Many voracious readers fall in love with reading by starting with Sci-Fi at a very young age. Reading science fiction enables us to reflect on the ways people interact with each other, with technology, with our environment. At the same time, it gives us enjoyment and cultivates our imagination. Without exaggeration, a good science fiction book can be life-changing. If you are looking for your next sci-fi must-read,here are the top 10 classic science-fiction masterpieces that you should get started with.
1. What is Sci-Fi Book and Why are They So Fascinating?
Sci-Fi, short for science fiction, tells a story that came from the author’s imagination. Science fiction is imaginative writing with a scientific basis. The plot is mainly about space travel, alien beings, technology, scientific experiments, and future society, etc.
What distinguishes Sci-Fi from other kinds of fiction is that science fiction contains unreal things that could be real in our world in the future. The unreal things in science fiction could be those amazing spaceships or robots or aliens or time machines or any other kind of technology or discovery that just maybe possibly could happen. A lot of imagination goes into writing science fiction and building a world of possibilities. That’s why it’s so fun to read.
Science fiction is typically set in the future. There will be new technology or scientific discovery that makes things possible that would be impossible in the present. It’s full of unreal things that could be real in our world or a similar world in the near or distant future. Sci-Fi authors write about what if and what could be, and that helps us think about what’s happening right now and how our choices affect the future and the world.
2. Top 10 Classic Sci-Fi Books to Get Started With
Living in the Internet age, all electronic books are at our fingertips. We also live in an age with so many groundbreaking, talented, and creative writers, such as George Orwell, Isaac Asimov, etc. Therefore, they created many classic science-fiction masterpieces which have a great influence on our life.
There are some books that no matter how long ago you've read them, details from the story stick in your mind. Snow Crash was like that for me. If you want to get started with classic Sci-fi, these top 10 science fiction books might just be the ones for you! I just couldn't recommend these classic masterpieces enough.
1The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
The Three-Body Problem is the only Sci-Fi book on our top list written by China's most prolific and popular science fiction writer named Cixin Liu. The work published as a book in 2008. It became one of the most popular science fiction novels in China. The English translation by Ken Liu was published in 2014. Thereafter, it became the first Asian novel ever to win a Hugo Award for Best Novel.
This book has many themes about technology, morality, and human affairs, which portrays a future where the Earth is awaiting an invasion from the closest star system. In this universe, there consists of three solar-type stars orbiting each other in an unstable three-body system. And a single Earth-like planet among them suffers extremes of heat and cold, as well as the repeated destruction of its civilizations.
2Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash is an amazing, amazing book. There’s nothing quite similar to Snow Crash. Snow Crash is in a league of its own. It is one of Time’s 100 best English-language novels. The author Neal Stephenson is one of the most groundbreaking and inventive writers. His another novel The Diamond Age is also fascinating. From the opening line of this breakthrough cyberpunk novel, you will be immediately attracted by the plot. In the novel, there exist two different societies, one real and one virtual. In the Metaverse, the virtual world, the human controls an avatar.
3Dune Series by Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert’s classic masterpiece - Dune is one of the best-selling science fiction novels of all time. And it won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Later, Herbert wrote five sequels: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune.
Dune is set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs. It tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis.
4Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers and mainly known for his groundbreaking works Fahrenheit 451. Though his works, including hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, he inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create. The New York Times called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream."
Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. The central theme of Fahrenheit 451 is the conflict between freedom of thought and censorship. It tells the story of Guy Montag and his transformation from a book-burning fireman to a book-reading rebel.
5Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov
The Foundation series is a science fiction book series written by American best-known science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The first three books of the Foundation series was a trilogy that won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966.
The Foundation Trilogy has inspired some of the grandest works in all of fiction, such as Star Wars, Dune, and many many more. The plot of the series focuses on the growth and reach of the Foundation, against a backdrop of the "decline and fall of the Galactic Empire."
6 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is a must-be-read enduring masterwork. It is a dystopian social science fiction novel by Aldous Huxley. Brave New World was ranked at number 5 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Brave New World is about a dystopian world 500 years in the future. All of humanity is controlled by an authoritarian regime that uses genetic engineering, pharmaceuticals, oppressive thought control, and more to keep people conform and behave well. The stability this produces carries a terrible cost in human individuality and happiness.
7Neuromancer by William Gibson
Neuromancer is the first novel to win the holy trinity of science fiction: the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award. It is a classic science fiction that ranks as one of the twentieth century’s most potent visions of the future. With Neuromancer, William Gibson introduced the world to cyberspace -- and science fiction has never been the same.
Neuromancer depicked humankind’s digital future, which has challenged our assumptions about technology and ourselves, reinvented the way we speak and think, and forever altered the landscape of our imaginations.
8Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Hyperion is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel by the multiple-award-winning author Dan Simmons. It is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention.
Hyperion is the first book of his Hyperion Cantos set in the fictional Hyperion universe. In this book, over a thousand years into the future, humankind has conquered space travel and colonized hundreds of worlds in the Milky Way.
9Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Ender's Game is a military science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. This work is the winner of both the Nebula and Hugo Awards. It talks about the future humanity is preparing to launch an attack on the homeworld of an alien race that had attacked Earth and killed millions. And an unusually gifted child named Ender who is sent to an advanced military academy in space to prepare for such a future alien invasion.
101984 by George Orwell
1984 is a dystopian social science fiction novel by George Orwell. George Orwell is one of England's most famous writers and social commentators. His writing is insightful, poignant and entertaining, and continues to be read widely all over the world.
Orwell's main goal in writing 1984 was to warn of the serious danger totalitarianism poses to society. He goes to great lengths to demonstrate the terrifying degree of power and control a totalitarian regime can acquire.
Bonus Tips: Where can I access these classic Sci-Fi books and how can I back up them?
All these masterpieces can be accessed from major ebook vendors, like Amazon/Kobo/Google Play/Nook. If you want to maximize the use of your purchased ebooks, you can follow this guide to get rid of DRM protection from these works and convert them to a more compatible format that can be read on your favorite devices or reading apps.
Amy Lopez crafts informative articles on eBooks and eReaders, uncovering optimal methods to enhance your eBook reading experience, and eagerly shares her findings with you.
