The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

July 14, 2024
75 Books
Stats
esquire.com

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.

List byHardcover

The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

July 14, 2024
75 Books
Stats
esquire.com

Readers Count
1,049 reads
1,861 reads
338 reads
707 reads
278 reads
405 reads
538 reads
278 reads
659 reads
617 reads
1,056 reads
2,433 reads
38 reads
1,212 reads
66 reads
39 reads
250 reads
163 reads
196 reads
2 reads
174 reads
539 reads
252 reads
578 reads
15 reads
24 reads
256 reads
319 reads
25 reads
17 reads
558 reads
363 reads
346 reads
165 reads
45 reads
60 reads
3 reads
551 reads
36 reads
1,342 reads
208 reads
1,676 reads
179 reads
131 reads
591 reads
79 reads
84 reads
4 reads
485 reads
682 reads
173 reads
406 reads
201 reads
514 reads
62 reads
8 reads
768 reads
64 reads
48 reads
80 reads
56 reads
11 reads
2 reads
35 reads
62 reads
55 reads
207 reads
19 reads
556 reads
10 reads
5 reads
7 reads
341 reads
203 reads
106 reads

Readers Count
1,049 reads
1,861 reads
338 reads
707 reads
278 reads
405 reads
538 reads
278 reads
659 reads
617 reads
1,056 reads
2,433 reads
38 reads
1,212 reads
66 reads
39 reads
250 reads
163 reads
196 reads
2 reads
174 reads
539 reads
252 reads
578 reads
15 reads
24 reads
256 reads
319 reads
25 reads
17 reads
558 reads
363 reads
346 reads
165 reads
45 reads
60 reads
3 reads
551 reads
36 reads
1,342 reads
208 reads
1,676 reads
179 reads
131 reads
591 reads
79 reads
84 reads
4 reads
485 reads
682 reads
173 reads
406 reads
201 reads
514 reads
62 reads
8 reads
768 reads
64 reads
48 reads
80 reads
56 reads
11 reads
2 reads
35 reads
62 reads
55 reads
207 reads
19 reads
556 reads
10 reads
5 reads
7 reads
341 reads
203 reads
106 reads

The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

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The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time