Top products from r/printSF

We found 106 product mentions on r/printSF. We ranked the 2,003 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top comments that mention products on r/printSF:

u/brentonbrenton · 15 pointsr/printSF

You could read novels, but I personally think you're going to get a better intro to SF and more enjoyment, and a better chance of finding "your thing" if you read short stories. You can then read the novels you know you'll enjoy. I love SF anthologies, not only because you get a collection of pre-selected awesome pieces, but also you get to sample a ton of different authors with different styles in the same number of pages as reading a novel would get you just a single story and a single author. Also, many consider the short story the ultimate and best form for science fiction.

I suggest anthologies that collect stories over multiple years instead of just "best of the year" collection. For obvious reasons, you get better stories. Here are the best I know of:

  • The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • The Hard SF Renaissance (One or two stories from this will answer the question of whether you like Hard SF.)
  • The Science Fiction Century
  • Twenty-First Century Science Fiction (sort of a sequel to the previous one)
  • Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1, 2a, and 2b (This is kind of a survey of historical SF, ranging from the '20s to the '60s.)

    So you could go historically starting with old stories and working your way more contemporary, in which case you'd start with SF Hall of Fame. But it might be a better idea to start with the most contemporary stuff and go backwards. In that case, you'd start with Locus Awards and start in the back of the book.

    In terms of specific authors, I would be amiss not to encourage you to read Ted Chiang. He has written only 13 short stories between 1992 and now, but he's won more awards for them than most SF authors do in their lifetime including the prestigious Nebula, Locus and Hugo awards, among others! READ. HIS. STORIES. He has an awesome anthology Stories of Your Life and Others plus you can buy his more recent stories on amazon.

    You should also read Greg Egan. And Enders Game if you somehow missed it. There's also the classic Arthur C. Clarke, either his short stories, or a novel like City and the Stars.
u/kylco · 3 pointsr/printSF

Snow Crash and Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson talk about it some, but it's not the libertarianism that most libertarians are familiar with. It's more a "freedom to choose your own society and its rules" than a "government does not interfere with choices" liberty. The Common Economic Protocol of SC/DA is technically a government, but the only thing it regulates are the formation of new phyles (societies, etc) and the use of nanorobots for warfare (Nell's foster father, at one point, has to go off to combat against some rebels that violate the terms of the Protocol, IIRC).

Diamond Age has a lot of what you're looking for, though in a very high-technology environment that enables the lifestyle, and with different implementations of libertarianism. Sea-steading is not done by building a colony and floating off into the sunset, but by building new landmasses off the coast of Shanghai and connecting them to the mainland with a large bridge. The phyles with the expertise to do this (Neo-Victorians (stuffy Brits), Japanese engineers, and the Germans Hindus, IIRC) are fabulously wealthy for their ability to create new housing zones, commercial areas, and industrial zones more-or-less on demand for the overpopulated cities of China. On the other hand, in the American Southwest you have small (in population) phyles that dominate the landscape: homesteaders whose only duty to the phyle is to mind their own land, and provide for the common defense. There are plenty of other systems described however: a Zulu phyle that protects its own by hunting down and bringing to justice anyone who harms one of theirs, a communist phyle that requires you to give up your possessions and live as if you're in a reeducation camp 24/7, a Hidu phyle that is mostly a bank for anyone who wants to borrow, with collection policies in the form of indentured service, etc, etc.

It's an excellent character study for societies: you see the good and the bad of every one of them, where they work and they don't, and why. It's all enabled by technology that makes it possible (more or less) to provide everything to the masses at little or no cost, with money being exchanged only for premium design, service, or honest-to-god handmade goods (which are astonishingly expensive - entire phyles live a pastoral existence and create them for wealthier societies - the "Amish"/Luddites are billionaires). People do what they want to: become hackers, live in drum circles, homestead, work for Software Kahns, join theatrical troupes, work as scenario writers for a bordello, or in the semi-feudal administrative system of the Middle Kingdom. Most of this is implied, not explicit, which only makes it better reading, if you ask me: Stephenson may hit you over the head with the details of nanotechnology and ponderously describe encryption services (which personally I like anyway), but the wonder and cleverness of how the whole society works is rarely stated directly, meaning you can tease it out slowly and marvel at the way it all fits together.

