# Science fiction books where the 'science' is emphasized **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2001, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555 "2001-12-03T03:31:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/1 "2001-12-03T03:31:47Z")
With the holiday season coming upon us, I may actually have a bit of reading time (assuming I can overcome my SDMB addiction). So, I’m looking for your recommendations for some science fiction works where the science part of the genre is not neglected and might actually be emphasized. Often, in the little sci-fi that I’ve read, it seemed that the fiction aspect predominated. Some “sci-fi” is really just fantasy (a good example of this in movies, not books mind you, would be the whole Star Wars series). And some “sci-fi” books are really just adventure stories or romances that happen to take place in the future. What are some good science fiction novels where their “science” is stimulating, provocative, informative, etc.? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![robgruver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@robgruver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robgruver)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/2 "2001-12-03T04:11:34Z")
Try the Ringworld books by Larry Niven. Perhaps not as much science as you are looking for, but very interesting nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/3 "2001-12-03T04:21:03Z")
Larry Niven has written a LOT of stories where the science is the point behind the story, it’s a good suggestion. For instnace, back when neutron stars were discovered he though they were neat, and then wrote a story centered around one, appropriately called ‘Neutron Star’, where the puzzle solved in the story is related to the unique aspects of neutron stars. Even when he’s written fantasy he put together logical laws about how magic works and stuck to them. Brian Sheffield also writes a lot of hard-SF (the term you should be searching for), as does Jerry Pournelle, David Brin, Greg Bear, and many others. You’d probably like a lot of cyberpunk as well, which usually extrapolates the tech from current trends and shows how society adapts (or fails to adapt) to the changes that result. ---
**Author:** ![Theobroma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@Theobroma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theobroma)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/4 "2001-12-03T04:26:37Z")
Try Michael Crichton. He tends to explain (over-explain, say some) the scientific ideas behind his plots. I was thinking of Niven also, but got beaten to it. If you want David Brin, I would start with “Startide Rising.” That’s my favorite of his, and also (I think) the one that won the Hugo. ---
**Author:** ![Novus\_Opiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/858c86/32.png) [@Novus\_Opiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novus_Opiate)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/5 "2001-12-03T04:34:55Z")
Have you read anything by Arthur C. Clarke? I’ve always found him to be interesting but generally reasonably plausible (considering it’s sci-fi). Assuming you have a good deal of reading time coming your way, you might want to try the Rama Saga. It starts with Rendezvous With Rama. I read this series and loved it! Clarke has always struck me as being very meticulous in his writing and allows me to easily visualize what he’s thinking (at least I think so). 🙂 Here’s a link for ya: [Rendezvous With Rama](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0613069498/qid=1007353625/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_74_3/002-6172611-5905625). Novus ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/6 "2001-12-03T04:50:23Z")
One of the best: **Mission of Gravity** by Hal Clement. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/7 "2001-12-03T04:56:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Theobroma \* > \*\* > If you want David Brin, I would start with “Startide Rising.” That’s my favorite of his, and also (I think) the one that won the Hugo. \*\* It’s one of my favorites too, but actually one of his less ‘hard’ stories. It does have a lot of plausible and well-thought-out science in it, but it also has powerful psychic powers and technology that provides dozens of ways of doing things that are physically impossible. Damn good space opera, though. ---
**Author:** ![Studi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Studi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Studi)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/8 "2001-12-03T05:12:45Z")
I recommend **Flying to Valhalla** by Pellegrino. Not only is science integrated fairly regularly throughout the book, but there is a whole separate section at the end about the physics behind the science in the story. **And** it’s a great sci-fi story too. One of my favourites, without a doubt. Studi ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/9 "2001-12-03T05:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Theobroma \*Try Michael Crichton. Aiiieeee! What he doesn’t know about chaos theory could be a whole book in itself. 😉 He really blew it in Jurassic Park. He seems to have an axe to grind against science in his stuff. I second Niven, bearing in mind that while he stresses science, he too has made mistakes; usually because discoveries caught up with him (he has a story about Mercury being the coldest planet, for example, when it was thought that half the planet always faced away from the Sun). However, his stories that take place in the Known Space series are pretty well consistent. Try “Lucifer’s Hammer” by Niven and Pournelle too. Brin, Clarke, Greg Bear, and Joe Haldeman are good ones (Joe wrote a letter to the editor saying he liked an article I wrote, so he is forever My Favorite Author). Read “The Forever War” by Haldeman too. Fun stuff about relativity; a cosmology prof at U. Virginia used to assign it to his cosmology class! ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/10 "2001-12-03T05:32:50Z")
Excellent! (But, alas, so many choices, so little time.) I’ll keep checking in on this thread, of course, but you’ve already convinced me where I should start. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![xcheopis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bc8723/32.png) [@xcheopis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcheopis)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/11 "2001-12-03T05:34:47Z")
Dr. Robert L. Forward is an astro-physicist who has written a number of science-fiction books that are heavily laced with hard science. I suggest starting with **Dragon’s Egg**. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/12 "2001-12-03T05:39:47Z")
