The Literature of Change

June 2, 2024 8:16 AM

New Scientist writers pick their favourite science fiction books of all time - some classics, some obvious modern picks, and some genuine surprises.
posted by Artw (24 comments total)

I don't disagree with any of it, so there's obviously something wrong with the list.
posted by signal at 8:30 AM on June 2 [13 favorites]

The Takeshi Kovacs novels by Richard K. Morgan fit into my list, among some of these great books.
posted by Chuffy at 9:07 AM on June 2 [3 favorites]

I'm a little ways into Chapterhouse: Dune now (the last of the series written by Frank Herbert); I too was told for years that Dune just gets...bad after book three. Well, actually! I was told variously that it got bad after the second book, and even after the first; but everyone agreed that by the time you reached the fourth, God Emperor of Dune, the series had gone so irrevocably off the rails that there was no turning back, and nothing of value to be seen.

And I sort of get it, because Dune is very much an adventure story with shades of philosophy and psychedelic weirdness. I think people like shades of those things, but much less than they like knife fights, and giant monsters in the desert, and space ships. Books two and three dial down the adventure a little, and ramp up the weird stuff and the tragedy, but this is nothing in comparison to God Emperor of Dune, in which Frank Herbert's musings on life, the universe and everything are channeled through an immortal gigantic worm-man who, for hundreds of pages, does not stop talking, ever. Is it amazing? YES. Is it for everyone? It definitely is not for everyone. It may not be for anyone, but I loved it, and loved my time resting inside of Leto's segment, gorging myself on the spice juice I milked from his face glands.

I will say that Heretics of Dune is sadly much less strange, though there is no way it could be stranger. So far I'm liking Chapterhouse more. But God Emperor of Dune is the one that will live on in me its essence captured forever in a dreaming pearl in my heart.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:09 AM on June 2 [12 favorites]

They had me at Jon Bois.
posted by HillbillyInBC at 9:11 AM on June 2 [7 favorites]

Free science fiction from its chains!
posted by chavenet at 9:16 AM on June 2 [5 favorites]

Wow! A list of which I've actually read most of the selections!
posted by Thorzdad at 9:31 AM on June 2 [2 favorites]

I really disagree with the inclusion of "The Long Earth", which I have elsewhere snarked as combining the humor of Baxter and the hard-science of Pratchett, but the rest of the list of solid stuff.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 10:13 AM on June 2 [11 favorites]

Have not read it, but Jesus, that’s a burn.
posted by Artw at 10:14 AM on June 2 [8 favorites]

I loved God Emperor of Dune of course, which yeah maybe more fun than his others, if you like that sort of fun. Also, his WorShip and ConSentiency series have some enjoyable weirdness.

Yet conceptually, I think Heretics and Chapterhouse captures make the most interesting existential point: Leto II's scattering restarted human evolution by punctuation change, which while essential, actually kinda sucks.

I think God Emperor of Dune winds up more fun because it explores the character of a being who'd restart human evolution. God indeed.
posted by jeffburdges at 10:55 AM on June 2

HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was, first and foremost, a series of 30 minutes radio plays, the books are almost adequate as a substitute. The humour is verbal and is at its best when read by actors with perfect comic timing, Marvin and Zaphod especially, must be heard.
posted by epo at 11:08 AM on June 2 [7 favorites]

No Vernor Vinge or Peter Watts or Adrian Tchaikovsky? [cries]
posted by gottabefunky at 11:19 AM on June 2 [4 favorites]

Hitchhiker’s Guide is basically just vaudeville, and almost that tedious.

But Flatland? Give me a break . . .
posted by jamjam at 12:28 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]

Pretty good list.

It makes sense to me that a "this is my favorite SF book" from multiple people would have a higher hit rate than "The 83 Best SF Novels Of All Time" or whatever. You're not trying to cover all the bases and inevitably missing some or including a few that are questionable at best. You're just getting together a list of books that specific people liked a lot.
posted by kyrademon at 12:30 PM on June 2 [2 favorites]

Surprised and pleased to find 17776 here.
posted by equalpants at 1:23 PM on June 2 [6 favorites]

God Emperor of Dune is the one that will live on in me its essence captured forever in a dreaming pearl in my heart
thank you kittens for breakfast & jeffburdges! so happy to know there are other people out there who appreciated these novels this much
(yay! Metafilter!)
also happy to see Slaughterhouse V included. i recently visited the Kurt Vonnegut Library and Museum. recommended for anyone near Indianapolis
posted by HearHere at 1:53 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]

Hitchhiker’s Guide is basically just vaudeville, and almost that tedious.

I will fight you. Twice.
posted by kristi at 2:35 PM on June 2 [17 favorites]

Agreed gottabefunky, I definigtely prefer Peter Watts over many works listed here. Yet, there is no ranking here like kyrademon observed. Also, some list contributors would naturally avoid existential dread stories or even pick optimistic ones.
posted by jeffburdges at 2:56 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]

Interesting list by bookpilled
posted by jeffburdges at 3:12 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]

(looks)

Hhmmmph.
posted by jscalzi at 6:10 PM on June 2 [12 favorites]

As usual, no Ray Bradbury...
posted by jim in austin at 6:23 PM on June 2

I clicked through expecting to be smugly outraged that stone-cold 1936 classic War with the Newts got snubbed as per usual, and then it was right there in the header image. Curse you, New Scientist writer Tom Leslie, for having good taste and ruining my fun!
posted by bettafish at 6:39 PM on June 2 [2 favorites]

(looks)

Hhmmmph.

Ok, I loled. The list itself is pretty reasonable, and unlike It's Never Lurgi, I liked The Long Earth, although I bounced off the second one and never tried to read any of the others.
posted by Literaryhero at 2:36 AM on June 3

I read the Long Earth series and my main complaint, and the reason I would keep it off the list even though I really enjoyed the concept, was the endings of every book were just terrible. Its builds to this great conflict that is solved in two minutes, sometimes offpage, sometimes by a character that’s mentioned barely once. Enjoyed reading the books to be super disappointed by the ending.
posted by LizBoBiz at 4:43 AM on June 3

It's interesting that all of a sudden I've been hearing more about War with the Newts in the last year. Maybe because the themes do seem so contemporary?
posted by of strange foe at 7:46 AM on June 3 [1 favorite]