TL;DR Yeah, Snow Crash. Also the Diamond Age. And I probably should write some sort of critical analysis of the Diamond Age to get something out of my system.
*edited for clarity and accuracy.

u/Tiz68 · 3 pointsr/printSF

Adrian Tarn Series is definitely one of my favorites and isn't very well known. Definitely check this series out.

Odyssey One Series is pretty good.

Confluence Series is interesting.

Aurora Rhapsody Series is a good series too.

Dark Space Series is pretty decent as well.

The Frozen Sky Series is certainly entertaining too.

These are a few series I've read recently and enjoyed. Figured they would be good suggestions. They also aren't the most commonly suggested or well known books like the others that were suggested.

Although the other recommendations are definitely ones you want to read. Especially the Ender's Game sequels and the Old Man's War series.

u/weezer3989 · 11 pointsr/printSF

There's a few resources out there, none perfect.

This is a short little bit by Gaiman on how to read Wolfe. Not specific to Book of the New Sun, and a little joking, but it's completely accurate. Approach Wolfe in that manner and you may get more from the books.

This is a dictionary/glossary that can be useful to link different parts of the series to eachother, and provides a lot of context as to the real world origins of words he uses. Wolfe invents a lot less words that it seems at first glance, almost every unfamiliar word is either just a really rare/archaic word, or is invented, but pulled from a real life reference. Sadly, it's a book and not freely available, but what can you do.

This is a wiki about Wolfe's works, kind of hit or miss, but the list of obscure words is useful, and some of the analysis/discussion is good.

This is the best regarded in-depth literary analysis of the series, but it's super dense and not a straightforward explanation by any means.

There's also a super long running mailing list about gene wolfe's work, but good luck digging anything useful out of it, it's just way too much with no organization.

u/Cdresden · 4 pointsr/printSF

You can't go wrong with Frederik Pohl's Gateway. It's an older classic that won all the best novel awards.

For more recent SF, Hugh Howey's Wool Omnibus is outstanding.

In fantasy, I've really enjoyed Joe Abercrombie this past year. Good characters, good plots, and good action scenes. The Blade Itself is the first of his series...all his books take place in the same fantasy world.

u/Callicles-On-Fire · 7 pointsr/printSF

Interesting - but a "strong sign" of what? A strong sign that it is not a good book, or worthy of award recognition? There is a strong horror element to the book that would turn off those who dislike disturbing reading. Maybe 20%? Regardless, whatever we might suppose "worthy" to be, I think we can agree that it means something other than popular.

For comparison, Blindsight by Peter Watts is often trotted out as one of the best in the sci-fi horror genre. It has a similar profile - arguably slightly less positive, with 29% at 3 stars or fewer.

I'd say they are somewhat similar novels - well written, imaginative, original takes, genre-bending, and just not everyone's cup of tea.

u/rocketsocks · 1 pointr/printSF
u/wheeliedave · 2 pointsr/printSF

The bobiverse is a good, fun, new one... Martin Kloos is great if he likes military scifi. Vernor Vinge is great with little or no bodily fluids, just spiders and dying civilisations...

u/endymion32 · 3 pointsr/printSF

I happen to like Lexicon Urthus, which helps organize the material. I happen to hate the Solar Labyrinth, which I think is a lot of silly imagining of things that aren't there.

The truth is that there aren't a lot of straight-forward answers with Gene Wolfe. We want there to be; we want Dr. Talos's play to make perfect sense, if only we had the answer key. But Wolfe's work thrives in ambiguity, and while there are some clues hidden, I think there are far fewer clues, and far fewer real answers, than most people do. The point isn't to understand in a conventional sense; I think it's to experience a kind of wonder.

