Your favorite Sci-Fi book (satellite, sync, web site, Opera)

[gy2020]

My all time favorite series is Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Here is a map of Mars from the Unofficial web site tribute site:



Robinson does an excellent job of showing us the future from 2040 until 2240. Through the three books we see space elevators, life extension, robotics and a glimpse of real martians and what they would probably look like. If there is any book you would like to sit down with, this should be at the top of the list. Robinson has the science down as well as excellent writing skills.

The Red, Green& Blue MarsSite


Mars trilogy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazon.com: Red Mars (Mars Trilogy) (9780553560732): Kim Stanley Robinson: Books

[harry chickpea]

I've never considered any sci-fi book as an "all time favorite." The genre is just to open-ended, and the metaphors and similes and allegory too diverse. Plus, I've read way too many.

Keeping it on a science topic, Jules Verne really had access to the engineers and scientists who were future-looking, and used their expertise when writing his stories. They stand the test of time much better than the writings of many later authors.

The first part of the Foundation series was good, but it just kept going on and on.
Cities In Flight, on the other hand, gets more interesting in the third book.
Dorsai is good. Dragonriders of Pern interesting for the fantasy genre. Actually, a lot of the best work is in the short story or novella format. Kornbluth's short stories can be hilarious while picking at stereotypes. Clark may have been the most technically careful writer, witness his prediction of geosynchronous satellites, but I always found his writing dry and somewhat stilted. Engineers don't always make the best storytellers.

[NightBazaar]

I'd have to say my favorite would be The Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams. Great humor.

[Mercury Cougar]

Ender's Game.

[etk1131]

Originally Posted by Mercury Cougar

Ender's Game.

Absolutely love that series! I also enjoyed Card's Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus. Apparently he's writing two more for that series. Fantastic!

[decafdave]

Single book? Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton. This book is a superb space opera and actually got me into Sci-Fi as an adult (read animorphs as a kid). But really anything in his "commonwealth universe" I can devour in no time. Also, Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, and Absolution Gap are very close seonds to Hamilton's work.

Anyone else read these?

[GregW]

The Vorkosigan series for military/psychology/family sf. I have read too much SF to be able to sort them out. I am starting to write the stuff myself. I know a telepathic saber tooth tiger that considers most humans to be slow food. Sarcastic bastard he is.

[Tek_Freek]

Pick a favorite? Can't be done. Give a partial list of authors I've read. That I can do. Perhaps one a little off the main lane of Sci-Fi: The Gentle Giants of Ganymede by James P. Hogan comes close.

A partial list. Some material may not be considerd Sci-Fi but is good reading. I hope this perhaps introduces some new authors to CDer's.

In no particular order and some may be hard to find.

Warren Norwood
Juanita Coulson
James P Hogan
Pohl Anderson
Fredrick Pohl

Chris Wooding The Braided Path Trilogy:
The Weavers of Saramyr
The Skein of Lament
The Ascendancy Veil

Lois Bujold McMaster
Isaac Asimov
Gordon R. Dickson
Orson Scott Card
C. J. Cherryh
Larry Niven
Arthur C. Clark
Anne McCaffery
Greg Bear
Phillip Jose Farmer
Gregory Benford
Roger Zelazny
Heinlein
Asimov
Harlan Ellison
Elizabeth Moon
David Weber
Eric Flint
Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The Retrieval Artist Series,
A.E. van Vogt
William Gibson
Jerry Pournelle
Sean Williams and Shane Dix - Evergence series
Kim Stanley Robinson
Steve White - The Shiva Option
Tmothy Zahn
Roger McBride Allen
C. S. Friedman
Karl Schroeder
Stephen Baxter
Roxann Dawson and Daniel Graham - Tenebrea series
Peter F. Hamilton - The Nano Flower
Verner Vinge

[atreidi]

Dune Series by Frank Herbert
Seed to Harvest by Octavia E. Butler
Ender Series by Orson Scott Card

These are in the top of my list. Dune and Ender are pure Science fiction while Seed to Harvest could be considered to be part fantasy. I recomend them

[Brian.Pearson]

I happened to see the movie, Dune. I was visiting my mother at the time, and had to explain to her one scene, when the pilot was flying the ship.

I fully agree, there is no favorite book, and I've read so many during my life I wouldn't be able to guess at the the total. I do remember my first was by Asimov, followed by Heinlein, then who knows... They were windows into a different universe.

I grew up on a farm, about nine miles from a little town, where only one store, a drug store, had one or two racks with books, and another one with funny books, so I didn't get a huge selection.