Your top 20 sci-fi books - listener survey results!

FromHugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

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Your top 20 sci-fi books - listener survey results!

FromHugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

ratings:

Length:

37 minutes

Released:

May 28, 2024

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

If you want to see the complete survey results, including all the top books, favorite authors, and short stories come find them on the discord.Video version of this episode available on YouTube.

Released:

May 28, 2024

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (61)

Explore the best of sci-fi with Brent and Cody every two weeks! Each episode dives into a single book or series in the sci-fi cannon. Author interviews, reviews and analysis, and related book recommendations. Happy reading y'all!

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A Canticle for Leibowitz: Who knew the nuclear apocalypse could be so funny?: This is a sci fi great, if you haven't read it, you're in for a treat! A no-spoilers book review of the classic by Walter M. Miller Jr. 4/5 stars by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
27 min listen
Hyperion - A space epic with a classic literary twist: Hyperion by Dan Simmons is one of the best sci fi books of all time, and won the Hugo and the Locus awards in 1990. We give it a 4.5 / 5. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
25 min listen
Dune: Do you like sand?: Dune is an icon, and was one of the first sci fi novels to build a complete world that feels full and is exciting to explore. But let's be real - it's also coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
23 min listen
The Vorkosigan Saga: what INCREDIBLE main characters!: This series is beloved by its fans, but doesn't get enough recognition in the wider world. The perfect intro to sci fi for anyone new to the genre, and a refreshing read for any longtime sci fi fan. 4.25 / 5 stars. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
24 min listen
Ender's Game - The page turner where empathy is a superpower!: Ender’s Game is one of the most popular science fiction books of all time, and when you pick it up, you’ll see why – you won’t be able to put it down! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
41 min listen
The Mars Trilogy - colonizing and terraforming Mars!: Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson are incredibly detailed books that dive into the colonization and terraforming of Mars and the technology that could make it possible. 3.5 out of 5 stars. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
29 min listen
House of Suns - An epic space opera with solid science!: House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds is a big, beautiful space opera, spanning the entire galaxy and six million years of human history. The stakes are high, the technology feels real, and the world building is top-notch! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
40 min listen
The Three Body Problem - some of the biggest ideas in sci fi!: This series starts with a bang! So many incredible ideas woven together into a hugely mysterious plot that you'll never see coming. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
45 min listen
Children of Time - A book so good it makes you root for the giant spiders!: Children of Time is a book about giant, super-evolved spiders and a human ark ship. It is so well done it somehow manages to make you empathize and root for the spiders. 3.67 out of 5 stars. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
31 min listen
The Left Hand of Darkness - an incredible book that shattered the glass ceiling in sci fi: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin is absolutely, no doubt, one of the greatest sci fi books of all time. It also could not have broken the glass ceiling in a more awesome, on the nose way. Our first unanimous 5 out of 5. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
30 min listen
Foundation - The rise and fall of a galactic empire!: The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov is a remarkable journey across multiple centuries, as generation after generation of Foundationers struggle to implement Hari Seldon's grand plan and avoid a galaxy-wide dark age! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
36 min listen
Rendezvous with Rama - What if an alien ship flew into the solar system?: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke is an incredibly well thought out look at what might happen if a giant alien spaceship flew into the solar system. 3.75 out of 5 stars. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
28 min listen
An interview with Joe Haldeman, author of The Forever War!: An interview with all-time sci fi great Joe Haldeman and his wife Gay! We discuss his classic military sci fi (and anti-war) novel The Forever War, as well as science fiction and writing more broadly. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
54 min listen
The City and the City - A Mystery in a Mystery!: The City and the City by China Miéville is a deeply interesting mystery within a mystery. 4 out of 5 stars. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
17 min listen
The Windup Girl - A gene-hacking dystopia full of anti-heroes!: The winner of both the Nebula and the Hugo award in 2010, this is an extraordinarily unique book that will absolutely make you think! It's dark, brutal, and full of deeply complex people, all of whom are trying to get a piece of the pie and don't particularly care about who gets hurt along the way. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