As for your spoiler question: [Spoiler](/s "The woman wasn't actually ever harmed during the festival, and there's no evidence she was a robot. Actually, this is one of the rare places where Wolfe leaves some pretty credible clues: there's good evidence that that lady is Severian's mother.")

u/gabwyn · 3 pointsr/printSF

I really loved his new novel 2312, yet again a conceivable future, with feasable technology and some really great settings.

I like the whole idea of his Terrariums which are basically spun up asteroids on eccentic orbits travelling between the inner and outer solar system; they're small utopian self-sustaining habitats also used to ferry goods and passengers.

There's even a webpage about how to create terrariums which is explained in more detail within some of the 'Excerpts chapters' (one the types of infodump chapter he uses) in the book.

Apparently people with a more "conservative" outlook aren't too keen on it.

u/ArtiePWM · 18 pointsr/printSF

I strongly recommend the Marid Audran trilogy that starts with When Gravity Fails. Besides being science fiction noir, it has the added fillip of having a Middle Eastern setting. It won both the Nebula and Hugo for best novel in the 80's.

u/dakta · 23 pointsr/printSF

^(Note: these are all books I've read and can recommend from experience.)

David Brin's Sundiver is a detective mystery. Likewise his Existence is a mystery about a recently discovered artifact, though its presentation with multiple perspectives lacks the singular detective tone of Sundiver. It's not as much of a mystery/thriller more of a mystery/adventure. It is also one of the overall best science fiction novels I've ever read; the writing is top notch, the characters superbly lifelike, the tone excellent, and the overall reading experience enjoyable and filled with a realistic optimism.

Gregory Benford's Artifact is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact. His Timescape is about a strange phenomenon.

Jack McDevitt's The Engines of God is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact.

Asimov's The End of Eternity is a classic mystery/thriller.

Alastair Reynolds' The Prefect and Chasm City are both standalone detective mysteries. His Revelation Space is similar, but does not have the same classic mystery tone.

Greg Bear's Queen of Angels and Slant are both standalone detective mysteries.

I seem to recall the Second Foundation (Foundation's Fear, Foundation and Chaos, Foundation's Triumph) trilogy by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin having some mystery aspects. I think one of them at least is a detective mystery, but I can't remember which right now.

Dan Simmons' Ilium/Olympos is a sort of detective mystery, but its tone is much more action/adventure despite the protagonist's undertakings to determine what in the world is going on.

Joan D. Vinge's Cat Trilogy (Psion, Catspaw, and Dreamfall) are detective mysteries.

Julian May's Perseus Spur is a detective mystery. It's pretty light-hearted and a lot of fun to read. Something you would pick up at an airport bookstore and not be at all disappointed with. I can't speak for the other two books in the trilogy, haven't read them yet. Just ordered them off Amazon for $4 a piece.

I could go on, but I think that should keep you busy for a while.

 

^(Edited to clarify the tone of some suggestions. Some are more traditional mystery/thriller, while others are more adventure/mystery, more alike to Indiana Jones than a noir detective.)

u/KaJedBear · 2 pointsr/printSF

Edit: I just realized how retarded I am and that you were looking for 2016 books. Sorry about that. These are all relatively new though, and great reads.

I see you read Dalzelle's Black fleet trilogy. For something similar but with better tactics, an interesting perspective on differences in technology advancement, and a more expeditionary style conflict, including actual interactions with alien beings, try Evan Currie's Odyssey One series.

Another good Mil-Scifi is Michael Hicks In Her Name series. I've linked the last of the books chronologically but they were the first published and how I read them; so I feel its a good introduction to the series. It focuses on the main character who plays a central role in the human's conflict with a race of blue skinned, Amazonian-like warriors who prefer close quarters combat despite technological superiority(sounds cheesy I know, but the character and culture development is very well done). The middle trilogy is much more military oriented but focuses less on open space naval battles and more on ground battles across multiple planets. The "first," newest trilogy, chronicles the establishment of the Empire that humans are at war with (I haven't read this one yet). The series has some elements of science fantasy, which is all I can say without giving away too much.

