Must-Read Science Fiction recommended by Librarian Sarah Houghton
2001, by Arthur C. Clarke
From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, Arthur C. Clarke takes us on a journey unlike any other with this allegory about humanity's exploration of the universe, and the universe's reaction to humanity.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of this utopian World State. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow.
Contact, by Carl Sagan
Dr. Ellie Arroway discovers an intelligent signal from outer space. This signal, and the significance of knowing "we are not alone," excites debate; fosters love, hate, and fear; and unifies mankind on a worldwide scale.
Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson
This look into a future of nanotechnological revolution explores what happens when an incredibly powerful interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin, who uses it to reprogram the future of humanity.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Philip K. Dick
By 2021, the World War had killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Rick Deckard was an officially sanctioned bounty hunter whose job was to find rogue androids, and to "retire" them. But cornered, androids tended to fight back, with deadly results.
Dune, by Frank Herbert
This masterpiece tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire.
The Ender Series, by Orson Scott Card
Enjoy this rich series chronicling young Ender Wiggin's role in Earth's war against an alien force, and the political struggles between adult military minds and unwitting child warriors.
Foundation, by Isaac Asimov
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Sheldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years.
Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
Arthur Dent, mild-mannered, out-to-lunch earth-ling, is plucked from his planet by his friend Ford Prefect just seconds before it was demolished to make way for a hyper-space bypass. Ford, posing as an out-of-work actor, is a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Together the gruesome twosome begin their now-famous inter-galactic journey through time and space.
Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
Mars is a place of hope, dreams and metaphor - of crystal pillars and fossil seas - where a fine dust settles on the great, empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn - first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow.
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Case had been the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employers crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on his adventure.
Snowcrash, by Neal Stephenson
In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosaNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about Infocalypse.
