10 sci-fi novels that’ll change how you look at the world forever
Call it SF, speculative fiction, slipstream or structural fabulation. The nomenclature is secondary. These texts are yoked together by their reimaginings of reality. They present parallel societies, alien worlds or our own Earth subtly altered.
The power of SF is that by lifting us into an alienating place or time, it allows us to see our own world differently. Below is a selection of SF mind-blowing favourites. Feel free to add more in the comments.
1. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949)
It is the obvious choice. Nineteen Eighty-Four has changed the way we see and talk about the world. Big Brother and the Thought Police were speculative concepts that became recognisable realities. Orwell’s vision of a totalitarian, panoptic and revisionist society remains relevant. It changes how one views history books and media truth.
2. Solaris, Stanislaw Lem (1961)
Popularised by the film adaptations of Andrei Tarkovsky and Steven Soderbergh, Lem’s novel is creepier than its cinematic counterparts. It is a thought-provoking meditation on heartbreak, loss and the human condition. The story explores what happens when bleak memories are made flesh. It is a solipsistic revisioning of life on Earth designed to trigger an existential crisis.
3. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
Ishiguro’s sixth novel is a literary piece of near-future speculation. Narrator Kathy grows up at Hailsham, a private school in the English countryside. The idyllic setting hides a sinister purpose. The students are bred for their organs and face eventual completion as their innards are harvested. It raises questions about the trajectory of biological and genetic research.
4. The Passage, Justin Cronin (2010)
This is a mix of apocalypse, psychics and disease. It is the first of a trilogy about humanity’s last stand against monsters created by a man-made virus. While it functions as a page-turner, it also examines the ramifications of scientific research. It forces the reader to consider how they would handle a total societal collapse.
5. I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950)
Short stories are often neglected but this collection is influential. Asimov’s nine stories revolve around the emergence of AI and the Three Laws of Robotics. They are reflections on morality and technology. In an era of Siri and Google, these stories serve as a reminder of the legal and ethical position of artificial life.
6. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1985)
Atwood presents a vision of a theocratic slave society. Women are not allowed to read, work or choose sexual partners. They are kept as concubines under a fundamentalist regime. The scenario is convincing because it combines existing elements of misogyny, theocracy and totalitarianism. It forces a hard look at working conditions and reproductive rights.
7. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein (1959)
The themes are camaraderie, sacrifice and responsibility. Johnny Rico joins the Mobile Infantry to fight space bugs for the Terran Federation. The book is controversial. It can be read as a pro-militaristic account of patriotism or a satirical critique. Heinlein’s ideas about citizenship and moral responsibility remain a point of debate regarding the necessity of military forces.
8. Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes (1966)
Charlie Gordon is a mentally disabled man transformed into a genius by scientific experimentation. He eventually outperforms his makers before the process reverses. It is a psychological study of human relations, frustration and disappointment. The story prompts reflection on compassion and eugenics.
9. Flatland, Edwin A. Abbott (1882)
This is a sociological survey of a two-dimensional world. It explores how class, gender and profession function. It is simultaneously a children’s story, a geometrical treatise and a satire. The narrator, Square, encourages the reader to consider dimensions and physics while reassessing social categories.
To Live Forever – Jack Vance
Plus just about anything else by Jack Vance.
Small Gods – Terry Pratchett
Pratchett is not always life changing but he is always good.
I would’ve included “A Canticle for Leibowitz” and “Brave New World,” but your choices are good choices, so I’m suggesting them only to make your list a little more comprehensive (ten is such an arbitrary number).
I second Brave New World. Good call.
Xenogenesis, Ursula K LeGuin
Xenogenesis was Octavia Butler.
But anything by Ursula LeGuin is lifechanging.
Brave new world from Aldous Huxley is pretty amazing too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World
Yes it’s a good one.
Awesome listing! If you like “The Passage,” I would also definitely recommend “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson. The book also is about vampires, the end of the world, survivalism, and also interestingly ponders the concepts of normalcy.
Thanks for the list. I would also second the motion that “A Canticle for Leibowitz” likely deserves a prominent place on a list of viewpoint-changing SF novels, fo’ shizzle.
