| 1 | | The Snow Queen
by Joan D. Vinge
3.95 avg rating — 12,938 ratingsscore: 276, and 3 people voted | |
| 2 | | City (SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection, 5)
by Clifford D. Simak
4.08 avg rating — 17,964 ratingsscore: 195, and 2 people voted | |
| 3 | | The Door into Summer
by Robert A. Heinlein
4.02 avg rating — 27,261 ratingsscore: 191, and 2 people voted | |
| 4 | | The Space Merchants
by Frederik Pohl
3.84 avg rating — 10,806 ratingsscore: 189, and 2 people voted | |
| 5 | | The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.10 avg rating — 192,834 ratingsscore: 186, and 2 people voted | |
| 6 | | The End of Eternity
by Isaac Asimov
4.24 avg rating — 58,068 ratingsscore: 183, and 2 people voted | |
| 7 | | The City and the Stars
by Arthur C. Clarke
4.08 avg rating — 34,612 ratingsscore: 181, and 2 people voted | |
| 8 | | The Stars My Destination
by Alfred Bester
4.06 avg rating — 52,543 ratingsscore: 181, and 2 people voted | |
| 9 | | The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman
4.14 avg rating — 170,732 ratingsscore: 181, and 2 people voted | |
| 10 | | Wild Seed (Patternmaster, #1)
by Octavia E. Butler
4.20 avg rating — 35,952 ratingsscore: 178, and 2 people voted | |
| 11 | | The Man in the High Castle
by Philip K. Dick
3.60 avg rating — 219,292 ratingsscore: 177, and 2 people voted | |
| 12 | | Stand on Zanzibar
by John Brunner
3.94 avg rating — 16,740 ratingsscore: 174, and 2 people voted | |
| 13 | | The Mote in God’s Eye
by Larry Niven
4.07 avg rating — 70,930 ratingsscore: 174, and 2 people voted | |
| 14 | | The Dream Master
by Roger Zelazny
3.59 avg rating — 2,981 ratingsscore: 171, and 2 people voted | |
| 15 | | Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga, #1)
by Orson Scott Card
4.31 avg rating — 1,404,831 ratingsscore: 171, and 2 people voted | |
| 16 | | Mythago Wood (Mythago Wood, #1)
by Robert Holdstock
3.77 avg rating — 10,457 ratingsscore: 171, and 2 people voted | |
| 17 | | Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)
by Arthur C. Clarke
4.12 avg rating — 171,495 ratingsscore: 169, and 2 people voted | |
| 18 | | The Anubis Gates
by Tim Powers
3.90 avg rating — 17,006 ratingsscore: 169, and 2 people voted | |
| 19 | | Gloriana
by Michael Moorcock
3.64 avg rating — 2,278 ratingsscore: 167, and 2 people voted | |
| 20 | | A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller Jr.
3.98 avg rating — 112,317 ratingsscore: 166, and 2 people voted | |
| 21 | | Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
by Terry Pratchett
4.26 avg rating — 777,215 ratingsscore: 164, and 2 people voted | |
| 22 | | Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, #2)
by David Brin (Goodreads Author)
4.04 avg rating — 32,521 ratingsscore: 161, and 2 people voted | |
| 23 | | Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson (Goodreads Author)
4.02 avg rating — 285,717 ratingsscore: 149, and 2 people voted | |
| 24 | | Memory (Vorkosigan Saga, #10)
by Lois McMaster Bujold (Goodreads Author)
4.43 avg rating — 19,009 ratingsscore: 146, and 2 people voted | |
| 25 | | Three Hearts and Three Lions
by Poul Anderson
3.84 avg rating — 5,210 ratingsscore: 97, and 1 person voted | |
| 26 | | Under Pressure
by Frank Herbert
3.54 avg rating — 1,841 ratingsscore: 95, and 1 person voted | |
| 27 | | To Your Scattered Bodies Go
by Philip José Farmer
3.93 avg rating — 32,662 ratingsscore: 92, and 1 person voted | |
| 28 | | Norstrilia
by Cordwainer Smith
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,735 ratingsscore: 91, and 1 person voted | |
| 29 | | Rite of Passage
by Alexei Panshin
3.82 avg rating — 3,637 ratingsscore: 85, and 1 person voted | |
| 30 | | Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
by James Tiptree Jr.
