Best Sci-Fi book of the 20th century?

[OROD]

Ok, so just thinking of sci-fi books of the 20th century, what do you think are the best ones. Limit your list to your top 5. You can give lists for either best, most influential, or your personal favorites, or all three if you really want. =)

The book must have been originally published in the 20th century.

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My list (most influential) in no particular order:

The First Men in the Moon
Brave New World
Neuromancer
1984
Fahrenheit 451

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[OROD]

My list (favorites):

Lord of Light
Ringworld
Inherit the Stars
Rendezvous with Rama
1984

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[TrainingDummy]

1. Dune
2. Dune
3. Dune
4. Dune
5. Dune

[Gav]

Best SF book of the 20th century?

Without a doubt 1984 has to be up there. Not only a good SF* book but very influential as well.

After that I need to think long and hard.

* Although does it count as "science fact" these days?

[sabreur]

I don't think Lord of Light is science fiction--more fantasy. I agree with TD that Dune would probably head my list for true SF--1984 isn't really science fiction, although it clearly belongs in the list of important English-language books of the 20th Century.

I think William Gibson's oeuvre is pretty significant as well. Samuel Delaney's Dhalgren and Stars in my Pocket Like Grains of Sand are pretty important. Also Ray Bradbury: The Illustrated Man, R is for Rocket, and The Martian Chronicles.

[rudd]

I used to read a lot of SF and fantasy in my teens. Read a lot less now. Not necessarily the best but the one's that left an impression and I can remember

Dune for sure.
1984. Awesome book. Just not sure if it should be classified as SF.
In the same vein Slaughter House Five
Something by Philip K. Dick, maybe A Scanner Darkly or The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
Flowers for Algernon
Rendevous with Rama
The Player of Games
I enjoyed Neuromancer but preffered Snow Crash.
I loved The Hitchhikers Guide series when I first read it but couldn't bring myself to reread it now.

[restlesscheese]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Um. Hmm. I've got to narrow all the rest of mine down a bit. (All I read is sci-fi)

[Inquartata]

It's been a long time since I read science fiction---my tastes turned to fantasy in high school---but as I remember it most of the best tales weren't books but short stories, like Clarke's "The 9 Billion Names of God" and "The Star", Asimov's "I, Robot" and "Nightfall", Heinlein, Ellison, Bradbury, et al. You can't even specify the books in which they appear, because there've been so many different compilations....

Even some of H.G. Wells' stuff came out in the 20th century.

That said:

The Martian Chronicles
Dune
Childhood's End
The Sirens of Titan
1984

Not necessarily in that order.

[Capt. Slo-mo]

Even though I would also re-nominate Dan Simmon's Hyperion series here, I was also particularly struck by the "Titan" 3 book series by John Varley in the late '70s and '80's: "Titan", "Wizard" and "Demon."

Very well written stuff.

[Epictetus]

So very hard to narrow it down to five.

The interplay between Starship Troopers and The Forever War has always interested me.

Any list without Dune would be shamefully neglected.

Nueromancer has had more influence in modern ideas of the future than jst about any of its contemporaries.

And for sheer nostalgia, A Canticle For Leibowitz is a great book that wasn't read by many people now. Pretty dated now, due to its post-apocalyptic setting, but worth reading anyway.

[Prometheus]

1. The Foundation series
2. Dune
3. Ender's Game, but NOT Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide or Children of the mind
4. Brave new World
5. 1984

(In no particular order)

[OROD]

I don't think Lord of Light is science fiction--more fantasy.

It leans more towards fantasy, as a lot of Zelaznys stuff. However, you cant deny the sci-fi aspects. The way the "gods" in the book get their powers and then enhance them with technological devices is all sci-fi. Even the main struggle of the book centers on science and technology... i.e. some have it and some dont, and those who have it want to keep things that way.

1984 isn't really science fiction

I almost didnt put 1984 on my list since I was also debating whether it was sci-fi or not. My final decision was that it's "just barely" sci-fi, since a key part of the book are the TV screens that monitor the population... a nice and scary sci-fi'ish idea.

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[Westley]

I can't believe nobody mentioned any Heinlein. Blashpheme!

1. Stranger in a Strange Land
2. The Foundation Series
3. Fahrenheit 451
4. Brave New World
5. I Robot

Now, Call of Cthulhu would top the list, but it's not really it's own book.

[OROD]

I'm surprised no one else has named The First Men in the Moon as influencial. I mean, it helped create the maned space-flight genre, introduced intelligent aliens, influenced the real rocketry and space-flight movements, ...

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[achilles_heal]

1) do androids dream of electric sheep?
2) stranger in a strange land
3) a wrinkle in time
4) dune (sorry, dune disciples. not my favorite. "the spice..." always seemed a bit silly to me)
5) the time machine (i wanted to put war of the worlds here, but it is 19th century)



honestly, i was considering putting 5 philip k. dick books up there.

but no p.g. wodehouse.

[OROD]

5) the time machine (i wanted to put war of the worlds here, but it is 19th century)

The Time Machine is 19th century as well.

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[jeff]

All of the above - wonderful titles I haven't heard for too long, plus:

- Blish's City in Flight series
- Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar and Shockwave Rider, the latter of which prefigured cyberpunk with the invention of the computer worm

Nobody mentioned Clarke's 2001 ? An oversight, surely!

[achilles_heal]

The Time Machine is 19th century as well.

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arrgh. yelling at friend via yahoo IM whilst i type this...

ok get rid of time machine and put in .... the martian chronicles.

[Rabid Monk]

Stephen Goldin, The Eternity Brigade, 1980.

I'm going out on a limb with this one. It's not that well known.
However, it is the only book which has ever truly scared me. I was literally shaking when I finished. Possible because it is something that I could see happening. I rate books as being truly "good" when they have had an effect on me. When they stay with me, and invade my psyche. This one is one of the ones that has done that. I only read it once, about 7 years ago, and still remember it. It remains on my shelf, in case I can ever bring myself to read it again.

[OROD]

...However, it is the only book which has ever truly scared me.

Kind of reminds me of reading 1984. It was a long time ago, but I still remember what a depressing, hopeless story it was... esp when Winston was in being tortured and "re-educated".

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