34 min listen
A Fire Upon the Deep - Aliens and AI and Internet Trolls, oh my!: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge is an incredibly ambitious novel that successfully combines all kinds of interesting ideas into one tightly woven, gripping story. It won the Hugo award in 1993. We give it a 4.75 / 5. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
22 min listen
Ancillary Justice – A unique take on AI and a sprawling, complex galactic empire!: Ancillary Justice is a book that does so many things right! A plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat, complex characters who speak in realistic dialogue full of subtext, and a world that feels fully realized and is wonderful to explore. 4/5 stars. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
40 min listen
Station Eleven - A character-driven post-apocalyptic survival story!: A fresh take on the post-apocalyptic genre! It almost reads like a zombie survival story without the zombies. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
33 min listen
The Machine Stops - Complete Short Story Audiobook with Full Cast!: This classic short story by E. M. Forster is an absolutely gripping, entertaining, emotional, and prescient story that is a must-listen for anyone who thinks about the effects of technology on our lives and relationships. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
68 min listen
Ted Chiang's short stories - Like the optimistic version of black mirror episodes!: Ted Chiang wrote the story the movie Arrival is based on - and many of his other stories are even better! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
30 min listen
Interview with David Brin - Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of Startide Rising and the Postman!: This week we talk with David Brin about his writing, what it was like seeing his book adapted into a movie, the future of sci-fi, how aliens would be welcomed in Los Angeles, and what it was like to study writing under Ursula K. Le Guin with Kim Stanley Robinson! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
59 min listen
The Machine Stops - A dystopian short story that feels almost too real! (analysis episode): Analysis & review of the classic short story by E. M. Forster where everyone lives in a tiny mechanical cell, connected to each other and the outside world only through the machine. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
16 min listen
Behind the scenes with Seth Fishman - agent for Cixin Liu, Ann Leckie & more!: Ever wondered who decides what kinds of sci-fi books get published? Or why the first book in a series is usually the best? Or how to publish that novel you've been working on for years? Then take a peak behind the scenes to see what's really happening in the world of sci-fi publishing! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
46 min listen
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The funniest thing to ever happen to sci fi!: This is one of the top three most popular sci-fi books of all time, and for good reason - it is relentlessly funny and philosophical at the same time! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
32 min listen
Author interviews from the Hugo Awards - Seanan McGuire, Ryka Aoki, and Joe Haldeman!: We're back from the Hugo Awards with three great author interviews in one episode! Seanan McGuire, Ryka Aoki, and Joe and Gay Haldeman. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
65 min listen
Ranking the best sci-fi books of 2021! Who are the frontrunners to win the Hugo award?: Ranking and reviewing this year's Hugo nominees for best novel! We summarize the beginning of each book, review them (with no spoilers), and talk about what kind of reader is likely to love (and hate) each one. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
39 min listen
Blindsight - A haunting, mindblowing first contact book!: Blindsight by Peter Watts is a book that will make you question fundamental things about the nature of consciousness, reconsider what first contact with aliens could mean, and is also an incredible journey out into the dark of the stars to get to the big reveal! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
30 min listen
Parable of the Sower - A very real dystopia that helped launch Afrofuturism!: This is an incredibly entertaining read that also contains a very interesting philosophy. It will make you think about the undercurrents within society that drive us apart, the good and the bad sides of religion, and how much it would suck if society really did collapse. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
29 min listen
Interview with Ken Liu - author of the Paper Menagerie!: Interview with Ken Liu, author of The Paper Menagerie, The Hidden Girl, and The Dandelion Dynasty. He's also the translator of the Three Body Problem! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
57 min listen
Double Star - A hilarious, lighthearted book that is a perfect introduction to Robert Heinlein!: Double Star is a hilarious, lighthearted read with an unforgettable main character. If you're looking for an entry point into Heinlein's work, want a classic from the golden age of sci-fi that has stood the test of time, or are just hoping for a book that doesn't take itself too seriously - this one's for you! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
23 min listen