4.18 avg rating — 4,507 ratingsscore: 81, and 1 person voted | |
| 31 | | Deathbird Stories
by Harlan Ellison
4.14 avg rating — 4,517 ratingsscore: 77, and 1 person voted | |
| 32 | | Blood Music
by Greg Bear
3.84 avg rating — 15,564 ratingsscore: 74, and 1 person voted | |
| 33 | | Courtship Rite
by Donald Kingsbury
3.95 avg rating — 574 ratingsscore: 72, and 1 person voted | |
| 34 | | Schismatrix Plus (Science Fiction Book Club 50th Anniversary Collection, Volume 31)
by Bruce Sterling
3.93 avg rating — 4,921 ratingsscore: 70, and 1 person voted | |
| 35 | | Rats and Gargoyles (White Crow Sequence #1)
by Mary Gentle
3.58 avg rating — 509 ratingsscore: 67, and 1 person voted | |
| 36 | | Only Begotten Daughter
by James K. Morrow
3.88 avg rating — 1,803 ratingsscore: 65, and 1 person voted | |
| 37 | | Doomsday Book
by Connie Willis
4.03 avg rating — 61,340 ratingsscore: 64, and 1 person voted | |
| 38 | | Steel Beach. (SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection)
by John Varley
3.97 avg rating — 3,256 ratingsscore: 63, and 1 person voted | |
| 39 | | The Iron Dragon’s Daughter
by Michael Swanwick
3.66 avg rating — 4,074 ratingsscore: 62, and 1 person voted | |
| 40 | | A Fire Upon the Deep
by Vernor Vinge
4.14 avg rating — 63,010 ratingsscore: 61, and 1 person voted |
Considering I’m not a huge SF reader, I’m surprised to discover that I’ve read over 20 of the works listed.
Deb, 20 out of 40 is very impressive! Congratulations!
Much to my shame, I have read only 21 of the books listed. My explanation (not an excuse!) is that I have veered away from most of the genre over the past quarter century.
Jerry, you should be proud of reading 21 of these SF classics. Of course, you might want to read a few more…
Surprisingly, I’ve read only 6 or 7. I do own a few others and hope to read them realsoonnow.
Jeff, I won’t surprise you to learn I own (or did own before my SUNY AT BUFFALO book donation) all of these books. But, I only have a few in the SFBC ANNIVERSARY editions.
2. Not my genre.
Patti, as a kid, I read a lot of Science Fiction by Andre Norton (I later learned “Norton” was a woman), Paul Anderson, Clifford Simak, and Isaac Asimov. In the 1970s, I moved on to mysteries, thrillers, and Westerns.
Spell-“correction” doesn’t believe in Poul Anderson…and Anderson and Asimov wrote mysteries, and Simak some westerns, of course.
Just over half. Some of them aren’t sf by any reasonable standard, but fantasy, and the club should’ve been called the SF and Fantasy Book Club from jump.
Others, such as RITE OF PASSAGE and ENDER’S GAME, were things I couldn’t or wouldn’t read–the third or sixth iteration of the protagonist of the Panshin making noises along the lines of “I am but a girl” (as a teen in a society that has been systematically forcing teens of all genders to go through the titular ROP for some time) just shut down my interest altogether, along with the clunking prose. I had read Card’s “Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory” and that was enough insight into this man’s hostility to human beings, or fictional analogs of same, who didn’t reflect his own values in every way…Trump as no-bones-about it fiction writer. His “Hot Sleep” stories in ANALOG simply furthered this impression, as well as being remarkably stupid in concept.
The first hardcover jacket art for BLOOD MUSIC was much better.
Todd, I agree with you. The original hardcover artwork was better than the more generic SFBC ANNIVERSARY cover.
I remember all the titles and I think I’ve read them all!
Well, I started in 1960 and there were two publishers of SF paperbacks then in Germany – managed by real fans which I even met at conventions.
Fond memories!