My most recent favorite and I can't recommend enough is Pierce Brown's Red Rising trilogy. It's kind of hard to pin down this one into a specific genre. It seems like it would be YA, but it is not. It has eugenics, enhanced humans, an interesting caste system, space battles, ground battles, high technology, low technology, decent character development, and just a ton of other elements. It's sort of Game of Thrones meets Hunger Games meets Harry Potter meets Brave New World meets Roman history in space. It is very well told and is a New York Times best seller for good reason.

u/roastsnail · 1 pointr/printSF

Wolfe claims that he only uses obscure English words, but his definition of the English language is very broad. I love language and word play and really liked leafing through Lexicon Urthus, which is a dictionary that was specifically made for The Book of the New Sun. My library happened to have a copy, so I used it, but it was by no means necessary.

u/TenebrousTartaros · 4 pointsr/printSF

For other tips for reading Wolfe, and general theories and whatnot, there are a few books well worth picking up.

Lexicon Urthus

Solar Labyrinth

The Long and the Short of It

The first book here is by Michael Andre-Driussi and has a foreword by Wolfe. This is mostly a dictionary and etymology-tracer of the words and names and theories in BotNS. Considering Wolfe's endorsement, it feels fairly official, even borderline cannon.

The last two are by Robert Borski and are absolutely great reads. Very imaginative, even if some of his theories seem too wild to be true.

u/penubly · 10 pointsr/printSF

I'd suggest one of the following:

  • Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Well written, fun and an easy read.
  • Seeker by Jack McDevitt. A good old fashioned archaeology mystery set 9,000 years in the future.
  • Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Classic story about the child selected to lead Earth's defense against alien invaders.
u/HenryDorsettCase · 2 pointsr/printSF

Try Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon or Walter John William's Hrdwired for some good cyberpunk. For a good post-apocalypse novel you might like Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.

u/Jeakel · 2 pointsr/printSF

KU is awesome for readers like you and I. Problem is the 'quality' of some of the writing.

​

There are several series buried in the tons of books available. The first one that comes to mind for me is Marko Kloos Frontline series beginning with Terms of Enlistment, its kinda dark but I read all six of the books he's done, having read all of them I believe he'll be back (or I hope he isn't done) to add more.

​

I've read thru quite a few others, mostly on the military scifi end, but if you're interested in fantasy, there are also a lot of books available in that genre too

u/FlaveC · 1 pointr/printSF

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan. It blends genres (mystery + noir + SF) and I think does a great job of introducing a novice to SF .

[Edit] FWIW, I purposely avoided the "classics" as I think many of them would be quite dated to today's audience and would not be a good intro into the genre. But I would hope that as their taste in SF evolves that they would find the classics on their own and would be better able to appreciate them.

u/lightninhopkins · 1 pointr/printSF

This is my personal favorite. Filled with great stories by many well known authors:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Renaissance-David-Hartwell/dp/031287636X

u/1point618 · 3 pointsr/printSF

Currently reading, and would like to finish:

  1. Interaction Ritual Chains by Randal Collins

    Started in 2014, put down, would like to finish in 2015:

  2. Aztecs by Inga Clendinnen

  3. The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger

    Would like to re-read in 2015:

  4. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

  5. White Noise by Don DeLillo

  6. Anathem by Neal Stephenson

    Would like to read in 2015:

  7. The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro

  8. A couple of books for /r/SF_Book_Club

  9. Blindsight and Echopraxia by Peter Watts, back-to-back

  10. At least one or two books on Buddhist philosophy / practice

  11. At least one or two books on philosophy, either philo of mind or more cultural studies / anthro / sociology type stuff.
u/polkaviking · 37 pointsr/printSF

>Anyone read this book?

Dude, it's practically the Citizen Kane of cyberpunk. Dated, hard to grasp and totally genre changing. I loved it when I discovered it in the early 90's but truth be told it's been surpassed several times.

