Classics of 'Soft' Science Fiction
Submitted by fit2print on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 08:10
Tags:
- 1. Fahrenheit 451(Ray Bradbury)
- 2. Man in the High Castle (Philip K Dick)
- 3. Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes)
- 4. 1984 (George Orwell)
- 5. A Canticle for Liebowitz (Walter M. Miller)
- 6. On the Beach (Nevil Shute)
- 7. Camp Concentration (Thomas Disch)
- 8. Solaris (Stanislaw Lem)
- 9. Mockingbird (Walter Tevis)
- 10. More Than Human (Theodore Sturgeon)
- 11. The Drowned World (J.G. Ballard)
- 12. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
- 13. Player Piano (Kurt Vonnegut)
- 14. Earth Abides (George R Stewart)
- 15. Last Ship (William Brinkley)
- 16. Alas Babylon (Pat Frank)
- 17. The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester)
- 18. Monkey Planet (Pierre Boulle)
- 19. Shatterday (Harlan Ellison)
- 20. Riddley Walker (Russell Hoban)
- 21. Lathe of Heaven (Ursula K Le Guin)
- 22. Dhalgren (Samuel R. Delany)
- 23. Lucifer’s Hammer (Larry Niven / Jerry Pournelle)
- 24. We (Yevgeny Zamyatin)
- 25. Marooned (Martin Caidin)
Amongst my list of all-time favourite books are:
7. Camp Concentration (Thomas Disch)
10. More Than Human (Theodore Sturgeon)
14. Earth Abides (George R Stewart)
Over-rated (IMHO):
3. Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes)
5. A Canticle for Liebowitz (Walter M. Miller)
17. The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester)
Missing from your list which I can highly recommend to you as 'soft' science fiction:
The Star Rover (Jack London) - often not classified as sci-fi becuase of who the author is, but definitely 'soft' sci-fi in my view.
Dying Inside (Robert Silverberg) - this could be viewed as a classic in a league with 'Catcher In The Rye' if it hadn't been pigeon-holed as sci-fi.
Replay (Ken Grimwood) - totally compelling.
Appreciate the tips. Will look out for the titles you've listed and welcome any other recommendations (from you and others).
By the way, if you haven't read them, all of Walter Tevis's SF books (also The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Steps of the Sun) come highly recommended.
Sadly, SF enthusiasts tend not to give Mr Tevis -- who also wrote The Hustler and The Queen's Gambit -- the recognition he deserves.
Nice list! I will say, though, that youre severely lacking in Dick ;). Personally I never liked Man In The High Castle. Ive gotten about halfway through twice and both times abandoned it. I also didnt like We Can Build You, but out of the other 23 of his that Ive read, I can honestly say I at *least* intensely "like" all of it. I highly highly HIGHLY recommend the following Dick masterpieces:
Now Wait For Last Year
Ubik
Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch
Martian Time Slip
Eye In The Sky
Please check out my list of favorite authors with their biblios. Most of them are SF, with 95% of them being philosophical, sociological, psychological, and/or metaphysical SF (which is what I deem "soft" to mean)
Im going to be nabbing quite a few recommendations from here. I had forgotten about Flowers For Algernon (it was recommended to me years ago and Ive never been able to recall the name or the author until now)