Sci-Fi Book Recommendations?

[virginredrum]

Soooooo...

I never post on my own blog or on LJ, but I kind of figured that if I was going to get a viable response from anyone, it would be from the folks who might read this on the FLists rather than the scant handful of non-sci-fi-geeking folks who might have my blog in their RSS feeds.

I have this vision of myself as a sci-fi geek of the truest,

Comments

[lorhusol]

My 2 cents:
01. Ray Bradbury - Either of these works well, but Farenheit 451 is the better know and more frequently referenced work.
02. Isaac Asimov - I would suggest Foundation instead of I, Robot, if you're going for the classic SF route. If you're wanting SF in mainstream media, then I, Robot would be better.
03. Arthur C. Clarke - Again you have the choice between the more classic SF novel - Childhood's end - or the more mainstream novel - 2001: A space Odyssey.
04. Frank Herbert - This one really is obvious. If you get hooked on the series, let me warn you now that the books written by his son are aweful.
05. Phillip K. Dick - Once again you have the choice of the classic SF - The Man in the High Castle, or the mainstream -Do Androids...-, which was adapted into the cult classic Bladerunner.
06. Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game and the sequels are really a must read here.
07. Robert Heinlein - As previously suggested Stranger in a Strange land is the best known. I would also recommend The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, which is representative of his later works. Also, again for the mainstream impact, you might want to consider Starship Troupers (its actually significantly better than the movie).
08. Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash is good, but I preferred Diamond Age. Honestly, they're both fascinating easy reads. These are also more modern works.
William Gibson, mentioned by someone else, is cyberpunk, a subgenre. I personally hate his work, but there is no denying that he influenced the field.
H. G. Wells The Time Machine is a definite addition to this list if you haven't read it yet.

So there, that is the distillation of my personal reading experiences, but also of what I remember from my comparative SF literature class taken at U of Cincinnati many many moons ago. Hope it helps.