5 books to introduce people to science fiction
Ever wanted to try science fiction, but not sure where to start? Or had a friend ask you for something they might like? Here are 5 suggestions.
5) Ender’s Game
Orson Scott Card
4) Blood Music
Greg Bear
3) Spin
Robert Charles Wilson
2) The Man in the High Castle
Philip K. Dick
1) Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Dean on 
i’m not a big fan of science fiction, but one of my favourite books is flowers for algernon. it’s more of the emotional side of science fiction rather than the scientific element that’s usually present in this genre.
http://sulz.daria.be
CJ: Hi Sulz. Flowers for Algernon is a great one; definitely very involving and confronting. You might quite like Never Let Me Go then; Ishiguro wrote the brilliant Remains of the Day and the SF elements are very subtle.
thanks for the recommendation. if i see it in the library i’ll try it.
CJ: Great! Let me know what you think.
I’ll have to check out Spin and Never Let Me Go; the others are some of my favorites as well. The richest Scifi novel I’ve ever read, however, is Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It’s not exactly light reading, and alludes to everything from Canterbury Tales to The Wizard of Oz, but the story and writing are magnificent.
CJ: Hi Jamie, Hyperion is great and you’re right, very rich; I love Dan Simmons - Ilium is another great read. Hope you enjoy Spin and Never Let Me Go if you can find them - Spin is one of the best SF books I’ve read in years, and Never Let Me Go is a beautiful crossover.
I loved Illium, and was lucky enough to get a galley of Olympos and review it for the publisher. If you have the time HarperCollins firstlook program is a great way to get galleys.
Nice site. I’ll be adding you to my links next time ’round.
CJ: I have Olympos on my shelf, but haven’t got round to reading it yet… have to fix that - no excuse really, I loved Ilium too. The HarperCollins program sounds great. I checked and they have one in Australia, so I signed up. Thanks for the heads-up.
Fahrenheit 451, as a balm for all those who had 1984 and Brave New World inflicted on them at an inopportune age.
CJ: Fahrenheit 451’s another great one; very accessible and (hopefully) shouldn’t bring back any bad memories! I was thinking about this earlier, actually, and I was wondering if people would be more attracted to earlier works than current ones? Something like 1984 comes with all the recommendations, but I think it’d be one of the worst choices because of that. I’d much rather someone tried Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five than 1984; or started now with Spin. Just my $0.02.