# The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233 "2003-03-05T13:55:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/21 "2003-03-05T17:11:59Z")
I’ve only read 6 of the books on the list. On the Beach by Nevil Shute… wasn’t that the one they turned into a movie with DiCaprio? So 6 if you count watching the movie versions. (I did actually read Starship Troopers, and I have never seen the movie.) I think I shall check out some of these, though a couple I have started to read from the library and didn’t look interesting to me. Like The Sword of Shannara and The Mists of Avalon. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/22 "2003-03-05T17:13:13Z")
Read 8 of the top 10 but peters out quickly after that. So I’m only partially geeky? Only _Dune_ is deserving of the top 10. I am so surprised that the best (IMHO) novels of so many authors are not listed but far lesser works are given instead. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/23 "2003-03-05T17:15:39Z")
1. I really should start reading more scifi/fantasy… ---
**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:** [March 5, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/24 "2003-03-05T17:17:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\* That and the fact that I doubt more than twelve people have actually read “Dhalgren”. \*\* Well, considering the fact it was (and may still be) Bantam’s all time best-selling SF title, I’m sure it was read by far more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/25 "2003-03-05T17:18:58Z")
I’ve read 18 of the list, counting Ender’s Game although I only read it in its original short-story form in Analog. Including Sword of Shannara is nothing short of stupid, since it’s a stupid, nigh-plagiarized book, and it’s influential only as the first of scads of Tolkien ripoffs. Also, I’d have liked to have seen Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy on the list. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/26 "2003-03-05T17:25:34Z")
I’ve read 32 out of 50, so I guess my SF cred is still intact. I don’t know how the Science Fiction Book Club defines “significant”; at least two of the books are short story collections and two more are by obscure authors (_Children of the Atom_, Wilmar Shiras; The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith). Where is Connie Willis’s _Doomsday Book_? David Brin’s Uplift series? Harry Harrison’s Deathworld or Stainless Steel Rat series? Where is Robert Silverberg? Sherri Tepper? Harry Turtledove? Shirley Jackson? Peter Straub? Stephen King? Dean Koontz? Clive Barker? And no Ray Bradbury??? ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/27 "2003-03-05T17:33:46Z")
Amen! Where’s the Bradbury? That’s an outrage! ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/28 "2003-03-05T17:37:18Z")
at #10…duh… I feel stupid now. But I would still like to see “The Martian Chronicles.” ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/29 "2003-03-05T17:39:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vibrotronica \* > \*\*at #10…duh… > > I feel stupid now. But I would still like to see “The Martian Chronicles.” \*\* Just looked it up, and it was published in 1950 – outside that 50-year window. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/30 "2003-03-05T17:40:42Z")
> [@](#): > > at #10…duh… > > I feel stupid now. Me, too. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/31 "2003-03-05T17:43:29Z")
The related _USA Today_ article (with some explanations of why and how they picked these books) is available [here](http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2003-03-02-tolkien_x.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/32 "2003-03-05T18:14:10Z")
19 for sure, maybe 1 or two more. Or I’ve read something else by that author. The list has been duly copied to my Visor & will be referenced on my next visit to the library/bookstore. 4 names I didn’t recognize: Gene Wolfe, Wilmar Shiras, John Crowley & Gregory Benford – what am I missing? ---
**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:** [March 5, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/33 "2003-03-05T18:17:17Z")
> [@](#): > > On the Beach by Nevil Shute… wasn’t that the one they turned into a movie with DiCaprio? Dear Lord, I hope that’s a joke. If not, look here: [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0053137](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0053137) The one and only movie version. Cordwainer Smith is Obscure? CS rightly belongs on that list – his stuff is incredibly influential. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/34 "2003-03-05T18:17:54Z")
Only 15! And I call myself a geek? The only way I can still hold my head high is to reassure myself that I’ve read many books by the authors on the list, just not always the one they picked. I agree with **The Gaspode** that Discworld would have been better represented by another book, but I guess it makes sense to give the slot to the first of the series. ---
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/35 "2003-03-05T18:23:50Z")
I’ve read 30 of the 50, so I’m still a girl geek, yea! I agree that Brooks should have been left off the list, and that Bradley would be better represented as a writer with _Witch World_, although _Mist_ opened up a new way to look at the Arthur legends, so that may be more significant. I think Connie Willis has done marvelous things with the time-travel genre, so she should be on the list. The problem with current authors is, unless they re-invent the genre in a big way, it’s hard to see if their “new takes on old topics” will change the way those topics are written about, so their overall significance is difficult to determine. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/36 "2003-03-05T18:38:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > Dear Lord, I hope that’s a joke. I’m sorry, but you are talking to the one person who doesn’t know anything about movies and the books associated with them, beyond one or two. That’s why I asked, because I wasn’t certain. I do recall my roomie telling me The Beach was originally a book, but I do not know who wrote it or anything. _shrugs_ It’s not the be all and end all of the world for me to know all that stuff so I don’t bother most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/37 "2003-03-05T18:39:11Z")
Umm, Kallessa, Andre Norton wrote Witch World. Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote the Darkover novels in addition to The Mists of Avalon. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/38 "2003-03-05T19:00:10Z")
Hmmm. Read at least 40 of them. The price of a youth spent not dating, I guess. Some of them ring very faint chimes indeed. Some of the items on the list just don’t belong there. I read the Sword of Shannara over the course of three days during the aftermath of the blizzard of '78 and have spent the intervening 25 years wishing I had those three days back. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/39 "2003-03-05T19:01:18Z")
I’ve read 17, I think. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233/40 "2003-03-05T19:02:54Z")
27 out of 50. Gotta get reading… I’m glad to see that Wolfe gets a nod here. I love that guy to death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-significant-sf-fantasy-books-of-the-last-50-years/159233.md?page=3)