The 30 Best Science Fiction Books Of All Time

Are you new to science fiction and wondering where to get started? Are you a bookworm and wanting to make sure you’ve checked all the greats off your list? You’re in the right place! Here are some of the best science fiction books of all time.

Whenever you put together a list of “bests,” the first step is deciding what that means. When it’s music, it’s easy. You just list songs with the funkiest bass lines. The best food? Just lists whatever makes you feel guiltiest when you eat it. But science fiction is complicated. There are so many subgenres! Cyberpunk, space opera, steampunk, alternate history, ska punk… No, wait, that’s music again. Biopunk? Yeah, that’s sci-fi.

As an acclaimed science fiction author (you can acclaim yourself, I checked), these are my picks for the best science fiction books of all time – classics, modern masterpieces, underrated gems, the most original, and the most interesting political ideas. Your mileage may vary. If you have suggestions for additions, leave them in the comments!

Best Science Fiction Classics

If you ask your literature teacher for the best science fiction books, this is what he would recommend.

• Frankenstein – Mary Shelley – The classic tale of science student and body builder Victor Frankenstein. Victor robs graves, attempting to turn stolen body parts into the perfect man, but regrets it when his creation didn’t turn out quite as perfect as he hoped. As a writer, I can relate. Frankenstein is arguably the most influential science fiction classic of all time, widely credited as the first science fiction novel.
• Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke – The Earth is invaded by the Overlords, a seemingly peaceful alien species. The aliens bring about a golden age, but humanity’s culture begins to suffer, and humans are forbidden from exploring space. An astronomer comes up with a daring plan to sneak into the aliens’ home world. Childhood’s End was adapted into a TV miniseries in 2015.
• Dune by Frank Herbert – Paul Atreides is tasked to rule the desert planet Arrakis, the source of the most valuable spice in the universe: paprika. No, wait, melange. It’s a drug that can extend human lifespans and consciousness, and it’s great on deviled eggs. Dune was adapted into a movie in 1984, but I fell asleep halfway through. I’ll probably try the new Dune movies next time I have insomnia. In addition to being directly adapted into films, Dune is also one of the biggest inspirations behind Star Wars.
• Foundation by Isaac Asimov – The Galactic Empire is fading. Scientist Hari Seldon develops psychohistory, a way to predict future trends. (Not to be confused with psycho history, like that guy who thinks Jack the Ripper was just an angry raccoon in a hat.) His analysis predicts a coming dark age. Seldon gathers the greatest minds of the Empire on a planet at the edge of the galaxy to preserve the Empire’s civilization for the future.
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin –Gethen (meaning “Winter”) is an unusual planet where the inhabitants spend most of their lives without a gender. They only possess sexual attributes during a monthly fertile period. Genly Ai is an emissary sent to Gethen to invite the locals to join the coalition of humanoid planets. Cultural and language differences make communication difficult, but he finds an ally in local Therem Harth rem ir Estraven. The book was written in 1969 but remains an important story. Stories like these are like a vaccine against prejudice, something that is still very much needed, even over fifty years later. The BBC adapted it into a radio play in 2015.
• Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein – A human raised on Mars, Valentine Michael Smith, returns to Earth. He struggles to understand Earth’s social mores and prejudices, and attempts to share his own beliefs, even starting a new religion. In the novel, Heinlein coined the word “grok,” meaning “to drink,” or figuratively “to comprehend.” Unfortunately, it later was used as the name of a generative AI program, yet another thing tech bros have stolen from creatives.

Best Modern Masterpieces

These are some of the best science fiction books of the modern era.

