Science fiction

I was a bit runty/sickly as a kid, took up books as soon as I could read. Black Beauty, Treasure Island, Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, whatever I could get my hands on.

I think the Kindle is a godsend. I take mine to ANY appointment, it's like carrying a whole library with you.
 
The "Three-Body Problem" trilogy by Cixin Liu is highly recommended. Volume 2 is: "The Dark Forest" and Volume 3 is "Death's End." I found these to be at least as good as the very best of Heinlein or Asimov. The premise of the story is thought provoking with some interesting physics thrown in.
 
savarin said:
In my early teens it was Robert Heinlein, Issac Asimov, Arther C Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Poul Anderson and Clifford Simak, late teens it was frank Herbert, Hal Clement, E C Tubb and of course Phillip K Dick
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My favorite was always Heinlein but I read the others as well, the only si-fi writer I don't like is L. Ron Hubbard. I tried to read his stuff but it never made any sense to me.
 
We had "The Star Beast" by Heinlein in my grade school library. I'm not well read, but I like Philip K. Dick, Asimov, Bester
Bradbury did a neat one about folks escaping into the past and special police tasked with bringing them back to the future. Forget the title.
Also liked "The Invaders" TV show. And Outer Limits. Night Gallery. TZ. Trek. Hitchcock's "Monster Museum" book (still have it)
M
 
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Ahh, L Ron Hubbard, the hack writer who churned out nothing but garbage in all genres
Same story with different names and places, nothing actually happening in any of them.
I once wasted some of my life reading every one of the ten series battlefield earth in the hope that something would actually happen. I well remember saying to myself "C'mon, something must happen" It never did and I will never get that time back again. And lets not mention the movie of the same name.
Now the Doc was pure boys own adventure.
Anyone noticed how many of Philip K. Dick's stories have been made into movies?
As a kid I was hooked on the British radio serial "Journey into Space" with Jet Morgan, Lemmy and Doc. Ahhh, wonderful days.
I am in total awe of those authors who have held my attention over the years and kept me entertained with fun, adventure and deep thoughts its just a pity I cant give everyone of them the accolades they deserve.
I wonder if being steeped into so much speculative fiction is what makes so many of us question how to do things and break away from the accepted norm or in other words "Think for ourselves"
 
You have to have an open mind when you read si-fi and that leads to" thinking for yourself". The cool thing is that some of the space travel stuff has came true. I just finished reading "Endurance" by Scott Kelly, he spent a year on the International Space Station
 
I’ve been reading it since the middle 50s, and I’ve read the same authors as the rest of you. Asimov, Zelazny, and just about everybody in between. I’ve gone through hard sf, military, fantasy, alternate history, humor, political... the list goes on forever. About the only thing I don’t like is the urban fantasy/vampire stuff. But every now and then, something there catches my eye, and I read it, anyway.

My library has gone over 3000 volumes, and so I’m using a Kindle Paperwhite these days.
 
savarin said:
There have been quite a few references to various science authors and themes amongst the many messages so I just wondered how many of us still read the stuff and who your favourite authors are.
I learnt to read around the age of 4 with science fiction and have kept the addiction going my whole life.
In my early teens it was Robert Heinlein, Issac Asimov, Arther C Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Poul Anderson and Clifford Simak, late teens it was frank Herbert, Hal Clement, E C Tubb and of course Phillip K Dick with subscriptions to Galaxy, Analogue and If (I still have my collection of these pulps)
There have been so many throughout all the following years that its impossible to recall them all but I'm still avidly devouring them as I come upon them obtaining that sense of wonder and thought provoking ideas.
Such as Neil Asher, Peter Hamilton, and on and on and on.
Yes, I am addicted and have been all my life.
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I grew up on Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke. It was the science and the creative directions they took it in that absolutely hooked me. Wasn't into fantasy until Tolkien and still am not grabbed by it. Always loved PKD but am so amazed that so many of his books have been made into movies. I read everything I could find of his. It's sad nobody could be brave enough to make his books into faithful movies but for the most part they were pretty close. That led me to William Gibson and to me he was the continuation deeper into PKD's dark paranoid future where there was three stories/characters going on effecting each other's universe without them knowing it. And lots of hard science that was ahead of its time. The few try's of making Gibson books into movies have been dismal at best. The last book to movie conversion was The Martian. Damon did a great job, he was the character but they just butchered the whole story :( The book was so good, (great science, adventure and attitude)and if I'd not read it I would have enjoyed the movie ok. I really have no idea why they changed and chopped off so much.

Of course there have been many other great authors in there like Brin, Zelazny, etc.

Because I do my own manufacturing and supply I am busy all day on my own. I no longer seem to have the time to sit down and read. I'm also so beat if I try and read I nod. Most of what I'm doing is not challenging mentally so I've converted over to audio books exclusively and listen to them while I work, walk the dog and run errands. I've also gotten into some great WWII biographys. The stories are so fantastic, they read like sci-fy :)
 
I have subscribed to Analog magazine continuously since a friend introduced me to it in the early 70's. Over the years there have always been a few where "I just read that entire story and I have NO idea what it was about" but in general I enjoy every issue cover-to-cover.

My guilty pleasure is a good old fashioned Space Opera. Christopher Nuttall and Micheal Z. Williamson do good ones.
 
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