Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels (100 books)

Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels

The 100 best books of the science fiction genre as listed in Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels and selected by one hundred well-known speculative fiction authors.

See also https://www.worldswithoutend.com/list... for the actual list to verify that no one added any books to this list. Apparently this list only contains books from 1949 and 1984 - so that might make it easier to spot additions.

See Also:
Science Fiction The 101 Best Novels 1985 2010

Please do not add books to this list! Only books listed in Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels should be listed below!
1

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2

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4.19 avg rating — 4,646,985 ratings
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3

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4.09 avg rating — 455,590 ratings
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4

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4.21 avg rating — 677,921 ratings
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5

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4.12 avg rating — 160,394 ratings
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6

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3.90 avg rating — 329,248 ratings
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7

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 715,466 ratings
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8

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4.01 avg rating — 108,269 ratings
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9

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10

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4.15 avg rating — 263,640 ratings
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11

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3.97 avg rating — 2,438,892 ratings
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12

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4.25 avg rating — 126,403 ratings
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13

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3.98 avg rating — 110,143 ratings
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14

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3.97 avg rating — 32,101 ratings
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15

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3.60 avg rating — 214,193 ratings
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16

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3.94 avg rating — 18,394 ratings
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17

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4.07 avg rating — 51,603 ratings
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18

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4.16 avg rating — 405,174 ratings
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19

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3.89 avg rating — 32,963 ratings
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20

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4.03 avg rating — 27,566 ratings
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21

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4.08 avg rating — 45,796 ratings
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22

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4.01 avg rating — 39,336 ratings
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23

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4.24 avg rating — 56,795 ratings
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24

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3.90 avg rating — 7,319 ratings
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25

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3.91 avg rating — 25,874 ratings
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26

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4.15 avg rating — 142,495 ratings
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27

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3.94 avg rating — 16,564 ratings
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28

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4.01 avg rating — 2,668 ratings
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29

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3.83 avg rating — 29,705 ratings
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30

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4.02 avg rating — 26,700 ratings
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31

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3.84 avg rating — 10,651 ratings
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32

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3.59 avg rating — 25,961 ratings
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33

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4.08 avg rating — 33,994 ratings
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34

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3.92 avg rating — 30,272 ratings
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35

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3.80 avg rating — 444 ratings
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35

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3.62 avg rating — 5,351 ratings
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37

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3.47 avg rating — 7,894 ratings
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38

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3.95 avg rating — 29,927 ratings
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39

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4.21 avg rating — 34,671 ratings
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40

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3.72 avg rating — 2,019 ratings
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41

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3.71 avg rating — 8,716 ratings
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42

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3.81 avg rating — 8,373 ratings
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43

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3.73 avg rating — 2,891 ratings
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43

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3.61 avg rating — 33,360 ratings
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45

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3.89 avg rating — 3,127 ratings
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46

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3.87 avg rating — 14,773 ratings
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47

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3.78 avg rating — 13,286 ratings
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48

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3.67 avg rating — 359 ratings
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49

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3.71 avg rating — 2,626 ratings
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50

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3.87 avg rating — 3,447 ratings
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51

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3.48 avg rating — 18,538 ratings
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52

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3.62 avg rating — 6,631 ratings
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53

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3.73 avg rating — 11,145 ratings
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54

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3.79 avg rating — 1,957 ratings
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55

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3.70 avg rating — 3,408 ratings
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56

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3.99 avg rating — 3,974 ratings
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57

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3.88 avg rating — 6,923 ratings
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58

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3.74 avg rating — 1,031 ratings
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59

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3.99 avg rating — 7,455 ratings
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60

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3.74 avg rating — 3,474 ratings
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61

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3.83 avg rating — 14,912 ratings
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61

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4.02 avg rating — 1,986 ratings
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63

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3.79 avg rating — 1,894 ratings
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64

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3.88 avg rating — 9,841 ratings
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65

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3.49 avg rating — 3,045 ratings
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66

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3.67 avg rating — 868 ratings
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67

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3.70 avg rating — 9,196 ratings
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68

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3.54 avg rating — 2,042 ratings
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69

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3.64 avg rating — 1,154 ratings
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70

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3.39 avg rating — 3,087 ratings
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70

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3.93 avg rating — 9,308 ratings
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72

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3.62 avg rating — 1,530 ratings
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73

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3.67 avg rating — 2,597 ratings
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73

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3.37 avg rating — 1,711 ratings
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75

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3.93 avg rating — 17,322 ratings
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76

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3.45 avg rating — 514 ratings
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77

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3.51 avg rating — 376 ratings
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78

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3.66 avg rating — 3,187 ratings
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79

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3.40 avg rating — 739 ratings
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80

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3.55 avg rating — 458 ratings
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81

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3.24 avg rating — 68 ratings
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82

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3.14 avg rating — 135 ratings
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83

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4.02 avg rating — 8,176 ratings
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84