• The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin – A secret military project in China attempts to search for and communicate with aliens. The Trisolarans respond, saying they plan to colonize Earth to escape their own doomed planet. The trip to Earth will take centuries. While the planet waits for the coming invasion, some humans plan to welcome the aliens and help them save the world from corruption, while others search for a way to fight back. The novel was adapted into a Netflix series in 2023, which as of this writing, is still ongoing.
• Hyperion by Dan Simmons – In a galaxy at war, seven pilgrims begin a final voyage to the planet Hyperion. In a remote valley, mysterious structures called the Time Tombs appear to be opening, but a dangerous entity called the Shrike is protecting the area. A cult has formed around the Shrike, but those who go to see it almost never return. The novel is actually seven novellas, one from each character’s perspective.  It looks like the Hyperion books may be coming to the big screen soon in an adaptation by Bradly Cooper.
• Blindsight by Peter Watts – A space probe receives a message from an alien intelligence. A strange crew is sent out to meet the alien, including their AI captain, a linguist with four personalities, a biologist/physician with extra senses, and a vampire. A short film based on the aftermath of the novel was released in 2020.
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – In an alternate reality England, a boarding school trains students in art and literature, but teaches them nothing of the outside world. The sheltered students are being prepared for something dark and troubling that they don’t fully understand. While this dark future looms, the novel explores the students’ friendships and loves, and what it means to be human. The novel was adapted into a film in 2010.
• Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson – One hundred colonists head off to establish the first permanent human settlement on Mars. While the planet is reshaped with terraforming, new relationships are formed and destroyed. Some want to preserve Mars as it is, while others want more rapid terraforming. If you enjoy the novel and the theme of terraforming, check out the board game Terraforming Mars, which was heavily inspired Robinson’s Mars trilogy. (I’ll have to add a list of the best science fiction books that inspired super fun board games.)

Best Underrated Science Fiction Gems

These are some of the best science fiction books that you may have overlooked.

• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. – This post-apocalyptic novel is set in a Catholic monastery. This epic covers thousands of years as humanity rebuilds civilization after a nuclear war. The book was adapted for radio in 1981, 1992, and 2012.
• Engine Summer by John Crowley – Another post-apocalyptic tale, this one is hard to summarize in a few sentences. A man named Rush That Speaks goes on a dreamlike journey, exploring a world full of artifacts from the vanished past. The writing is poetic and often moving, and the ending makes a somewhat difficult read well worthwhile.
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Alien visitors leave mysterious artifacts scattered in the Zone. Scavengers called “stalkers” head into the alien visitation zones to retrieve the artifacts and sell them on the black market, despite legal bans and the extreme danger. The novel was loosely adapted into a film in 1979 called “Stalker.” The video game series S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is also inspired by the novel.
• Gateway by Frederik Pohl – The titular Gateway is a hollowed out asteroid with hundreds of abandoned alien starships. Robinette Broadhead wins a lottery granting him a trip to the asteroid, and takes several risky trips in one of the ships. Though he winds up wealthy, he’s tormented by the trauma of his experience. Therapy sessions with a computerized psychiatrist could help, but only if he confronts the devastating truth about what happened during his journey through space.
• The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe – Severian is an exiled torturer in a far-future Earth where science and magic blur together. As the dying sun threatens humanity’s survival, Severian embarks on a perilous journey to the city of Thrax, encountering strange creatures and ancient mysteries that may connect him to prophecies about humanity’s salvation.

The Most Original Science Fiction Books

If you’re looking for unique worlds and creative ideas, these are the best science fiction books to read.

• The City & The City by China Miéville – This weird police procedural follows Inspector Tyador Borlú’s murder investigation across two cities that occupy the same physical space. Despite overlapping geographically, the cities are separate entities whose citizens are strictly forbidden from interacting with or even acknowledging the other city’s existence.
• Permutation City by Greg Egan – Paul Durham, a wealthy man obsessed with digital immortality, creates numerous copies of his mind to live in virtual reality. However, when these copies learn that they are “fake” versions of Durham, they shut themselves down, committing virtual suicide. Hoping to create a self-contained digital universe, Durham hires Maria Deluca to design a program that could generate enough evolvable life to fill a virtual planet. During the story, some uploaded minds embrace their new existence, while others struggle to find meaning in their simulated life.
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi – This biopunk dystopia is set in a future Thailand where agricultural megacorporations dominate global food production through genetically modified seeds. Anderson Lake, a corporate spy, searches for Thailand’s protected seedbank. He forms an alliance with Emiko, a genetically engineered “windup girl” who is struggling to survive in a world that treats her as less than human.
• The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi – Warrior Mieli pulls off a virtual prison break, rescuing the mind of master thief Jean Le Flambeur. Together, they head off to Mars to retrieve his memories, setting up a heist in both the physical and digital worlds. 
• Solaris by Stanislaw Lem – Scientists study a gelatinous ocean on the planet Solaris.  The ocean responds by exposing the scientists’ painful memories. Is this strange ocean sentient? If so, what are its motives?

