{"id":895,"date":"2007-03-13T12:40:26","date_gmt":"2007-03-13T12:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/?p=895"},"modified":"2007-03-13T12:40:26","modified_gmt":"2007-03-13T12:40:26","slug":"the_most_significant_sf_and_fa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/2007\/03\/13\/the_most_significant_sf_and_fa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Significant SF and Fantasy Books Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another meme from Jaquandor<\/a>, this time about books:<\/p>\n


\nOn the following list of somebody’s picks for “the most significant SF and fantasy books ever,” the bolded titles are ones I’ve read; italicized ones are those I plan to read; the strikethrough means I have no interest in the book, for whatever reason; and the question marks are beside those I’ve never of. I’ve put in comments where I felt the need.
\nOkay, let’s go:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Lord of the Rings<\/b>, J.R.R. Tolkien<\/li>\n
  2. The Foundation Trilogy<\/b>, Isaac Asimov
    \n(Read it so long ago that I don’t remember much; I’d like to revisit it.)<\/li>\n
  3. Dune<\/b>, Frank Herbert<\/li>\n
  4. Stranger in a Strange Land<\/i>, Robert A. Heinlein
    \n(One of the genre’s landmarks, the big one that everybody talks about. I don’t know how I’ve managed to evade it all these years.)<\/li>\n
  5. A Wizard of Earthsea<\/span>, Ursula K. Le Guin
    \n(I remember a lot of folks reading this in middle school or thereabouts, but the title does nothing for me, not even tempted.)<\/li>\n
  6. Neuromancer<\/b>, William Gibson
    \n(I need to re-read this one; I think I’d probably appreciate it more now than I did the first time.)<\/li>\n
  7. Childhood’s End<\/b>, Arthur C. Clarke<\/li>\n
  8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?<\/b>, Philip K. Dick
    \n(The basis for the movie Blade Runner<\/i> is another I need to re-visit; I remember not understanding much of it when I read it as a kid.)<\/li>\n
  9. The Mists of Avalon<\/i>, Marion Zimmer Bradley<\/li>\n
  10. Fahrenheit 451<\/i>, Ray Bradbury<\/li>\n
  11. ? The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe<\/li>\n
  12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
    \n(Heard of it, know that it’s supposed to be a big classic, but don’t know enough else about it to have an opinion…)<\/li>\n
  13. The Caves of Steel<\/i>, Isaac Asimov<\/li>\n
  14. ? Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras<\/li>\n
  15. Cities in Flight<\/i>, James Blish
    \n(Blish is best known for novelizing the classic Star Trek<\/i> episodes, but this novel, in which the Earth is evacuated by lifting entire cities into space, has always sounded intriguing… especially since it reminds me of those Boston album covers I loved so much as a teen!)<\/li>\n
  16. The Colour of Magic<\/span>, Terry Pratchett
    \n(I have a couple of friends who are virtually addicted to Pratchett, but I haven’t yet heard or read anything about his work that appeals to me. Just not my cuppa, I guess…)<\/li>\n
  17. ? Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison<\/li>\n
  18. Deathbird Stories<\/i>, Harlan Ellison<\/li>\n
  19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
    \n(Another that I’ve heard of, but don’t know enough about to have an opinion…)<\/li>\n
  20. ? Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany<\/li>\n
  21. Dragonflight<\/i>, Anne McCaffrey<\/li>\n
  22. Ender’s Game<\/b>, Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n
  23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever<\/span>, Stephen R. Donaldson
    \n(Another biggie around Oquirrh Hills Middle School, but they never appealed to me.)<\/li>\n
  24. The Forever War<\/b>, Joe Haldeman<\/li>\n
  25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
    \n(Heard of it, no opinion…)<\/li>\n
  26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone<\/i>, J.K. Rowling
    \n(I’ll get around to Mr. Potter one of these days, probably after everyone else has long since lost interest…)<\/li>\n
  27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy<\/b>, Douglas Adams<\/li>\n
  28. I Am Legend<\/i>, Richard Matheson<\/li>\n
  29. Interview with the Vampire<\/b>, Anne Rice<\/li>\n
  30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
    \n(Heard of it, no opinion…)<\/li>\n
  31. ? Little, Big, John Crowley<\/li>\n
  32. ? Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny<\/li>\n
  33. ? The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick<\/li>\n
  34. ? Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement<\/li>\n
  35. ? More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon<\/li>\n
  36. ? The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith<\/li>\n
  37. On the Beach<\/b>, Nevil Shute<\/li>\n
  38. Rendezvous with Rama<\/b>, Arthur C. Clarke<\/li>\n
  39. Ringworld<\/b>, Larry Niven<\/li>\n
  40. ? Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys<\/li>\n
  41. The Silmarillion<\/i>, J.R.R. Tolkien<\/li>\n
  42. Slaughterhouse-5<\/i>, Kurt Vonnegut<\/li>\n
  43. ? Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson<\/li>\n
  44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
    \n(Heard of it, no opinion…)<\/li>\n
  45. ? The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
    \n(Never heard of of this one, obviously, but I think it’s a beautiful title.)<\/li>\n
  46. Starship Troopers<\/b>, Robert A. Heinlein<\/li>\n
  47. ? Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock<\/li>\n
  48. The Sword of Shannara<\/b>, Terry Brooks<\/li>\n
  49. Timescape<\/b>, Gregory Benford<\/li>\n
  50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go<\/i>, Philip Jose Farmer
    \n(The adventures of Victorian explorer     Sir Richard Burton<\/a> resurrected and exploring an alien world<\/a>? Why haven’t I gotten around to this one yet?)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Another meme from Jaquandor, this time about books:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memes-and-quizzes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}