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I’m a big fan of world building and well fleshed out settings and characters. I love getting lost in descriptive and unique imagery.

• Hyperion by Dan Simmons - feels like such a lived-in universe, some interesting tales, and a horrifying antagonist in the Shrike.
• Neuromancer by William Gibson - cyberpunk ahead of its time, great story, incredible atmosphere.

“The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin is maybe the best political sci-fi book I’ve ever read. Cory Doctorow’s “Walkaway” is also quite good and feels a bit like its spiritual successor.

“The Book of the New Sun” by Gene Wolfe.

Tough, hard to follow or understand (deliberately so - this book and a number of the author’s other books are well known for “unreliable narrator”), excellent prose, and thought provoking. I generally dislike rereading a book, with all the other books to read and new ones coming out every year, but this is an exception.

The Expanse series has done it for me. Best books I’ve read in a long time.

“Creatures of Light and Darkness”, and “Lord of Light” by Roger Zelazny - I love the blending of mythology and science fiction.

“Dune” though it hasn’t aged well in terms of the science of genetics.

“Cyteen” by C.J. Cherryh

“Starship Trooper” and “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” both are peak Heinlein.

I really enjoyed the ‘Foundation’ series by Isaac Asimov. ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ by Arthur C. Clarke is a great one as well.

I really enjoyed Project Hail Mary.

Just some of my favourites:

• The Forever War - Joe Haldeman: Basically the vastly better Starship Troopers. Just don’t read to sequel.

• Old Man’s War - John Scalzi: Very much feels like an modern update of The Forever War

• Cities in Flight - James Blish: I just love the bonker’s idea of whole cities declaring their independence from Earth and just buggering off into space

• Ubik - Philip K. Dick: Hard to pick a favourite Dick, but this one just has all the mindfuckery and weirdness of that particular author in a perfect blend

So many good recommendations! I’d like to add Ernest Cline’s ‘Ready Player One’ which I thoroughly enjoyed. Look into it if you are looking for a fun quick read and are somewhat interested in computer games and/or role playing.

For all suggested titles I can only recommend to read the books first. The movies are just a pale imitation and are lacking so much! Especially The Expanse but also the above mentioned Ready Player One are to be read IMHO.

For me it is Foundation series because I like it’s themes and how they are presented, I really like some characters like Mule and Hari Seldon and it is very interesting to read.

My favourites are (still) HitchHikersGGTG and Good Omens. I just adore that writing style, I guess.

Diamond Age ranks way up there for me. All the UBI discussions that have been happening? In there. AI education tools? Yep. Differing views on IP? Also there. Some good thought works.

A Deepness in the Sky - A good story with plenty of thought bombs. The Focused and the localizers are good examples.

Rainbows End - our concerns about AI? How about an AI that never comes up with anything new but is great at mixing and harnessing individual and groups of people?

Poor Man’s Fight series. A good adventure story based around student loans and macroeconomics. :-)

I really enjoyed Stranger in A Strange Land by Heinlein… Its a classic and even though some concepts are a bit outdated, I think overall its amazing. Actually most of Heinleins books are my go to when I just want a lazy relaxing read. I’ve read them all so many times, its like visiting comfy friends.

Some of my personal favorites …

• The Gentle Giants of Ganymede (Giants Series) by James P. Hogan: How it revolutionizes our perceived history and place in the Solar System, and the whole idea of us finding an alien species and all they want to do is go home. Was made into a manga in Japan!
• Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: A great take on surviving a global catastrophie. Especially enjoyed the scene at Cal Tech when they run outside.
• Fallen Angels by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn: The concept of a distopian future and astronauts being caught ‘on the ground’ and just trying to return to their space station. Never imagined car heaters would play such an important part in a story! :p
• The Stainless Steel Rat (Series) by Harry Harrison: A great anti-hero series, lots of books in the series.
• Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: Another we meet aliens series, well done.
• The Mote in Gods Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: Heh, those two like to revisit a subject from a completely different angle.
• Startide Rising (Uplift Series) by David Brin: Just loved the idea of talking dolphins and apes, etc.
• With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary / RCN #1) by David Drake: A great series of space combat, and duty to service, etc. Taken from the old non-scifi series of novels of adventures on the open seas. The space combat from a distance is an enjoyable different take than what you would see in Star Wars/Trek, etc.
• On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington / Honorverse series) by David Weber: Another great series of novels based on naval military warfare and duty to one’s people/service.