Top 3 science fiction novels you've read

[djd]

Better late than never??

1) Ringworld - Larry Niven
2) Neuromancer - William Gibson
3) River of Gods - Ian McDonald

Could easily substitute Ringworld Engineers or A Gift From Earth by Niven for 1) and Virtual Light or All Tomorrows Parties by Gibson for 2). Sadly Niven seems to have forgotten how to write a decent book (although Ringworlds Children was a 'slight' return to form. Iain Banks and Neil Asher are up there in my favourites although Banks' last sci-fi effort was poor and Ashers' Cormac books are getting a little predictable.

 

[Sturn]

Dune by Herbet. Best epic scifi. First book by itself is my favorite, I think you can get too much of a good thing.

Any Cyberpunk by William Gibson. Can't choose a specific book, best 'cyberpunk', the defintion of the genre.

Starship Troopers by Heinlein. I was in the military and have a degree in Sociology, so this hit home. As a youth, liked the military aspect, later grew to love the political-sociological discussion within. I think current politics could get some clues from this book. A.i. requiring years of harsh government labor before you can become a politiican would weed out the greedy and power-hungry.

I'm an avid reader of historical books, military, scifi, fantasy. But, I hardly ever re-read novels. Dune and Starship Troopers are my only two scifi exceptions.

 

[dreamingbadger]

Hope Series By David Feintuch
In The Presence of Mine Enemies by Harry Turtle dove
Ringworld by Larry Niven

 

[Rev503]

Galactic Patrol - E E Smith
Crashlander - Larry Niven
Neuromancer - William Gibson

Oh and honerable mention to
World of the Starwolves = Edmond Hamilton
The Devils Eye - Jack mcDivitt
The Godlen Age - John Wright

 

[Doc.Savage]

1. Starship Troopers (Heinlein)
2. Mote in God's Eye (Pournelle & Niven)
3. Diamond Age (Stephenson)

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

rather than pick my three favourite, i've decided to pick three that have influenced my reading habits more than anything else:

Cyberpunk: Neuromancer by William gibson
Military SF: the BattleTech novels, but the major shout out goes to Wolves on the Border by Robert Charette, which is one of the most personal and moving stories in the genre.
Hard SF: Voyage by Stephen Baxter.

 

[Vandal]

Space Viking H. Beam Piper

The Long Run Daniel Keys Moran

Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven/ David Pournelle

 

[Chumbly]

Foundation series by Asimov
John Carter on mars series by Edger Rice Burroghs
Space Seed by Robert Silverberg

 

[Paladyn]

1. Isaac Asimov - Foundation (three main books)
2. Frank Herbert - Dune
3. Peter F. Hamilton - The Night's Dawn Trilogy

 

[Mongoose Gar]

My top spot goes to Dune.

The other spots are a cage match between Neuromancer, Rendezvous with Rama and the Mars trilogy.

 

[CaptainTrips]

The Dumarest series by E C Tubb
The Dominic Flandry series by Poul Anderson
Star Well by Alexei Panshin

 

[kafka]

1. Isaac Asimov - Foundation Trilogy collected together as The 500yr Plan. :lol: No, really, it is true, I read this one at the local public library.

2. Harry Harrison - To the Stars - Again collects 3 books into one...

3. (now for the hardest part...to limit it to just 3...) Arthur C. Clarke - Songs of a Distant Earth.

Actually, I find myself reading more Non-Fiction for inspiration for my Traveller games or movies taken into really weird ways also feed my Traveller campaign. For instance, I watched Three Kings and immediately thought of something that I could do for Traveller.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

Hmmm,

Three in no particular order:

'The Algebraist'
'Dune'
'Non-stop'

I do like 'Burning Chrome' too.

 

[phavoc]

In no particular order...

1) Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
2) Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by H.Beam.Piper
3) Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh

 

[Marchand]

I am going to cheat slightly because so many people have already said Dune (first novel only), the Foundation Trilogy, and Iain "M" Banks.

1) A Million Open Doors by John Barnes
2) Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
3) Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton