Top 3 science fiction novels ever written!

[Patrick_Skelton]

These are my fav's:

1. 1984 George Orwell

2.  Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess

3. Brave New World Aldous Huxley

What about yours?

The Device

  

[Desert_Brat]

Oh gosh, there are so many to choose from! I love Bradbury, Asimov, Clarke, Orwell, Verne, Burroughs, Lovecraft and more. But one that doesn't get a lot of mention is:

Stranger in a Strange Land

  

[Ed_Mart]

Too many to choose from but my three go back a ways.

Cities in Flight - James Blish

Forever War - Joe Haldeman

Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein

Too bad none of them are available as ebooks.

[mister-j]

I would have to agree with both Stranger in a Strange Land and Star Ship Troopers by Heinlein.   StarShip Troopers is available as an ebook right here at B&N, I just checked.

Checked on Stranger In a Strange Land, it is also.

[Ed_Mart]

Thanks for the update on Starship Troopers, I haven't checked for a couple of months.

Edit:  Just added it to my library.

[ABthree]

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mister-j wrote:

I would have to agree with both Stranger in a Strange Land and Star Ship Troopers by Heinlein.   StarShip Troopers is available as an ebook right here at B&N, I just checked.

Checked on Stranger In a Strange Land, it is also.

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Yes, Stranger in a Strange Land is available as an eBook, but unhappily, the Original Uncut Version is not. 

Stranger in a Strange Land (Original Uncut Version)

  

[ABthree]

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Desert_Brat wrote:

Oh gosh, there are so many to choose from! I love Bradbury, Asimov, Clarke, Orwell, Verne, Burroughs, Lovecraft and more. But one that doesn't get a lot of mention is:

Stranger in a Strange Land

  

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I think that Stranger leaves all other science fiction far, far behind.  But in the lead back there, I'd put:

-- The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

-- The Perelandra Trilogy by C. S. Lewis

[mister-j]

@ ABthree

I have both versions as DTB.  Heinlein has been, probably, my most favorite author since I was a kid a long, long time ago.  I missed a chance to meet him when he returned to his birth place, only 20 miles down the highway, for a visit not long before he died.  Being young and stupid, when I was told I couldn't take the day off, I didn't.  A decision I have regretted ever since.

[ABthree]

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mister-j wrote:

I have both versions as DTB.  Heinlein has been, probably, my most favorite author since I was a kid a long, long time ago.

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Same here.

I've read and enjoyed most of what are considered the best science fiction works out there; this is the only one that had had a lasting effect on my values and world view. 

I would so like to have the uncut version as an eBook!

[mister-j]

@ABthree

As to having a lasting effect I would have to agree.  In the same category, that is a book I found disturbing and continually thought provoking is Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.  I found myself taking a 2:00 AM walk in the park after reading it in college.  Many years later I did get to meet Mr. Bradbury.

[ABthree]

@mister-j

Yes, I enjoyed Farenheit 451 a lot, too.

The only book at all similar that I'd put in the same league with Stranger, though, is

Island.

I didn't list it here because it's not exactly SciFi, but for my money, it's Huxley's masterpiece.  Far, far better than Brave New World.

[Tweedledee]

Not a novel - but in a collection of short stories by Harlan Ellison, there is one that stands out.

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream

The whole collection is great - but that one, has stayed with me for over 42 years. Now I understand that there is a virtual game based on the story, who would have thunk 42 years ago?

[mister-j]

@ ABthree

For some reason I didn't care for Brave New World.  It may have been my own state of mind (or lack thereof) at the time.  Then again it was required reading and I never was very good at reading what people told me I had to read.  I may have to give Island a try, although I haven't yet gotten around to your last recommendation.  (Back when I accused you of tempting Charlie Sheen.)

[Ya_Ya]

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ABthree wrote:

Island.

I didn't list it here because it's not exactly SciFi, but for my money, it's Huxley's masterpiece.  Far, far better than Brave New World.

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Just went on my goodreads "to-read" list.  Brave New World is up there for one of my favorite books of all time, (assigned reading in a freshman humanities class) and if you say this is better, I need to read it.  

[PBReilley]

1.  Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein

(I have the original DTB, the uncut DTB, AND the ebook)

2.  Isaac Asmov's Foundation Trilogy - Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation

3.  The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

[ABthree]

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Ya_Ya wrote:

Just went on my goodreads "to-read" list.  Brave New World is up there for one of my favorite books of all time, (assigned reading in a freshman humanities class) and if you say this is better, I need to read it.  

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Brave New World is about a dystopia that destroys human virtue; Island is about a utopia that human greed and envy destroy.  The protagonist is a journalist who calls himself "the man who won't take 'yes' for an answer." 

If you read it, I'll be interested in what you think.

[ABthree]

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mister-j wrote:

For some reason I didn't care for Brave New World.  It may have been my own state of mind (or lack thereof) at the time.  Then again it was required reading and I never was very good at reading what people told me I had to read.  I may have to give Island a try, although I haven't yet gotten around to your last recommendation.  (Back when I accused you of tempting Charlie Sheen.)

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LOL  Thanks for that Charlie Sheen line -- I've already repeated it to people a couple of times.

I didn't care for Brave New World, either.  I mentioned it because OP did, and because it's the only book by Huxley that a lot of people know. 

What Island has in common with Stranger in a Strange Land is that each is a philosophical treatise presented in a first-rate story, brilliantly written.  We all know how rare that is:  for most writers who try it, the story usually stumbles and falls under the weight of the philosophy.  Heinlein and Huxley managed to pull it off.

[Beth_DeEtt]

Though I haven't read enough of the genre that I feel I'm qualified to list the "top three ever written", I certainly can list the three that altered my core philosopy and generally messed with my head:

Childhood's End  (alas, not available as a Nookbook, though the Spark eNotes for it is)

A Wrinkle in Time

Ubik

Stranger in a Strange Land  (the book that led to meeting my husband!)

Oh, wait... I guess that's four books.  I told you that they messed with my head.

[basquedude]

I would have to think about my second and third choice (assuming a trilogy only counts as a single choice...), but my #1 choice is:

Foundation (Foundation Series #1)

  

    The book is a different take on "standard" Sci Fi, with original ideas, interesting worlds, and a fantastic plot. Oh yeah, and great characters.... Highly recommended. At one point it was voted the #1 trilogy ever written, beating out "Lord orf the Rings", among others.

[CasperAZ]

Patrick_Skelton, I agree with you about "A Clockwork Orange."