Glad to see someone mention Altered Carbon. Seems to get overlooked on Booktube. It’s a really gritty noir style cyberpunk/ detective story. The second book in the series “Broken Angels” is completely different, but also worth reading It’s more military sci-fi.
Agreed on Altered Carbon. It's lurid, violent and has morally grey characters as all good cyberpunk should be and have. Does its own thing from Neuromancer and stays original. Have his 'Market Forces' to read next.
I thought the Takeshi Kovacs books got better with each new book, actually. I also enjoyed the Land Fit for Heroes trilogy and Black Man (Thirteen in the US) but didn't care for Market Forces. And he's kind of gone far down the male fantasy rabbit hole now: Thin Air was pretty awful.
1.) Brain Wave, by Poul Anderson 2.) Blind Lake, by Robert Charles Wilson 3.) Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky 4.) Blood Music, by Greg Bear 5.) The Santaroga Barrier, by Frank Herbert
have a read of Frank Herbert's "Hellstroms Hive". it has slightly dated but the hive sections are very thought provoking. though nightmares of "stumps" may occur lol
@@joemagarac405 I also didn't read a better one of his yet although I already read a couple. Maybe "His Masters Voice" will surprise me :D but I agree, (almost) all of his work is great
Galapagos was the first novel I read by Vonnegut. I just loved it and then read all his novels. When I saw that the Library of America had a sale on a collection of his novels, I quickly purchased it for only $80! One of the best novelists ever!
I've been telling all my family and friends who read about Vandermeer. Southern Reach trilogy blew me away. Cixin Liu's The Three Body Problem trilogy is also really unique currently finishing Death's End.
I don't know if you've encountered Christopher Rowley (new here), but his novels Starhammer, The Vang: The Military Form, and The Vang: The Battlemaster have been among some of the best I've read in the past 20 or so years.
@@WordsinTime You're more than welcome. Rowley's an interesting guy -- apparently used to take ocean cruises and did his writing on shipboard, stuck in his cabin. Or so I've heard.
So many books, so little time. An interesting list of books I've not read - although, worth noting, that Altered Carbon, was the basis for a very good Netflix mini-series. Thank you for your recommendations.
"Blindsight" is so freaking good. Definitely gets stuck in your mind pretty much forever. One that I can mention is "Parable of the Sower", waaaay too relatable kind of apocalypse. Uff, "Annihiliation" is in my list that goes something like "posmodernity has allowed some elements of scifi into literary/mainstream fiction which means there is a lot of bad scifi showing up in the fancy hallways".
I might join you on the Annihilation journey, but you have me intrigued by some of the other books on this list, "Dawn", and "More than Human", specifically. I've read the others, and agree with you, although most Vonnegut had that effect, so couldn't tell you how long I was haunted by "Galapagos". Thanks for the recommendations!
Wonderful list, Jonathan. I loved Annihilation and am reading Authority (book 2) now. Dawn is on my shelf, but I haven't read it yet, but loved Clay's Ark from Butler. One other mention: The Carpet Makers, by Andreas Eschbach - a galaxy-spanning, epic tale of revenge. It really stays with you.
Good list. Intriguing. For me: KILN PEOPLE, by David Brin THE EDEN CYCLE, by William Z. Gallun TERRAFORMING EARTH, by Jack Williamson FOR A BREATH I TARRY, by Roger Zelazny and SNOW CRASH, by Neal Stephenson Alsi: The tripod trilogy + prequel, by John Christopher; A. SCANNER DARKLY, by Phillip K. DICK; and FRANKENSTEIN, by Mary Shelley.
I've been fitting Vonnegut books in between Sun Eater books and just finished Breakfast of Champions. I went back to your tier list and see it way down the bottom. I was laughing all the way through. The funny thing was, because I use an e-reader and so don't see the cover and title whenever I pick up the book, I thought I was reading God Bless You Mr Rosewater. Not until I was getting it onto my Hardcover page that I found my mind had been scrambled. Sun Eater: got through Kingdoms of Death with my soul intact. What a trauma. The previous book made Hadrian shine like the universe's hero, KoD crushed him. Vonnegut was very cheery-uppy by comparison.
