speed of light as a limit, and what that means to civilizations. Look, I am dismayed by modern readers who haven't read or have rejected the greats of the past, like Lem or Bester or Silverberg or Shaw, so I'm right there with you. But I feel like you might be too dismissive of what's actually happened in the past 40 years. Iain Banks and the Culture was new. Madeline Ashby and the Machine Dynasty. And of course the very hard and weird SF of Greg Egan. Or Robert Reed for really writing what a worldship would be like. I don't think innovation has slowed down at all.

First time viewer - I was ready to subscribe instantly upon seeing your Hawkwind shirt!
As someone who started reading SF in the '60s, I appreciate where this list is coming from. Nice to see Vonnegut & Burroughs getting some recognition in SF circles.
Delany is possibly my favorite author. The scene in which Bron is swept up in Spike's troupe was so vivid, I had to stop, catch my breath & read it again. If Triton is 18, I can't wait to see what's next!
(actually I don't have to wait, the link is right over there ---> )

Really a superb video. I've seen it twice and I'm anxious for the second part. The most attractive feature is that because of your criteria your choices aren't subjective, in my view.

Gorgeous list! This is a video for the ages 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Fantastic to see Simak make it into these 25 titles.

Great list. I had a few of these on my top 210, and of the ones you list, I loved Solaris and Left Hand most. I really liked Triotn but need to re read it...it's been a while. You liked Northwest Smith and Philosophers Stone more than I did. I'll be curious to see if more Delany makes your list. Dhalgren and Empire Star are two of my favorite books of all time. Maybe third for me is Babel 17... I enjoy Nova as well, and while it's not my #1 space opera, it still makes me feel great to hear someone else give it that praise. Those Slaughterhouse 5 covers are phenomenal. I prefer Sirens of Titan over S5, so I'll be curious to see if it made the other half of your list.

It may sound click-bait-y, but it is something we'd like to know. Thanks for this - I was into it enough that I was surprised when it ended. . . . so far from "the end!" It can be harder to schedule in these longer vids but always worth hearing your thoughts on this topic as well as personal anecdotes.

Great video, Stephen, you make each writer's work fascinating. I have all of the books you've mentioned so far, but I haven't read all of them yet. Working on that with slow intent.

Great Stuff! I'd read four of those , which was more than I was expecting, and will keep an eye out for the others. I've only read The Mind Parasites by Colin Wilson, and I didn't get on with that, but never say never. Looking forward to the rest of the list in due course!

Enjoyable video, always interesting to see what people but in their list of best books, best novels or best series. I'm currently reading the Theodore Sturgeon collection "A Saucer of Loneliness" that has a foreword by Kurt Vonnegut in which he makes some interesting points about Sturgeon being a very literary writer eventhough people wouldn't acknowledge it because of "genreism". Had to think of that because "Slaughterhouse Five" came up in your list.

Wonderful selection, very hard to argue with. I recently reread left hand off darkness after a 20 year lapse. I was surprised by how much I had forgotten it I'm pretty sure it will end up in my top 25 list as well.

I don't tend to think in terms of 'best' books either, but in bodies of work. I find it very difficult to list my best or favourite books. Frankly, I am impressed you managed to limit it to 25. Looking forward to part 2.

Insightful as always. It's nice to see not just another predictable SF listicle containing the usual suspects with the same tired takes. Looking forward to the next one.

Hi Stephen. Another great video. Have never read any C L Moore but just ordered the book you listed. Your videos have influenced my reading quite a bit over the past year or so - got into Mick Herron (now on book four of the Slough House series), just read The Voyage of the Space Beagle, also The Syndic, Steppenwolf, Heroes & Villains, and a few books by Ted Lewis. Was already into quite a few authors you have mentioned, such as Burroughs, Trocchi, Hamsun, Dick, Silverberg, Shaw, Ballard. Looking forward to more recommendations! And I agree, very little good sf after the 80s. A sad state of affairs.

Wonderful video with some great selections that I've read and some writers I have yet to try. Your comments are thoughtful and interesting. Thanks.

This is such a fantastic channel. The professionalism, the experience, and the erudition are what keep me coming back. Thank you for your perspective and consistent uploads. All have been worth my time.

The big one! Love this sort of long video, done well, looking forward to the full watch (and thanks for mentioning my name in the opening there!)

What's your opinion of Delaney's Dhalgren (safely assuming you've read it)

Thanks for another great video. I'm currently reading Silverberg's World's of Wonder so encountered C.L. Moore for the first time with No Woman Born. The story has such a lovely tone that I'm eager for more.

As for the others, I'm happy to say most are on the read/reread list. I don't feel I gave The Forever War or The Left Hand of Darkness their due and hope a more mature me will appreciate them for what they are.

You're like the science fiction booktuber for intellectuals who have actually read the books and not just the covers. I learned more about the history, development, implication, and meaning of science fiction and its prominent authors in the first twenty minutes of this video than I have watching other video channels for years. Great work and insights!

Great video! I was waiting for stuff like that from you, sir(I mean list of topXX SF books, I am a sucker for such content). I am glad to see Vonnegut in the list, because he is my favorite author. He doesn’t have bad books in my opinion.
I need to read more Delany(I did not read enough of him). Colin Wilson is a new name for me, I need to read him.
Also I never read Burroughs, need to fix this.
LeGuin, Lem are obvious and necessary picks. They are so big names for SF.
I am exciting to see next part of the video, thank you very much.