Science Fiction Novels

[Wolf Kanno]

H.G. Wells - "The Time Machine", "War of The Worlds", "The Island of Dr. Moreau". FANTASTIC page-turning classic Victorian science fiction. The Island of Dr. Moreau is actually my personal favorite of his - I read it all in one sitting.

Jules Verne - "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Around the World in Eighty Days", etc. More classic Victorian sci-fi. Where Wells focused on the "fiction", Verne tended to focus on the "science", so his stuff can be a tougher read but he made some astonishingly mindblowing predictions about the future.

Isaac Asimov - "I, Robot" series, "Foundation" series (esp. the original Foundation Trilogy) - I don't even know where to begin with how good this stuff is, Foundation is just a brilliant series and some of the story twists are just magical. Also READ HIS SHORT STORIES THEY'RE SO GOOD ASL;KGFHA;SELTR

Robert A. Heinlein - he has a lot of stuff but read "Starship Troopers"; if you can get past his weird author monologues about spanking kids this is a real jewel of a book that brings a real human element to the idea of blasting bugs.

Phillip K. Dick - "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" - turned into Blade Runner. Recommended.

William Gibson - "Neuromancer" - THE ultimate cyberpunk story and probably one of the greatest in that genre, if not THE greatest. A real mind-bender of a read.

Stanislaw Lem - "Solaris" - A neato read that makes the alien, well, alien. This guy also has some brilliant short stories.

And, of course:

Douglas Adams - "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - quite possibly the funniest book I've ever read.

I'm sure later I'll be kicking myself for forgetting somebody but hopefully Mister Adequate can pick up my slack

I will also recommend most of these.

[Electroshock Therapy]

I like comedy quite a bit, so my favourites are two series by some funny British fella. You may have heard of him.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy." Well, it's actually a series of five novels. Or six, if you count Eoin Colfer's addition to the series, which I don't. Controversially, I actually think books four and five are my favourites. They contain the snappy dialogue from the first three, but Adams really improved himself as a narrator so the narration is richer and more detailed. And I like the fourth book simply because it's different... and good. It took it's time to tell a love story of all things! A really wacky, too.

Dirk Genly's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. Unfortunately, Douglas Adams died before he could write a third entry in this short-lived series. But my god is this series nutty! It's like the last two Hitchhiker books in that Adams really showed his skill in narration, as well as making the stories into a little jig-saw puzzle. The books make sense enough on the first read-through, but a re-read or two will enhance the experience when you realize you've missed little clues throughout. I feel Mostly Harmless, the last Hitchhiker book, was written like this as well. I quite like this kind of narrative style. I enjoy re-reading books, and I find this makes that effort extra rewarding.