Posted on 08/01/2015 1:29:27 PM PDT by EveningStar
Science fiction and fantasy offer a rich legacy of great books--but that abundant pile of reading material can also be daunting. So sometimes, it's easier to fake it. We asked some of our favorite writers, and they told us the 10 books that everyone pretends to have read. And why you should actually read them.
From Asimov to Pynchon, science fiction contains some fantastic, ambitious works of genre fiction. But a lot of us get overwhelmed. And it's not that hard to fake a first-hand knowledge of these books, because they're everywhere, and we've heard people talk about them so many times. We SF fans are good at pretending. But these books are classics for a reason -- and they're worth reading.
(Excerpt) Read more at io9.com ...
ping
Haven’t heard of any of them....
The Stars, My Destination
The Ice People
Ringworld
Neuromancer
The Andromeda Strain
Fantastic Voyage
...to name a few.
The only two I’ve read were 1984 and Dune-and the Dune sequels totally sucked-I couldn’t get past the first few chapters.
a scary dystopian novel, I like Ira Levin’s This Perfect Day-I’ve read that about once a year since it came out-and I’m a big Heinlein fan, too.
Great little article, thanks for posting it. I read Dune, loved it and read a couple of the sequels, but I don’t think they really measure up.
Read Gravity’s Rainbow, but I’ll just admit right here I don’t think I really grokked it.
I honestly can’t remember if I read Dahlgren or not, I’m guessing not, but Delaney’s a wonderful writer, very eloquent, really so I should probably try it, maybe again.
Some of the others sound really interesting so perhaps I’ll check them out.
And again, I must say I wonder if I’ll ever get to read “A Canticle for Liebowitz”, it’s time for me to try yet again to get my hands on a copy of that book!
Any list that doesn’t include at least one Heinlien is bogus
I first read Dune when it was publish as series in a scifi magazine mid last century. Never read the book version.
I’d add:
“Rendezvous With Rama” - Aurthur C. Clark
“Ringworld” - Larry Niven
...and since we are talking science fiction, “The Communist Manifesto” qualifies.
Stranger in a Strange Land-a fav of mine as well.
Tried to get through the Foundation trilogy.
Couldn’t buy into the premise, thought the writing was juvenile, dialog sounded like it had been produced by a computer program. Made it through about the first thirty pages, then gave up for good.
Totally forgot about “The Andromeda Strain”. Excellent choice.
“The Variable man” is a great short story by Phillip K Dick.
Thank God they Left Stranger in a Strange Land off the list.
Gravity’s Rainbow, like all of Pynchon, sucks.
Pretentious pseudo-intellectual dreck.
Pseudo-intellectuals love to pretend they read it and enjoyed it.
Pynchon is the T. Coraghessan Boyle of SF.
Cryptonomicon is really a masterpiece.
Dune was the best book Herbert wrote.
Foundation is Asimov love it or hate it. I love it.
I read all of Jonathan Strange et al. Kept expecting it to get good—never did.
1984. Prescient; only off by a few decades.
Never heard of the rest. Will look them up. I love old school and hardcore SF.
> “Rendezvous With Rama” - Aurthur C. Clark
Got hooked and ended up reading the whole series. For me, Arthur C Clarke has a way of drawing you into a story where you can’t put the book down.
Read RWR when it first came out.
Huh. Another Clarke abbreviation coincidence.
Anyway, RWR was good. Very good. Perhaps the last novel that was truly up to Clark’s standards.
Unfortunately, SF is no good for me any more. I can’t enjoy it.
Know too much science, I guess. And too much reality in general.
I’ve read:
Dune
1984
The Long Tomorrow
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