50 Essential Sci-fi and Cli-fi Books
![A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (1864)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/journey-centre-earth-verne.jpg)
Famous adventure tale that practically launched the genre in 1864.
![The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (1898)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/war-worlds-hg-wells.jpg)
The Martians come to England. A famous example of invasion literature from 1898.
![Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/brave-new-world-huxley.jpg)
Set in 2540, this novel imagines a radically different future. So good, it’s taught in schools.
![When Worlds Collide by Edwin Balmer & Philip Wylie (1933)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/when-worlds-collide-balmer-.jpg)
Earth must be evacuated because another planet is on a collision course.
![Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/nineteen-eighty-four-orwell.jpg)
Social sci-fi from the era of Soviet growth where a nasty political system defines the plot.
![Earth Abides by George R. Stewart (1949)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/earth-abides.jpg)
Written shortly after Hiroshima, this post-apocalyptic novel imagines the rebuilding process.
![Foundation by Isaac Asimov (1951)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/foundation-isaac-asimov.jpg)
The original novel in a pioneering series. An immense plot that I cannot sum up in a sentence.
![The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury (1951)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/illustrated-man-bradbury.jpg)
18 masterful and highly imaginative short stories from one of the genre's masters.
![The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1953)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/demolished-man-alfred-bester.jpg)
First Hugo winner. A science fiction detective novel featuring telepathy.
![Ring Around the Sun by Clifford D. Simak (1953)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/ring-around-sun-simak.jpg)
Clever invasion novel from the 1950s where aliens introduce devices to disrupt Earth's economy.
![Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement (1954)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/missin-gravity-clement.jpg)
A world-building novel on a planet with variable surface gravity. Insect-like locals, human explorers.
![The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett (1955)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/long-tomorrow-leigh-bracket.jpg)
Following a nuclear war, religious sects create an anti-technology society.
![The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (1955)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/chrysalids-john-wyndham.jpg)
Set way in the future in a fundamentalist society. Telepathy makes people different.
![The Death of Grass or No Blade of Grass by John Christopher (1956)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/death-grass-john-christophe.jpg)
A virus kills off all strains of grasses & causes a famine. England descends into anarchy.
![Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (1959)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/starship-troopers-heinlein.jpg)
Fine example of military science fiction from the late 1950s. A war against bugs.
![The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (1959)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/sirens-titan-vonnegut.jpg)
Douglas Adams described it as a “tour de force” – a novel set amid a Martian invasion of Earth.
![Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (1959)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/alas-babylon-pat-frank.jpg)
Frank imagines the effects of nuclear war on a small town in Florida.
![A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller (1960)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/canticle-leibowitz-miller.jpg)
Post-apocalyptic science fiction where monks are trying to preserve vital books and humanity.
![Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon (1960)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/venus-plus-x-sturgeon.jpg)
20th century Charlie Johns wakes in a future filled with overpopulation, bigotry and no gender.
![Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (1961)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/solaris-stanislaw-lem.jpg)
Humans study a planet while the planet studies them. A novel about miscommunication.
![The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard (1962)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/drowned-world-ballard.jpg)
The ice-caps melt and the world floods. Set in 2145, the protagonist has adapted rather well.
![Hothouse by Brian Aldiss (1962)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/hothouse-brian-aldiss.jpg)
An ecological-themed novel set in the far future with fantasy elements.
![A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/wrinkle-time-madeleine-leng.jpg)
Children’s fiction, with fantasy elements, where a government scientist goes missing.
![Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/dune.jpg)
This novel has sold 12 million copies so can’t be bad. Spice before the Spice Girls.
![Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison (1966)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/make-room-harry-harrison.jpg)
Set in 1999, a novel about over-population. Basis for the movie, Soylent Green.
![Logan’s Run by William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson (1967)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/logans-run-johnson.jpg)
Age-themed science fiction. Everyone is killed off at 21 but there are “runners.”
![Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/do-androids-dream-dick.jpg)
A bounty hunter tracks down escaped androids in a post-apocalyptic future.
![The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/left-hand-darkness-le-guin.jpg)
Le Guin is prolific and a must-read for everyone. This book details an imagined universe.
![Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock (1969)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/behold-man-michael-moorcock.jpg)
A time travel story where a man goes from 1970 back to AD 28 to meet Jesus.
![Ringworld by Larry Niven (1970)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/ringworld-larry-niven.jpg)
From the golden era of the early 1970s. Set in 2850 in a radically different universe.
![Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (1972)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/rendezvous-rama-clarke.jpg)
A classic set in the 22nd century, an alien starship enters the solar system.
![Roadside Picnic / Tale of the Troika by Boris & Arkady Strugatsky (1972)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/roadside-picnic-strugatsky.jpg)
Roadside Picnic is a classic alien-encounter story from Russia’s most important sci-fi writers.
![The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/female-man-joanna-russ.jpg)
A novel following the lives of four women in parallel worlds. Feminist sci-fi.
![Man Plus by Frederik Pohl (1976)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/man-plus-pohl.jpg)
Cyborg (where man & machine combine) science fiction as humans attempt to colonize Mars.
![The Stand by Stephen King (1978)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/stand-stephen-king.jpg)
Apocalyptic novel where a virus kills off most people and it is nightmarish for survivors.
![The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/hitchhikers.jpg)
A radio series. Adams introduced a huge and much-needed dose of humor into the genre.
![Nor Crystal Tears by Alan Dean Foster (1982)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/nor-crystal-tears-foster.jpg)
Imagines the Humanx Commonwealth where humans exist alongside aliens.
![Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/enders-game-card.jpg)
Violent futuristic sci-fi where the Earth is threatened by an ant-like species.
![Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (1987)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/consider-phlebas-banks.jpg)
Pure space opera. First in the Culture series, this novel features a sprawling space war between species.
![Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (1988)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/falling-free-bujold.jpg)
Quaddies are genetically modified humans used as slaves. They become obsolete and face a grim end.
![Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1989)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/hyperion-dan-simmons.jpg)
A complicated story-within-a-story novel with humanity spread across the galaxy.
![Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1993)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/red-mars-robinson.jpg)
First in a readable trilogy imagining the colonization of Mars.
![Ribofunk by Paul Di Filippo (1996)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/ribofunk-filippo.jpg)
Biopunk short story collection – a spin-off from cyberpunk featuring biotechnology.
![Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (1999)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/cryptonomicon-neal-stephens.jpg)
Historical science fiction adored by Geeks for its technology themes.
![Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (2005)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/uglies-westerfield.jpg)
A novel based on cosmetic surgery for teenagers. Modern science fiction on a modern issue.
![Old Man's War by John Scalzi (2005)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/old-mans-war-scalzi.jpg)
Scalzi's debut saw humans fighting aliens Heinlein-style except old people pull the trigger.
![Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (2007)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/little-brother-cory-doctoro.jpg)
Modern cyberpunk in post-9/11 era. Teenage hackers battle Homeland Security over civil rights.
![Acme Novelty Library #19 by Chris Ware (2008)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/novelty-nineteen-chris-ware.jpg)
Post-modern plot in a graphic novel. A sci-fi writer & his girlfriend are the last humans on Earth.
![Embassytown by China Miéville (2011)](https://www.abebooks.com/images/books/50-essential-science-fiction-books/embassytown-china-mieville.jpg)
Set in a small town on a distant planet, this 2011 novel depicts interaction between aliens & humans.
KSR, ''NEW YORK 2140'', set for March 14, 2017 release
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