Comments on: Cam’s Top 10 – A SciFi Primer

By: Raymond

Raymond — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:17:36 +0000

“The Invention of Morel” by Adolfo Bioy Casares. It’s from 1940 and written in Argentina, but Jorge Luis Borges and Octavio Paz have nothing but praise for it.

By: Cam

Cam — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:58:29 +0000

Hi Megan,

You’re right there is no Clarke. Keep in mind this is MY top 10 list. If you have your own please do post a link here.

I seriously considered ACC for my list a number of times, but in the end I was looking for books that were self-contained and didn’t span many many volumes before they became “compelling”. You’ll notice that Lord of the Rings and the Foundation series are also not on my list.

In short, I’d need 100 book long list to do the genre justice in the eyes of most of you. For me, these are the ones I return to over and over when getting people hooked and they’ve worked quite well.

Your mileage may vary of course.

Thanks for visiting.

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:58:55 +0000

Wow Arthur C. Clarke didn’t even make your list? Rama Revealed is a classic sci fi must read and should have at least made the list not to mention 2001 A Space Odyssey and several other honorable mentions.

By: Cam

Cam — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:25:18 +0000

@35 (S Cific). Why so Serious?

1. This list is fairly old. I’ve read quite a few more since then and might consider changing this list around a lot now.
2. These are all still great reads, so why would the absence of ONE AUTHOR invalidate the fact that these are worthwhile if you haven’t tried them?
3. It’s my list Everyone has different tastes. I didn’t include Dune and almost EVERYONE took offense to that. Do you?
4. It’s a primer. Meant for people who haven’t read ANY SciFi yet. I know of at least 2 teachers who’ve used this as the basis of their “Comparative Science Fiction Literature” courses in high school.

Thanks for stopping by and participating.

By: S Cific

S Cific — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 06:20:22 +0000

Great. Another list of ‘great\ must read ! SciFi …from someone who’s never heard of Robert Sheckley. So much for your list.

By: Cam

Cam — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:56:20 +0000

Ok. Time for another Amazon.com order. Based on these comments I'll be ordering (at least): John Ringo - The Last Centurian Olaf Stapledon - The Star Maker Dovin Melhee - nSpace John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar Joe Haldeman – Mindbridge Robert Sheckley - Mindswap Thanks everyone!

By: spaceman

spaceman — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:08:26 +0000

Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was a Hugo and Nebula nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist and broadly comical.

That’s from Wiki. I would like to note that much of his books are in Douglas Adams style, or should I say Douglas Adams books are in Sheckley style because Robert was writing before Adams.

“I had no idea the competition was so terrifyingly good.” — Douglas Adams (on Sheckley books)

By: spaceman

spaceman — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:40:52 +0000

-> Well, I haven’t heard of Sheckley, so why don’t you suggest one for me.

He didn’t suggest something so I will.
Robert Sheckley’s Mindswap is among my personal fav. It has, maybe, the best and most unexpected ending in the history of SF.

By: spaceman

spaceman — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:03:50 +0000

Thanks for the list. I’ve read half of the books and some of them aren’t in my top 20 but hey, thats all about taste.

Have a great 2010.

By: cguy

cguy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:06:12 +0000

thanks for all this information! I was having a massive bout of indiscision on which books to buy as a gift, these reviews and suggestions really helped!