Read it, and if you find the themes interesting try Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan.

u/reverendfrag4 · 5 pointsr/printSF

Marrow and its sequel The Well of Stars by Robert Reed are both fucking fantastic.

I discovered Marrow via the short story anthology The Hard SF Renaissance, which I whole-heartedly recommend. It's a monster of an anthology that doesn't have a single bad story in it (IMO).

u/legalpothead · 1 pointr/printSF

If you haven't read the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown, I think you should give it a go. Stick through the first 50 pages, and you won't be sorry. The second in the trilogy is actually better than the first, and Goodreads called it the best SF of the year.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.

On My Way to Paradise by David Farland.

u/minutestapler · 3 pointsr/printSF

Ender's Game is always a good one for young adults.

My first scifi-ish books were: Keeper of the Isis Light, Alien Secrets, Animorphs, Beyond the Farthest Star. The first three may be a bit too young for him though.

Don't be afraid to give him non-YA (adult) scifi books. It's better to go too old for him than too young and risk insulting him. If you have a particular favorite (that isn't too theoretical/preachy), give him that. He's more likely to read it if you are interested in it, and it'll give you something to discuss.

u/docwilson · 5 pointsr/printSF

That pretty much describes The Windup Girl, a recent joint hugo/nebula winner.

u/BrainInAJar · 2 pointsr/printSF

The Windup Girl ( or anything by Paolo Bacigalupi ) is pretty fantastic.

u/Coltrane1967 · 6 pointsr/printSF

Here's a few recent books, all good or very good:

Last Plane to Heaven, Jay Lake (short story collection)


The Adjacent
, Chris Priest

On the Steel Breeze, Alistair Reynolds (Book2 in series)


The Causal Angel, Hannu Rajaniemi (Book3 in series)


Strange Bodies, Marcel Theroux


The Martian, Andy Weir (recommended!)


ShipStar, Benford-Niven (Book2 in series)


Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie


A Darkling Sea, James Cambias


The Disestablishment of Paradise, by Phillip Mann {I've just started this one, so can't say yet if good or great or crappy, but it's started off very good).


...And if you have not yet discovered The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanDerMeer, you should probably check it out.

u/alteredlithium · 3 pointsr/printSF

Another great anthology, in fact, the one that got me started on hard SF and led me to discover many of the authors I enjoy reading today is The Hard SF Renaissance.

u/AlwaysSayHi · 10 pointsr/printSF

Ha -- there's even a Gene-Wolfe-specific dictionary out there (Urth-centric, and it's awesome, if you've got the bug for his stuff).

u/steve626 · 6 pointsr/printSF

Ilium by Dan Simmonds is fun.

Almost anything by Peter F Hamilton, but Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained is a good place to start.

u/nziring · 1 pointr/printSF

Well, Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy mostly takes place about 25000 years in the future. But it is a fairly straightforward extrapolation of a galactic empire (still awesome work, though!) and people are still just like people today.

A lot of the other suggestions here are really good: Silverberg, Campbell, Clarke, Egan, Niven, Bear, Wright, Simmons, and Banks.

Gregory Benford's "Galactic Center" series takes place way in the future, first book is In the Ocean of Night.

A couple of commenters mentioned Simmons' Hyperion series, but nobody mentioned his novels Illium and Olympos.

There are quite a few novels where people travel through time to the far future, some by relativistic means, but those don't seem to meet your criteria.

u/exNihlio · 7 pointsr/printSF

If you are really intrigued, there is always, Lexicon Urthus and The Solar Labyrinth both of which explain many of the terms used and have a great deal of in depth analysis. Both are available as ebooks as well.

u/samurai_rob · -1 pointsr/printSF

This is not exactly what you're looking for, but it deals with issues of perfection in society. Check out the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Pierce-Brown/dp/034553980X

u/punninglinguist · 11 pointsr/printSF

The most prominent one recently has probably been The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. It's more "post-ecological cataclysm," though, and civilization has more or less survived.

u/lost_in_life_34 · 1 pointr/printSF

https://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-Remastered-Odyssey-Book-ebook/dp/B005ML0EZS/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1482678404&sr=1-3&keywords=into+the+black

about half of this series is pretty good. nothing fancy just hard scifi mixed with space opera. i honestly have no idea why i like these books but i'll buy them when they come out and read most of them

u/ressis74 · 2 pointsr/printSF

The Odyssey One series (book 1 by Evan Currie comes to mind.

