My Favourite (In Print) Science Fiction Books
Explore a curated list of my favorite print science fiction books, featuring timeless classics and must-read titles for any sci-fi enthusiast. Discover your next great read!
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Mindswap
by Robert Sheckley
A classic science fiction novel from beloved author Robert Sheckley returns to print in Mindswap. In the future, interstellar travel to alien worlds will be too expensive for most ordinary people. It certainly is for Marvin, a college student who wants to take a really good vacation. And so he signs up for what he can afford, a mindswap, in which your consciousness is swapped into the body of an alien lifeform. But Marvin is unlucky, and finds himself in the body of an interstellar criminal, a body that he has to vacate fast. But that criminal consciousness has stolen Marvin's earthly body, and Marvin has to find a body on the black market. Travel from world to world with Marvin, each one crazier than the last, as he keeps finding far from ideal bodies in awful situations, just to stay alive.
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The World of Null-A
by A. E. van Vogt
Presents the science fiction classic set in the year 2650, where the Games Machine--twenty-five thousand electronic brains--sets the course of people's lives.
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Transgalactic
by A.E. Van Vogt
After the collapse of civilization, Clane a brilliant mutant, manages to rediscover the lost science behind ancient machines that once ran everything and finds that alien invaders had reduced humankind to barbarism in preparation for seizing control of the solar system.
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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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Time's Eye
by Arthur C. Clarke
“Wonderfully entertaining . . . a story that engrosses you with its dramatized ideas about the nature of existence . . . You won’t set the book down either to eat or sleep or work if you can help it.”—Chicago Tribune In an instant, Earth is carved up in time and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly the world becomes a patchwork of eras, from prehistory to 2037, each with its own indigenous inhabitants. The explanation for this cataclysmic event may lie in the ancient city of Babylon, where two groups of refugees from 2037—three cosmonauts and three U.N. peacekeepers—have detected strange radio signals. The peacekeepers find allies in nineteenthcentury British troops and in the armies of Alexander the Great. The cosmonauts join forces with the Mongol horde led by Genghis Khan. Both sides set out for Babylon, vowing to win the race for knowledge—as a powerful and mysterious entity watches, waiting. Praise for Time’s Eye “A rousing adventure.”—The New York Times Book Review “By the end, when two of history’s most ambitious conquerors meet, we are so thoroughly invested in the characters, we can’t wait for the sequel.”—Entertainment Weekly (Editor’s Choice) “A fast and engaging read.”—Rocky Mountain News
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The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
In one complete volume, here are the five classic novels from Douglas Adams’s beloved Hitchhiker series. Now celebrating the pivotal 42nd anniversary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, soon to be a Hulu original series! The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read) Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe The moment before annihilation at the hands of warmongers is a curious time to crave tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate search for a place to eat. Life, the Universe and Everything The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky– so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals can avert Armageddon: mild-mannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish Back on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription thrusts him back to reality. So to speak. Mostly Harmless Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose. Can he save the Earth from total obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter from herself? Includes the bonus story “Young Zaphod Plays It Safe” “With droll wit, a keen eye for detail and heavy doses of insight . . . Adams makes us laugh until we cry.”—San Diego Union-Tribune “Lively, sharply satirical, brilliantly written . . . ranks with the best set pieces in Mark Twain.”—The Atlantic
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The Day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham
Explores the timeless tale of Earth's survival against alien forces (man-eating plants) and blinding meteor showers.
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Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s (LOA #173)
by Philip K. Dick
This Library of America volume brings together four of Dick's most original, mesmerizing, and surprising novels: "The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?," and "Ubik."
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Philip K. Dick: Five Novels of the 1960s & 70s (LOA #183)
by Philip K. Dick
This volume collects five novels that offer a breathtaking overview of the range of science-fiction master Philip K. Dick. The works include "Martian Time-Slip; Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb; Now Wait for Last Year; Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said"; and "A Scanner Darkly."
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Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
“A free-wheeling vehicle . . . an unforgettable ride!”—The New York Times Cat’s Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet’s ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist, a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer, and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny. A book that left an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers, Cat’s Cradle is one of the twentieth century’s most important works—and Vonnegut at his very best. “[Vonnegut is] an unimitative and inimitable social satirist.”—Harper’s Magazine “Our finest black-humorist . . . We laugh in self-defense.”—Atlantic Monthly
