What is the single best science fiction novel of all time?

[Parmandur]

Psychic powers, like those in Dune, really push the limit on "science," IMO, even more than FTL. But psychic powers typically fall under sci-fi, for whatever reason.

They were seriously entertained in scientific circles at the time. Jokes Verne isn't science fantasy when he has a hollow earth, that was juat a viable theory at the time.

 

[Clint_L]

Dune. And it’s not even close.

Hard disagree on that one. Dune is arguably not even a science fiction novel. And it's massively overrated, IMO.

I'm torn between A Clockwork Orange, Neuromancer, and Frankenstein. Neuromancer, if a gun was to my head.

Edit: texts such as Dune and Star Wars belong in science fantasy, IMO - fantasy, with some quasi-scientific makeup.

 

[Clint_L]

They were seriously entertained in scientific circles at the time.

They really weren't. There were a few fringe scientists who explored the idea in some very dubious experiments where they were duped by simple stage tricks.

 

[RareBreed]

I can't say I have read a ton of sci-fi, but that's a hard choice between the first Dune, or the first Foundation. But if I have to choose one, I'd go with Dune also (but as a trilogy, Foundation wins)

Some others:

• Most disappointing: Ender's Game
• Wasn't what I was expecting: Starship Troopers (bonus points...the only main character protagonist I know of who is Filipino)

 

[RareBreed]

Oh man, how could I forget...how about Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick?

Now that I think about it, almost all the Sci-Fi I've read is old and are essentially classics. If anyone can suggest some good Transhuman Sci-Fi, I'd much appreciate it. Some consider Transhumanism a subgenre of Cyberpunk, but I do not (Transhumanism doesn't require a "punk" or counter-culture clash, nor a "The Man is putting us down" kind of rebellion).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Thank you for the merger, anonymous mod.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I'm torn between Neuromancer and A Princess of Mars. Both of those works are incredibly influential, across so many different mediums.

 

[Dioltach]

Has anyone ever read Tad Williams's "Otherland" series? I started on it, and never got further than about 100 pages. Everyone who's finished it raves about it, though.

 

[Mannahnin]

Thanks for the link, I hadn't been there.

I think mostly this part: "Science Fantasy works, on the other hand, take traditional Fantasy and Science Fiction tropes and throw them in a blender, purposely creating a setting that has the feel of both."

The stuff in my memory doesn't feel like much on the rest of that page, and as the page notes, there certainly exists more than a little "Sci_fi with a smidgen of Fantasy".

Further down in the examples it has:

"Dune by Frank Herbert series is science fiction, but apart from ‘’Star Wars'' it might be the best well-known example. The Galaxy has an Emperor and several rival feudal-aristocratic families rule over even complete planets. There is a quasi-magical order of witches, although the story is otherwise within a fairly straightforward interplanetary science fiction setting."

Yeah, I don't think that description really fits. Emperors and feudal houses are things from reality and present in lots of science fiction. They're not limited to fantasy.

Calling the Bene-Gesserit a "quasi-magical order of witches" is pretty much a quote of in-universe propaganda and superstition. Their abilities are extraordinary, but they're not spells. They're supposed to be the result of pharmaceuticals and special training over the body's normally autonomic systems to bring them under volitional control. Which while taken to an extreme beyond anything possible in reality, is grounded in things people do in reality and taken to a speculative extreme.

Are we going to say that FTL travel is magic because it's not possible under our current understanding of physics?

 

[Cadence]

Oh man, how could I forget...how about Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick?

Now that I think about it, almost all the Sci-Fi I've read is old and are essentially classics. If anyone can suggest some good Transhuman Sci-Fi, I'd much appreciate it. Some consider Transhumanism a subgenre of Cyberpunk, but I do not (Transhumanism doesn't require a "punk" or counter-culture clash, nor a "The Man is putting us down" kind of rebellion).

I don't think I'd recommend any of the three books about the series - so it doesn't definitely address your ask - but the Cameron, Alba, Weatherly "Dark Angel" TV series from the early 2000s is one of my favorites.