Haha those are 2 of my favourites and a good combo. I like everything that Vonnegut wrote so even the books on the lower tiers I still thought were good!
Dawn: You did a great job with the premise . The problem I had with the story was that I never really connected with Lilith. Throughout the book the aliens told her what they were going to do, and her reaction was always "Whooooo?!", "Whaaaat?!?!". Bloodchild was a better read for me. Southern Reach Trilogy was very good. Great content.
Annihilation is an excellent read and quite different from the film. I would advise, if you’ll permit, to read the whole trilogy back to back as they are a single cohesive whole and were published, I believe in the same 12 months. But I hope you really really like it.
Regarding Kurt Vonnegut: was published under title " First and Last". I can easily skip "First". The last one is a must. It's ONLY 1/3 or half. I bet if Vonnegut finished it would be AAA
Hope you enjoy Annihilation. The book has a much more interesting, mysterious, weird feel than the movie. (I did not like the movie because it strayed too far from the book)
Three cheers for mentioning Theodore Sturgeon's "More than human!" Very thought provoking and quite well written, in my opinion. Sturgeon at his "soft" Science Fiction best!
I read and enjoyed all these books. Another good one by Sturgeon is Godbody. It's been a very long time since I read it, but back in the day I put it up there with my all time favorites. Anyway, good vid!
Woohoo! Annihilation for the win! I devoured the entire series earlier this year and it's one of the ones that still has me thinking. I do think The Southern Reach is better read in total. I'd add A Canticle for Liebowitz, Anathem, and the Three Body Problem as thinking novels for me. Embarrassingly, I have read none of the books on your list. 😬 😳
A few of my unforgettables from the classics: A Plague of Pythons, Pohl, violent, deeply cynical and disturbing The Star Diaries, Lem, hilarious and sardonic - wouldn't aliens pity our stupidity? Mines of Behemoth, Shea - gloriously adventurous The Book of Dreams, Jack Vance - superb tale of revenge. Vermilion Sands, Ballard - slow-acting poison of beauty and loss in a cycle of stories sharing a setting. Jack of Shadows, Zelazny - this novel is NOT one of the Amber series; it stands alone, and Zelazny transcends himself into a higher mythic level. I seem to read it again every year. All of these are masters of the craft, and go beyond the typical tropes of the genre, each in his own way.
@@WordsinTime i think you will find it shares a bit with Dawn, in that its primarily a dystopian 'first contact' story of sorts about the nature of consciousness. i read it a year or so ago now, and i still think about it. its one that completely caught me off guard too when i got into it, was not expecting it to hit so deep
The [Widget], the [Wadget], and Boff, written by Ted Sturgeon is a very worthwhile and rewarding read imo. It demonstrated how SF had grown up and could have both fantastic ideas and great story telling. P.S. Brightside Crossing by Alan E. Nourse is another work that sticks in my mind. Just thinking about it makes me hot and thirsty! lol
@@WordsinTime Brightside Crossing is in the public domain, at Project Gutenberg and the internet archive where all the back issues of Galaxy Magazines are in public domain, even the issues with Dune, IIRC! RUclips didn't like me linking to it earlier, but the Project Gutenberg one is easy to search for. For Galaxy Magazine it helps to know what issue you are looking for, and how to use the viewer they have. The zoom feature works!
galapados isn't one of my faves by vonnegut either but I appreciated it for its unblinking look at the nature of human nature. I ended up DNFing altered carbon when an amazon reader pointed out a huge mistake the author made that I hadn't even noticed. But since I've forgotten what the mistake was I may go back and finish it!⚛😀
@@RedFuryBooks Dawn is interesting. I didn’t love all of it but it had strong aspects. I recently finished Annihilation and it was a 7.5/10 for me. I liked it but didn’t love it.