Best Political Science Fiction Novels

The best science fiction books for anarchists, an-caps, and other people who think outside the voting box.

• The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein – Computer technician Mannie discovers that the supercomputer running the Moon colony has become self-aware.  He renames the computer Mike, and the two friends take on pivotal roles in the colony’s battle for independence from Earth. Director Bryan Singer was set to work on a film adaptation in 2015, but as of this writing, nothing has materialized yet. Hurry up, Hollywood! (And do a Neuromancer movie while you’re at it!)
• The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester – In this distant future, humanity discovers the ability to teleport. Gulliver “Gully” Foyle is marooned in space. After he repairs the ship, he sets out on a mission of revenge, seeking to destroy the crew of a spaceship who refused to rescue him. Like the protagonists in many revenge stories, he is hardly a sympathetic character, but the people he is after are so much worse.
• Radio Free Albemuth by Philip K. Dick – In an alternate America under the oppressive rule of President Fremont, a resistance movement emerges, guided by mysterious transmissions from an alien intelligence called VALIS that broadcasts from a satellite orbiting Earth. The novel was adapted into a film in 2007, which features singer Alanis Morrissette.
• The Jennifer Government by Max Barry – In the near future, the world is run by corporations, and workers use their companies as last names. Hack Nike signs a contract without reading it, accidentally agreeing to take part in a murderous marketing ploy. He is pursued by Jennifer Government, a corporate watchdog with a barcode tattoo.
• The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith – While investigating a murder, detective Win Bear stumbles upon a portal to other worlds. He is transported to an alternate Earth where everyone is armed, taxes are a thing of the past, and intelligent animals have been granted citizenship. It was adapted into a graphic novel in 2005.

Funniest Science Fiction Novels

Feeling down? These are the best science fiction books for a good laugh.

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – I reread it every two years, and it just keeps making me laugh. Unless you’re the type who only likes super dry military sci-fi, this is one of the best science fiction books of all time. This wild space opera follows the galactic misadventures of Arthur Dent, the last (?) survivor of Earth, which was destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. The story started as a radio series, became a five-book trilogy, and then was adapted into a TV series, graphic novels, a text adventure computer game, a movie, a line of waffle irons, stage productions, and more. Whatever way you enjoy it, it’s fantastic. If you enjoy all the adaptations and want more funny space opera, I have a list of recommended reading for Hitchhiker’s Guide fans here.
• To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis – The eccentric Lady Schrapnell donates to the Oxford time travel department, asking them to build an exact replica of Coventry Cathedral, which was destroyed in the Blitz in 1940. Time traveler Ned Henry makes so many jumps for her project, he gets sick with “time lag” and is sent to rest up in 1888. He also needs to return a displaced cat, and figure out Victorian society. And then of course there’s the dog…
• Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future by Mike Resnick – Part space western, part tall tale, the story follows Sebastian Nightingale Cain, a bounty huntersearching for an infamous outlaw named Santiago. Other bounty hunters are also after Santiago, and the largest reward in history. If you fall in love with the story and wish you could spend more time in its world, the novel was adapted into an adventure path for the Pathfinder RPG.
• Venus on the Half-Shell by Philip Jose Farmer – In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Kurt Vonnegut mentions a fictional novel called Venus on the Half-Shell, by the equally fictional author Kilgore Trout. Farmer wrote this Venus on the Half-Shell as Kilgore Trout, in an attempt to turn fiction into reality. Or something like that. The novel tells the story of Simon Wagstaff, who wanders space after Earth was destroyed by aliens. Some reviewers say the plot was the inspiration for Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but I was unable to find a source where Adams mentions Farmer’s book. Either way, they have enough similarities that fans of one are likely to enjoy the other.
• Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison – Bill is given knockout drops and wakes up in deep space, aboard a warship. Even though he has no idea what he’s doing, he’s forced to fight in a space war with giant lizards. Terry Pratchett said it was even funnier than Hitchhiker’s Guide, and someday I might forgive him. It was adapted into a film in 2014.

Did I miss anything? Is there another category of best science fiction books I should add? Let me know in the comments!

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