Sci-Fi book recommendations

[OverThePlanetsAndFarAway]

So I have seen a lot of space movies (favourites include 2001, Arrival, Interstellar, Europa Report) but not actually read a huge number of space-related literature.

I did love The Three Body Problem series and other Arthur C. Clarke classics. Can anyone recommend me their all-time favourites, similar to the above films perhaps?

Thanks

[OverThePlanetsAndFarAway]

* It should be said I air towards the more realistic stories, not so much space opera/fantasy. Although I loved Dune.....

[Markstark]

Project Hail Mary
The Expanse Series
Seveneves
Delta-V
Children of Time
Bobiverse series
Red Rising series (more sci-fi fantasy)
Armada
Mars Trilogy by KSR
The Way series

[leovinus]

So I have seen a lot of space movies (favourites include 2001, Arrival, Interstellar, Europa Report) but not actually read a huge number of space-related literature.

I did love The Three Body Problem series and other Arthur C. Clarke classics. Can anyone recommend me their all-time favourites, similar to the above films perhaps?

Thanks

Sounds like you are asking for hard Scifi books Maybe have a look at these earlier threads

Hard science fiction books
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=49330.0

Space Exploration Fiction: Your Memories & Recommendations
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=8574.0

Andy Weir: "Project Hail Mary"
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=53681.0

Happy reading!

[OverThePlanetsAndFarAway]

Looks like a lot to get started on there, thanks!

Let's see if I can get some for Christmas from the relatives...

[Exastro]

So I have seen a lot of space movies (favourites include 2001, Arrival, Interstellar, Europa Report) but not actually read a huge number of space-related literature.

I did love The Three Body Problem series and other Arthur C. Clarke classics. Can anyone recommend me their all-time favourites, similar to the above films perhaps?

Thanks

I'd recommend Poul Anderson as an author.  His best work combines hard science (physics, chemistry, and even social "science") and high adventure.  His best-known work is probably Tau Zero, but a good introduction would be the short story Call Me Joe.  Other works fall into a pair of future-history story arcs with probably dozens of novels and a goodly number of short stories. 


Or you can try my own novel https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1143413 or
https://www.amazon.com/Hero-Terra-Dracula-Christopher-Duro/dp/B0BLM4TLGJ

[yg1968]

A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay. It's not hard science, it's more like Avatar (fantasy).

[MickQ]

Try “Eon” and the follow up “Eternity” by Greg Bear.  Oldies but goodies.

[Nomadd]

 Anything by Larry Niven. Particularly when assisted by Jerry Pournelle.

[Blackstar]

Get some of the Heinlein "juveniles." They're not really hard sci-fi, but you'll be surprised at how fun they are.

[Nomadd]

Get some of the Heinlein "juveniles." They're not really hard sci-fi, but you'll be surprised at how fun they are.

Tunnel in the sky. Helluva a read when you're 12.

[Coastal Ron]

Anything by Larry Niven. Particularly when assisted by Jerry Pournelle.

Larry Niven has written a number of novels, but I got my start with him by reading his vast collection of short stories. And I still have them 

Niven is a hard science author, and has developed a very well defined universe inhabited by humans and non-human races.

[Coastal Ron]

...
The Expanse Series
Seveneves
...
Mars Trilogy by KSR
...

I heartily endorse those above, and with The Expanse series you get the bonus of the first five books turned into five seasons of TV shows on Amazon.

I'd also recommend the following:

Old Man's War series - John Scalzi
The Interdependency series - John Scalzi

The Lost Fleet series - Jack Campbell

And the The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells, which combines sci-fi with a hefty dose of snarky self-commentary by the being who nicknames themselves "murderbot".

[lamontagne]

My all time favorite is the Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Less focused on equipment and more on biology and humans.

I also love the Culture Novels, by Ian M.Banks.  Much more modern SF that Clarke, Heinlein or Herbert, quite rough some times, with a high degree of improbability but very self consistent logic. The Banks Orbital is halfway between Ringworld and a large rotating space station and is just one of the many settings of the stories.  The Culture Spaceships are some great characters in their own right.

The Forever War by Joe Halderman is another favorite.  I think it should be read back to back with Heinlein's Starship Trooper.  Then the two completely opposite worldviews can battle themselves out in your brain 

[Nomadd]

 I could never explain why I thought Left Hand of Darkness was one of the best things I ever read, but I know I'm not the only one who thinks that. Ursula Le Guin might not have been as prolific as some, but none was better.
 "Those who walk away from Omelas" is the one story I read that I can say became a part of me.

 Funny story. I was talking to Vonda McIntyre in an old TalkCity chatroom once and mentioned that I'd read a science fiction book while I was in the army that moved me like nothing else, but I couldn't remember the name or author and could never find it again. It turned out she had written it and had a few copies at home, so she sent me one. "The Exile Waiting".