Science fiction books are not just entertainment ; They almost always tend to be impregnated with reflections about our society, the psychological mechanisms that guide our thinking and the material and social conditions that make us behave in one way or another.
In this selection of science fiction books you can find excellent examples of the extent to which this genre is a description of, at the same time, what our universe is and what it could become.
1. Cyberiad, by Stanislaw Lem
Fables in the form of stories that talk about a universe in which visiting other planets is as normal as going to buy bread. The stories Stanislaw Lem tells in this book They are full of humor and interesting reflections
2. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
A compilation of stories that have something in common: They are set on a planet Mars colonized by humans Ray Bradbury takes very good advantage of all the possibilities that this context offers him when creating original stories.
In a world in which psychic powers are part of everyday life, Joe Chip, the protagonist of this novel, offers services to block these mental abilities in those contexts in which they can be used to damage or steal property. But All this changes when he is entrusted with the mission of protecting lunar facilities
4. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
The compilation of stories in which the famous laws of robotics are explained and, in general, the paradoxes that can arise in those logical rules that humanity can give to artificial intelligence.
5. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
ender It is the product of an ambitious project to train warriors who must face an extraterrestrial race. For it, must train alongside other young people in a special training center with zero gravity
6. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
A novel as stimulating as it is demanding that tells the adventures of a cyberspace cowboy that can connect your nervous system to a kind of Internet in which everything has its representation.
If you are interested in this novel, here is more information about it.
7. 1984, by George Orwell
A country in a permanent state of exception, cameras everywhere and a relentless apparatus of repression of citizens. This novel by George Orwell It has been established as one of the best science fiction books for the parallels that can be drawn between its universe and reality.
On this page you will find more information about the book.
8. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
In this novel, Ursula K. Le Guin reflects on what life could be like if intelligent beings like humans were capable of changing sex periodically. That is to say, write a society without gender differentiation
An alternate world in which the axis of Nazi Germany and Japan have won the war and occupy the United States, with all that this entails in terms of repression and persecution of ethnic minorities. In this context, different plot lines are narrated about spies, Jews who remain hidden, and people who fight to preserve their dignity in an occupied country.
If you are interested and want to read it, visit this page.
10. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
One of the most famous dystopias for its resemblance to the 21st century West A society in which formal freedom hides a mode of manipulation based on the constant search for pleasure.
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11. Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
A well-known plot: a theme park based on the exhibition of real dinosaurs cloned from preserved DNA, a businessman eager to exploit this asset and a group of researchers who must examine the place before it opens its doors. However, The book is very different from the movie and contains many very interesting reflections about nature, science and chaos theory.
On this page you can read it.
12. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
Not all science fiction books have to be novels ; There are also science fiction graphic novels. Alan Moore is one of those who has shown the most skill when it comes to telling stories through vignettes, and in Watchmen he makes it clear that colored pages have nothing to envy of cinema, not even when it comes to is to focus all the plot weight on the development of complex characters.
If you are interested in purchasing it, click here.
13. I have no mouth and I must scream, by Harlan Elliston
One of the most famous science fiction stories, and also one of the crudest. It tells the misadventures of a group of people who are kept alive by a computer that tortures them to take revenge on humanity for creating it.
14. Dune, by Frank Herbert
Among the best-known science fiction books is Dune, a book that has given rise to the creation of two parallel sagas located in the same fictional universe Set on a desert planet whose dunes are crossed by enormous giant worms and by tribes of humans living in misery, this book shows one of the most immersive worlds ever written about.
Here you can read more about Dune.
15. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin
One of the characteristics of science fiction is that it allows “imaginary experiments” to be carried out to reflect on alternative forms of social and political organization. This book by Ursula K. Le Guin is a good example of this, as its pages describe an anarchist society that lives in a phase of communism in which property has been abolished.
You can read it in this compilation.
16. Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany
The story takes place in a city isolated from the rest of the world, immersed in a constant post-apocalyptic state, in which all kinds of inexplicable situations occur. But this novel is much more than the setting where the events occur: the way in which it is narrated, the themes discussed and the approach given to the story have made it one of the great references of science fiction.
You can buy the book here.
17. Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
The best-known book by this author: for a reason it has been adapted to film twice This novel tells about a psychologist who travels to an observation station located on the surface of a strange planet, since it has long been suspected that its inhabitants are developing mental disorders.
