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The Ultimate Sci-Fi Survey - 2025 edition: Which Books Came Out on Top?

SciFiScavenger

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What are the greatest science fiction books of all time? I asked you — the viewers — to vote for your favourite sci-fi novels, and the results are finally here. In this video, I count down the Top 75 Science Fiction Books Ever, ranked entirely by reader votes. From classic sci-fi masterpieces to modern favourites, this is the ultimate community-generated list of the best sci-fi books to read.

Whether you're looking for essential sci-fi recommendations, building a TBR, or exploring the iconic works that shaped the genre, this ranked list has something for everyone. Expect classics like Dune, Foundation, 1984, Neuromancer, and The Left Hand of Darkness, alongside modern hits such as Children of Time, Project Hail Mary, The Dark Forest, and House of Suns.

If you love space opera, dystopian fiction, first contact stories, cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic sci-fi, or hard science fiction, you’ll find incredible recommendations here.

✨ Which book would YOU put at #1? Tell me in the comments — I feature viewer opinions in future videos.

🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more sci-fi book discussions, rankings, and deep dives.

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Full list of books in reverse order - NO PEEKING!

75 The Shadow of the Torturer, Gene Wolfe
74 The Midwich Cuckoos, John Wyndham
73 Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card
72 Inherit the Stars, James P. Hogan
71 God Emperor of Dune, Frank herbert
70 The End of Eternity, Isaac Asimov
69 The Stand, Stephen King
68 Cyteen, CJ Cherryh
67 Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
66 The Carpet Makers, Andreas Eschbach
65 Anathem, Neal Stephenson
64 The City and the Stars, Arthur C Clarke
63 Seveneves, Neal Stephenson
62 A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
61 A Scanner Darkly, Philip K Dick
60 A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge
59 Nova, Samuel R Delany
58 Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
57 The Dark Forest, Cixin Liu
56 Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
55 Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
54 Downward to the Earth, Robert Silverberg
53 Excession, Iain M Banks
52 Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
51 Ringworld, Larry Niven
50 Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
49 Way Station, Clifford D Simak
48 The Road, Cormac McCarthy
47 Pandora’s Star, Peter F Hamilton
46 The Mote In God's Eye, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
45 The Chrysalids, John Wyndham
44 Consider Phlebas, Iain M Banks
43 Dawn, Octavia E. Butler
42 Starship Troopers, Robert A Heinlein
41 The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
40 Earth Abides, George R Stewart
39 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C Clarke
38 The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K Le Guin
37 Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
36 Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
35 Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
34 The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
33 The Fall of Hyperion, Dan Simmons
32 Altered Carbon, Richard K Morgan
31 The Martian, Andy Weir
30 Ubik, Philip K Dick
29 The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
28 Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
27 Use of Weapons, Iain M Banks
26 Childhood’s End, Arthur C Clarke
25 The War of the Worlds, H G Wells
24 The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks
23 The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham
22 Solaris, Stanislaw Lem
21 A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller Jr
20 Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
19 Inverted World, Christopher Priest
18 The Dispossessed, Ursula K Le Guin
17 Revelation Space, Alastair Reynolds
16 The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
15 The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
14 Do Androids Dream of electric Sheep, Philip K Dick
13 Rendevous With Rama, Arthur C Clarke
12 The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K Le Guin
11 Blindsight, Peter Watts
10 Roadside Picnic, Arkady & Boris Strugatsky
9 House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds
8 A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge
7 Foundation, Isaac Asimov
6 Enders Game, Orson Scott Card
5 Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky
4 Neuromancer, William Gibson
3 1984, George Orwell
2 Hyperion, Dan Simmons
1 Dune, Frank Herbert

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20 Comments

@SciFiScavenger Creator 6 months ago Pinned

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@KlingonPrincess 10 months ago

I just want to thank everyone who took the time to input. Holy Moly! IMO the rankings are immaterial. We've got a bunch of fabulous reading experiences to explore if not recall with fondness for those preciously enjoyed. Read well, my friends 🖖

@reynoldsmathey 10 months ago (edited)

Thanks for hosting this survey and making this video, Jon! I've read 53 of these books so far, and looking forward to catching up with the rest in the days to come. Glad to see The Carpet Makers on the list. We all love your human-generated content 😁

@glennaustin37 10 months ago

Excellent stuff, thank you so much for spending the time to do this.
Hardly any of my top 10 made the cut, but not disappointed - my tastes have always seemed to cut against the grain.
BTW I am completely in agreement with you on Arthur C Clarke!!!

