50 most significant SF & Fantasy books of the last 50 years.
- Sun Mar 11 2007
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Yet another blog meme, this one with some list from somewhere of the top 50 most significant science fiction and fantasy books from the last 50 years. Bold ones are those that I’ve read.
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Timescape, Gregory Benford
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
Clearly I need to read more. Eighteen out of fifty isn’t all that good.
4 Responses to “50 most significant SF & Fantasy books of the last 50 years.”
Sun Mar 11 2007
4:13 pm
I’ve read even fewer than that. However, I take issue with at least one of the picks. I _have_ read The Sword of Shannara. Fun read? Sure, but I distinctly remember my primary reaction to it: “I’ve read this book before. It was called The Lord of the Rings.” *shrug* That’s what opinion’s all about though. *grin*
Wed Mar 14 2007
2:15 pm
whoa!
if you haven’t read any Stanislas Lem, you don’t know no science fiction.
get thee to a bookstore, and purchase ‘the futurological congress’, post haste!
Wed Mar 28 2007
9:45 am
i only it 18 myself, but ive got at least 3 on my shelf of books to be read…
i agree with the comment re: Lem, but dissagree with jeff however. While Brooks and Tolkien’s books share many species, and the overt binary ‘good-vs-evil/david-goliath’ plot lines, they share little else. the Sword (and frankly i think the elfstones and wishsong are better books) is much more about the relationship between magic and its wielders. LoTR only touches on that through the corruption of gollum, the aging of Bilbo and the final agonies of Frodo at Mt Doom. But this isnt a relationship between magic and its user, it is the physical expression of the will of Sauron.
also, middle earth does not equal earth. the lands of shanara ARE a post apocolyptic earth.
if you get right down to it, ALL fantasy novels will have something in common with most other fantasy novels because the genre is so damned narrow. But they do fill a rather important niche in the altered-reality fiction genre. perhaps they are a bit over-represented in this list.
Thu Mar 29 2007
3:31 pm
26 of those books I have read.
Tho I am very very hardpressed to consider Harry Potter one of the 50 most signifigant.
Very subpar writing in regard to that least. To have Rowling compared to Asimov, Clark, Herbert, Card or Tolkien is rather insulting in my opinion. Sure the HP series got millions back into books, but when you write for the lowest common denominator thats what happens.
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