What order did you read these top books?

Reread Childhood's End over the weekend. And.... it's OK, but it is showing its age a little. Review to follow... :)
 
I love this kind of list. It's always interesting to look back and think about how you started with SF and what you first read.

Bodhi said:
Did you start out with the classics (below) or something more modern?
.......
Which did you read first? Which one was last? Any unread? Rec a good one to start with? One to ignore? Which might be considered the "most" sci-fi?
Click to expand...

I actually started off with the Doctor Who stories of the 1970s and 80s when I was 9 or 10. Loved them! From the list these are the ones I've read, in order:

1984 by George Orwell - read this one at school aged around 15 (I re-read it a couple of years ago and found the middle part a real slog!) I don't really consider it SF as it's practically come true!
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - I seem to remember reading this straight after 1984, for comparison, followed by Yevgeny Zamyatin's We!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1) by Douglas Adams
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Ender's Game (The Ender Quintet, #1) by Orson Scott Card
Dune (Dune Chronicles, #1) by Frank Herbert (I'm not a Dune fan - I think it's bloated and badly written, never read any of the sequels)
I, Robot (Robot, #0.1) by Isaac Asimov
Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1) by Dan Simmons
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein - only started reading Heinlein relatively recently (the past 2 or 3 years)
Foundation (Foundation, #1) by Isaac Asimov - I read this fully for the first time last month! :)

Of the above the one I'd be most inclined to re-read would probably be I, Robot. There's a really elegant simplicity to Asimov's early writing combined with a clarity of thinking. I also loved Slaughterhouse 5 at the time. Hitchhikers has grown on me over the years and last time I re-read it I really enjoyed it.
 
Wow, this is actually hard to do. From first read to last:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
1984
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dune
Stranger in a Strange Land
Hyperion
Ender's Game (the next two later on)
I, Robot
Brave New World
Foundation, 1-3 (although not consecutively)
Fahrenheit 451
2001: A Space Odyssey

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut -- sorry to say that I have not read it. Isn't that sad? I know a fair amount about it and I've read other Vonnegut novels, but not the one that made him famous. However, it is probably well worth checking out and has some very good descriptions of war.

Which to read first depends on what you like. They are all very different from each other. 1984 I read in school, but it's quite an interesting novel. None of them are very science fictiony if by that you mean full of a lot of hard science. Most people who like fantasy fiction also enjoy Dune, and the writing is fun and sneaky. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is very noir and well-plotted. Hitchhiker's Guide is very British and I love all of Adams' books. I, Robot is a collection of short stories, so that can be good for dipping into. Brave New World is actually very funny -- most of it is savage satire about our modern world. Mid-20th century modern but still quite applicable today. In fact, Huxley is a bit psychic on that, as is Bradbury with Fahrenheit 451. The style on Fahrenheit 451 is a bit dry, but the book itself, if you love books, is quite powerful. Both of those have the very dark undertones. Foundation is actually quite fun, and is again, a number of different stories all grouped together. 2001, I actually did not like the writing. I recommend watching the movie instead and reading other Clarke books. Ender's Game has terrifically managed characters. Hyperion I liked the writing and it's sprawling space opera (though episodic,) but in the end, I'm kind of lukewarm on and don't remember a lot of it. Stranger is kind of dated, and in that, it is an excellent snapshot of a cultural time in U.S. history, and was an inspiration for a lot of SF in the 1970's that came after. It's well-written for me, but some of it may cause you to roll your eyes.

I probably wouldn't recommend any of them except Hitchhiker to a modern reader to start with SF, and only Hitchhiker if they liked humor. I'd send them to something else first, like Connie Willis' Doomsday Book, Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash, Jonathan Lethem's Gun with Occasional Music on the older side, or more modern books like World War Z by Max Brooks, Ready Player One by Cline, The Hunger Games by Collins, Feed by Mira Grant, or Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Something that has a decent thriller story that will be familiar to them, with the SF elements. Maybe an alien contact novel.

The older books are good and interesting but they were all obsessed with philosophy. That's why I find the claims about it being more sciency adventure SF in the past to be wildly off-base. Not that they didn't have both sciency fiction and adventure SF, but the big books were combos of social commentary with some interesting ideas for future humans and a lot of philosophy about government, moral responsibility, the nature of man and identity, etc. Which is not to say that newer SF novels don't do the same; they do, just in ways that younger readers are more familiar with and a bit less academically often. If someone gets into SF, then the main older novels are definitely good to read. Le Guin, Wyndham and Matheson are all good choices also. But mostly I let people browse and see what interests them as a premise. SF novels full of science are perfectly digestible to people if they like the premise. Lectures on libertarianism, for instance, can make The Moon is a Harsh Mistress slow going despite the fun story.

