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Intelligent sci-fi

Themistocles

Themistocles

New Member
I'm hunting for some recommendations in the market of intelligent, clever sci-fi, in the vein of Asimov's 'Foundation' series, Ursula le Guin's 'The Dispossessed,' Evgenii Zamyatin's 'We' et al. So, suggestions?
 
You can't get much more intelligent than Adam Roberts! Have a look online for his stuff. Very good and very inteligent books. He is at the top of high concept SF. Check out his book Salt which is my personal fav by him.
 
Intelligent and some fun

I've read fourteen of the Flight of the Maita books now, and, while some are just entertainment, others are kind of deep. Some are really funny. I read Odd Couple Out, and it was very funny, but it's better if you read some others first. Return to Earth is sort of funny, but sort of a story about how politicians never change. Changes is more fantasy, but is very good, and After the Old Gods is kind of like something else I read once. IT's like a world with an epidemic a lot like AIDS that could wipe out the whole world. I started getting them as ebooks, because they're really cheap (like me!) that way. Like, I could never afford 30 books at regular prices!
 
SillyWabbit said:
You can't get much more intelligent than Adam Roberts! Have a look online for his stuff. Very good and very inteligent books. He is at the top of high concept SF. Check out his book Salt which is my personal fav by him.
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I'll second that one. Salt is a fantastic book. Also try Marrow by Robert Reed. A very grown up book if ever there was one. The time scales are fecking epic.
 
Thanks for all the guidance-I've heard good things about Ender's Game before, and Adam Roberts' works sound very interesting, so I'll have to add them to my ever-expanding to-read list.
 
Ender's game

Ender's Game is probably going to be the in thing come next year. So I'd start reading it now. There is a movie in the works set to come out next year.
 
Olaf Stapledon - Star Maker
Gene Wolfe - The Book Of The New Sun
Alfred Bester - The Stars My Destination
John Brunner - Stand On Zanzibar
Iain M. Banks - Use Of Weapons
 
AH! I thought of another author for you.

Greg Egan. If you was one of those people that did not understand The Matrix then forget his book Permutation City it will melt your brain! It has equations *nods head*

Anyway, his books are very deep and teccy! Give him a go!
 
Everything by Theodore Sturgeon, the man is the defination of intelligent sci-fi, esspecially check out his short stories.
Roger Zelazny - The Lord of Light
Sheri S Tepper - Grass
Gene Wolfe - The Fifth Head of Cerberus
 
Smarty scifi

Try this one. It's only available in electronic format at the moment, but it's a dandy. Very strange. Made me think (it hurt). It's called Muse of Fire by Sean O'Brien. You can read the first chapter here:

http://www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing/excerpts/sean-excerpts1.htm

It's about an other world race of people who communicate ideas through pattern and sound. Or, at least, that's what I got out of it. I was intrigued even if I wasn't smart enough to fully understand it. :confused:

Jenna
 
My favourite is a story I read when I was only 15 (16 years ago!) and it redefined the way I look at the world.

More of a satirical Sci Fi book, but a sure fire classic nonetheless!

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, originally written in 1932 I believe!
Quite unconventional....
 
Marquis Rex said:
My favourite is a story I read when I was only 15 (16 years ago!) and it redefined the way I look at the world.

More of a satirical Sci Fi book, but a sure fire classic nonetheless!

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, originally written in 1932 I believe!
Quite unconventional....
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Read it already and it is indeed superb, a truly scary and prophetic dystopian vision (as I seem to have already said on several occasions in my short time on this forum!)
 
well, u ill have to say Orson Scott Card, considering that no one can go without reading the ender series. though youshould check out hart's hope too, its a little adult, but good all the same!
 
I have just finished The Forever War and I can heartily recommend it. This fantastic novel is science fiction at its best - using a futuristic technology or situation to examine the human condition in a way that would simply not be possible in a contemporary novel. The story is at times depressing, uplifting, moving and humourous, and includes themes of war, peace, love, loss, struggle and desperation.
 
Solaris

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem is excellent. Might be worth a read.

The two movies are very different. The 2002-version by Soderbergh i totally hopeless. The 1972-version by Tarkovsky is superb. My all-time favourite actually. But in case you read it, spare the films till after you're finished with Lem's book. :)
 
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem is excellent. Might be worth a read.
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I have to second this recommendation. It is one of the best books I have read. While I did enjoy the movies, I felt that both of them undermined or ignored one of the principal themes of the book.
 
He is one author that I keep meaning to get into. I have read the blurbs for a few of his books and they all sound quite interesting.
 
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