The sci-fi genre is filled with modern and old classics. Choosing which books to read is hard with so many books to choose from. That is why we have made a list of the 25 must read science fiction books you all time. Keep reading to find out which books made out list!
This genre is filled with amazing novels. Hopefully, this list will encourage you to read even more sci-fi books. 25 books doesn’t feel like enough. And while these are the must read sci-fi books, there are others that fall right below this category. You can see the full list below!
The 25 Must Read Science Fiction Books of All Time
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
- Foundation by Isaac Asimov
- The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
- The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide by Douglas Adams
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Hyperion by Dan Simmons
- Ringworld by Larry Niven
- I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
- The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
- Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- Kindred by Octavia Butler
Science Fiction That You Should Read
One of my personal favorites on this list is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It is a brilliant novel that has an expected plot twist. The writing is precise and the tension is palpable. Another favorite of mine is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick. The novel makes you think and ask questions that are hard to answer.
A newer book that made the list is Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. It is a novel that you will think about long after you have finished reading it. Mandel has become one of my favorite authors over the years and this book showcases her amazing talents.
Even if you aren’t an avid book reader, there is a good chance you read The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. It is taught in most schools across the United States. The brilliant dystopian novel tackles heavy themes which has made it one of the most censored books in the world.
Conclusion
That is all for this list of the 25 must read science fiction books of all time. How many of these books have you read? What books would you have included on the list? Let us know in the comments below!
What nothing by Iain M. Banks? No “Use of Weapons”? “Surface Detail”? “Consider Phlebas”? or what about William Gibson “Necromancer”? “Pattern Recognition”? “Count Zero”? “The Peripheral” ? come on! Any one of the books I have mentioned has more imagination, is better written and demands more attention than all of the first three books in your. list put together. Not impressed at all.
Uh, Gene Wolfe may be better than all of them.
Have you ever read any John Wyndham?
Margaret Atwood is overrated: even books actually written for children treat them more like adults. Overly didactic and hysterical.
What Margaret Atwood did you read? Certainly not The Handmaids Tale.
Great list! Thank you:-)
Robert Heinlein wrote a great many books – while A Stranger in a Strange Land is perhaps the best known, my favourite is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
I think I’d also include the Saga of Pliocene Exile series (four books by Julian May), West of Eden by Harry Harrison, and A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Where is Lem?
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch!
A brilliant and haunting novel about the multiverse.
I would remove one book: 2001 A Space Odyssey because it is a movie novelization. I would add Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash.
Where is ‘A Canticle for Lebowitz’?
Must, a very harsh and demanding word, particularly when there are no qualifications to support it.
“Cities in Flight” by James Blish.
Good list. To the other posters, I note you did not say these are the best sci Fi of all time, but must reads. They are a solid collection of classic and a few modern titles that have shaped the genre and left a mark. I agree with some of the posters above that a few books may be better, or at least just as influential, like Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and Gene Wolf’s works. But I like the overall shape, even if I didn’t really enjoy some of them (I’m looking at you Heinlein and Asimov). One thing to think about is the impact of authors of color who have shaped the last 10 years of sci Fi, like Nnedi Okorofor and NK Jemisin.
I read Enders game over 24 hours. I couldn’t put it down.
Piers Anthony To Our Scattered Bodies Go series. For me, second only to Ringworld.