At last, something I can claim expertise in--you actually see the "sci-fi"
expertise showing on my feeble attempts at technicality ;-)
You should definitely try anything by Stanislaw Lem. Reading him in the
original Polish would be awesome but somewhat far-fetched. Then there are
the German translations in terms of quality and diversity. And lowest on
the ladder are the English translations. Try Solaris, Fiasco, and The
Invincible. Then you can go for Cyberiad, His Master's Voice, Imaginary
Magnitude, and Hospital of Transfiguration. If you are become a studious
fan you may eventually end up reading Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. To fill
the short breathing intervals between reading these works you could try any
of Ijon Tichy's adventures.
Then there's Philip K. Dick. One of his short stories was recommended (by
which the film Blade Runner was inspired). You can try the collection of
essays and stories titled The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick for a
first taste.
Larry Niven's The Jigsaw Men should provide good shock value and probably
get you reading his other works.
There are the Great Three, of course. Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and
Robert A. Heinlein. Anything they wrote is worth a read. Sometimes a number
of reads. Clarke particularly interests me. Try the short story The Nine
Billion Names of God. The series of Odyssey novels are very readable--2001
is a magnum opus of Clarke, and of science fiction.
No science fiction (or fantasy) book recommendation will be complete
without a mention of Ray Bradbury. Try The Illustrated Man, and The Martian
Chronicles. Fahrenheit 451 you have already heard of surely.
There's a lot more to recommend but let's let it pass.
--On Wednesday, December 03, 2008 4:29 PM +0800 Fernan Bolando
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi all
I am not sure if anybody here reads Sci-Fi novels. Any recommendations?
--
http://www.fernski.com