jump to navigation

Top 20 Geek novels September 15, 2006

Posted by Al in : book,SF , trackback

I rather like this article in the Guardian on the top 20 geek novels. That will be because it’s a pretty accurate reflection of my reading taste. I own all but 2 of the books listed (I’ll mark the 2 I don’t have with **) and the order is not bad either – that is if you take out 1984 and Brave New World as I think people were voting for them because they felt they ought to rather than because they are actually that good a read. I’ll put my order of preference in brackets after each title:

1. The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams 85%                 (5)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four — George Orwell 79%                                           (17)
3. Brave New World — Aldous Huxley 69%                                                   (18)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — Philip Dick 64%                      (13)
5. Neuromancer — William Gibson 59%                                                          (9)
6. Dune — Frank Herbert 53%                                                                          (1)
7. I, Robot — Isaac Asimov 52%                                                                     (11)
8. Foundation — Isaac Asimov 47%                                                               (14)
9. The Colour of Magic — Terry Pratchett 46%                                              (8)
10. Microserfs — Douglas Coupland 43%                                                (** 19)
11. Snow Crash — Neal Stephenson 37%                                                       (7)
12. Watchmen — Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38%                                     (12)
13. Cryptonomicon — Neal Stephenson 36%                                                 (6)
14. Consider Phlebas — Iain M Banks 34%                                                     (3)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land — Robert Heinlein 33%                              (10)
16. The Man in the High Castle — Philip K Dick 34%                                   (15)
17. American Gods — Neil Gaiman 31%                                                       (16)
18. The Diamond Age — Neal Stephenson 27%                                            (4)
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy — Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23%   (2)
20. Trouble with Lichen – John Wyndham 21%                                        (** 20)

If you are interested in SF then you should definitely read most, if not all these books. But there are some noticeable exceptions in my opinion. What about the following?

  1. Excession by Iain M. Banks
  2. the Lensman series by E. E. “Doc” Smith
  3. The Many Coloured Land by Julian May
  4. The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
  5. Aristoi by Walter John Williams
  6. Neverness by David Zindell
  7. The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C Clarke
  8. Through a Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick
  9. Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
  10. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

You really NEED to read all the above to realise what a wonderful and varied world SF can present you with.

Comments»

no comments yet - be the first?