# Recomend some 'realistic' science fiction books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442 "2010-02-18T04:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/41 "2010-02-18T20:50:00Z")
John Varley’s **Red Thunder** is a pretty good romp; very hard-science with the exception of his ship’s drive, which is very specifically laid out and understandable. His **Golden Globe** and **Steel Beach** are also pretty good in that respect, with one exception; miraculous space suits. Someone, somewhere once said that a science fiction writer gets one free “magic” technology without having to explain it before it becomes space opera. You can have FTL, or force fields, or cloaking devices, or teleportation, or almost any one thing you want, but the minute you shoehorn more than one in, it’s basically fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/42 "2010-02-18T20:53:42Z")
Well, there goes my vacation time. I’m going to have to take a week off just to start on this list. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/43 "2010-02-18T20:54:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Also remember, folks, the OP isn’t just asking for _good_ science fiction, but good _realistic_ science fiction. I wouldn’t reduce “realistic” to “scientifically sound”; Heinlein’s work is pretty plausible in that area but his characters are rarely believable (though they tend to be fun in their cartoonish simplicity). In comparison, Margaret Atwood’s **Oryx and Crake** shows a plausible world of rampant genetic engineering, its consequences on society and rich characters. That’s rarely done in science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/44 "2010-02-18T21:07:28Z")
Check out Greg Benford: > **[Gregory Benford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford)** > > Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is professor emeritus at the department of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is a contributing editor of Reason magazine. > Benford wrote the Galactic Center Saga science fiction novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). The series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient electromechanical life. > In 1969 he w... ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/45 "2010-02-18T21:19:37Z")
John Barnes, “Mother of Storms” A great story set in the near[-ish] future, with cataclysmic climate change! Weather (ha, ha) his science is good or not, it’s convincing and amazingly evocative. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/46 "2010-02-18T21:46:35Z")
Several good books by Niven/Pournelle are border-line SF: **Lucifer’s Hammer** and **Oath of Fealty.** ---
**Author:** ![My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/My_Darn_Snake_Legs)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/47 "2010-02-18T23:42:55Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I suck at appreciating science fiction, but I’ve always been able to get down with Neal Stephenson’s books. I don’t know that the OP would be into Snowcrash. That book isn’t for those who don’t want to suspend some serious disbelief. The only other thing I’ve tried to read by him is Quicksilver. I had to set it aside when Stephenson made a huge pirate battle as boring as a detailed description of water evaporating in the dark. Are his other books any better? > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Also a lot of the “Heinlein Juveniles” from the '50s. Some do feature telepathy, but this was the age when John W. Campbell actually took the possibility of “psionics” seriously. Otherwise, they do not date all that badly. Try _Have Space Suit, Will Travel._ \*Friday _and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls were also really good. I remember loving \* Rocket Ship Galileo_ as well, but it was the first Sci-Fi that I ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/48 "2010-02-18T23:55:16Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > Check out Greg Benford: > > [Gregory Benford - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford) I was coming here to mention **Timescape** in particular, which has just one not known in this world element. The rest is extremely realistic. I agree with “Evolution” by Baxter, and would add Titan and the one where they go to Mars, whose name I forgot. That one was particularly interesting because there are a lot of analogs to things that actually happened in Apollo. I liked the Manifold series, but I’m not sure I’d call them realistic. Hard sf yes, but that is different I’m assuming. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/49 "2010-02-19T00:36:27Z")
> [@Captain\_C](#): > > Well, there goes my vacation time. I’m going to have to take a week off just to start on this list. Thanks! You knew the assignment was dangerous when you asked for it! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/50 "2010-02-19T01:23:25Z")
_Project Mars: A Technical Tale_ by Wernher von Braun. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/51 "2010-02-19T01:56:50Z")
Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card The Golden Age by John C. Wright (first in a pretty good trilogy) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/52 "2010-02-19T02:44:29Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card Funny you mention it, but the Ender’s Game series was my inspiration for starting this thread. I read the first Ender’s Game and all of the Shadow mini-series first and completely fell in love with the series. Realistic political intrigue in a space-traveling future with a character I could identify with (Peter), what more could one want? I was incredibly excited that I still had four potentially phenomenal books left in the series. I specifically avoided all spoilers and reviews of the books in order to enjoy the surprises that much more. Then I read Ender in Exile. It was ok, but definitely not as good as the Shadow mini-series. When I hit Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide, good lord I barely finished them. To say I was disappointed would be an extreme understatement. Instead of continuing in the vein of the Shadow series, Children of the Mind and Xenocide were just plain awful. Lots of telepathy, an unrealistic deux-ex-machina AI solution, and both chock full of quasi-religious philosophical mumbo-jumbo. I finished Children of the Mind, but only because I had already paid for it and didn’t have anything else on my shelf. ---
**Author:** ![vdgg81](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@vdgg81](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vdgg81)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/53 "2010-02-19T02:54:12Z")
Yeah… I disliked all of the Ender sequels as well, only I disliked all of the “Shadow” series sequels also. I always find it baffling when a good author keeps getting worse. I had the same reaction to Card’s Alvin something-or-other series: great first book ( **Seventh Son** ) and increasingly worse sequels. It’s like the guy has some sort of writer’s block that only affects his series. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/54 "2010-02-19T02:57:36Z")
I stopped at those two, specifically because folks said the series jumped the shark after that. And I have a confession to make: I got them both as Audiobooks on Audible. With the voice acting, they were AWESOME. The got the same voice actors for both books, so listening to Ender’s shadow was like a good conversation with old friends. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/55 "2010-02-19T03:21:35Z")
> [@My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](#): > > I don’t know that the OP would be into Snowcrash. That book isn’t for those who don’t want to suspend some serious disbelief. The only other thing I’ve tried to read by him is Quicksilver. I had to set it aside when Stephenson made a huge pirate battle as boring as a detailed description of water evaporating in the dark. Are his other books any better? Well, either you like Picasso or you don’t . . . Stephenson (like, say, Charles Dickens) takes a long time in telling a story and throws in an awful lot of details. Very Baroque style. But (unlike, say, Harry Turtledove) he manages to make that work and present a fast-paced, exciting story. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/56 "2010-02-19T09:31:58Z")
> [@Captain\_C](#): > > Funny you mention it, but the Ender’s Game series was my inspiration for starting this thread. (..) Realistic political intrigue in a space-traveling future with a character I could identify with (Peter), what more could one want? _Realistic_, really? Obligatory [xkcd-link](http://www.xkcd.com/635/). Admittedly, I didn’t enjoy the book. Quite a lot of science fiction deals with fascist thinking but this one seemed to be an endorsement .. made me uncomfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/57 "2010-02-19T12:59:53Z")
You know, I’d pretty nearly tuned out the Sister and sociopath brother taking over the world aspects of Ender’s game. I was referring to the hard science parts of space tactics, game simulation, and training to find a malleable, yet potentially superior tactician, was interesting to me. Also keep in mind it was written in 1985…His extrapolation of the technologies involved was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/58 "2010-02-20T20:58:20Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > **A Fall of Moondust** by Arthur C Clarke Others by Arthur C. Clarke I’d like to recommend are **Earthlight, The Fountains of Paradise, The Songs of Distant Earth,The Deep Range** and any of his short story collections. They are all pretty hard SF. “Tales of the White Hart” is a bit tongue in cheek, but nevertheless good science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/59 "2010-02-20T21:09:50Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I just reread that, and while it’s very, very good, it also shows its age in various humorous ways: > > Based on MIPS and memory hints in the book, I’ve determined that my free-with-2yr-contract cell phone is more powerful than Mike. > > To get a program from one computer to another, Mike has to print out the code and give it to Manny, who has to laboriously type it into the other computer. > > We’ve got a moonbase by the 1980’s, but by the 2070’s there are still judges in the South so racist they effectively jail Manny for miscegenation. IIRC, Stu had to bribe the local judge/sheriff to arrest Manny, in order to create a _cause celebre_ on Luna. The fact that local prejudice leaned his way helped; but this was not a chance result. (_in_ Luna?) ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442/60 "2010-02-21T00:06:08Z")
> [@Rala](#): > > The **Mars** trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. I like his newer climate change trilogy, starting with “Forty Signs of Rain”. Reading “Fifty Degrees Below” with the current weather patterns is a little more realistic than I generally want. The new edition of “Between the Strokes of Night” by Charles Sheffield is also pretty good. Only part of it takes place in the near future, with the story reaching in to the very far future, but it feels very realistic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recomend-some-realistic-science-fiction-books/529442.md?page=4)