Good pick!! I really enjoyed the Southern Reach trilogy. Weird Sci-Fi and cosmic horror at its finest! I haven’t read (yet) any of the books you mention but they’re all in my TBT now! Thanks! Books I can’t stop thinking about: Solaris, A Canticle for Liebovitz, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, The Forever War
For sci-fi books that stick with you long after reading them, I'd have to say Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash was that for me. But then, most of his books stick with me in that way.
I just finished "blindsight" and couldnt tell you what happened in the last 100 pages. The whole book was a blur of boredom with a smattering of interesting ideas, just watch a spoiler filled review and save yourself some time and money
Finished 2 out of 5 and DNFed Altered Carbon. It seemed like gratuitous violence to me and I could not bring myself to give a damn who killed him and why. A very long time since I read Dawn and mostly was not enthusiastic about it. I liked *More Than Human* .
Started Altered Carbon this past weekend when I found a copy at my local coffee shop's take-one-leave-one shelf and I'm in love. Reconciling the advancement of technology with stipulations of religion, what happens to the relationships of people who have been married 250+ years, losing your body like one might lose their house in an economic crisis. All wrapped up in this dark gumshoe plotline 🤌🏼 Another great list!
"Dawn" is incredible. Butler was a legend. In my top 5.
That’s great!
I just started reading Hyperion, I like it very much and think that this book will stick with me for some time into the future.
@@gmcenroe One of my favourites! I hope you enjoy the Hyperion Cantos!
Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End" has stunned everyone I know who has read it.
Yes, one of my all-time favourite books!
Read it a few months ago for the first time, Stunned is definitely the word to describe it
Glad to see someone mention Altered Carbon. Seems to get overlooked on Booktube. It’s a really gritty noir style cyberpunk/ detective story. The second book in the series “Broken Angels” is completely different, but also worth reading It’s more military sci-fi.
I’ll have to check out the sequel!
Agreed on Altered Carbon. It's lurid, violent and has morally grey characters as all good cyberpunk should be and have. Does its own thing from Neuromancer and stays original. Have his 'Market Forces' to read next.
I thought the Takeshi Kovacs books got better with each new book, actually. I also enjoyed the Land Fit for Heroes trilogy and Black Man (Thirteen in the US) but didn't care for Market Forces. And he's kind of gone far down the male fantasy rabbit hole now: Thin Air was pretty awful.
yeah, blindsight is one of the few sci-fi books that really are worthy of the moment we're in...really great
I’m glad it resonated with you!
1.) Brain Wave, by Poul Anderson
2.) Blind Lake, by Robert Charles Wilson
3.) Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
4.) Blood Music, by Greg Bear
5.) The Santaroga Barrier, by Frank Herbert
@@berserkley Great picks! I’ve read and enjoyed all of these authors, although I haven’t read those particular books by Anderson, Wilson and Herbert.
Blindsight is one of my favorites, too. Read it two times and can't stop thinking about it.
Awesome! I’m looking forward to re-reading it one day.
@@WordsinTime How about Echopraxia? It's still on my "to read" shelf...
@@szymonskowronski5689 Same!
have a read of Frank Herbert's "Hellstroms Hive". it has slightly dated but the hive sections are very thought provoking. though nightmares of "stumps" may occur lol
Interesting! I’m currently reading Children of Dune.
I think Solaris by Stanislaw Lem will be in my head forever haha, also was the first Sci-fi novel I read and i'm chasing that feeling since 😅
One of my all-time favourites!
@@WordsinTime just too good
All of Lem’s works are amazing but Solaris is the best
@@joemagarac405 I also didn't read a better one of his yet although I already read a couple. Maybe "His Masters Voice" will surprise me :D but I agree, (almost) all of his work is great
Asimov's Foundation series keeps coming up im my mind lately.
Lots of great ideas in that one!
Wow. "More than Human." It made a big impact on me when I read it in my college years. I agree that it sticks with a person.
I'm glad it resonated with you too!
Galapagos was the first novel I read by Vonnegut. I just loved it and then read all his novels. When I saw that the Library of America had a sale on a collection of his novels, I quickly purchased it for only $80! One of the best novelists ever!
That’s awesome!
