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Best Science Fiction Books for Beginners

Hugonauts: The Best Sci Fi Books of All Time

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Whether you like ripping page turners, incredible characters, books that make you laugh out loud, exploring unforgettable new worlds, or literary books that will make you see the world in a new way, there's a great intro to scifi out there for everyone!

This episode is all about books that are great stepping stones into the genre, whether for you or a friend or family member you think might be a little sci-curious.

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To listen on the go search 'Hugonauts' on your podcast app of choice

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:38 Incredible Characters - Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
3:07 A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
4:04 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
4:52 Unforgettable Worlds - The Expanse by James S.A. Corey
6:58 Hyperion by Dan Simmons
8:24 House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
9:20 Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
10:56 The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
12:22 Funny SF - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
13:36 Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
14:50 Old Man's War by John Scalzi
16:01 Page turners - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
17:43 Dark Matter or Recursion by Blake Crouch
18:52 All Systems Red by Martha Wells
20:01 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
21:35 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
22:34 Literary SciFi - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
24:55 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
26:26 The Road by Cormac McCarthy
27:49 Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
28:40 Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

#bookrecommendations #sciencefiction #hugonauts #scifi #booktube # #booklist #bookreview

20 Comments

@vonbek-z6z 10 months ago

I'm reading flowers for algernon rn. It's freaking amazing I love it, I think it's going to be one of my all time favorites

@feelswriter 10 months ago

So glad you've kept up with Bujold!

@FollowingGhost 3 weeks ago

Snow Crash is near the top of my favorites list. It's the first on my list you have actually discussed and not just mentioned. I'm an avid re reader and pretty much wore the covers off of it.

@culturefan 10 months ago

Along with the funny Douglas Adams, the Red Dwarf books are pretty fun.

@pepe_sasia 10 months ago

Asimov was my entry point and fell in love with SciFi from his books. I actually devoured Foundation trilogy and the Robots trilogy + I-robot before I moved to anything else SciFi. Thanks for this video, it was really nice to look back at my first books. I think Rendezvous with Rama can be a nice entry point, fast easy read and captures the wonders of discovery and exploration.

@lfate8017 10 months ago (edited)

I read Hyperion when I was a teenager in the 80s. I loved that book. I’m going to read it again. Thank you for the recommendations.

@Vishnu_Rajam 4 months ago

Been binging all your videos. Love the vibe. you guys have made me buy about 15 sci fi books on amazon in the last 1 week

@BooksRebound 10 months ago

Read more Tchaikovsky!

His book Bear Head is incredible! Love the first book Dogs of War too. But book 2 is insanely good. Also Cage of Souls and Shroud.

Also missed opportunity to rec Peter Watts and his book echopraxia and blindsight

Oh and Sun Eater!

@bagface79 10 months ago

I'm a huge Sci Fi junky. Mostly classics and I never realized Flowers for Algernon was science fiction. Guess I have some new reading material now because I love Limitless. Love the channel guys ❤ Keep up the awesome work!

@ChadRFoltz 10 months ago

All of your picks for Literary Science Fiction are among my favorite books and authors. The Road and Never Let Me Go are easily two of my favorite books, and Vonnegut and LeGuinn are amazing. Haven’t read Heinlein yet but he’s on my list. Also, Snowcrash is on my TBR.

@OwenMeany42 10 months ago

Great list. The Bob-i-verse novels would be another wonderful page turner option.

@JulianWyllie 10 months ago (edited)

Gotta mention it because it's a recent read and I loved it. "The Mountain in the Sea" by Ray Nayler is top tier work of blending cyberpunk, thriller, philosophy and literary moments.

@surpriseitsus9622 10 months ago

Great video. I needed some beginning sci-fi books. TY

@richard_n 9 months ago

Old Man's War is criminally underrated IMHO, I absolutely loved it. Starship Troopers is still my favorite sci-fi book of all time. I wish they would make a faithful movie of it unlike the popcorn crap that has come out so far.

@luminyam6145 10 months ago

Great recommendations, thank you.

@davidranderson1 10 months ago

Great video and great suggestions! If I were to add a category to your list of sci fi for beginners, it would be collections of short stories, which are obviously brief but also offer variety. For that category, I would nominate Story of Your Life and Others (Ted Chiang), The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories (Ken Liu), I, Robot (Isaac Asimov), and The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury).

@patrickwalsh948 2 months ago

Great video

@DBresien 7 months ago

Andre Norton solar queen series make for a first set of scifi books.

@stubiklaus 9 months ago

I started my journey into sci fi with house of suns last year in august. i am by no means reading a lot, but i don't think i'll ever find a book i will like more.