Which of These 4 Classic Sci-Fi Books is the BEST?

In today's video I review four science fiction novels: Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement, Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith, Eon by Greg Bear, and Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss. Which will come out on top?

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00:00 – Introduction
00:20 – Mission of Gravity
03:02 – Norstrilia
06:08 – Eon
08:35 – Non-Stop

#ScienceFiction #Books

[MrClark]

Eon is one of my favorite books. I've read it first in the early 90s and at least 15 times since then.

[paulcooper]

I read Norstrillia back in the 60s. I had only read an obscure collection of Cordwainer Smith's short stories before that. The book kind of slid past me but, oddly enough, pieces of it always stuck with me. It wasn't until some years later that I learned about the author and what he was trying to do. Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger was the son of an American lawyer working overseas. Paul grew up in China, as well as other countries and was fluent in Chinese. His godfather was Sun-Yat-sen, the father of Chinese nationalism. In WW II he worked in Army Intelligence, specializing in China. He was involved in the organization of the CIA, and wrote Psychological Warfare, still one of foundational books on espionage.

For relaxation he wrote science fiction under the name Cordwainer Smith. One of the reasons his stories seem strange is that he mixed elements of Chinese structure and story-telling into a very American genre. That is why he includes songs, sayings, detached viewpoints, and repetition into his work. They are part of Chinese story-telling. Some of those thing jar us because they are unfamiliar. They come clear upon rereading and keeping the Chinese elements in mind. Norstrillia clicked for me the second time I read it, a decade later.

I was amused to find you comparing him to Philip K. Dick. My experience with fans is that those who consider Dick a master writer don't care for Smith and visa versa. And that's fine. The two authors face in diametrically different directions.

[TheLeniverse]

I read Non-Stop as a teen, and it was one of the first SF books I read that wasn't written by Jules Verne 😂 I think I liked it, but shortly afterwards I read Tiger Tiger (The Stars My Destination) by Alfred Bester, and that just blew everything else away.

[OurRawHeart]

Aldiss is great. Hothouse is a must read. Love the descriptions of the planet. I think Matt rates it highly over on his channel.

[Yesica]

Thanks for often highlighting older books. I'm burned out on "trendy" stuff.

[bookjack]

I like the vs. format. Great reviews as always

[BooksWithBenghisKahn]

Thanks for putting Non-Stop on my radar!

[Johanna_reads]

Excellent video, but I have to tease you and what you said about songs! 😂 My favorite book of last year was Guy Gavriel Kay’s A Song for Arbonne, and song was so important in propelling the story forward. I did love the italicized lyrics. To be fair, I did immersion read it with the narrator who had an excellent voice! ❤️ For another example, I loved Zelazny’s Lord of Light, which had a song that I only read visually and loved! 😁

[BookishChas]

Great video Jonathan! Eon sounds like a book I should check out.

[xraydelta]

Thanks for doing these videos. Really helps.

[DJYoue]

Loving the reviews as always, haven't read any of these ones so have added a couple to my TBR! As fast as I read you keep adding more books to my list, keep it up! (Also, will you do a sci-horror list for Halloween? Have you done that before? Should I just look on your channel page?)

[lightbearer]

Your ratings are fair, and your analyses of the novels in this video and others is good. Of these four novels, Non-Stop is my favourite.

[DevonExplorer]

Some great suggestions there; two (Eon and Non-Stop) I've had on the back burner for ages but will go ahead and get them now. The others also sound really good so I'll give those a go too. I'm definitely a hard sci nut, The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle being a favourite.

[fleabynight]

Thanks for sharing. I would read Non-Stop by Aldiss for sure. His Trilogy Helliconia Spring, Summer & Winter were fantastic. I think they get better from 1st to last in the series.

[Paul_McSeol]

Eon sounds really cool. The only Greg Bear I’ve read were his few Halo novels. Thanks!

[Kim_Miller]

A nice bunch. I've got Eon on my TBR and recently read Norstrilia. My initial comment on that book was that it's a 'phantasmagoria of absurdity'. It was likeable because there was so much silliness built in as Smith gave the 'ocker' temperament a swipe. And contrary to my usual practice, I read all the songs all the way through. My initial annoyance burned off pretty quickly when I saw that he was packing some story points into them. 3.5 stars from me.

[Calcprof]

Another famous Hal Clement novel, Close to Critical is fascinating from a science viewpoint. Close to the critical point of water. Ice, water, steam. Nostrilia is incredible. Read his (Paul Linebarger = Cordwainder Smith) collected short stories. They all kind of fit together in a truly surreal universe.

[khomo]

Good vid!👍👍👍🤖🚀🐲 I'm still to read brian aldiss. When it comes to eon...I flew through the first half of the book. But towards the end he lost me completely😔 blood music is on my tbr📚 Let's hope it's better.🤞 norstrilia is going on my tbr📚

[TuftyMcTavish]

🧐 I’ve been reading way too much at the soft end of the scale, and you have set in my mind that I need to explore the harder end more often.

[TowerBooks]

I wish I saw this yesterday. Already got Man Plus, Jem, Gateway, by Pohl physically since for some reason they ain't available digitally in Australia. I also got that merchant novel by Pohl and Cornbluth as well. I will place all 4 of this on the top of my list and I have been eyeing a few of them already since I also just got Hothouse and Helliconia trilogy by aldis and rediscovery of man by cordwainer smith.