# Recommend a sci-fi book for a female non sci-fi fan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688 "2010-05-07T22:40:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/1 "2010-05-07T22:40:25Z")
I’ve lent a female colleague several books and we got to discussing the merits of science-fiction, a genre she has never read but she’s willing to give me one (1) opportunity to convert her to the joys of spaceships, aliens and 1920’s style death-rays. My favourite sci-fi author is Iain Banks but that may be a little heavy reading at first. Any ideas? This is a chance to win a convert to the cause! ---
**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:** [May 7, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/2 "2010-05-07T22:44:25Z")
_Left Hand of Darkness_ - Ursula K. Le Guin \* A Boy and His Dog\* - Harlan Ellison 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/3 "2010-05-07T22:48:05Z")
**Friday** by Robert Heinlein - Not overly science-techie, a strong female lead, and an intricate political intrigue plot. **Thirteen** by Richard P. Morgan (Titled **Black Man** in the UK) - Some science, none any more difficult than what was seen in **The Matrix** to understand. Strong female lead, very intricate political plot. That’s all I got right now. BBL. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/4 "2010-05-07T22:48:46Z")
What kind of fiction does she like already (if any)? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/5 "2010-05-07T22:49:03Z")
Heinlein. Probably _Time Enough for Love_, _Friday_, _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_, _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, or, especially if she plays bridge, _Farnham’s Freehold_. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/6 "2010-05-07T22:53:07Z")
Hmmm…my first thought was McCaffrey’s Dragonriders series, since even my SF-hating mother likes those, but while the series is excellent, the first book is kinda shaky and “feels” more like Fantasy than SF. The books that made me, as a young girl, into an SF fan were the Heinlein juveniles (specifically, _Orphans of the Sky_, the first SF book I ever remember reading). But I was 12, and I don’t know whether they’d be good for a grown woman in this day and age. Pondering on it some more… ---
**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:** [May 7, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/7 "2010-05-07T22:53:23Z")
For the love of Og, not _To Sail Beyond The Sunset_! I’m one of the biggest fellators of Heinlein around, and even I wouldn’t recommend that book. To anybody. Ever. \* Friday\* would be a good choice, though. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/8 "2010-05-07T22:54:56Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Heinlein. Probably _Time Enough for Love_, _Friday_, _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_, _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, or, especially if she plays bridge, _Farnham’s Freehold_. Yep! Time Enough for Love is my very first recommendation. Not only does it deliver the science in small, logical doses, but it weighs in heavily on psychology, sociology, humanity’s patterns…and that probably DOES interest her. (Erm, wild guess, anyway. ) And it’s an awesome, awesome tale. His other books don’t even stand up to that one, I don’t think. (Well…for me, anyway) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/9 "2010-05-07T22:55:25Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > For the love of Og, not _To Sail Beyond The Sunset_! I’m one of the biggest fellators of Heinlein around, and even I wouldn’t recommend that book. To anybody. Ever. Maureen is 7 flavors of awesome, and I’d love to taste each one. I have a thing for lusty redheads. 😃 ---
**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:** [May 7, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/10 "2010-05-07T22:57:26Z")
_Time Enough For Love_ is pretty useless without the whole of Future History behind it. Not where I’d start with RAH. Better _The Rolling Stones_ or _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_. ETA: I do too, but I’d rather be in the clutches of Laz and/or Lor, thenkyouverymuch. That’s assuming Tammy is booked solid, as usual. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/11 "2010-05-07T23:01:30Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > I’ve lent a female colleague several books and we got to discussing the merits of science-fiction, a genre she has never read but she’s willing to give me one (1) opportunity to convert her to the joys of spaceships, aliens and 1920’s style death-rays. > > My favourite sci-fi author is Iain Banks but that may be a little heavy reading at first. > > Any ideas? This is a chance to win a convert to the cause! Tell us what she likes. Jesus Christ, not Anne McAffrey, unless she’s currently a big Danielle Steele fan. I would also definitely not start with golden-age SF like Heinlein: folks that don’t like SF are really unlikely to be converted by stuff from that time period, as entrenched in genre conventions as it is. (And I personally can’t stand Heinlein or Asimov, but that’s another story). Two suggestions: _The Dispossessed_, by Ursula Le Guin. I prefer it slightly to _Left Hand of Darkness_ (despite the username), considering it one of the all-time great political novels. [Spin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_%28novel%29), by Robert Charles Wilson. It won the 2006 Hugo and thoroughly deserved it: it’s a profoundly literary tale, an epic, and a novel of ideas all at the same time. Truly excellent book, probably the best sf I’ve read in a decade (and I read a lot of SF). ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/12 "2010-05-07T23:12:48Z")
I liked The Handmaid’s Tale, although I don’t know how sci-fi it is. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/13 "2010-05-07T23:16:00Z")
Handmaid’s Tale is good but not especially science-fiction, although it is speculative. The two books I mentioned are unambiguously spaceship-and-planets science-fiction with a lot on their minds and with a keen eye toward character. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/14 "2010-05-07T23:27:48Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > _The Dispossessed_, by Ursula Le Guin. This one gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/15 "2010-05-07T23:34:21Z")
I am a female, mostly non sci-fi fan, and I really liked **Ender’s Game** , by Orson Scott Card, and **Eifelheim** by Michael Flynn. However, I agree that knowing more about what she usually likes to read might help narrow things down. ---
**Author:** ![vdgg81](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@vdgg81](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vdgg81)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/16 "2010-05-07T23:41:49Z")
_Ring of Swords_ by Eleanor Arnason - main character is female, very polished prose, great anthropology, light on the science. Sexual politics, inter species intrigue, the whole package. One of the very best SF novels I’ve read and completely friendly to the newbie. My sister is not a big SF reader but she loved a book of Larry Niven’s short-stories I lent her and then went on to read _The Moat In God’s Eye_ and love it. I expected her to dislike both. I expected her to love Bester’s _The Stars My Destination_ and _The Demolished Man_ but she only liked them so-so. She did become a fan of Ray Bradbury. I’d definitely skip Heinlein, at least for now. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/17 "2010-05-07T23:55:22Z")
Oooh! Bradbury!!! There we go!!! Get her a copy of _I Sing The Body Electric_. Freaking awesome work. Or _The Illustrated Man_. Or _The Martian Chronicles_, if you explain to her that it’s a book of short stories on the theme “Mars” rather than a novel. Or _R is for Rocket._ Or _S is for Space._ Or any goddamn thing. Damn, I need to go back and reread my Bradbury. Seriously. Bradbury. Do it. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/18 "2010-05-08T00:06:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > What kind of fiction does she like already (if any)? Hmmmm…well she loved the movie Avatar and liked the new Star Trek film _(although agreed with me that it was fun but extraordinarily silly)_, recently lent her Life of Pi which she liked and we’ve discussed The Time Travellers Wife in some depth. She likes historical fiction and books about law enforcement etc, I’m currently reading ‘Blue Blood’ by Edward Conlon a book about the NYPD which she lent me. But discussions on genre don’t go any further than, “I’ll read anything”, so I’m not sure what her main interests are. Some good recommendations here, thanks everyone! edited to add that I’ve just finished reading ‘The Seperation’ by Christopher Priest, an alternate history novel about the second world war which I thought was very well done with interesting and sympathetic characters so I may give her that. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/19 "2010-05-08T00:13:20Z")
Ray Bradbury – _The Martian Chronicles_ or _Fahrenheit 451_. ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688/20 "2010-05-08T00:17:36Z")
anything by Robert J. Sawyer [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-a-female-non-sci-fi-fan/538688.md?page=2)