10 Top Science Fiction Beach Reads
Discover the 10 top science fiction beach reads for your next getaway! Dive into thrilling, futuristic adventures and captivating stories perfect for relaxing by the waves.
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Cryptonomicon
by Neal Stephenson
With this extraordinary first volume in what promises to be an epoch-making masterpiece, Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century. In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the U.S. Navy - is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detatchment 2702-commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe-is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. It is a game, a cryptographic chess match between Waterhouse and his German counterpart, translated into action by the gung-ho Shaftoe and his forces. Fast-forward to the present, where Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia - a place where encrypted data can be stored and exchanged free of repression and scrutiny. As governments and multinationals attack the endeavor, Randy joins forces with Shaftoe's tough-as-nails grandaughter, Amy, to secretly salvage a sunken Nazi sumarine that holds the key to keeping the dream of a data haven afloat. But soon their scheme brings to light a massive conspiracy with its roots in Detachment 2702 linked to an unbreakable Nazi code called Arethusa. And it will represent the path to unimaginable riches and a future of personal and digital liberty...or to universal totalitarianism reborn. A breathtaking tour de force, and Neal Stephenson's most accomplished and affecting work to date, CRYPTONOMICON is profound and prophetic, hypnotic and hyper-driven, as it leaps forward and back between World War II and the World Wide Web, hinting all the while at a dark day-after-tomorrow. It is a work of great art, thought, and creative daring; the product of a truly icon
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The Revelation Project
by John Worth
The acrid air was thick with smoke as she picked her way over the dead and dying. Her breathing was labored, punctuated with hacking coughs and piercing pain. The smell of death and charred flesh permeated her senses. Missiles, or, as they referred to them, "Angels of Death," exploded in the distance. She squinted through the mist, focusing on the towers, and safety, just ahead. She turned and yelled out to the person behind her, "Another hundred yards and we'll be safe." She lost her footing and tripped. Her cheekbone crashed hard into the ground, leaving the taste of warm blood in her mouth. Thus begins the tale of Mya Seward. Employed as a researcher working for the government, she makes a remarkable discovery. Embedded within the text of the Torah is an encrypted computer program written thousands of years ago. Over the coming weeks, she unlocks the fantastic secrets of this encrypted code, known as 'The Prophecies'. In it, she discovers the existence of a benevolent master race, known as the IAM, that nurtured early man to ensure his survival. But the IAM have a dark side as well. As she delves into deeper levels of The Prophecies, she discovers the true nature of the IAM and their real intentions: to enslave humanity and exploit the earth's abundant resources.
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Neuromancer
by William Gibson
Case, a burned-out computer whiz, is asked to steal a security code that is locked in the most heavily guarded databank in the solar system, in a special twentieth anniversary edition of the influential Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel.
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Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
Limited to only 500 numbered copies signed by the author and artist.
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I, Robot
by Isaac Asimov
This classic science fiction masterwork by Isaac Asimov weaves stories about robots, humanity, and the deep questions of existence into a novel of shocking intelligence and heart. “A must-read for science-fiction buffs and literature enjoyers alike.”—The Guardian I, Robot, the first and most widely read book in Asimov’s Robot series, forever changed the world’s perception of artificial intelligence. Here are stories of robots gone mad, of mind-reading robots, and robots with a sense of humor. Of robot politicians, and robots who secretly run the world—all told with the dramatic blend of science fact and science fiction that has become Asimov’s trademark. The Three Laws of Robotics: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. With these three, simple directives, Isaac Asimov formulated the laws governing robots’ behavior. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot from its primitive origins in the present to its ultimate perfection in the not-so-distant future—a future in which humanity itself may be rendered obsolete. “Tremendously exciting and entertaining . . . Asimov dramatizes an interesting question: How can we live with machines that, generation by generation, grow more intelligent than their creators and not eventually clash with our own invention?”—The Chicago Tribune
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Children of the Mind
by Orson Scott Card
The planet Lusitania is threatened with destruction by Starways Congress. With the help of the computer intelligence Jane, Ender must save the planet and its three species.
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Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
The story of our future begins with the Foundation. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. Only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humanity, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls this sanctuary the Foundation. But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. And mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and live as slaves--or take a stand for freedom and risk total destruction.
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Area 51
by Robert Doherty
In the sequel to Area 51, scientist Lisa Duncan and Special Forces officer Mike Turcotte uncover the truth about an army training base in Nevada, where the government awaits the return of extraterrestrials and possibly the end of humankind. Original.
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The Speed Of Dark
by Elizabeth Moon
Journeys inside the mind of Lou Arrendale, an autistic man, who is asked to undergo a new, experimental treatment designed to cure autism, as he struggles with the question of whether or not he should risk a medical procedure that could make him "normal." Reprint.
