dimanche 31 août 2014

The Best Sci Fi Novels

By Mattie MacDonald


Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is considered a classic piece of literature and one of the first and best sci fi novels ever written. The story is set in a dystopian future where people are psychologically manipulated and conditioned for the benefit of the powers that be.

Another Dystopian science fiction classic is Ray Bradbury;s Fahrenheit 451. The title refers to the temperature that paper will ignite spontaneously. The story revolves around a group of people called "Fireman", who instead of putting out fires, burn books. One such Fireman is Guy Montag who lives a lonely existence. He discovers the value of literature and sets about saving books from being burned, while saving his own existence.

Dune by Frank Herbert is set on a fictional planet far far away called Arrakis, Arrakis is the sole source of a drug called melange, that provides immortality to anyone that takes it. The planet is also the stage for an epic power feud between the two ruling families and the quest of the young Duke Paul Atreides to gain his rightful place on the throne.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? This classic novel by Phillip K Dick is a post apocalyptic tale set in 1992, where many plant and animal species are extinct and most of the surviving humans have abandoned the dying Earth to live on Mars. On Mars they are allowed to own androids, which serve as slaves, but many of these robots became discontented and fled to Earth. However, back on Earth, bounty hunters search for the androids and "retire" them. The bounty hunter Rick Deckard finds himself on a quest to find eight androids that recently arrived in San Francisco after they killed their human masters on Mars. Sound familiar? It is because the classic movie Bladerunner is based on the novel.

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson's is a must-read for any fan of science fiction. The book is set in the not too distant future where human beings have started to colonize Mars. Arguments erupt back on Earth as to whether to create another Earth by terraforming or to leave Mars as it is.

The renowned astro-physicist wrote Contact in 1985 and is an essential piece of hard science fiction and adventure. It tell the tale of a woman who discovers radio signals emanating from an Earth like planet while working at SETI, She gets the chance to visit the planet and come face to face with her own self. The novel explore issues of religion, politics and scientific discovery and humanities possible reaction to making contact with extra-terrestrial life.

The Foundation trilogy by Issac Asimov is considered classic literature. Set in the far future, humans have spread throughout the galaxy and established an empire that is about to collapse due to corruption, bureaucracy and political infighting. The historian Hari Seldon sets out to preserve all knowledge in a vast encyclopedia. He brings many eminent scientists and scholars together on a planet to bring a new era of humanity.

War of the Worlds by HG Wells is another early sci fi novel that is well known all over the world. Jealous Martians that covet the Earth resources lead an attack on Earth by using total war to subdue humans. The first chapter in the story was read by Orson Wells on the radio in 1938, causing a large number of listeners to panic thinking that the events were actually taking place.




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