@Triethylamine_1 10 months ago

I've read 37 of them! More to come! I am happy to be part of the community - it's always great to add new stuff to the tbr pile :)

@joelstainer65 10 months ago

Was looking forward to this. Thanks for taking the time to put it all together.

One day I'd like to see a list like this but only for books newer than like 2010 or something similar. Would be interesting to see what that would look like.

@thisspaceforrent5737 10 months ago

I've only read 18 of these, but some are in my TBR pile. Regarding Arthur C. Clarke, I read "Rendezvous with Rama" earlier this year for the first time, and thoroughly enjoyed it, as I have most of the books I've read by him (excepting "Childhood's End"). What I get out of Clarke isn't so much story, drama, or character, but wonder. I've enjoyed a couple of books of his where the most memorable parts were sequences that just kind of took you on a tour of the solar system. I don't remember much of "The Songs of Distant Earth" except that reading it was like taking a pleasant vacation to another world; lately I've been thinking of going back there again. "The Ghost from the Grand Banks" was forgettable by and large, but it was my introduction to fractal geometry, which was a rabbit hole I fell down for a while afterward. I don't know; I guess what he did just worked for me.

@jimbomacroth3400 10 months ago

The viewers have spoken. Lots of variety in there and some fantastic books to check out. I agree about poor old Arthur C. He was my introduction to sci fi and, as a teenager, I was awestruck by his stories, but as I get older, he seems to have lost his magic.

@clash5j 10 months ago

This was a lot of fun and thank you so much for doing it

I’ve read 55 of these and while my personal list might be different there is no doubt that there are many great books here

I suppose minor surprises might be no China Mieville, Contact or the Expanse

@SlowDazzle11 10 months ago

Great survey. I've just finished "The Road", perhaps the most depressing book I've ever read. It's no cosy catastrophe!

@dennis7782 10 months ago

The madlad actually did it! Thanks!

@oberstul1941 10 months ago

Good list, cheers!

@Pericalypsis 10 months ago

I've only read 1/3 of these, but I was away from science fiction for maybe 25 years, and only returned in the last year or two. But thanks partly to this video and channel, my SF TBR list has grown a lot in a short time! Much appreciated. Also, I read The Inverted World recently and really loved it. I'm looking forward to more of Priest's work.

@AndrewHepburn 10 months ago

think I read the City and the Stars and the original short story version Against the Fall of Night when I was in my teens and loved them both. Probably my first introduction to sci-fi dealing with really deep time.

@frankiesscifiobsession3660 10 months ago

I've read 37 and now I have 38 on my TBR for next year

@MuleFace100 9 months ago

I've read 48 so far, with a few TBR very soon. Thanks for doing this.

@mdlahey3874 1 month ago

I highly recommend "The Crying of Lot 49" by P.K. Dick, one of his lesser-known works, but which I found quite fascinating.

@arn2471 10 months ago

Great video thanks!
Surprised more of my 10 didn't make it onto the list, but alot of things I've read did
Currently read Le Guin 'Left hand...' so good, her writing is a tier above a LOT of other SF writers I've read over last few years.

@TrynePlague 8 months ago

Inherit The Stars got me quite curious. Just ordered it.

@andrewb.3076 10 months ago

As expected a number of novels on the list that helped me remind myself again that I still need to read them some time. Some surprises as people have stated that there are no Van Vogt, Stephen Baxter or Ken MacLeod ones... But some writers like Banks, Wyndham, PKD, Clarke evoke something in people so they have several titles in these kind of surveys.