h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Is there any out there?

"Ender's Game", certainly, and a Canadian novel by Robert J. Sawyer entitled "Factoring Humanity". Then there are classics like "The Man Who Fell To Earth" by Walter Tevis and "The War of the Worlds".

Factoring Humanity, and there was me thinking no one else had read it I liked it.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson - Vampire plague takes over the world, this follows the last man alive.
Earth Abides by George Stewart - Plague destroys most of the people, this follows one mans attempt to reconstruct civilisation.
Ash : A Secret History by Mary Gentle - This is probably the best sci-fi I have read this year (and the best fantasy depending on how you look at it ) - A look at the struggles of a 14th Century female mercenary captain.
Intervention by Julian May - The blossoming of psychic powers and how the world copes.

On a more generic note I would recommend reading all of the Roger Zelazny you can lay your paws on. As someone said earlier, this man was a genius. Unfortunatly most of his books are like rocking horse dung Now I am not going to tell you why I reckon they are intelligent sci-fi, as that would probably mean spoilers and I cannot be ersed. I say read them yourself, they will be worth your time Until later....
BCNU - Crescent

And now for a non-Sci Fi reader's viewpoint.

I loathe intellectual snobbery but I have to say an awful lot of sci fi and fantasy leaves me cold cos there is not enough to get my teeth into. I want carefully thought out scenarios and well developed 3D characters. I like things that challenge me and the way I think. In my experience and this is a purely personal view before I get jumped on , I haven't found much sci fi or fantasy that doesn't resort to stereotypes.

So my choices, which have all been selected before would have to be Mervin Peake for Gormenghast which is fab. Phillip Pullman too - the man who has introduced theology and philosophy to nations of children. But the winner has to be Iain M Banks, cos all his novels work on so many levels. In fact I spent so long thinking hard about 'The Player of Games' my brain hurt... a lot!

Oh and of course a little known author called Douglas Adams...

I liked "Jumper" by Steven Gould. About how a young man matures when a freak of nature gives him awesome power...

Also, by Steven Gould (can you tell I'm a fan?), "WildSide" another one about choices. And "The Green War" (with his wife, Laura Mixon), a techno-thriller set in the near future.

Anything by Allen Steele, "Orbital Decay", "Clarke County", "The Jericho Iteration". Does really good near future stuff, with a basis in reality. A friend of mine who spent several years living in Antarctica, said "Clarke County" was a good approximation of what it's like to live in a restricted community, in a hostile environment.

SC

On I forgot Ray Bradbury (who is a great mate of my Dad's but that is not why I am picking him). The Illustrated Man is brilliant.

I have only read the Martian Chronicles of his, it was good, I liked the House of Usher II I would have mentioned Iain M Banks, but he has many followers here, so why did Player of Games cause your brain to hurt? Until later...
BCNU - Crescent

Because I think Iain Banks is as much the Player of Games as Gurgeh, it get the feeling I was only seeing about half of what he wanted me to see and understand.

Everytime I read that book I get the nagging feeling I am missing some grand over-arching commentary and all the time Banks is pointing to it, but I just can't see it.

Of course I could be wrong!

Or on the other hand I could be suffering from some Iain M Banks inspired paranoia.

forgive me ive commited the ultimate sin in that i havent yet read the entire backlog...

anyway, books that made me really think: Farenheit 451 (Bradbury), Starship Troops (Heinlein), Brave New World (Huxley) and the Out of the Silent Planet trillogy by CS Lewis.

*Pauses to pay homage the the great god Banksie*

An overarching theme. In an Iain M Banks book? Nahhh. This is a man who has described his writing style as "I construct a humungously big spaceship". "Then I make a bigger one". "Then I think, now what do I do?"

"Oh, I know, *smash bang wallop*!"

Iain is not out to get you, because he just can't be aXXXd

'Player of Games' aint bad. Not as good as 'Use of Weapons', though. Now for other intelligent sci-fi, most stuff by Arthur C (I invented the communication satellite, you know) Clarke, or Asimov. Although Asimov, while inteligent, can be a bit on the pedestrian side.

Whoops--I saw the title of this thread and thought SF stood for "single female" a la the personal ads. I was racking my brain trying to think of some...

'An overarching theme. In an Iain M Banks book? Nahhh. This is a man who has described his writing style as "I construct a humungously big spaceship". "Then I make a bigger one". "Then I think, now what do I do?"'

Yeah Jamie, I have heard him say that. But just because Shakespeare wrote plays to please the crowd doesn't mean that Hamlet isn't a bloody good exploration of madness / depression!

Got to agree with Abi here. Iain M Banks (Menzies, by the way, not whatever someone mentioned it was earlier) may write about enormous spaceships blowing each other up with unbelievably powerful munitions (which is, of course, ace), but there's a definite political sensibility (if not message) behind almost all of his books, with or without the "M". I can't believe I'm the only person here who would transfer all allegiance to the Culture the instant we were Contact-ed.

As for other intelligent sci-fi, yes to all Neal Stephenson previously mentioned. Also, Bruce Sterling is an extremely good writer - check out Holy Fire. I'd say all of these fit the bill of being mainly about the people and the effects on society of new technology, rather than the technology itself. Especially "Snow Crash" - glory to Mr Lee's Greater Hong Kong!

If you like Iain M Banks then I would recommend Ken MacLeod. They went to school together and used to make up stories when bored. Apparently this was the origin of the Culture. After much badgering by Banksie Ken finally sat down and wrote his own book (The Star Fraction) which was a corker. So he wrote some more and looked baffled at conventions. There is a lot of political thought scattered throughout his novels, as well as quite a bit of nuclear jiggery pokery and genocide and, best of all, my old University.

Abi et al...
Ok, maybe theme is too strong a word. Sensibility sounds about right. (Although if you read Complicity, the sensibility tends to come through loud and clear). And I thoroughly endorse the Ken Macleod recomendation. Top chap, and I might read some more of his stuff if I ever look in danger of having some free time

the starship titanic has been one of the high points of my summer ,glad now i saved that one for later.

well after ploughing through the backlog I must admit that my first inclination was to write my favourites, but then when i thought about that a bit more i realised that several of them are pretty much sentimental pap (but i still like them!) so i won't insult you with them

instead, i'll suggest
Peter F Hamilton - Second Chance at Eden - this is a book of short stories, and the eponymous novella - very intelligent and thought-provoking - i haven't read any of his other books, but have heard good things

also
Kim Stanley Robinson's Orange County books - sort of alternative future (as opposed to history)

Jeff Noon - Vurt and Automated Alice are the only ones I've read so far - especially his stuff about the role of drugs in society

span

ps i thought the Maria Dorcia Russell book was called the Sparrow? maybe they called it that over here (NZ) because we don't have Swallows? or maybe I'm just wrong

I agree with Iain M Banks