5 Quintessential Science Fiction Books

late night I can't sleep so let's go ahead and talk about some sci-fi books Daniel here that's the longest name of Daniels ever had to talk to you about sci-fi because I've had people continually my channel tell me that even though videos where I talk about sci-fi get less views they still want to see me talk about sci-fi because it's a genre I have an equally deep love for as fantasy especially classic sci-fi so what I thought I would do in this video is list my five essential sci-fi reads all of them strategically picked to nail someone who has not entered into sci-fi yet and maybe a different point of entry depending on who they are and I think I've done one heck of a job for that because I I'm pretty proud of this this is a good list five different classic sci-fi books one of the modern because in case you want to get into sci-fi and it not be classic all targeting a different kind of audience member is gonna give me an excuse to talk about five amazing ten out of ten books in my mind so we're gonna start that off with the person who loves epic fantasy but wants to get into classic sci-fi yeah I'm talking to you I know a lot of my audience is probably that guy or girl so let's go ahead and talk to you and for that I've picked the foundation trilogy this is quintessential classic sci-fi one of the most iconic series the genre ever saw and I think if you are into fantasy epics this is closest you can get in true hardcore classic sci-fi Asimov crafted a huge story that literally spans a galaxy universe one of the two it's been many years since I read it but I do remember being amazing and it is widely held up as one of the best sci-fi stories ever told and it's one that I plan on doing a reread with my audience about in the future so if you'd like to do that I would highly recommend the foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov if you love large epic sweeping stories that are maybe a bit less personal which a lot of classic side I is and very much so looking for that grand scope within classic sci-fi which isn't one of the staples of the genre but might get you to be able to be hooked in as an introduction I don't think you could go really wrong with the foundation trilogy now that being said let's go to the polar opposite of the spectrum let's go someone who wants to get in the classic sci-fi but really wants an intimate personal story unfortunately that's gonna be really hard to find because the genre used to be so dedicated to exploring ideas concept such a scientific DRI approach that yeah there's a few really good pics but it's hard to find them so for this entry I've chosen two different ones that I think satisfy this / - very different reasons so actually this is six books but don't talk about it five is better for the thumbnail so it's five it's five six five six five books and that is stranger in a strange land and Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 is dystopian classic sci-fi it's a sub-genre but honestly you do have to branch out of it because this is such a rough genre for like intimate stories they just don't thrive here but this one is as close as I think you can get I might be cheating a little bit but I also just love this book so much I do like recommending it to people I know a lot of you are probably forced to read it in high school and you probably have about memory about it because of that I will stake my reputation that now as an adult someone who appreciates reading a little bit more than may use to maybe maybe some of you are on the same level you've always been which is a good thing if you've been on a good level maybe I don't want to like seem like I'm saying that you're better I don't know I'm trying to avoid I don't get offended with things I say this is something I think anyone can love because at its core it's a very human story about curiosity rebellion and oppression and that takes me to the next one for this more intimate story stranger in a strange land a book that in its time was probably a perfect book this is one of those that's just I wouldn't change a thing certain aspects have not aged well I would go as far as to say it is a sexist because of a few lines in it a lot of you probably don't care about that that's fine you're allowed to not care many of you probably would be really offended by a couple of the lines in here and that's also fine and just don't read it or don't support the book but I personally think if you want to get into classic sci-fi this is such a heavyweight such a heavy hitter for the genre it's almost gonna be on a must-read list it's also a very intimate story much more so than your standard classic sci-fi and explores more spiritual themes than most stories of the genre do so if you're looking for maybe two alternative approaches that aren't quite as dry as a lot of it a lot of I'm so tired of saying words classic sci-fi they're starting to just sound like nothing classic sigh alright let's say CF for now I was gonna say CF but not quite so standard CF these might be good uptakes for you because they're amazing books some of my favorites and well worth your time but what if you just want standard CF you don't need to be epic you don't need to be more personal you just want the this is what it is dive head-on into it well there you can't really go wrong with I Robot this was actually one of my first introductions