50 Science Fiction books meme.

[chaotic_nipple]

Ganked from gridlore.

The top fifty SF books. Bold the ones you've read, strike the ones you hated, italicize the ones you couldn't get through. Asterisks for the ones you loved - more asterisks, more love. Plus signs for the ones you own.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy**+, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land*+, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Leguin
6. Neuromancer*+, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End*, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?***+, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451*, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz*, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel**+, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic*+, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game***+, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson (Please note that if there were an html code for multiple strike-throughs, shredding, incineration, and stabbing of the author of this piece of trash, I'd use that. Till then, a simple single line strike-through will have to do.)
24. The Forever War**+, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone++, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle***+, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama+, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld+, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion+, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash**+, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers***+, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer*+, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go***+, Philip Jose Farmer.

Comments

[bipagan.livejournal.com]

Exactly who decided these were the top fifty SF books? Who compiled the list? Where did it come from?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

It began as a list created by the SFBC and they didn't call it "the best" but something like "influential".

[cowabunga-tmnt.livejournal.com]

slaughterhouse-5 on the list? now i'm confused. That is however the only book on the entire list that i've read and haven't heard of probably 90% of them.

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

Why are you surprised? If your answer is "Because Slaughterhouse 5 was _real_ literature!", then consider yourself beaten with a herring. :-P

[cowabunga-tmnt.livejournal.com]

more along the lines of why is it "SF" which I'm assuming stands for Sci-Fi.

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

Let's see... Alien abductions, psychic time travel, the main character dying by laser rifle...

[cowabunga-tmnt.livejournal.com]

i suppose... either i phased that out of my mind or shrugged it off as "crazy"

[entropy156.livejournal.com]

Couldn't get throught The Stars My Destination? I am aghast!

[entropy156.livejournal.com]

Whoops...typo...^