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3.48 avg rating — 1,026 ratings
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85

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3.57 avg rating — 333 ratings
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85

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3.24 avg rating — 181 ratings
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87

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3.75 avg rating — 8,390 ratings
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88

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3.49 avg rating — 1,511 ratings
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89

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3.52 avg rating — 4,929 ratings
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90

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3.55 avg rating — 203 ratings
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91

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3.56 avg rating — 64 ratings
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92

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3.33 avg rating — 43 ratings
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93

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3.47 avg rating — 506 ratings
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94

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3.60 avg rating — 4,420 ratings
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95

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3.60 avg rating — 2,871 ratings
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96

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3.54 avg rating — 2,864 ratings
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97

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3.60 avg rating — 722 ratings
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98

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3.41 avg rating — 318 ratings
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99

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3.64 avg rating — 431 ratings
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100

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3.68 avg rating — 486 ratings
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100 books · 105 voters · list created September 28th, 2012 by Charles Patterson (votes) .
2 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Charles 2568 books
12 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3370 books
863 friends
Pichicarro 683 books
10 friends
Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) 546 books
366 friends
Penny 759 books
76 friends
Pickle 525 books
52 friends
Sharon 207 books
98 friends
Patrick 358 books
17 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-18 of 18 (18 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

message 1: by Sérgio (new)

Sérgio How can someone be serious about making a list like that and avoid completely any type of non-american/british SF?

No Stanislaw Lem, no Strugatskys... Weird...


message 2: by Mustafa (new)

Mustafa Ahmad I am so happy that Larry Niven is not on this list.


message 3: by Adrian (new)

Adrian What no H.G.Wells? He is the Godfarther when it comes to sci-fi novels.


message 4: by Bettie (new)

Bettie Betcha I won't be buying the book!


message 5: by Jonathan (last edited May 20, 2014 06:57AM) (new)

Jonathan This appears to be a very old list and not based on Goodreads users but on a publication. What would be much more useful is an actual list of member-suggested books that can be voted on to come up with a "real" top 100 of sci-fi based on votes.


message 6: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Jon wrote: "This appears to be a very old list and not based on Goodreads users but on a publication. What would be much more useful is an actual list of member-suggested books that can be voted on to come up ..."

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...


message 7: by Kevin (new)

Kevin Anyone can add books to this list. If you don't like what you see, add a title or two of your choice. That's what these list are for: REFERENCE!


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads And this list's subtitle info includes "Please do NOT add books to this list." There are plenty of other more open lists for science fiction.


message 9: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Kevin wrote: "Anyone can add books to this list. If you don't like what you see, add a title or two of your choice. That's what these list are for: REFERENCE!"

And comparing https://www.goodreads.com/list/user_v... to https://www.worldswithoutend.com/list... it would seem that Kevin added 4 books not on the list specifically:
The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story
Eon
Stranger in a Strange Land
Downbelow Station

which is why the list reads 104 books. though I'm sure with this reminder he'll remove his votes, rather than make a librarian do it for him.


message 10: by Kevin (last edited May 05, 2015 08:54PM) (new)

Kevin My bad folks, I do apologize.
The titles have been removed. Carry on.


message 11: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Kevin wrote: "My bad folks, I do apologize.
The titles have been removed. Carry on."


Thanks Kevin. This would have been more obvious with a locked list. But that feature isn't generally available. I think it may be limited to goodreads employees only. It certainly isn't available to volunteer librarians.

And it's good to remind people that the list process on goodreads is more confusing than it looks to those already familiar with it. I have often seen people complain that a book should be on a list who doesn't realize that they can and should add it.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Yep. (If you want to add a book - to another list! - it's easy. At the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes.")


message 13: by Will (new)

Will Shogren Mustafa wrote: "I am so happy that Larry Niven is not on this list."

Larry Niven is on the list, with a somewhat odd choice: Oath of Fealty.


message 14: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Sep 19, 2020 02:51AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Deleted one (Mars Base 1: A new discovery!), as the creator of this list didn't vote for it and the title clearly says 'The 100 Best Novels' (and the description says 'Please do not add books to this list!').


message 15: by Omar (new)

Omar Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels: An English-Language Selection, 1949-1984 by David Pringle. It details why each entry is on the list, a great way to start info more 'classic' SF.

The idea was continued in Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010 by Damien Broderick and Paul Di Filippo.


message 16: by Ash (new)

Ash ^^ The continuation novel is total pandering garbage, do not bother with that list at all.


message 17: by Adam (new)

Adam Can anyone explain why there are 113 books on the list?

Cheers :)


message 18: by Bonnie (new)

Bonnie Adam wrote: "Can anyone explain why there are 113 books on the list? Cheers :)"

One person had added 13 books that were not from the book - mostly Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and other Arthur C. Clarkes. Removed.

Reminder: this is a list of books from
Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels : An English-Language Selection, 1949-1984
by David Pringle.


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