Since time immemorial, mankind has been looking up at the stars and dreaming, but it was only centuries ago that we started turning those dreams into fiction. And what remarkable dreams they are—dreams of distant worlds, unearthly creatures, parallel universes, artificial intelligence, and so much more. Today, we call those dreams science fiction.
Science fiction’s earliest inklings began in the mid-1600s, when Johannes Kepler and Francis Godwin wrote pioneering stories about voyages to the moon. Some scholars argue that science fiction as we now understand it was truly born in 1818, when Mary Shelley published Frankenstein, the first novel of its kind whose events are explained by science, not mysticism or miracles. Now, two centuries later, sci-fi is a sprawling and lucrative multimedia genre with countless subgenres, such as dystopian fiction, postapocalyptic fiction, and climate fiction, to name just a few. It’s also remarkably porous, allowing for some overlap with genres like fantasy and horror.
Sci-fi brings out the best in our imaginations and evokes a sense of wonder, but it also inspires a spirit of questioning. Through the enduring themes of sci-fi, we can examine the zeitgeist’s cultural context and ethical questions. Our favorite works in the genre make good on this promise, meditating on everything from identity to oppression to morality. As the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing said, “Science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time.”
Over two years ago, we published a version of this list featuring 50 books. But why stop at 50? Now, as part of our latest Summer Fiction Week, we’ve cast a wider net and expanded the list to 75 titles. Choosing the 75 best science fiction books of all time wasn’t easy, so to get the job done, we had to establish some guardrails. Though we assessed single installments as representatives of their series, we limited the list to one book per author. We also emphasized books that brought something new and innovative to the genre—to borrow a great sci-fi turn of phrase, books that “boldly go where no one has gone before.”
Now, in ranked order, here are the best science fiction books of all time.
#1
#16 of 15 in The Junji Ito Horror Comic Collection
181 • 1,662 Readers • 63 pages • 3.8
#2
#3
20 • 560 Readers • 182 pages • 3.9
#4
#5
1979 • 597 Readers • 292 pages • 4.3
#6
#4 of 9 in Hainish Cycle
1969 • 870 Readers • 267 pages • 4
#7
2000 • 1,165 Readers • 296 pages • 3.8
#8
2019 • 596 Readers • 350 pages • 4.2
#9
2014 • 1,178 Readers • 333 pages • 4.1
#10
1968 • 1,114 Readers • 223 pages • 3.9
#11
#1 of 4 in Remembrance of Earth's Past
2006 • 2,042 Readers • 400 pages • 3.9
#12
7 • 3,460 Readers • 352 pages • 4.2
#13
2018 • 131 Readers • 144 pages • 3.5
#14
1930 • 1,914 Readers • 344 pages • 3.9
#15
2010 • 161 Readers • 257 pages • 3.3
#16
#17
1953 • 488 Readers • 4
#18
333 Readers • 4
#19
1959 • 362 Readers • 322 pages • 3.9
#20
#21
#22
#23
#24
#25
1992 • 49 Readers • 416 pages • 4
#26
2017 • 70 Readers • 263 pages • 3.5
#27
#1 of 3 in 1Q84
2009 • 542 Readers • 1,184 pages • 3.7
#28
#29
1975 • 135 Readers • 879 pages • 3.3
#30
2023 • 88 Readers • 380 pages • 3.8
#31
#32
#33
#34
2009 • 357 Readers • 336 pages • 3.9
#35
2015 • 116 Readers • 432 pages • 3.3
#36
1992 • 126 Readers • 241 pages • 3.4
#37
1979 • 25 Readers • 209 pages • 3.7
#38
#1 of 4 in Wayfarers
2014 • 1,020 Readers • 518 pages • 4.1
#39
2000 • 94 Readers • 3.2
#40
2021 • 2,330 Readers • 496 pages • 4.5
#41
#1 of 2 in St. Leibowitz
1959 • 423 Readers • 354 pages • 3.9