It's pulp, but fun.

*****

The Culture Series (book 1) by Iain Banks also comes to mind.

This one is a bit more serious than Odyssey One, and I've only read the first book so far... It might turn out to be very different.

u/Citizen_Kong · 2 pointsr/printSF
  • Roadside Picnic by the Strugazki Brothers (basis for the movie Stalker and inspiration for the game of the same name)
  • Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky (basis for the shooter of the same name)
  • Imajica by Clive Barker (though more fantasy than sci-fi, really)
u/piratebroadcast · 3 pointsr/printSF

Gateway. I loved it. Its a whole series.

u/banachball · 2 pointsr/printSF

Amazon one-star reviews. There you go.

But it really is a fantastic book, so give it a shot.

u/AgentPayne · 3 pointsr/printSF

But to assume it's a plot hole and not dig deeper is to miss out on the depth and detail of Wolfe's writing. I highly recommend reading Borski's "The Solar Labyrinth" ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0595317294 ) to help see some of these deeper connections and hidden details.

u/CygnusX1 · 1 pointr/printSF

Pushing Ice meets the most of your requirements.

Forever Peace was a good read.

And Steal Across the Sky was worth reading.

u/Deightine · 1 pointr/printSF

I looked at the first book today and it has over 1,500 ratings. I was shocked as well. His first book went out as a freebie, and it was a brilliant gamble for him. He just happened to do it with a damn good story. The Amazon marketplace is flooded with terrible freebies, but that one was a page turner.

u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/printSF

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatski

Anything by Samuel R. Delaney. I particularly recommend Dhalgren. Fair warning: Dhalgren is one of those books that you'll either hate or love beyond reason.

u/Woetra · 16 pointsr/printSF

I don't know if it is exactly what you are looking for, but you may like Ender's Game.

u/WintermutesTwin · 2 pointsr/printSF

I recommend The Space Opera Renaissance https://www.amazon.com/dp/0765306182/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_FR8oxbYX4DN3P Although I did not enjoy every story, I feel that this anthology gave a good example of sci-fi through the years. I got more enjoyment from The Hard SF Renaissance https://www.amazon.com/dp/031287636X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fU8oxbBV8VXN7 partially because I'm a fan of hard sci-fi but it doesn't do as good of a job of describing he historical context of the short stories.

u/ImaginaryEvents · 3 pointsr/printSF

There is Baxter's Xeelee Sequence, or you might enjoy Pohl's Heechee Saga...

u/yonkeltron · 2 pointsr/printSF

Rather than the Revelation Space story itself, I actually prefer some of his "stand-alone" books. I quite liked Pushing Ice and The Prefect (which happens to take place in the Revelation Space universe.

u/harshael · 3 pointsr/printSF

There's an entire book dedicated to the words in The Book of the New Sun.

http://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Urthus-Dictionary-Urth-Cycle/dp/0964279517

u/strolls · 4 pointsr/printSF
  • William Gibson's Neuromancer and related.

  • Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon and sequels. Also Thirteen.
  • China Mievlle's The Scar. I can't vouch for his other books - reading in publication order would be to start with Perdito Street Station instead, but I haven't read it myself, yet.
  • Warren Hammond's Kop and sequels - I feel like this series has been a bit neglected by this subreddit, and I don't know why I rarely see it mentioned here. IMO this series is better than Morgan's sequels to Altered Carbon.
u/Zeek2517 · 2 pointsr/printSF

Check out Roadside Picnic Arkady Strugatsky. It is a quick read with some humor, good action, strangeness, aliens (tangentially), and is sort of dystopic. It was written by a Soviet, and sometimes that sensibility doesn't translate so well to the west - but I found it very accessible. I do believe there was a movie and a video game derived from it.

u/Mykl · 3 pointsr/printSF

Have you read The Windup Girl or Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi? Really good stuff, he's very dark and some might say depressing but his writing is top notch. Pump Six is his collection of short stories, I suggest you start there.

u/iamasadmonkey · 2 pointsr/printSF

I see 179 used at Amazon, plus new in MM, Hardback and Audio CD. And that's just at amazon.