I've been telling all my family and friends who read about Vandermeer. Southern Reach trilogy blew me away. Cixin Liu's The Three Body Problem trilogy is also really unique currently finishing Death's End.
That’s great! And yes, the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy is 🤯
I don't know if you've encountered Christopher Rowley (new here), but his novels Starhammer, The Vang: The Military Form, and The Vang: The Battlemaster have been among some of the best I've read in the past 20 or so years.
@@TheMercilessEye Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll have to look him up!
@@WordsinTime You're more than welcome. Rowley's an interesting guy -- apparently used to take ocean cruises and did his writing on shipboard, stuck in his cabin. Or so I've heard.
One that has always been haunting to me has been Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow. Years later I’m still thinking about it.
@@MrRomanGuy It’s on my TBR, I need to get to it!
So many books, so little time. An interesting list of books I've not read - although, worth noting, that Altered Carbon, was the basis for a very good Netflix mini-series. Thank you for your recommendations.
Haha yes it’s a never ending battle with the TBR ⚔️ 📚
"Blindsight" is so freaking good. Definitely gets stuck in your mind pretty much forever. One that I can mention is "Parable of the Sower", waaaay too relatable kind of apocalypse.
Uff, "Annihiliation" is in my list that goes something like "posmodernity has allowed some elements of scifi into literary/mainstream fiction which means there is a lot of bad scifi showing up in the fancy hallways".
Uh oh haha
I might join you on the Annihilation journey, but you have me intrigued by some of the other books on this list, "Dawn", and "More than Human", specifically. I've read the others, and agree with you, although most Vonnegut had that effect, so couldn't tell you how long I was haunted by "Galapagos". Thanks for the recommendations!
Nice, I’m looking forward to it! And I hope you enjoy the others!
Really loved CJ Cherryh's Hunter of Worlds.
@@davidoran123 Nice! I’ve only read Kesrith. I’ll look that one up.
Wonderful list, Jonathan. I loved Annihilation and am reading Authority (book 2) now. Dawn is on my shelf, but I haven't read it yet, but loved Clay's Ark from Butler. One other mention: The Carpet Makers, by Andreas Eschbach - a galaxy-spanning, epic tale of revenge. It really stays with you.
That’s great! I read The Carpet Makers this year and it was a 10/10 for me!
Getting back into sci-fi again also means getting back into your videos! Great stuff =D
Haha glad to have you! 🤝
Good list. Intriguing. For me:
KILN PEOPLE, by David Brin
THE EDEN CYCLE, by William Z. Gallun
TERRAFORMING EARTH, by Jack Williamson
FOR A BREATH I TARRY, by Roger Zelazny
and
SNOW CRASH, by Neal Stephenson
Alsi: The tripod trilogy + prequel, by John Christopher; A. SCANNER DARKLY, by Phillip K. DICK; and FRANKENSTEIN, by Mary Shelley.
@@mikemauro3119 Snow Crash, A Scanner Darkly, and Frankenstein are 3 of my favourites. I’ll have to check out the others!
I've been fitting Vonnegut books in between Sun Eater books and just finished Breakfast of Champions. I went back to your tier list and see it way down the bottom. I was laughing all the way through. The funny thing was, because I use an e-reader and so don't see the cover and title whenever I pick up the book, I thought I was reading God Bless You Mr Rosewater. Not until I was getting it onto my Hardcover page that I found my mind had been scrambled.
Sun Eater: got through Kingdoms of Death with my soul intact. What a trauma. The previous book made Hadrian shine like the universe's hero, KoD crushed him. Vonnegut was very cheery-uppy by comparison.
Haha those are 2 of my favourites and a good combo. I like everything that Vonnegut wrote so even the books on the lower tiers I still thought were good!
Dawn: You did a great job with the premise . The problem I had with the story was that I never really connected with Lilith. Throughout the book the aliens told her what they were going to do, and her reaction was always "Whooooo?!", "Whaaaat?!?!".
Bloodchild was a better read for me.
Southern Reach Trilogy was very good.
