# Recommend a sci-fi book for someone who has never read science-fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058 "2008-11-23T01:03:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/21 "2008-11-23T06:04:37Z")
If you were toying with _The Sparrow_ (I love that book - but yes, it is pretty full on in places) then how about _A Case of Conscience_ (James Blish) - in some ways quite similar themes, but not so violent (well, the violence is seen very much at a distance anyway). I think Bradbury would be a great choice too, also Bob Shaw (if you’re keeping with the old stuff). You might consider also that a female writer might be a good idea for your mum’s first jaunt into SF. To that end I recomment Lois McMaster Bujold, Ursula LeGuin (particularly _The Lathe of Heaven_ - wonderful book, and short!) and Julian May ---
**Author:** ![Buran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Buran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buran)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/22 "2008-11-23T13:24:59Z")
> [@Just\_Some\_Guy](#): > > It would help to have an idea of her tastes and interests. I could point to humorous (_The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_) or introspective (_The Yiddish Policemen’s Union_), for the scientifically minded (_Spin_) or the technological fetishist (_Rainbows End_), with history (_Doomsday Book_) or with religion (_Lord of Light_). She mostly reads Irish history both fiction and factual. I was surprised to see her reading ‘And a Hard Rain Fell’ by John Ketwig recently because she doesn’t like reading or watching things that are ‘cruel’ although she seemed to like that book _(not that Irish history doesn’t have its moments…well is one long ‘moment’ actually)_. She doesn’t read many crime books but she does like _(and is worryingly good at!)_ solving crime and mystery programs on TV. I suppose the main requirement is that the book isn’t too ‘out-there’ with too many ‘weird’ aspects. I want to ease her into the genre gently, not make her give up on the first attempt. My dad is in a similar position, reads a lot but not science-fiction, I had him read ‘Consider Phlebas’ by Iain Banks and while he professed to like it he never borrowed another of my science-fiction books. I recently read Lord of Light myself and enjoyed it but I do wonder if its not a bit of a steep introduction to the genre, it took me some time to get-into the story-world and I’ve read a lot of this stuff. 🙂 I’ve bought, but not yet read, ‘The Time Travelers Wife’ so I might give it to her to read first to see what she thinks of it. Thanks everyone! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/23 "2008-11-23T14:26:25Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > A Canticle for Leibowitz You like to torture people? People you are missing the point. This is not give me a good book, its give me a book a non science fiction reader will like. I would suggest something by Creighton. Just enough interesting science fiction concepts but not enough to get in the way of the story. Set up and then on to the action. A good foot in the door for someone not used to the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/24 "2008-11-23T14:41:15Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > \*1984 \*or _Alas Babylon_. Neither book is really representative of what I’d call science fiction, and both books are real downers. If you think the one book was rough, how about the prolonged torture of the protagonist in 1984? Not recommended to get someone INTO science fiction. If you want her to never pick up another SF book, however, this selection Just Might Do It. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/25 "2008-11-23T15:02:16Z")
Perhaps [Illegal Alien](http://www.amazon.com/Illegal-Alien-Robert-J-Sawyer/dp/0441004768) by Robert Sawyer ? It’s set on modern Earth; aliens show up, one is implicated in a crime and put on trial. Since it’s on Earth and modern that should minimize the weird stuff. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/26 "2008-11-23T16:12:20Z")
> [@Buran](#): > > I suppose the main requirement is that the book isn’t too ‘out-there’ with too many ‘weird’ aspects. I want to ease her into the genre gently, not make her give up on the first attempt. I think _Spin_ might be a good one. It’s set on Earth. It’s definitely sad in parts and deals with the end of the world, but it’s not devastatingly sad and depressing. It’s science-y but most of the science is well-explained and contained (I’m not vouching for its accuracy, only its comprehensibility). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/27 "2008-11-23T16:55:14Z")
_Stand On Zanzibar_ is good science-fiction that doesn’t depend on derring-do; it’s just a neat extrapolation of the real world, as I suppose it was seen in the 1960’s. Nothing too high-concept like Iain M. Banks or corny like golden-age stuff. _Ringworld_ is pretty straightforward, and Known Space is a universe that might grab someone’s attention. Any of the collections of short stories in Known Space are recommended as well. _Startide Rising_. Characters with character rather than guys in lab coats telling each other things they should already know, in one of the richer worlds a science fiction author has built. Being dropped into the thought processes of the Galactics and the dolphins speaking in haikus might be odd, though _A Matter For Men_ is smart adventure. David Gerrold writes in a style as straightforward as Heinlein without the archaic sexism and goofy sex and lecturing. I’m sure it’s no coincidence Lizard’s a redhead. Anyway, it’s an ecological alien invasion story, with a near-future Earth being ecologically rebuilt, from microbes to Enterprise Fish, by some sort of alien intelligence. Or something. The hero’s a bit of a twit and it’s told in first-person, so there’s fun to be had in that. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/28 "2008-11-23T18:06:10Z")