My touchstones are
“A Canticle for Liebowitz”
“The Left Hand of Darkness” Ursula Le Guin
“The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” Robert Heinlein
“Lord of Light” Roger Zelazny
And if “Starship Troopers” is here, the Joseph Haldeman’s “The Forever War” must be as a counterpoint.
I’d argue for The Original Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation); although it isn’t a single novel, it’s a fantastic look at how human societies change and develop over time, it honestly changed how I view global politics after I read it.
Perdido St Station and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Seconded for Perdido Street. Not enough sci/spec-fi novels take the will of the teeming, fickle masses into account when conducting a grand vision. Or to so dark a place.
1984 isn’t Sci-Fi, it’s History.
More like current events.
I would gladly recommend The Forever War by Joe Haldeman and the full Foundation-trilogy by Isaac Asimov aswell. Both gives perspectives on time and are epic in the original meaning of the word.
This is a great list and not what expected before hitting the page link. Fantastic to see Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott. Reminds us that Sci-Fi is really meant to take you where no other fiction can. Good Sci-Fi has always had this relationship with the enquiring mind that seeks to explore the strangely-rational if unfamiliar universe.
As years have gone by i have traveled further and further away from home in my own Sci-Fi quest and have encountered many authors along the way who have completely changed the rational rules of my hitherto Sci-Fi multiverse. With that in mind I should like to put in an honerable mention here for Michael Moorcock and his variously-incarnated Jerry Cornelius character forms.
i would add slaughterhouse five by kurt vonnnegut
Yes, thanks. Superb book, still re -reading sinceIi bought it in 1980, Kurt the great humanist and people hater, sadly missed, so it goes!
Also the sentinel and 2001 by Arthur Charles Clarke made me realise the infinite universe and possibilities.
dont forget richard bradbury
Ray Bradbury… Martian Chronicles and much more.
I can’t believe Starship Troopers was on this list, but Stranger in a Strange Land was not.
Unthinkable.
I also like the list, a lot of good books here, and I agree with the other commenters on Canticle.
Others I would have to add:
Heinlein – Stranger in a Strange Land – Especially for life changing SF. – “I Grok, do you?”
Vonnegut – Slaughterhouse-Five and The Sirens of Titan
L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time – Probably the book that got me and several others interested in the genre.
Honorable mention to – Pynchon – Gravity’s Rainbow – not because it was life changing, but simply for the writing.
This list gives me some new titles to look for. I also wanted to add Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’ as an important counterpoint to the vision of Huxley’s BNW.
Sorry for the second post, but I was also wondering what people thought of Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’?
Great List, thanks for all the comments, really enjoying this list.
Dune was one of the finest SF novels ever, Are the rumours of a new Dune movie true? And if so, who will play Paul and Jessica?
Good list, judging from the titles I know. I disagree with others who would include “Brave New World” or “Fahrenheit 451”, as 1984 covers all their bases. Likewise with other Heinlein novels, “Starship Troopers” is enough Heinlein for me. :-)
For me a really mind-bending read was Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash”. I’ll never think the same about religion, drugs or disease. But I can see why it didn’t make the list – perhaps it’s just too new.
I know I’m a little bit late to this discourse but I thought you should know that the Republic of Gilead in Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is anything but, “Judeo-Christian.” It is entirely Christian. What happens to Jewish-Americans in that society, and people suspected of being Jews is pretty horrific and Atwood is pretty clear about the mechanics of their expulsion and demise.
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
Neuromancer – William Gibson
The Man in the Maze – Robert Silverberg
Wanted really to add Hitch-Hikes Guide to The Galaxy here, only I am not sure if it sci-fi or more like general literature. It brings the absurd and humor to the infinite complexity of the universe and life.
Very remarkable novel would be William Gibson’s Neuromancer. We are witnessing its predictions unfolding right now.
Mission by Patrick Tilley
Followed by: The Amtrak Wars 1 – 6 by Patrick Tilley
Wasp by Eric Frank Russell
There only one author who describes our future and that is the late great Iain M Banks. His “Culture Series ” is how we could progress. Even some of Elon Musks current rockets are named after the great space craft in the series. Read them do and be inspired.