to it my dad lent me this exact book when I was in seventh or eighth grade and I think I've reread it twice since then I Robot is an utter masterpiece that I think lands square in the middle of what the genre is it's it's it's just incredible I don't want to give away much but if you haven't read CF before it might be extremely dry to you it's certainly not full of high-stakes emotion it's a quick read I think you could probably do it in a day or two without a doubt and boy oh boy is there a reason this one is just affiliated with like the face of CF a lot of people when they think of classic sci-fi this is one of the first stories that come to their mind and that's because it's one that is highly technically oriented it explores a lot of neat cool ideas some of which we are seeing come true in our actual society today isn't that neat ESMA he like knew he knew which things were gonna be a problem now and I will say that this is one of the few classic sci-fi books as aged phenomenally well and is is just as good if not maybe even better with how accurate Simmons predictions were then the day it came out because you kind of can just look at when it was published compared to what it's predicting now and just go hot damn Asimov you knew you knew maybe you're just interested in the C part of C F maybe you only care about the I mean it should be CSF why am I just going C F that's classic fantasy not classic sci-fi Jesus Christ I'll not rerecord in that it's midnight I couldn't sleep so I got up to record this cuz it was on my mind there's going to be mistakes I'm sorry and that's case and you've just won one of the best examples of modern sci-fi you can't go wrong with the Martian the movie was great the books equally is great I think it's one of the few times where the movie and the book are on almost same level of quality except I like the ending in the book a lot more than the one in the movie I have no idea why they changed it but they did and the book is much more technically oriented and I think it has some pretty strong classic sci-fi vibes in it for such a modern sci-fi book because modern sci-fi books tend to diverge from classic sci-fi so heavily but I've talked about that in previous videos basically they're less science oriented more cite fantasy oriented or more just personal stories set in the future and they've forgotten a lot of the technical aspects that's the hard boiled down quick aspect of it but this one right here is a wonderful story of survival I would say if you've ever liked a show like Bear Grylls or survivor man or anything like that and you also like the idea of it happening on Mars and being written is like a diary entry this would be the one for you Andy weir crafted something really special here I also recommend the movie with Matt Damon I would not have cast Matt Damon in the role but he did a great job so I'm not complaining and it's one of the ones that I think is one of the first earliest books I reviewed on the channel so yeah if you have not already check out the Martian by Andy weir Peak modern sci-fi because it goes back to its roots I'm just saying so my final thing to offer you here for me is one that my dad got me and and maybe once again one of the best things the classic sci-fi genre CSF ever saw and that would be the passage through tomorrow this is a lot of short stories all of which are some of the most bare-bones hardcore boiled-down sci-fi concept explorations you can find so if you are just wanting that quick-fire kind of just brilliant mind author exploring his predictions of the future or hypotheticals for the future just different ideas concepts and really having no character development no personal attachment because that's not the point of it it's about exploring these ideas passing through tomorrow might just be your best bet all of these are wonderful stories but passage to tomorrow is like 60 however me is not maybe less more than 60 is around that number just incredibly well thought-out interesting short stories some things that are echoing it in society some things that are not I don't know I have two Heinlein here and two Asimov so I'm biased to those two apparently so there's a bunch of different approaches for those of you who want to get into it you have your more you know personal stories that aren't quite what the genre was you have the absolute staple of what the genre was at its peak you have maybe a short story or series of short stories entry I love this one you have the best example of modern and followed up by the truly epic side of classic sci-fi if you want to get started with the genre those are the ways to go classic or modern really this might be the best modern sci-fi book I've read Bob verse might give it a run for its money but I'm not sure I've read too many modern sci-fi books as I just always am a bit resentful wanting it to go back to more to the classic roots but that's because I'm a giant snob anyway guys I hope you enjoyed this video like and subscribe if you have not already and hit the patreon for support what I do here let me know what you think of these books in the comments down below peace [Music]

Channel: Daniel Greene

Views: 366,599

Keywords: classic scifi, daniel greene, starting classic scifi, classic scifi for beginners, science fiction, science fiction for beginners

Id: iuZ-WfAFyCc

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 28 2019