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Top Ten Books Every Fan of Classic SF Should Read



And it is yet another Top Ten Tuesday! If you don't know what that is, it's a weekly meme hosted by the creative girls behind The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, you get to post your own top ten list, based on their suggestions. I tend to break that rule sometimes, and come up with my own topics, but for the most part I stay true to the theme.

When it comes to books, I'm mostly an omnivore. But one genre that will always have a special place on my menu (sorry for the bad pun) is good old classic science fiction.

Here are my picks for ten books that I think every fan of classic SF should read.


1. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
 
No science fiction book list is complete without Bradbury's story about the Red Planet and man's desire to conquer it.


  
2. Caves of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
 
The first book in the epic Robot/Foundation series that consists of fifteen books (correct me if I'm wrong). This is the first time we're introduced to Detective Elijah Bailey and his partner R. Daneel Olivaw. The two form a friendship that will eventually shape the fate of the Galaxy.
 

 
3. Rendezvouz with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
 
One of the best SF books ever written. It's also a book that is considered impossible to adapt to the big screen.

 
 
 
4. The Space Merchants, by Frederik Pohl
 
A fantastic, action-packed thriller filled with political satire, romance and great characters.

 
 
 
5. Double Star, by Robert A. Heinlein

A entertaining political thriller about an actor who is forced to impersonate a kidnapped politician.  You can read my Goodreads review of this book right here.

 
 
6. Cosmic Engineers, by Clifford D. Simak
 
A criminally underrated book that celebrates science and the human spirit.


 
 
7. The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Welles
 
Despite being published in 1898, this book about an alien invasion has aged very well. Modern and progressive, it could have been written today.



 
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

I have yet to read the rest of the series, but I love the first book.



 
9. The Lost World, by Arthur Conan Doyle

It's been years since I read the misadventures of Professor Challenger and his team of explorers. But I do remember being entertained.



 
 
10. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
 
After all the movie adaptations and retellings, it's good to come back to the original story by the same guy who gave us Treasure Island.




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