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Here's the List: (* if seconded) Ender's Game* Speaker for the Dead* Nueromancer The Lathe of Heaven* How Few Remain Dune* Earth Abides* The Mote in God's Eye* Ringworld* Childhood's End* Rendevous With Rama* Rama II* 1984* There are Doors On the Beach* The War of the Worlds Titan* Fail Safe Foundation* Cat's Cradle Dawn* A Wrinkle in Time* The Giver* Brave New World* Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?* Eternity Starship Troopers Legacy of Heorot* Gateway* Double Star The Moon is a Harsh Mistress* Left Hand of Darkness* Kiln People More Than Human The Man in the High Castle* 2001 a Space Odyssey* The Anubis Gates The Book of the New Sun Flowers for Algernon* A Boy and His Dog Stranger in a Strange Land Slaughterhouse Five A Clockwork Orange The Stars My Destination* A Canticle for Leibowitz Where the Late Sweet Birds Sang Red Mars
Newly, really newly updated.
[ August 12, 2004, 11:20 AM: Message edited by: Erik Slaine ]
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Erik, I could easily be misunderstanding your conversation with porter there, but it *seemed* like you were suggesting that novels were superior to short stories. Were you saying that, or did I misread. If you were saying it, I have to say that I disagree pretty strongly; in fact, most of my favorite pieces of fiction are short stories or novellas. I had kind of a hard time coming up with novels I felt comfortable listing in the "best" list, but my only problem with short stories will be narrowing the list down to a managable level.
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Oooh, ooh, I forgot a favorite one. How about Flowers For Algernon. Not hard Sci-Fi I know but what else would it be classified as?
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Obviously I'm a Sci-fi whore. I spread my affection indiscriminately but I just thought of another classic, Harlan Ellison's A Boy and His DogPosts: 2022 | Registered: Mar 2004
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You know, I don't think I've ever gone to more trouble to aquire a book than I did that one. I searched for an affordable copy of it for years, back before the Internet made it easy to do something like that. Honestly I was more than a little disappointed when I finally got to read it, but it wasn't because of any failing of the book itself--I'd just built it up past any possible level of achievable greatness in the years I spent searching for it.
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Yeah, that's why I put the winking smiley--I was afraid that someone would take me seriously.
I was also worried that someone would actually think that I liked Battlefield Earth, but happily that comment seems to have been either overlooked or taken in the spirit in which it was intended.
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I actually thought you were serious about the book. But everyone is allowed to be totally wrong on occasion. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Non-Orson material: Not sure if it counts but I LOVED "Darwin's Radio," (hated the sequel) and I loved Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" series.
Posts: 752 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Really rivka? Just for the record, I think that Battlefield Earth may be the *very* worst SF novel I've ever had the unfortunate expereince of reading. It is horribly, horribly bad.
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quote: Alfred Bester -- wasn't he the Psi-Cop on B5?
I just figured it out! Alfred Bester was a Psi-Cop on Babylon 5. But first, a more different Alfred Bester wrote The Demolished Man, a book which was obviously the template for Babylon5's telepaths.
I'm not going to nominate it for best novel, but I highly recommend The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester, written in 1953.
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Noem, I haven't read it, but I've heard enough about it to be glad of the fact. But I do know at least a person or two who have affection for the book. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I've always been a sucker for the whole "humanity pulling itself up from the ashes" subgenre, so I was really predisposed to like this book. It's been over a decade since I've read it, so the details are pretty fuzzy for me at this point, but I remember that among other problems, the book had the most poorly drawn aliens I've ever seen.
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I read Battlefield Earth about a quarter century ago and don't remember many details other than the fact that it was gigantic. I don't think I would call it the worst I've ever read but I concur that it doesn't belong on a list of best Sci-fi novel ever.
posted
I've had books I just couldn't finish. Those are the ones I would slap "the worst" appellation on. While I don't remember much of the story simply the fact that I was able to digest the whole thing removes it from my "worst" list.
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I read a book that was called Guerilla something, that was sooooo bad that I knew I'll never read anything (SF) worse than that. Up to now, it proved true...
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Yeah, that's why I put the winking smiley--I was afraid that someone would take me seriously. ![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
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