Edwin Abbot
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
You wouldn’t think a book about geometrical shapes would be particularly interesting, but this is a great way to expand your frame of reference!

Isaac Asimov
Foundation series
Books in the Foundation series are set in the distant future when humanity has colonized the galaxy. Hari Seldon is on a mission to preserve the whole of human knowledge in the “Encyclopedia Galactica” before the entire Empire collapses into chaos.

I, Robot
Asimov creates rules (accepted by most authors) called the “three laws of robotics,” and follows these rules throughout the nine stories that make up I, Robot.

Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 considers the effects of a totalitarian society. The title refers to the temperature at which books burn.

Martian Chronicles
Martian Chronicles tells of humans trying to colonize Mars and how their assumptions of superiority might lead to their downfall.

Arthur C. Clarke
2001: A Space Odyssey
A manned spacecraft is sent to investigate a 3-million year old monolith buried on the moon. The crewmembers, including a computer named HAL, square off as they try to rendezvous with the entities that are responsible for creating the monolith. 2001 is widely known from Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation.

Philip K. Dick
Minority Report
This story takes place in a future world where scientists predict criminal behavior before it happens and “pre-criminals” are arrested before they actually break any laws. Fast-paced, action-packed adventures are this author’s trademark. Several of his books have been made into successful movies that sometimes depart radically from the original.

Robert A. Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land
This seminal science fiction work is about a man born on Earth, but raised on Mars by Martians. The man returns to Earth and has to learn to adapt to human customs.

Frank Herbert
Dune series
Dune chronicles events on Arrakis, a desert planet where various forces within a galactic empire battle to control the spice mélange. Duke Paul Atreides wanders the planet and teams up with the tribe of Fremen to try and reclaim his position. Several sequels follow, some written by Herbert’s son Brian after his father’s death.

Ursula Leguin
The Dispossessed
Shevek, a brilliant physicist, attempts to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this will mean giving up his family and possibly his life.

The Lathe of Heaven
In The Lathe of Heaven, George Orr finds that although he has the power to change the world merely by dreaming it, this power is not necessarily a blessing.

The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness is a philosophical, character-driven story of the land of Winter, which has drifted away from the emerging galactic civilization.

SOME MODERN SCIENCE FICTION AUTHORS

Greg Bear
Darwin’s Radio or Darwin’s Children
These are fast-paced stories about genetically enhanced children who may be the next evolutionary step after humans.

Gregory Benford
Beyond Infinity
This book is about genetically enhanced humans, but seen after it has happened, from the distant future. The main character, one of the “original” humans, is caught up in an epic battle for the fate of the universe.

William Gibson
Pattern Recognition
This cyberpunk author’s latest book, Pattern Recognition, involves computers, fashion, marketing and the Russian mafia.

Dan Simmons
Ilium
“Metahumans” recreate the siege of Troy on Mars in a book filled with allusions to famous literary works from Homer to Proust. This book is an epic tale with a complex, exciting plot.

Neal Stephenson
Quicksilver
Quicksilver is the first volume of a planned trilogy. Ageless characters begin their adventure in the 1700s, meeting and interacting with a fascinating cast of historical characters.

Cory Doctorow
Eastern Standard Tribe
This cyberpunk novel is about online tribes who band together according to their preferences for living in particular time zones.

Elizabeth Moon
The Speed of Dark
Moon’s book tells of a future in which almost all birth defects are preventable or curable. For people born just before this scientific advancement, this is of no benefit. This book offers a glimpse of life from an autistic man’s viewpoint.

Larry Niven
Ringworld series
Niven’s Ringworld is set in a complex world, on an artificial planet. Numerous characters recur in different novels. Known as a master writer of hard science fiction, Niven focuses on the technology and how it affects the characters and their world.

Ask two different people and you’ll often get two different opinions about the definition of science fiction or even the best science fiction writer. Fans will agree that reading science fiction is a great way to fuel your imagination and expand your mind. Science fiction or speculative fiction (SF for short) is a genre some say began as far back as 1831 with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Hard science fiction deals with new or imagined technology and its effect on the world.

Speculative fiction focuses on ideas about what could happen in the future. These ideas may or may not be centered on technology.

Space opera emphasizes exciting, action-packed adventure with larger than life heroes, villains, and epic storylines.

Cyberpunk novels are a type of modern science fiction that combines high-technology landscapes with countercultural and political ideas. The term cyberpunk was coined by science fiction writer Gardner Dozois.

Elements of Science Fiction

Setting: Earth or outer space
Time: Near or distant future
Purpose: To imagine events or situations that have elements of reality