Great content.
Thanks! I’ll have to check out Bloodchild.
Awesome video Jonathan! Altered Carbon has been on my list for a while. I loved the show!
Cheers Chas! It’s great, but violent!
Annihilation is an excellent read and quite different from the film. I would advise, if you’ll permit, to read the whole trilogy back to back as they are a single cohesive whole and were published, I believe in the same 12 months. But I hope you really really like it.
Nice! Thanks for the info!
Regarding Kurt Vonnegut: was published under title " First and Last". I can easily skip "First". The last one is a must. It's ONLY 1/3 or half. I bet if Vonnegut finished it would be AAA
@@cathyharris-cz5tu interesting!
Afterburn by D Andrews has a very protracted and intense torture session in the beginning of the book that is somewhat haunting
@@rsweetsn Sounds intense!
Hope you enjoy Annihilation. The book has a much more interesting, mysterious, weird feel than the movie. (I did not like the movie because it strayed too far from the book)
Interesting! Looking forward to it!
Hey I have actually read some of these. We are both reading Annihilation this month!
Perfect timing! 🤜 🤛
Three cheers for mentioning Theodore Sturgeon's "More than human!" Very thought provoking and quite well written, in my opinion. Sturgeon at his "soft" Science Fiction best!
I’m glad you love it too!
Vast by Linda Nagata got stuck in my head in 1998 and it’s still there, living rent free. Such a clever story.
I’ll look it up!
You must also try Alien from earth by sobers rodrigues. It's very creative story.
I’ll look it up!
I read and enjoyed all these books. Another good one by Sturgeon is Godbody. It's been a very long time since I read it, but back in the day I put it up there with my all time favorites. Anyway, good vid!
Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll check it out!
Woohoo! Annihilation for the win! I devoured the entire series earlier this year and it's one of the ones that still has me thinking. I do think The Southern Reach is better read in total. I'd add A Canticle for Liebowitz, Anathem, and the Three Body Problem as thinking novels for me. Embarrassingly, I have read none of the books on your list. 😬 😳
I’m looking forward to Annihilation! I’ve read 2 of those 3 but there’s a couple of Stephenson books I want to get to before Anathem haha
@@WordsinTime Math monks! How could any Stephenson come before math monks??
@@cherylmccutchan1282 Those math monks are too wordy!
@@WordsinTime They are absolutely very wordy. I can't believe you don't want to read 100 pages on Platonic idealism theory.😅
@@cherylmccutchan1282 😵💫
A few of my unforgettables from the classics:
A Plague of Pythons, Pohl, violent, deeply cynical and disturbing
The Star Diaries, Lem, hilarious and sardonic - wouldn't aliens pity our stupidity?
Mines of Behemoth, Shea - gloriously adventurous
The Book of Dreams, Jack Vance - superb tale of revenge.
Vermilion Sands, Ballard - slow-acting poison of beauty and loss in a cycle of stories sharing a setting.
Jack of Shadows, Zelazny - this novel is NOT one of the Amber series; it stands alone, and Zelazny transcends himself into a higher mythic level. I seem to read it again every year.
All of these are masters of the craft, and go beyond the typical tropes of the genre, each in his own way.
@@daverockwell1996 Thanks for the recommendations!
one book i cant stop thinking about, is The Mountain in the Sea. if you havent read it yet, i cannot recommend it enough
@@LevelUpYourFandom I own it but haven’t read it yet. Looking forward to it!
@@WordsinTime i think you will find it shares a bit with Dawn, in that its primarily a dystopian 'first contact' story of sorts about the nature of consciousness. i read it a year or so ago now, and i still think about it. its one that completely caught me off guard too when i got into it, was not expecting it to hit so deep
Great list, all ones I want to check out!
Hope you enjoy!
The [Widget], the [Wadget], and Boff, written by Ted Sturgeon is a very worthwhile and rewarding read imo. It demonstrated how SF had grown up and could have both fantastic ideas and great story telling. P.S. Brightside Crossing by Alan E. Nourse is another work that sticks in my mind. Just thinking about it makes me hot and thirsty! lol
@@SlackerBabel Haha I’ll have to look it up!