But people actually get quite a bit of SF in school. My daughter had basically a dystopia unit where she read Brave New World, 1984, Animal Farm, The Handmaid's Tale, and Fahrenheit 451. She also read The Chrysalids, Feed by M.T. Anderson, and a bunch of other ones. Most of the older folk are lit staples now in high school and university.
 
I think Hyperion would be pretty acceptable to mainstream or 'new' tastes, if the reader had enjoyed the likes of Star Wars, The Avengers and whatnot at the cinema. Plenty of action, a bit of romance, megalomaniacal A.I, a Terminator-like creature... A lot of it is familiar territory.

Ender's Game is widely read in U.S military circles - it's still on a recommended reading list I believe (as is Starship Troopers). Very accessible although I admit I have never quite got my head around the battle room in terms of how Card describes it.
 
It's not a matter of the older works being inaccessible -- they're totally accessible. But they are kind of dry in style. Even Androids. They hold up fine, but as an intro to someone who isn't that into science fiction, they may not be the best first ambassadors. Hyperion and Ender's Game are more recent and less dry but each have particularities. Hyperion is both sprawling and episodic, a giant puzzle mystery. And Ender's Game looks at military strategy and politics down to the minutia, which doesn't interest some people. If it were someone who is very into military stuff, then Ender's Game would be a good pick. Stranger in a Strange Land is a mix of philosophy and hippie culture, and so on. They'd be on a rec list, but they wouldn't be first maybe. Androids, Dune and Hitchikers, and the I, Robot stories are the most ease-in ones on the list, I think. But Hitchhikers only works if they like comedy, Androids if they are okay with thriller noir, I, Robot if they are okay with short fiction, and Dune if they are not going to blanch over trippy conversations about spice, quantum space and giant dessert worms. :)

They're all good books and all perfectly readable, but they are also revered because of heavy philosophical themes and plot points. For a lot of people, that means school and school means bad, forced reading. And they do most of them have the older style which is a bit pedantic. So a thriller with zombies or something may be the first thing to start with, not because it's lesser or easier to read, but because it's more familiar -- they pick it up faster and get into it. But again, it very much depends on the person. There are plenty of people I would not hesitate to hand The Female Man, The Dispossessed, The Fountains of Paradise or Dragon's Egg, but there are other people that is not what I'd start them off on. I tend to go either with a cop-ish story (like Androids,) unless they hate those kinds of books, or give them a big list and let them look for a premise they like. There are other older novels I'd pick maybe. Wyndham is really good for introducing people to SF, I think.

But all the books on the list are worth reading. So I guess I should finally get to Slaughterhouse. :)
 
@KatG you should, it was one of my favorites when I read it. Or listened to it. I think I read it and then listened to it a few years after and it was much better for me.
 
Hi SFFForum -poster here from the Golden Age of Radio. This got me thinking in a way, so I do have a response:

These I read in this order as a kid -by that I mean anywhere from fifth grade to junior high school (8th grade) -All the reading here had to do with what was in front of me and available, and less with "what I should read".School and public library reading pretty much.

2001 -Of this group, this is the first I ever read. I read after being taken to the movie .

Slaughterhouse 5 -Read this in 6th grade along with Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle, and Player Piano.

Foundation Trilogy -I took it reasonably seriously as a kid. Tried to reread it as an adult -thought it was a stiff. I think I read Second Foundation first. Really cool covers by illustrator Don Ivan Punchatz on the pbs I read.

1984 -if you don't read it on your own you might read it in school. I think I read it on my own.

Brave New World same as above.

Stranger in a Strange Land -First Heinlein I read. Junior High read. Thought it was cool at the time. Other Heinlein's more relevant now.

I Robot -not a big Asimov fan

Dune At one point one of the biggest books I ever read. Kind of large concept for a kid. Got it a lot better rereading it as an adult. Terrific book, seminal piece of SF.
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These all after college or even more recently

Ender's Game -I enjoyed. I have problems with some of the violence.

Hitchhiker's Guide - Never really drove me crazy. Mildly entertaining.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep -Actually not the first Dick novel I read. That distinction goes to Man in the High Castle. And then I read We Can Build you. This came a few novels later, actually.

