No wonder I'm so warped

tng | 2007-03-10 19:46

Pharyngula has posted a list of the 50 Most Influential Science Fiction Books (1953-2002), via tikistich. Near as I can tell this list was compiled by the Science Fiction Book Club (where a good deal of my paper route money as a kid went). PZ highlighted all the ones he's read in bold but I decided to boldface only the ones I haven't read (after the fold).

As it stands I've got some catching up to do, although I refuse to ever read another Tolkien book ever. That might be heresy for some of you, but I stand by my opinion. Tolkien is a snoozefest!

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

How about you? Which ones have you read (go ahead and copy and paste the list into your comment)? What books got left off that should have been included (after all, there's got to be something that'd bump Anne Rice and J.K. Rowling from the top 50). For myself, I'd say bump Harry Potter for Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time. And certainly if you have Lord of the Rings you don't need another Tolkien travesty. Let's get rid of The Silmarillion for Kornbluth and Pohl's The Space Merchants.

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Muriel Volestrangler | 2007-03-11 17:52 | Shorter to list the ones I have read

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 7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke 10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury 13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov 16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett 21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey 23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson 27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams 38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke 41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien 42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut 48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks 50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer As many, including PZ Myers, say, "The Sword of Shannara" is mind-numbingly bad. It's only influential in that a tidal wave of crap sub-Tolkein stuff followed it, because it showed that quality doesn't matter in the genre. "The Silmarillion" is the most complete fantasy world ever written, I think, and very different to LOTR in style (eg the events of LOTR take up 6 out of about 350 pages in it). It fully deserves its place. I would add to the list "The Midwich Cuckoos" by John Wyndham - a seminal alien invasion, enemy within, and telepathy novel (note "The Day of the Triffids" was published too early). Since they let the Foundation trilogy in, despite only its last book being in the time window, then I think the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake ought to be in there too. I think Iain M. Banks ought to get a novel on there (he's great, and a lot of the Pharyngula comments mention him, so I think his influence can be said to be enough, now). Others from those comments that probably ought to be on the list: Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood the His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman Hey, guess what - I'm standing up for the British authors. Smiling

tng | 2007-03-11 18:17 | I agree about your additions

Except for The Handmaid's Tale and The Midwich Cuckoos which I haven't read so I can neither agree or disagree.

I was wondering about the inclusion of The Sword of Shannara. I haven't read it (as I indicated) but given what you and others have said about the novel, if we need another fantasy in there I'm sure there are much better ones -- like Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy!

Oh, and on the Heinlein inclusion, I would rather have picked The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress or at least Stranger In A Strange Land. I'd prefer the former but I think I'd probably have to agree that in terms of the wider culture the latter was more influential.

Sorry if I prematurely dissed Tolkien's Silmarillon. I did sit through the entire Lord of the Rings and vowed I'd never read another Tolkien book. I know this puts me at odds with much of fandom but really, very few things have bored me quite so much. The recent movie adaptions at least made it look pretty, even if they couldn't do anything to relieve the boredom.

Muriel Volestrangler | 2007-03-13 09:43 | The style of The Silmarillion may be very boring for many

and I wouldn't expect to see it on a list of 'favourite' books - but since it really shows what can be done with a proper complete 'history' of a world, I think it can be called 'influential'. It's really a complete mythology (but, being written by just one person, and edited by one more, is more consistent than other mythologies) - creation of the universe, of 'higher powers', of the world, of people, the fight of good against evil etc. Hell, you could throw away most holy books and get a better guide to human morality from it, and the theology is about as believable Evil

. You may know the story of The Midwich Cuckoos from the movie "Village of the Damned" (and remakes and sequels) - everyone in a village falls unconscious, when they wake up all the possible women are pregnant, children turn out to have strange powers etc. Whether or not his basic plots are special, Wyndham writes very well on the social consequences of something amazing happening (which got lost, for instance, in the travesty of a film they made of 'Day of the Triffids').

tng | 2007-03-13 09:48 | Thanks for the perspective

I'm biased because I'm such a fan of hard science fiction (although I'm slowly working my way through Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and -- only 80 pages in -- enjoying it). So it's good to get perspective from someone who knows what they're talking about. I'll definitely have to check out The Midwich Cuckoos.

Hmm... That gives me an idea...

procrastinate later | 2007-03-11 19:22 | What? No L.Ron?

Just kidding. I've read very few on this list since I don't read a lot of science-fiction. 1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien 27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams 39. Ringworld, Larry Niven

Moriarty | 2007-03-12 08:42 | I can't believe that no one here has read "Stand On Zanzibar"!

Or "Cities in Flight", for that matter.

Incidentally, this isn't a science fiction list here, this is a science fiction and fantasy list. I would clear the fantasy titles into a second list, to be honest.

I've read about half to two-thirds of those titles. I'll maybe go through later.

tng | 2007-03-12 09:40 | Picky, picky

Yeah, it didn't escape my attention that this list was full of fantasy and preferably I would have broken them out into two lists myself.

procrastinate later | 2007-03-12 14:32 | Splitter!

Smiling

Psychobabbler | 2007-03-13 13:36 | Very few..science fiction isn't one of my main genres

I have read "Wizard of Earthsea" and its sequels with great enjoyment; but I would call that fantasy rather than science fiction. Ditto for "Harry Potter". I have tried to read "Lord of the Rings" three times without being able to get into it; though I did enjoy "The Hobbit" and a couple of less well-known novellas by Tolkien: "Farmer Giles of Ham" and "Smith of Wootton Major". I agree about John Wyndham: one of the few science fiction writers whom I really do like. Apart from those that have mentioned, I would also recommend "Chocky" and, best of all, "The Chrysalids". I'm also keen on some of the very earliest books in the science fiction genre: those by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Also I suppose in some sense Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" is science fiction among much else - I've never seen it referred to as such; but it does deal with the applications and misapplications of scientific techniques from genetic engineering to behavioural conditioning.

tng | 2007-03-13 14:25 | Oddly enough...

Brave New World is a parody, of sorts, of H.G. Wells' Men Like Gods, which is generally (I think) considered science fiction. Both are what I would call social science fiction because both deal with the societal impact of technology. I'm not sure why some books are generally considered science fiction and others not, especially any books written after Mary Shelley's Frankenstein which is (again generally) considered to be the first science fiction novel. In any case, both Brave New World and Men Like Gods belong, as does all science fiction and fantasy, under the speculative fiction umbrella so I suppose it's all quibbling about classification.

BTW and somewhat off topic, but I just noticed Wikipedia has a pretty good history of science fiction page. Do check out the discussion for that page though as there are a couple of good points made, such as the focus on British and American writers to the detriment of greater European writers such as Stanislaw Lem.

No wonder I'm so warped

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