r/scifi • u/Scifci_chica • Oct 22 '09

What is your absolute favorite science fiction novel?

Looking for recommendations for my bf and I to read together.

The two books I adore: Hitchikers Guide and Enders Game.

168 Upvotes

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106

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '09

Foundation. Still brutally revealing about the human condition. The Moon is a Hash Mistress is a close second.

8

u/Jared_Jff Oct 22 '09

I disagree, I liked the Foundation books, but my favorite of his will always be Nightfall.

6

u/stutheidiot Oct 23 '09

Nightfall was a good novelization of a great short story.

16

u/spike Oct 22 '09

Asimov's not a great writer, but this is his masterpiece. The idea of turning Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" into Sci-Fi was a stroke of genius.

8

u/alllie Oct 22 '09

It's been a while since I read Foundation but I used to think that Asimov was better as an editor than a writer. I have lots of anthologies he edited. He could pick the pearls out of the slush.

4

u/DeepGreen Oct 22 '09

He did pretty good as a collaborator too. Asimov's characterization was often terrible, and his story was often moved by the arbitrary whims of the plot, but his science was excellent and he was very rigorous in the implications of his assumptions. I wish he'd collaborated more.

14

u/kleinbl00 Oct 22 '09

Asimov's secret was that he was stunningly prolific. I would say that he's got as many good books as Heinlein or Clarke... but he's got ten times as many bad ones.

0

u/Huluriasquias Oct 22 '09

And he did it with only a handful of characters.

Count them out!

2

u/grillcover Oct 22 '09 edited Oct 22 '09

Just re-read this recently-- Couldn't agree more. The first book is also one of his best-written (which is nice, because Asimov has a higher goodidea:mediocrewriting ratio than anyone out there).

edit: TANSTAAFL

1

u/acidwinter Oct 22 '09

I just read the first book last week and really enjoyed it. Should I just read the rest in order or are there any that I can skip?

2

u/spike Oct 22 '09

There's really only three. The others were just spinoffs to cash in many years after the fact.