Science fiction novels that hold up

Nine novels I still hand to people, picked for how little the years have taken off them.

Bookmarks

1. Solaris

   5/5

   Lem, 1961. First contact that refuses to be understood.

2. Hyperion

   5/5

   Simmons, 1989. Six pilgrims, six tales, one of which will wreck you.

3. Roadside Picnic

   5/5

   Strugatsky brothers, 1972. The visitors left; the litter is the plot.

4. Dune

   5/5

   Herbert, 1965. Ecology, faith and politics braided tight.

5. The Left Hand of Darkness

   5/5

   Le Guin, 1969. A world without fixed gender, kept as a field diary.

6. Ancillary Justice

   4/5

   Leckie, 2013. A ship’s mind reduced to one body, and a very long grudge.

7. The Stars My Destination

   4/5

   Bester, 1956. Written in 1956, faster than most books written now.

8. Neuromancer

   4/5

   Gibson, 1984. The prose invented a decade of taste and still cuts.

9. Blindsight

   4/5

   Watts, 2006. Argues consciousness is an accident, and nearly wins.