More Episodes from Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

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Embassytown - Aliens who are truly alien and a wild, techno-organic world!: This book by China Miéville is a masterpiece, a rare, unanimous 5/5. An incredible world / universe, a gripping story, and some really wild philosophy about language and trying to communicate with aliens who are truly, truly alien. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
37 min listen
2024 Nebula nominees - 3 great books on this short list!: Such a great year of books, the top 3 nominees are frickin' wonderful. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
32 min listen
Metro 2033 - The book that inspired the hugely popular video games!: The Metro video game series was a huge success. Is it worth reading Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel that inspired it all? by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
38 min listen
The Martian - Poop, Taters, and Tenacity: The Martian by Andy Weir is one of the most fun, un-put-downable sci-fi adventure stories out there. Plus, it's really in a league of it's own, poop-taters wise. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
28 min listen
Roadside Picnic - the book that inspired Stalker and Metro 2033!: Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's sci-fi masterpiece is driven by one man - Red Schuhart, one of the greatest characters ever written into science fiction. He's a stalker, one of the few people with enough grit and wits to survive trips into the Zone, the eerie region left behind after aliens visited Earth. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
44 min listen
The Expanse - Full series review!: Watched the show and wondering if you should read the books? REVIEW SPOILER HELL YES YOU SHOULD this is the greatest space opera series ever written. James S.A. Corey all four of your cheeks deserve a nice squeeze from nona. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
51 min listen
We - The book banned by the Soviets that inspired 1984!: We by Yevgenzy Zamyatin is the grand-daddy of all dystopias that couldn't be published in the USSR until 1988! Extremely well-written and full of interesting ideas - petroleum food, anyone? by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
37 min listen
Beyond Lies the Wub by Philip K. Dick - complete short story audiobook!: This week we're bringing you a complete short story - Philip K. Dick's first published work. This is a fun one, hope y'all enjoy! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
16 min listen
The Mountain in the Sea - Octopuses, AI, and the struggle to communicate!: One of the best sci-fi books of the last couple years! A must-read if you're into octopuses, different forms of consciousness, or how to communicate with and understand people (or aliens!) who see the world through different eyes. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
29 min listen
The Top 15 Sci-Fi Books of All Time!: We tried to do top 10, but the world is just too full of good stuff to read. Bonus books! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
37 min listen
Permutation City - A mind-bending look at the singularity, consciousness, and immortality!: Permutation City by Greg Egan is a triumph of hard scifi! One of the best-ever explorations of mind-uploading, it also brings a mind-bending idea about randomness, the nature of the universe, and consciousness that will stay with you forever. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
32 min listen
Interview with Peter Watts - Author of Blindsight!: Peter Watts is the award winning author of Blindsight; Echopraxia; Starfish, and many more - but we focused the conversation on our favorite of his books - Blindsight! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
44 min listen
Spin - A first contact book that starts with a bang (and the stars going out)!: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson has a wonderfully big, bad sci-fi problem to overcome, powerful, inscrutable aliens, and a wonderful human story to tie it all together! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
49 min listen
1984 - The techno-surveillance dystopia that keeps coming true!: George Orwell's terrifying look at life inside a totalitarian surveillance state stands up just as well today as when it was written - we had a great time revisiting this one! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
39 min listen
2023 Hugo Nominees - plus 3 great SF books that should have made the list!: The Hugo nominees are out, and we’re going to help you dodge the bad and find the good by ranking them all - plus 3 amazing sci-fi books that should have made the list! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
26 min listen
The Dispossessed - Anarchy, capitalism, and fighting for freedom across two planets!: Ursula K. Le Guin's cerebral fusion of science fiction and a thought-provoking exploration of two very different ways of organizing society is absolutely one of her best books! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
30 min listen
The Road - the best post-apocalyptic book ever written?!: Cormac McCarthy's unforgettable story about a man and his son trying to survive the nuclear winter is gripping, disturbing, deeply emotional, and hopeful all at once. If you love to read, you've got to add at least one Cormac McCarthy book to your bucket list, and this is one of his best. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
31 min listen
Solaris - An intensely creative, mind-blowing first contact book!: Stanislaw Lem's masterwork will absolutely blow your mind about the possibilities of alien life. And it establishes an incredible mood of dislocation and creepiness to boot - if you like cosmic horror or first contact you need to read this book! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
29 min listen
The Expanse - Books 1 thru 3 - the biggest space opera of the modern era!: Incredible action, colonies across the solar system, compelling characters, and a high-stakes fight to save the human race - so much here to love! This episode cover's the first three books in the series - Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, and Abaddon's Gate. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
33 min listen
Fahrenheit 451 - book propaganda or flamethrower celebration?: Burning books, sweet flamethrowers, and complaining about people watching too much TV make Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury one of the all-time dystopian classics. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
36 min listen
A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick's best book?: An all-time sci-fi classic set in a dark future. It follows Bob Arctor and his life of drugs and paranoia - and what happens when he doesn't have any voices left that he can trust. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
36 min listen
Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of 2022: Part 1 - The Nebula Nominees: Ranking and reviewing the 2022 Nebula nominees so you know what's worth reading! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
24 min listen
Brave New World - Sex, Drugs, and Dystopia: Aldous Huxley's classic is one of the greatest dystopian books of all time. How much would you trade for happiness? What makes life worth living? And is an orgy still sexy if you call it an orgy porgy? by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
40 min listen
Providence by Max Barry - an AI battleship, a hapless crew, and black-hole spewing aliens!: This is a book that probably tries to do too much - but its still a short, often fun read. Besides, it's hard to hate a book that gets back to some good old humans vs aliens space war action and tries its best to bring some important themes along for the ride. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
38 min listen
Interview with Becky Chambers - author of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet!: Becky Chambers is the multiple-Hugo award winning author of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet; A Closed and Common Orbit; A Psalm for the Wild-Built, and many more! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
38 min listen
Contact by Carl Sagan - a scientifically grounded and totally ground-breaking first-contact story!: Modern-day radio astronomers making first contact with an alien civilization - it almost feels like the optimistic counterpoint to the Three Body Problem! Hard science, amazing characters, a wonderful exploration of the interplay between science and faith, and an all-pervasive sense of wonder - this is a book that you will give you ideas to think about for years to come. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
37 min listen
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - The wildly entertaining book that invented the Metaverse!: Snow Crash is fun, fast and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Big ideas, big action, and incredibly fun to read! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
30 min listen
The Andromeda Strain - A scientific thriller about an alien virus!: Michael Crichton's breakout novel about an alien organism that kills in minutes and the scientific race to understand it before it can spread and wreak havoc worldwide! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
26 min listen
The Handmaid's Tale - A chilling, theocratic dystopian classic!: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is one of the best dystopian novels of all time! It's a fully realized, dark, and disturbing world of theocratic control and misogyny, explored through a masterfully written book. by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
36 min listen
Dark Matter - A sci-fi thriller that is way too fun to put down!: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch is a sci-fi thriller done just right! It's exciting, its surprising, it follows its own rules, and its got great characters to root for. If you're looking for a book to get you out of a reading slump, or just want a fun read - this one is for you! by Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
26 min listen

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Your top 20 sci-fi books - listener survey results!

Your top 20 sci-fi books - listener survey results!

Description

Titles in the series (61)

More Episodes from Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

Related podcast episodes