@@WordsinTime Brightside Crossing is in the public domain, at Project Gutenberg and the internet archive where all the back issues of Galaxy Magazines are in public domain, even the issues with Dune, IIRC! RUclips didn't like me linking to it earlier, but the Project Gutenberg one is easy to search for. For Galaxy Magazine it helps to know what issue you are looking for, and how to use the viewer they have. The zoom feature works!
galapados isn't one of my faves by vonnegut either but I appreciated it for its unblinking look at the nature of human nature. I ended up DNFing altered carbon when an amazon reader pointed out a huge mistake the author made that I hadn't even noticed. But since I've forgotten what the mistake was I may go back and finish it!⚛😀
Haha give it another try!
Dawn is on my TBR, with a lot of Butler's other works! I hope you enjoy Annihilation. I think I'm the only person that didn't love that book!
@@RedFuryBooks Dawn is interesting. I didn’t love all of it but it had strong aspects. I recently finished Annihilation and it was a 7.5/10 for me. I liked it but didn’t love it.
Good pick!!
I really enjoyed the Southern Reach trilogy. Weird Sci-Fi and cosmic horror at its finest!
I haven’t read (yet) any of the books you mention but they’re all in my TBT now! Thanks!
Books I can’t stop thinking about:
Solaris, A Canticle for Liebovitz, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, The Forever War
Those are all great choices!
Loved annihilation. It's full on eerie.
Nice! I’m looking forward to it!
For sci-fi books that stick with you long after reading them, I'd have to say Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash was that for me. But then, most of his books stick with me in that way.
I enjoyed Snow Crash. I need to read more Stephenson!
Even though I had to skip to the end 76% through The Wolf in the Whale stuck with me.
Interesting!
@@WordsinTime and I'll never know what happened to her fucking brother 😪
Adding them all to my tbr
Nice! Hope you enjoy!
No Permutation City?
I better call Jonathan and let him know his account has been hacked. Somebody is posting cheap fakes of him.
Permutation City is always an implied recommendation haha
Much preferred the film Annihilation to the book if I'm honest. Be interested to here what you think.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
Nuts. More books I have to buy.
Haha I’m here to help 📚
Annihilation: I liked both the movie and the book. But they differ significantly.
Interesting!
I just finished "blindsight" and couldnt tell you what happened in the last 100 pages. The whole book was a blur of boredom with a smattering of interesting ideas, just watch a spoiler filled review and save yourself some time and money
@@EpicDoom80 It’s a polarizing one. I liked it but that’s okay, I can see why it might not work for everyone.
Finished 2 out of 5 and DNFed Altered Carbon. It seemed like gratuitous violence to me and I could not bring myself to give a damn who killed him and why.
A very long time since I read Dawn and mostly was not enthusiastic about it.
I liked *More Than Human* .
Altered Carbon is very violent. I’m glad you liked More Than Human!
@@WordsinTime
Did you ever check out *Daemon & Freedom* by Daniel Suarez? I don't recall your ever saying. I must watch too many booktubers.
@@psikeyhackr6914 I own Daemon and plan to read it later this year!
@@WordsinTime
Daemon & Freedom are actually a single story, it is just spread over two books like Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion.
Annihilation?
But it was soooooo close.
🙉
Not a fan of annihilation. I thought it was pretty bad actually. On the other hand, I thought the movie was decent.
@@mbmurphy777 I liked the movie more
Yes! Annihilation!
Let’s go!
@@WordsinTime just finished the southern reach trilogy a couple of weeks ago, stoked he's publishing a 4th novel
Started Altered Carbon this past weekend when I found a copy at my local coffee shop's take-one-leave-one shelf and I'm in love. Reconciling the advancement of technology with stipulations of religion, what happens to the relationships of people who have been married 250+ years, losing your body like one might lose their house in an economic crisis. All wrapped up in this dark gumshoe plotline 🤌🏼
Another great list!
That’s a great description of it!