# The 200th anniversary of science fiction\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361 "2018-05-17T18:53:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/21 "2018-05-17T22:42:47Z")
My all-time fave is Philip K. Dick’s _Ubik_. ---
**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 17, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/22 "2018-05-17T22:44:23Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Whether _Frankenstein_ is the first science fiction novel depends upon whether utopian literature can be classified as science fiction (in which case, the science would be _social_ rather than life or physical). If so, the strongest argument would be for Plato’s _Republic_. You’d have a hard time arguing that that’s a novel. If we’re going to insist on the “first science fiction _novel_” as opposed to the first work of science fiction, we have to consider not just what counts as Science Fiction but also what counts as a Novel. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/23 "2018-05-17T22:50:09Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > You’d have a hard time arguing that that’s a novel. > > If we’re going to insist on the “first science fiction _novel_” as opposed to the first work of science fiction, we have to consider not just what counts as Science Fiction but also what counts as a Novel. What about Sir Thomas More’s _Utopia_? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/24 "2018-05-17T22:54:53Z")
Does only serious Sci-Fi count? Because my favorite is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (at least the first four books). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/25 "2018-05-17T23:26:29Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Curious in what way Titan changed your life? When I finished reading it, I started writing SF seriously. It turned me into a writer, and I’ve had a respectable number of professional publications. I can’t begin to explain why. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/26 "2018-05-17T23:45:40Z")
Fave SF novel? Oh, lordy . . . While in the past I’d have named a title by Heinlein or Asimov, my dickety-third re-reading of their works (while generally pleasurable) don’t bring new insights. But I still glean fresh perspectives every time I go through Dune. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/27 "2018-05-18T01:18:33Z")
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/28 "2018-05-18T02:02:07Z")
I don’t really think in ranked favorites, but if I had to \*A Fire Upon the Deep \*would be right up there for me, too, along with Dan Simmons’s _Hyperion Cantos_, which I’ll treat as a single title of I want to, damnit! ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/29 "2018-05-18T02:12:10Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#): > > Startide Rising by David Brin. > > Underdog humans and dolphin allies in a galaxy filled with some truly original aliens. > > The whole Uplift Universe series is good, but Startide Rising is the best. Agree. Great concept, great storytelling. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/30 "2018-05-18T02:15:47Z")
If we’re talking short stories, then my vote is for “The Cold Equations”. Chilling. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/31 "2018-05-18T02:23:18Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > If we’re talking short stories, then my vote is for “The Cold Equations”. Chilling. Then you probably shouldn’t read [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601443) thread. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/32 "2018-05-18T02:43:06Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > \*That is if you consider Frankenstein the first science fiction novel… I think Cyrano de Bergerac’s accounts of his voyages to the Moon and the Sun have a prior claim. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2018, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/33 "2018-05-18T04:13:56Z")
32 posts and no Childhood’s End??? ---
**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:** [May 18, 2018, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/34 "2018-05-18T06:02:51Z")
I’m going to go against the general tenor and pick “The City and the Stars” by Clarke. I’m not saying it is the best novel, but it is my favorite because Diaspar is almost reasonable as a city a billion years in the future. Plus Clarke seems to have invented video games, based on my last rereading. But it is a close thing. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2018, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/35 "2018-05-18T06:04:14Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I think Cyrano de Bergerac’s accounts of his voyages to the Moon and the Sun have a prior claim. Not anywhere close to being science, even the science of the day. I’ll agree with Aldiss and pick Frankenstein as the first. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/36 "2018-05-18T06:11:46Z")
There is no way I could pick a \*favorite \*SF novel. Too many variables. But I can name the one that I have re-read the most times: all five of Jack Vance’s _Demon Princes_ novels (which I basically consider one long story). ---
**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:** [May 18, 2018, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/37 "2018-05-18T11:42:07Z")
Favorite science fiction novel, boy, that’s tough, picking just one. I think that Clarke’s _Childhood’s End_ is oversold, and not really very representative of his works. Ditto for Heinlein’s _Stranger in a Strange Land_. You want something that shows off the strengths and capabilities of science fiction, and that I like re-reading. Maybe the best overall choice is Clarke’s **Rendezvous with Rama** Coming in a little after that: **The Foundation Trilogy** by Asimov (but not the bloated sequels) **Lest Darkness Fall** by L. Sprague de Camp **Starship Troopers** by Heinlein, despite, or maybe because of, its controversies. And his positive-feedback armored infantry is one of the cleverest bits of well-thought-out imagined technology I’ve seen. After al his description of not only its conception, but the way opeople have taken to it and use it as a casually-accepted piece of their lives, it _ought_ to exist. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/38 "2018-05-18T12:33:27Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Does only serious Sci-Fi count? Because my favorite is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (at least the first four books). I was thinking that too! Those four are a great HGttG trilogy. 😉 ---
**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:** [May 18, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/39 "2018-05-18T12:49:19Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > I was thinking that too! > > Those four are a great HGttG trilogy. 😉 Five – don’t forget **Mostly Harmless**. Some might also add a Sixth, **And Another Thing…** , but that was written by Eoin Colfer after Adams’ death. (And, of course, there are the collected original radio scripts, and Og knows what else) I have to admit that I’m not the huge Douglas Adams fan others are. One of my first introductions to written SF was the work of Robert Sheckley, whose SF humor is more to my taste. I also think he’s one of the most ripped-off SF writers (I swear that the bulk of _Total Recall_, after the first 15 minutes or so, is lifted from Sheckley’s novel **The Status Civilization** , right down to the mind-reading mutants and the hero who is his own doppelganger villain), and I couldn’t help noticing how much Hitchhiker’s Guide resembles Sheckley’s _Dimension of Miracles_, including a meeting with The Man Who Built the Earth and the extreme poet aliens. But Sheckley’s whimsy is not at all Adams’ sense of whimsy, being more the wise-cracking tough-guy type. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/40 "2018-05-18T13:04:07Z")
There’s a whole genre of utopian/ satirical/ semi-fantasy novels that can be considered “proto-science fiction”. In addition to the ones already cited I’ll add Gulliver’s Travels, Orlando furioso, and Baron Munchausen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361.md?page=3)