Some of these issues are being debated elsewhere. One point about Simek is that, though he is an influential author, he doesn’t really have an influential book. Same with Silverberg. I’d include Dying Inside, but I doubt many others have read it.
As I’ve mentioned before, Titan was the book that changed my life, but I wouldn’t put it on this list. It isn’t all that good. If you want to pick Varley, you go with The Persistance of Vision, since the stories there were very influential.
I loved the whole trilogy, but my favorite is probably Wizard. The 50 Foot Tall Marylin Monroe rampaging around the countryside molesting King Kong and wrestling with Sandworms has got to be one of the two or three most…um…odd yet memorable images ever written.
That said, I’d agree: Persistance of Vision (and The Barbie Murders aka Picnic on Nearside ) are far more influential.
Fenris
Dying Inside is one of the best treatments of telepathy ever. Hey, what about The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold? Well, maybe in the “100 most significant” list.
Starship troopers? I didn’t care for it as much as some of Heinlein’s other books. I guess it could be for the impact it had but I don’t think it deserved top 50. Top 100 sure, but not top 50.
I’ve read 36, plus parts of several others (the Shiras and the Wolfe.) The titles that gladden me most are Cities in Flight by Blish, Rogue Moon by Budrys, and I am Legend by Matheson, which has to be one of my ten favorite books of all time.
I can quibble more with what was left out than what is there, though for the life of me I can’t figure out why The Sword of Shannara is on there, unless they’re blaming it for the deluge of fat fantasy that has descended upon us. I’m also unclear on why they picked On the Beach rather than any of the far superior nuclear war novels they could have chosen. Hell, Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon would have been a better choice (unless that came out before 1953, and I’m too lazy to look it up right now.)
If you persist in slinging derogatory comments towards yourself, I suggest you do so in the BBQ Pit.
Thread locked.
oh wait, I’m not a mod (and obviously for good reason) 
Now, are we talking about the best science fiction books, or the most important/influential on society, literature, etc?
If we’re talking about influence overall, the without question Stranger in a Strange Land is at the top of the list, and by a large margin. The book is partially responsible for the hippie culture and the changing social structure of the U.S. It was immensely popular in the '60’s.
Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” is still required reading at the Naval Acedemy in Annapolis, and it has been for something like 20 years.
And you’ve got to give credit to Heinlein’s Juveniles, because they changed the SF marketplace. In particular, I think it was “Rocket Ship Galileo” that was serialized in LIFE magazine, and broke science fiction out of the pulps.
25 for me, but there are a number on there I’ve been meqaning to read for some time, so I maybe will, so…well, there isn’t really any point to that statement.
As much as I admire Heinlein, Sam, this is poppycock. The hippies were coming anyway, and “hippie culture” owed at least as much to Kerouac et al. as it did to Heinlein.
My biggest quibble would have to be The Left Hand of Darkness not making the top 10, while Mists of Avalon could have been dumped down to the lower 40. I agree that Shannara is a mistake, and they seem to have categorically decided that “influential” excludes anything written in the last ten years, except for Harry Potter.
scored a mighty 27.
some real good stuff, some silly picks too.
no Callahans? no Spider? where can I get a drink?
OK there’s Adams. He respected booze.
I’ve read Dhalgren. Twice. It’s weird, all right, but I still found it easier going than, say, Portrait of the Artist (which I found damned near uncomprehensible).
I’ve read between 35 and 39 of the list–numbers 36-39 are ones I think I’ve read, but can’t remember if I have, or that I’ve read partially.
How did they manage to miss Van Vogt?
Yeah, but can any of Kerouac’s works claim to be the inspiration for an invention? Stranger is the source for the inspiration of the waterbed. Why no William S. Burroughs in the list? I’ve read about 16 or so of the books on the list and I’m not inclined to read some of the ones I’ve missed. I’m surprised that A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick isn’t on the list, one of his best works IMHO.
Peyote Coyote: I’m not claiming that Heinlein was responsible for the hippie culture all by himself, but SIASL was very influential. ‘Grok’ was a commonly used term in the 60’s, and there was a fad for a while of people having ‘water ceremonies’ and other artifacts from the book.
The themes in SIASL (communal living, free love, self expression, distrust of authority) were powerful themes throughout the 60’s, and the book was published in 1961 and was considered very radical then.
Read 42 out of 50, and another couple are on my Unread Pile.
How the blazes did Terry Brooks ever get near a list like this? I disagree with the inclusion of several of these, but the Brooks one is just mystifying.
I’ve read, or tried to read 38 of them. Some I just could not get through. I’ve read 15 of the top 16, missing #14.
I’ve read 10, which is honestly more than I even expected. Got a big To Do readling list which includes some others listed; we’ll see when I get to them…
17, and I’m not counting my aborted attempt at reading Covenant. I got about as far as the rape in the first book, and gave up. Somethign that is exceedingly rare for me.
I’ve got more reading to do though…
Hey Fenris, what would you reccommend on the list?
RealityChuck and Fenris re: Varley – I agree that Persistance of Vision and Barbie Murders are probably more representative of Varley’s work – that’s why I suggested Steel Beach which I view as a novel length treatment of the same “universe” (as is Ophiuchi Hotline).
While Varley certainly wasn’t the first to establish continuity between works, he did it well. Also, I think his vision of the future, especially in re: CC (the central computer) could be remarkably accurate.
28-32, depending on how forgiving you are of me putting down a book halfway through, and how good my memory is for titles of things I read 15 years ago.
The works that I think need to be on the list, but weren’t:
A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin
One of Robert Jordan’s craptacular works (we’re talking influential here, not worthy)
The Stand, by Stephen King
Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson (which I loved, BTW)
Less Heinlein
Daniel