Please recommend a good hard sci-fi book

Registered User

08-22-22

i liked Robert Heinlein back in the seventies. Don't know what I would think of him now. Have you tried Cyber-punk. Not my thing but you might like it.

PumaMan

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by beelzebubble

i liked Robert Heinlein back in the seventies. Don't know what I would think of him now. Have you tried Cyber-punk. Not my thing but you might like it.

Thanks. I've read a few of Heinlein's books, but like you, way back when. I've only read one or two books in the cyberpunk genre of sci-fi -- not my favorite genre I'm afraid. Although I have watched some good cyberpunk movies: Blade Runner (both) and Alita Battle Angel come to mind.

Last edited by PumaMan; 08-22-22 at 04:32 PM.

Wyldesyde19

The trick is not minding

08-22-22

Have you tried Herbert�s Dune series?

PumaMan

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by Wyldesyde19

Have you tried Herbert�s Dune series?

Yes, thanks. Many years ago. I think I might have quit in the middle of the third book though. I have been thinking about re-reading the first book -- I have it somewhere . . .

Takoma11

Registered User

08-22-22

Some sci-fi I've read in the last few years that I quite liked, not sure if they'll totally match your criteria:

Spook Country
Halting State
Lord of All Things
Nova Swing

PumaMan

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by Takoma11

Some sci-fi I've read in the last few years that I quite liked, not sure if they'll totally match your criteria:

Spook Country
Halting State
Lord of All Things
Nova Swing

Thank you. I've never heard of these. I will check them out.

Thursday Next

I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

08-22-22

Not sure this is quite what you're looking for but The Martian is pretty good.

PumaMan

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by Thursday Next

Not sure this is quite what you're looking for but The Martian is pretty good.

Yes, that's exactly the kind of sci-fi I'm looking for, but I'm willing to deviate some. I've already read Andy Weir's book The Martian. I think he has other book(s) that I should probably check out.

Takoma11

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by PumaMan

Thank you. I've never heard of these. I will check them out.

Of that list, Lord of All Things probably had the most compelling science, though I don't know enough about the science involved (staying vague for plot reasons) to be a great judge of that. It's also very long and kind of bleak, just a heads up.

Halting State is probably the most fun.

Citizen Rules

Noir Time

08-22-22

Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go is a 2005 dystopian science fiction novel by British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker Prize (an award Ishiguro had previously won in 1989 for The Remains of the Day), for the 2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award and for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award. Time magazine named it the best novel of 2005 and included the novel in its "100 Best English-language novels published since 1923�the beginning of TIME". It also received an ALA Alex Award in 2006. A film adaptation directed by Mark Romanek was released in 2010; a Japanese television drama aired in 2016.

Sedai

A system of cells interlinked

08-22-22

House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds - He won't use FTL etc. in his books.

The Three-Body Problem - Liu Cixin

But most of all, I would recommend...

A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge - Again no FTL. Probably my favorite first contact novel, as it shows first contact from the perspective of the aliens. Has a great mystery/twist component, also. READ THIS BOOK!

__________________

�It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.� ― Thomas Sowell

PumaMan

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by Citizen Rules

Never Let Me Go

I saw the movie a few years ago, with Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield. Not a bad flick at all.

WHITBISSELL!

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by PumaMan

Check out Project Hail Mary. It's much heavier on science than The Martian. I think it perfectly fits the bill. Weir's second novel Artemis is also pretty good. I also remember really liking Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke back when I first read it.

PumaMan

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by WHITBISSELL!

OK, thanks.

I've read Rendezvous With Rama several times, the last time not too long ago.

WHITBISSELL!

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by PumaMan

OK, thanks.

I've read Rendezvous With Rama several times, the last time not too long ago.

Sorry. My bad. After I posted I took a closer look at your original post. I never read the other three that Clarke co-wrote with Gentry Lee or the two Lee wrote on his own. So I don't know how they stack up to the original.

PumaMan

Registered User

08-22-22

Originally Posted by WHITBISSELL!

I never read the other three that Clarke co-wrote with Gentry Lee or the two Lee wrote on his own. So I don't know how they stack up to the original.

I tried to read a couple of those sequels to Rendezvous With Rama and I didn't like them at all.

Sedai

A system of cells interlinked

08-23-22

I liked Rama II well enough, even if it took forever to get going - it's worth the trouble IMO. I couldn't get into the third book so I stopped reading it.

PumaMan

Registered User

08-23-22

I know that 2001: A Space Odyssey was written while the movie was being made and comes from Clarke's short story The Sentinel, but I enjoyed it, for the most part. The second novel 2010: Odyssey Two was just OK (IMO). But the next two, 2061 and 3001 were not my favorites.

Sedai