My Somewhat-Arbitrarily-Numbered Top 50 SF Books
I've never made an official book list before. Seems hard. This list was birthed from the general book thread, in which I declared my apathy towards 1984 and Brave New World. I think that, for many people, these two books (along with Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451) represent their only exposure to the SF genre. These three books are taught in many American high schools, and many people hold them in high regard.
I don't.
And I love SF.
Think of this list as a syllabus I might create if I were teaching a SF class. The numbering will be mostly arbitrary - I won't even promise you that book #37 is better than book #45, nor will I try to quantify the rankings. Some of these books are in here because they are "important" works of genre-lit, while others are on here simply because they spin a fantastic yarn.
Another way to look at this list:
50 SF Books I Like More Than 1984, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451
Master List
50. Dangerous Visions - ed. Harlen Ellison (1967)
49. The Stainless Steel Rat - Harry Harrison (1961)
48. City - Clifford D. Simak (1952)
47. A Treasury of Great Science Fiction (1959) - ed. Anthony Boucher
46. The Tripods Trilogy (1967-1968) - John Christopher
45. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1982 - 1994) - Hayao Miyazaki; Akira (1982 - 1990) - Katsuhiro Otomo; Grey (1985-1987) - Yoshihisa Tagami
44. The War of the Worlds and The First Men in the Moon (1898 and 1901) - H.G. Wells
43. Destroying Angel (1992) - Richard Paul Russo
42. Out of the Silent Planet (1938) - C.S. Lewis
41. Gateway (1977) - Pohl
40. The Adventures of Samurai Cat (series) (1984-1998) - Mark Rogers
39. The Gods Themselves (1972) - Isaac Asimov
38. RIM (1994) - Alexander Besher
37. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1955) - Jack Finney
36. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) - Douglas Adams
35. Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb (1965) - Philip K. Dick
34. Mindbridge (1977) - Joe Haldeman
33. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison
32. The October Country (1955) - Ray Bradbury
31. Headcrash (1995) - Bruce Bethke
30. The Ware Series (1982-2000) - Rudy Rucker
29. Solaris - Stanislaw Lem
28. Souls - Joanna Russ
27. The Dreaming Jewels (1950) - Theodore Sturgeon
26. Calculating God (2000) - Rober J. Sawyer
25. The Big Jump (1955) - Leigh Brackett
24. Flowers for Algernon (1959) - Daniel Keyes
23. Martian Time Slip (1964) - Philip K. Dick
22. Ship of Fools - Richard Paul Russo
21. Virtual Unrealities (1997) - Alfred Bester
20. The Forever War (1974) - Joe Haldeman
19. City Come A-Walkin' (1980) - John Shirley
18. The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. LeGuin
17. Godbody - Theodore Sturgeon
16. The Martian Chronicles (1950) - Ray Bradbury
15. UBIK (1969) - Philip K. Dick
14. Concrete Island (1975) - JG Ballard
13. A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.
12. The Demolished Man (1953) - Alfred Bester
11. More Than Human (1953) - Theodore Sturgeon
10. The Ninth Configuration (1978) - William Peter Blatty
9. White Light (1980) - Rudy Rucker
8. A Scanner Darkly (1977) - Philip K. Dick
7. Einstein's Dreams (1992) - Alan Lightman
6. Way Station (1964) - Clifford D. Simak
5. Sirius (1944) - Olaf Stapledon
4. To Marry Medusa (aka The Cosmic Rape) (1958) - Theodore Sturgeon
3. The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard (1977)
2. The Stars My Destination (1956) - Alfred Bester
1. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965) - Philip K. Dick