Try Poul Anderson’s **"Tau Zero"** A classic about relativistic effects. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/13 "2001-12-03T07:14:23Z")
Robert Heinlein’s earlier works were masterpieces of hard SF. David Brin, James P. Hogan, Larry Niven, Robert Forward, Ben Bova, Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Bear. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/14 "2001-12-03T07:27:52Z")
Pretty much any novel by Issac Asimov is hard science. His short stories on the other hand are usually jokes (and I don’t mean that to be disparaging, they really are! :)). Was Dragon’s Egg the book about life evolving on a star? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/15 "2001-12-03T08:02:30Z")
Yes, _Dragon’s Egg_ was about sentient life evolving on a star (neutron star, I believe). The sequel is _Starquake_. I don’t think that Forward is the BEST writer in SF today, but he can tell a story, and his stories do emphasize the science aspect. You might be able to luck into a two-in-one volume. I’m surprised that nobody’s mentioned Vernor Vinge yet. If you read nothing else, read some of his works. _A Fire Upon the Deep_ and _A Deepness in the Sky_ are his most recent that I know of. He’s got **alien** aliens, with alien outlooks. You might also look for John Varley’s _Steel Beach_. While this is related to his “Eight Worlds” future history, it’s not precisely meshed in with it. You don’t need to have read any of his previous works to enjoy it. I think it’s something like ten years old or so, though, so you might not be able to find it new. This isn’t what you asked for, but I absolutely insist that you read _Good Omens_ by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Get two copies, as you’ll wear out at least one. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/16 "2001-12-03T12:44:23Z")
Most of my choices have been named already, but I think a couple have been missed. **Hal Clement** (Harry Clement Stubbs) – **Mission of Gravity** is a classic, but so is **Needle** (from which they ripped off **The Hidden** , without even a thank you). Also **Iceworld, Cycle of Fire** , and others. There’s a sequel to Mission of Gravity ( **Starlight** ) and to Needle ( **Through the Eye of a Needle** ) that are often neglected. All of his hard sf is good. He also wrote some historical novels, that are hard to come by. **Larry Niven** – great hard sf, sometimes in collaboration with others. **Jerry Pournelle** – a Niven collaborator, also a great hard sf author in his own right. I was peripherally involved in something that became a story of his. **James Hogan** – I liked his earlier stuff ( **Inherit the Stars** and its sequels, for instance), but his later stuff gets weird. **Robert L. Forward** – A former Hughes Research Lab star, later founded his own company. **Dragon’s Egg** , his first, has already been mentioned. Try also **Rocheworld/The Flight of the Dragonfly**. **TimeMaster** is an attempt to treat time travel on a scientific basis. **Jules Verne** – I know that a lot of his stuff looks quaint, but for a guy who wrote over a century ago, a lot of it stands up. His lapses are more interesting for what they reveal about the history of technology and human lack of foresight, than to his individual shortcomings (why didn’t the _Nautilus_ have a periscope or torpedos? Obvious, I suggest, only in hindsight.). **The Weapon of Destruction** featured Guided Missiles. **The Barsac Mission/City ibn the Sahara** was the first time anyone called for help over the radio (in fiction or real life). **Carpathian Castle** and \*\* Diary of a Newsman\*\* featured televisions. **Tribulations of a Chinaman** had the Chinese hero using rubber survival suits at sea. **Robur the Conqueror** had a heavier-than-air flying machine that was built not of metal, but of _composites_! I could go on. Verne’s status as a hard SF writer is too often overlooked. **Frederick Pohl** I’m surprised his name doesn’t come up more often in discussions of hard sf, but Pohl obviously does careful research before setting pen to paper. **Arthur C. Clarke** – Too obvious to go on about. Heck, the man _invented_ the communications satellite. **Isaac Asimov** – Mentioned above. Sometimes his use is trite, but he always educates. \*\* Robert A. Heinlein\*\* – I might have missed it, but I don’t think I saw his name in the thread above. The perfect blend of hard science and characterization, even if you disagree with his politics. The man could handle the difficult feat of explanation without seeming pedantic. Read damned near anything he wrote. **L. Sprague de Camp** – less known for his sf than his fantasy or his nonfiction, but always a careful researcher. There are others I’ll remember only after I close this, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/17 "2001-12-03T13:38:25Z")
:: Dives in, recommends three Gregs (Bear, Benford, Egan) and one Stephen (Baxter), dives out again :: ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/18 "2001-12-03T13:54:08Z")
Badtz Maru writes: \> Brian Sheffield also writes a lot of hard-SF (the term \> you should be searching for), as does Jerry Pournelle, \> David Brin, Greg Bear, and many others. I assume that you mean Charles Sheffield, since I don’t know any writer named Brian Sheffield. The Bad Astronomer writes: \> Aiiieeee! What he [Michael Crichton] doesn’t know about \> chaos theory could be a whole book in itself. 😉 He \> really blew it in Jurassic Park. He seems to have an axe \> to grind against science in his stuff. I agree. Michael Crichton’s science is always suspect. It constantly sounds like he’s using ideas that he read five years before in a superficial newspaper article and now can’t be bothered to do some research on. And a re-occurring theme in his books is that science is out of control. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/19 "2001-12-03T14:24:49Z")
I’ll second the Varley book. Also, I’d recommend Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy. More science than you can shake a stick at. ---
**Author:** ![DireStraits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/74df32/32.png) [@DireStraits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DireStraits)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555/20 "2001-12-03T14:45:54Z")
Heck… anything by Varley… perhaps not as hard-SF as some others, but at least usually has SOME hard-SF ideas (the Gaean trilogy IMHO, seemed to have more fantasy elements than hard-SF (leading me to avoid the series for way too long), but really, just about all of it is explained in a scientific way… The sequel, sort of, to Steel Beach is The Golden Globe, and every bit as fun. I understand there will be another loosely related book, Steel Town Blues (?) in near future… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-books-where-the-science-is-emphasized/96555.md?page=2)