Welcome to /c/ScienceFiction
December book club canceled. Short stories instead!
We are a community for discussing all things Science Fiction. We want this to be a place for members to discuss and share everything they love about Science Fiction, whether that be books, movies, TV shows and more. Please feel free to take part and help our community grow.
I recently read "Blindsight" by Peter Watts which was about how first contact could work with an entirely alien species. It goes deep into both the physical and social sciences involved, and was a fun journey as well.
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is like Horatio Hornblower in space. The main character has dwarfism and accidentally commandeers a mercenary fleet as a teenager.
Freaking Miles antics.
The first two thirds of Seveneves is really good at exactly what you describe. Once you get to the third part (you'll recognize it) just pretend the book ended before that.
I liked the third half. But it's quite a shift
If you end up searching online for that kind of things, "hard science fiction" is the phrase that's usually used for it.
A lot of good recommendations here. Some endorsements and other recommendations:
On the flip side, I really didn't care for Three Body Problem, and though the Bobiverse books seem fun, I'm not sure I'd call them firmly hard SF.
The Three Body Problem is bad. The hype for the book is a good example of "The Emporer's New Clothes".
I was surprised at how little I liked it given the hype.
I did enjoy the parts about the Cultural Revolution and some of the dialog from Da Shi. That's about it.
I haven't read Beggars in Spain or Saturn's Children yet, will take a look!
I'd love to hear what you think, I enjoyed both quite a lot.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars is pretty hard-scifi.
Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space not so much but very entertaining.
Edit: for light reading Stross's Saturns Children is fun.
Thanks! I bounced off the Mars trilogy. All the petty human drama and politics just felt way too much like current news (which is probably a compliment to his writing skills, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for at the time). I think I probably need a very relaxed state of mind to be able to dive into it. As for Rev Space, I've read about half of it before losing track of the various threads and time jumps.
I agree with that. Red Mars was great but the second one felt like he only expanded on all the least exciting parts of the first book, so I didn't finish it.
Another vote for Greg Egan. And I too really enjoyed the Children of Time series and anything written by Alastair Reynolds, although I don't think the genre is exactly what you're looking for. Finding modern, hard sci-fi really is pretty difficult.
I get where you're coming from with KSR's Mars series. I think Ministry for the Future was a better read, personally.
Also, I find that a lot of Crichton scratches similar itch to Andy Weir. Especially things like Andromeda Strain and Airframe.
I might give Ministry a shot, haven't tried it yet. And Greg Egan is on my list now. Crichton, I did not like Sphere and I guess it turned me away from trying his other books. I guess I should give some of them another shot.
Greg Bear - EON but more maths heavy, and has a bit of politics but a very good read
Larry Niven - Ring world series (maybe not competence focused, but strong science backing)
Yep, added EON to my list based on the numerous recs here. Ringworld I've gone through, it's such a classic!
Protector and sequels, too. I also liked Integral Trees, but maybe a little less so.
Neal Stephenson's Seveneves has a lot (A LOT) of orbital mechanics jargon if you're into that sort of thing. Personally, I skipped most of it.
His explanations are why I read any of his books. I find his prose dry and bland, even if he's telling an interesting story. I stay for the fun facts.
Hard scifi by Greg Egan is a trip and you'll never be the same afterwards. Permutation City and Diaspora are my favorites.
For more modern take, Children of Time is beautifully narrated and I could listen to it all day for years and never get tired of the narrator.
For a universe that keeps on going with problem solving Vorkosigan Saga is very feel good and I think in line with a book like the Martian albeit a bit less hard though solid on its approach to deduction and wit.
Yep! Everybody here keeps mentioning Greg Egan and I'll give him a shot. The rest I've read and love. Thanks!
Anything by Robert Forward and Charles Sheffield.
Have never heard of him before, will check him out!
I edited that, I'd also recommend Charles Sheffield. I'm specifically thinking of the Cold as Ice books.