Hyperion -should be read with the other books in the series. Fall of the Hyperion is the one for me. But I like all 3. Enormous SF epic. Very entertaining.

Farenheit 451 -I actually think it's better to read Bradbury as an adult. This, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Martian Chronicles all read as an adult. I actually thought they were very unusual. The Illustrated Man is the one I read as a kid.
 
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Looking back, I see I came to SF quite late compared to most of you, and indeed am still playing catchup.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I'm sure this was first. I read fantasy almost exclusively as a teenager, but my girlfriend persuaded me to read this and I loved it. I haven't seen the movie or heard the radio show or re-read it since, so I don't know how I'd enjoy it now. But I loved it twenty years ago, I was around 15. See how late I was to the party? To see some of you were reading Asimov at 9 years old before I was even born.. is humbling. :)

The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, #1-3)

I went back to reading fantasy through college, spent my four years through university reading only Computer Science textbooks, and when I started my first job and my boss discovered I'd never read *any* SF, he put me on a crash course that began with Ringworld, The Foundation Trilogy, and Iain M. Banks. I remember enjoying the Foundation books at the time but today, 15 years later, remember *nothing* of them. It's the only Asimov I've ever read, so far.

1984
Brave New World
Slaughterhouse-Five
Fahrenheit 451
Stranger in a Strange Land

These I read in quick succession, possibly even the same year (quite some time after starting with Foundation). I think I found some "classics of SF" list somewhere and decided to hit it up. 1984 would be my favourite novel of these five, though I don't really think of it as SF. It's on my literature shelf at home, for example. Brave New World and Slaughterhouse-Five, looking back I think I must have read them too quickly as I don't remember them making much of an impact on me. Many books listed as "classics" get read quickly by young readers looking for that magic upper-cut, that impactful experience, and sadly much of these great works is lost on such a first contact. Perhaps one day I will re-read them. Fahrenheit 451 I liked and have re-read since, I think. It fires up my passion for libraries and equal access for all to physical books that cannot be owned, edited, retracted, or limited in any way by the corporations of this world. Stranger.. I barely managed to finish. I can only assume it spoke to an earlier youth with more resonance than my 28 year old self in 2008.

Dune

I read Dune one hot summer while camped out in a tent, fishing. I had to ration my water so it would last my stay, and I remember the sun melting some of the glue that reinforced the stitched seams of my tent. I don't remember much about the book other than I really enjouyed it. I would re-read Dune. I would try a sequel, or two, maybe..

Ender's Game

Still on my "classics" binge, I read Ender's Game. I didn't like it. I might have enjoyed it more as a teenager and certainly if I'd not known anything about the author.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Hyperion

I think these were the last two of my classics read-through, both read within the last five years. I enjoyed them both, I was reading literature on the side (inc. some Keats) with Hyperion and the two fused very well. I woudl re-read Hyperion, and despite the controversial views, I would try the sequel(s) one day. Do Androids Dream was the first Phillip K. Dick I read. I like Blade Runner as a movie, but am not so zealous about it that I can't read DADOES as the book it is. I liked it. By today's standards, I agree it is perhaps a little dry. Similar themes might be more aptly explored in more recently published works.

I, Robot
2001: A Space Odyssey

I haven't read these yet.

Looking back, I realise what a terrible memory I have. I read Dune in the last five years and remember very little about it. I read the Foundation books fifteen years ago and remember absolutely nothing. I never used to be one for re-reads, but as time goes by and I forget more and more of what I've read, re-reads begin to look more possible.

Of the list above, I would like to re-read the Foundation books and Dune - but there is so much I still want to read that I haven't, that isn't likely to happen any time soon.

My experience of that "classics" list was that mostly they were disappointing. I fell for the trap I think many do - the criteria by which a book is considered classic is unlikely to match the criteria by which you yourself rate books so many years after those classics are established as such. And those who discovered them back when they were in vogue and earning their classic status can't objectively see them today without the tinted spectacles of nostalgia.

What Top 10 would you give to SF newcomers today? Would you still recommend the ten listed above?
 
If I had to put a newcomer on a crash course, I'd go with:

1984, George Orwell
A Fire Upon The Deep, Vernor Vinge
Dune, Frank Herbert
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Hyperion, Dan Simmons
Foundation, Isaac Asimov
Neuromancer, William Gibson
The Reality Dysfunction, Peter F. Hamilton
Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
Use of Weapons, Iain M. Banks

But I am far from qualified to do such a thing.. :)
 
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