> [@Buran](#): > > She mostly reads Irish history both fiction and factual. Are you specifically looking for science fiction, or would fantasy work too? If the latter, _The Curse of the Wise Woman_ by Lord Dunsany is an understated mystery/horror novel set in Ireland. And IIRC one of the novellas in the _Compleat Enchanter_ series by de Camp and Pratt deals with Irish mythology. ETA: Also possibly check into the _Lord Darcy_ stories. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/29 "2008-11-23T18:09:08Z")
The more I think about it, the more I recommend A.E. van Vogt’s classic **Voyage of the Space Beagle.** Even though it is somewhat dated in style and modern sensibilities, it is an exciting, straightforward adventure which introduces many of the concepts used by later writers. ---
**Author:** ![D.Fenestrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aca169/32.png) [@D.Fenestrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.Fenestrator)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/30 "2008-11-23T18:41:57Z")
I love “Stand on Zanzibar.” I recommended it to a friend of mine several years ago who claimed to enjoy all sorts of literature, and he hated it. The structure of the novel made it too difficult for him to get into (and he probably was put off by the dialect words the characters use, which are not glossed, and which you have to pick up from the context). I have read other non-linear novels in the past, and I enjoy putting the puzzle together, but if your mother doesn’t enjoy that sort of book you may be better off with something a bit more linear. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/31 "2008-11-23T19:08:46Z")
Maybe something that straddles the mystery and F&SF genres? ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/32 "2008-11-23T21:41:48Z")
_Smoke_ by Donald Westlake. One SF device, and then everything else is current and everyday. A very entertaining take on _The Invisible Man_. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/33 "2008-11-23T21:53:46Z")
Childhoods End is a fun read and not a hard science fiction novel. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/34 "2008-11-23T23:52:12Z")
I second **Ronald C. Semone** ’s suggestion of a book of short stories. Perhaps a collection of the Hugo Winners. It should include Asimov’s _Nightfall_. If that story doesn’t grab her, nothing will. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/35 "2008-11-23T23:59:23Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Perhaps a collection of the Hugo Winners. It should include Asimov’s _Nightfall_. If that story doesn’t grab her, nothing will. “Nightfall” was published in 1941, twelve years before the first Hugos were awarded so it would not be included in a collection of Hugo winning stories. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/36 "2008-11-24T06:09:47Z")
[This Perfect Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Perfect_Day), by Ira Levin. It’s ideal for what you have in mind. It’s written in a style simple enough that it can be enjoyed by an intelligent teenager, and it hooks the reader _fast_. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/37 "2008-11-24T12:56:04Z")
**Ian McDonald** ’s an Irish sf writer who has written some excellent books. You could try _King of Morning, Queen of Day_ (might be hard to find these days) which is divided into 3 parts: a Wells/Keats late Victorian section, a Beckett/mythic 1920s mid-section and a slightly cyberpunk near future in Dublin… Or _The City and the Stars_ by **Clarke** would be a good choice, imo. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/38 "2008-11-24T23:41:27Z")
Any of Heinlein’s so-called juveniles. _The Rolling Stones_ is my favorite. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/39 "2008-11-25T00:01:30Z")
I’ll third or fourth Spin, having finished it yesterday. It’s the best SF I’ve read in ages, better IMO even than _The Sparrow_ (which was wonderful). The writing was absolutely beautiful, and the novel worked as a character study at least as well as an exploration of the scientific ideas (which were astonishing and plausible and freakin’ epic). It’s almost as if Joyce Carol Oates decided to try her hand at hard science fiction. Off to look for a thread on it now… Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058/40 "2008-11-25T00:29:38Z")
First: Have her read the short story “Satisfaction Guaranteed” by Asimov. She’ll love it. Satisfaction guaranteed. Second: Give her _Caves of Steel_ also by Asimov. Even though she’s not especially into mysteries, the structure of the book will be familiar to her, and make the science fiction elements easier to swallow. Many of the concepts and themes that are touched on in “Satisfaction Guaranteed” are explored much more thoroughly in Caves of Steel, so it’s a natural progression. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-sci-fi-book-for-someone-who-has-never-read-science-fiction/474058.md?page=3)