The final project for my astrobiology class (aimed at non-science students) is to read a scifi book with well-developed aliens and rate the aliens/exoplanets/space travel/human-alien interactions based on what students learned in class. I'm always looking for new books to add to the list (and more good scifi books to read!)
My list for this year:
Fuzzy Nation (Scalzi)
Ender’s Game (Card)
Binti (Okarafor)
Translation State (Leckie)
A Half-Built Garden (Emrys)
Aurora (Robinson)
The Algebraist (Banks)
Blindsight (Watts)
Of course this list is skewed by what *I* enjoy reading. But I'm always looking to expand. Any good ones I've forgotten?
@Shanmonster I need to read more Octavia Butler...though I got quite scared after I started reading "The Parable of the Sower" and it sounded like a documentary, and I had to bail out...
Adding this one to my library queue, thanks!
@sundogplanets @Shanmonster
"… started reading "The Parable of the Sower" and it sounded like a documentary, and I had to bail out... "
Exactly what happened to me. 😕
@sundogplanets "Seveneves" - Stephenson?
(tbh, I was not able to finish it. I thought the first part was great, right up to when it focuses on what happens in orbit, after the "event".)
Entities from outside the universe tunneling through the universe on their way to somewhere else don't count as aliens?
Oh dear, you weren't talking about Excession. Sorry, it's been a long day.
Excession - Banks. My favourite kind of Banks.
That dude died so very prematurely. Also it's wild how he climbed people's houses. Two unrelated facts, BTW.
@sundogplanets @christianschwaegerl @Kultanaamio
Just know that Leviathan is only one book in the nine book series... plus several short novellas that provide back stories on Amos, the Epstein drive, the Butcher of Anderson Station, and others
Truly great series - IMHO. Big fan of the books and the TV adaptation...
No, I have not. But I will check it out for sure. Thank you.
@sundogplanets Ringworld by Niven
Surprised to see The Sparrow come up, I read that one in undergrad and never seen it mentioned anywhere until this post
I love that book, but the aliens are so far off screen I hesitated to suggest it. It does have a great depiction of the logistics of interstellar war.
A very grim but excellent book about fundamental misconceptions and misunderstandings between species.
@ShadSterling @sundogplanets totally came here to suggest that one.
The other but very different one - on the humorour side is
Earthman's Burden (but it's been a long while since I read that)
@sundogplanets
For your "humans, aliens, environments" list:
Mission of Gravity (Hal Clement)
Dragon's Egg, Starquake (Robert L. Forward)
@sundogplanets Another for your book list. This one has a grand timescale and interesting aliens.
Pushing Ice, Alistair Reynolds.
A human spaceship and crew, who end up at the mercy of multiple contending species, all trapped within a megastructure in the deep future.
Among Hal Clement's books, I have a particular fondness for "Still River".
Because it is a story about planetary science graduate students doing fieldwork.
Thank you for mentioning Misson of Gravity and Dragon's Egg.
Unusual but scientifically accurate aliens and planets. Both authored by the hardest SF writers who ever lived.
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