Top 20 Science Fiction Books of All Time

Best Science Fiction Books Ever?

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0:00 - Intro
0:45 - Honourable mentions
3:22 - Rank 19
3:59 - Rank 17
4:37 - Rank 16
5:16 - Rank 15 & 14
5:44 - Rank 13
6:16 - Rank 12
7:10 - Rank 9
8:04 - Rank 8
8:32 - Rank 7
9:01 - Rank 6
9:33 - Rank 5
10:01 - Rank 4
10:35 - Rank 3
11:06 - Rank 2
11:43 - Rank 1

The 16 lists (Check them out!):

Music used:

Other links!

[libraryofaviking]

Which book is missing on this list? 🤔

[redrockswe]

19: House of suns - Alastair Reynolds
19: Journey to the center of the earth - Jules Verne
19: The man in the high castle - Philip K. Dick
19: The book of the new sun - Gene Wolfe
17: Foundation - Isaac Asimov
17: Leviathan Wakes - James S.A Corey
16: Spin - Robert Charles Wilson
15: The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
14: Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
13: War of the worlds - H. G. Wells
12: Red rising - Pierce Brown
9: A fire upon the deep - Verner Vinge
9: Hyperion - Dan Simmons
9: The Martian - Andy Weir
8: Neuromancer - William Gibson
7: A brave new world - Vintage Huxley
6: A time machine - H. G. Wells
5: The left hand of darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
4: Enders Game - Orson Scott Card
3: Frankenstein - Mary Shelly
2: 1984 - George Orwell
1: Dune - Frank Herbert

[DrMetalpin]

I’m 55. When I was growing up, you would’ve seen the name Robert Heinlein all over a list like this. Now most booktubers don’t even know who that person is.

[BreakevenBooks]

Thanks so much for including me in your list of people you used as research. I love seeing lists like this! So pumped to see Red Rising in there!

[noeditbookreviews]

The Rememberance Of Earth's Past trilogy was the most enjoyable sci-fi I've ever read. It just kept getting better and better. It's terrific stuff.

[LiaGoldie]

Leviathan Wakes is excellent and definitely deserves to be on the list!

[suncoastcrafting]

I've read a lot of them, but there are some that I missed. Thank you for all your work putting together that list!

[douglasdea]

No surprises really. But there are glaring omissions. Just makes me wish these booktubers were reading more classics. Among them:
1. Gateway by Fred Pohl. It won two major awards and started an excellent series: the Heechee saga.
2. Startide Rising, by David Brin. Also won two awards. The second of a great series called Uplift.
3. Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Nominated for three awards. This was must-read sci-fi in the 70s and 80s (and I would say still so today.)
4. An Arthur C. Clark book. Probably either Childhood's End or Rendezvous with Rama but why not both?

Come on, people! Get to reading!

[hulkslayer]

ATTENTION!!! If you decide to try Spin, DO NOT READ THE SYNOPSIS!!! I bought the book purely based on how highly regarded it is and didn't even bother checking what it was about. The book blew my mind!! It was amazing!! It had several moments of revelations that just tickled my brain. After reading it, i HAD to have more!! So i read the only thing left... the back cover. And was astonished to see that half of the "revelations" that came as such a surprise were in the synopsis!!! glad i didn't read it first. There is a good chance i might not have liked the book as much if i knew all those things gling in. So, i HIGHLY recommend you read Spin and i also HIGHLY recommended you avoid finding out anything about it beforehand. You can come back to this comment and thank me later 😉

[craigrideout]

Wow! Can't believe the disrespect for "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

[arlissbunny]

What a great project and video! I’m surprised a list so classics heavy did not include 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rendezvous with Rama, or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. IMO books like The Martian won’t end up with real staying power, but I guess that remains to be seen. “Open the pod bay doors, HAL, ” is a widely known quote and meme for a reason. I’m thrilled to see Dune and Neuromancer ranked so highly. For me, Three Body Problem would be on the list but I’m a physicist so I’m biased.

PS - when you said, “The Hunger Games, ” I yelled, “No!” Thank the Great Bunny it was a joke.

[williamvorkosigan]

Seriously? No Heinlein? The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Time Enough for Love. To Sail Beyond Sunset. Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers. No Harry Harrison? Stainless Steel Rat series. Death World Series. War with the Robots collection of short stores. No Bujold? Truly wonderful Vorkosigan Saga series of books. Cherryh's Down below Station doesn't make the list, nor Niven's Ringworld or the Mott in Gods Eye? Shocking.

[ChrisF]

At first I thought "no Arthur Clarke or Stanislaw Lem is borderline insulting", but then I remembered that this isn't really a strict sci-fi list either. Any list containing Brave New World and 1984 on one hand, and the Hyperion Cantos, Dune and The Expanse on the other, isn't really doing it's job of narrowing down it's genre well enough. Now, the uploader's definitely not to blame, since the list is compiled from other lists, but those lists should probably have been tighter. All of the books I just mentioned are classics and I love them all, but they simply have no place being on the same list.

As for me, The Three Body Problem is probably my favourite science fiction, hard or otherwise, series of all time.

[oliverterwee]

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is amazing and arguably even better than The Martian. I would recommend everyone to go give it a read.

[DanKaraJordan]

I am always sad that modern audiences don't seem to know Larry Niven. Either the Mote in God's Eye or Ringworld seem like they should get more love.

[DJYoue]

It's a shame that We by Zamyatin never makes these lists as it is the book which influenced the entire dystopian sci-fi genre, from 1984 to Brave New World, the Handmaid's Tale and Farenheit 451, all were inspired by this novel! Definitely a less well known gem of a novel.

[colin]

Hyperion might be my favorite SciFi book of all time. It's really really good.

[darrylpardon]

Did not see it here but the biggest omission to me is Lord of Light by Rover Zelazny. For me it is up there with Dune and probably switch between my number 1 and 2 spot. It holds its own against any other classic and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves science fiction. I’ve given my copy away at least three times.

Other omissions include The Stars My Destination by Bester, Gateway by Pohl, and The Forever War by Haldeman.

For anyone reading, I recommend Zelazny’s work. His fantasy series The Amber Chronicles is fantastic and his other work in science fiction is good to great. …And Call Me Conrad tied with Dune for the Hugo, The Dream Master and Jack of Shadows are also recommended.

[thomasray]

"Ender's Game by Scott Orson Card"


By WHO?


Love those books. The Shadow series is just as good as the Ender series, too.

[EpIcPoWeR]

Cool list, my favorite remains The 3 Body Problem series, especially book 2: The Dark Forest, crazy stuff.