Try this link: http://www.amazon.com/Ringworld-Larry-Niven/dp/0345333926/

u/synt4x · 2 pointsr/printSF

I had to hit the dictionary often for The Diamond Age.

u/f314 · 2 pointsr/printSF

It is discussed in some detail in the novel Blindsight by Peter Watts (as /u/cmfg said), and also in the short story I, Row Boat by Cory Doctorow. Those are the ones that immediately come to mind at least…

u/yotz · 9 pointsr/printSF

The series beginning with Altered Carbon is next on my to-read list. It might be worth a look for you.

u/baetylbailey · 8 pointsr/printSF

Vernor Vinge. A Fire Upon the Deep redefined high-concept hard SF.

Also, Robert Reed. His "Greatship" collection is like hard SF comfort food.

u/cyanicenine · 4 pointsr/printSF

You might like The Red Rising trilogy. It's sort of like Ender's Game meets Game of Thrones. Definitely on the lighter side of Sci fi, much more character and plot driven, but takes place across multiple worlds and has high technology, no aliens though.

Maybe something by Alistair Reynolds, House of Suns or Pushing Ice if you want something more solidly sci fi but, still very accessible.

u/biggreenfan · 1 pointr/printSF

I buy most things from half.com. Much cheaper. Quick search shows it for $.75 in paperback and as cheap as $5.49 in HC. Amazon.com has it new from $4.17. Not sure why you only showed used at Amazon.

u/wonkylegos · 2 pointsr/printSF

Most that have already been mentioned (Railsea, Hydrogen Sonata...)

and 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

u/rhombomere · 5 pointsr/printSF

The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez

When Gravity Fails (and sequels) by George Alec Effinger.

u/analogorithm · 3 pointsr/printSF

You haven't mentioned yet if you got a book to read or not, so here is my suggestion:http://www.amazon.com/The-Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585.

u/pensee_idee · 1 pointr/printSF

It just came out this month. Here's a link.

I haven't read Troika yet. What can you tell me about it?

u/JabbrWockey · 2 pointsr/printSF

2312 quite possibly has the weirdest distribution of votes I've ever seen on amazon. It's a balance across the board.

http://www.amazon.com/2312-Kim-Stanley-Robinson/product-reviews/0316098124/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_see_all_top?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

u/yoat · 13 pointsr/printSF

Frederik Pohl's Heechee Saga, starting with Gateway, is about humans finding, using, and trying to understand ships and artifacts left behind by a mysterious alien civilization. There's no initial attack, but humans use their tech to explore space (to try to get rich).

u/trekbette · 14 pointsr/printSF

Dan Simmons Ilium and Olympos books are a very odd, and very good, retelling of the Trojan Wars.

u/cultfavorite · 10 pointsr/printSF

This may be a weird recommendation, but Altered Carbon. It's also cyberpunk, but a bit more violent. Looks at concepts of identity in a world where backing your brain up is easy, but bodies are expensive.

u/I_throw_socks_at_cat · 5 pointsr/printSF

SF doesn't get much harder than The Martian by Andy Weir. It's about an astronaut's efforts to survive while stranded on Mars after a failed mission. All the science is plausible.

I can also recommend The Risen Empire duology by Scott Westerfield for realistic space battles.

u/nyc_food · 1 pointr/printSF

I think this is a good recommendation because the Book of the New Sun is so dense, like you said. But you're cruel for not suggesting he bring the Lexicon Urthus along with.