The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
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
181 • 2,180 Readers • 353 pages • 3.9
#2
1965 • 3,980 Readers • 704 pages • 4.3
#3
20 • 725 Readers • 182 pages • 4
#4
2015 • 1,938 Readers • 421 pages • 4.3
#5
1979 • 799 Readers • 292 pages • 4.3
#6
1969 • 1,110 Readers • 267 pages • 4.1
#7
2000 • 1,502 Readers • 282 pages • 3.8
#8
2019 • 780 Readers • 350 pages • 4.3
#9
2014 • 1,588 Readers • 333 pages • 4.1
#10
1968 • 1,454 Readers • 223 pages • 4
#11
2006 • 2,590 Readers • 400 pages • 3.9
#12
1949 • 4,819 Readers • 352 pages • 4.2
#13
2018 • 180 Readers • 144 pages • 3.5
#14
1930 • 2,532 Readers • 332 pages • 3.9
#15
2010 • 208 Readers • 257 pages • 3.3
#16
1982 • 91 Readers • 688 pages • 4.1
#17
1953 • 596 Readers • 212 pages • 4
#18
1972 • 434 Readers • 249 pages • 4
#19
1959 • 450 Readers • 322 pages • 4
#20
1979 • 9 Readers • 364 pages • 3
#21
1992 • 466 Readers • 671 pages • 3.8
#22
1989 • 1,489 Readers • 481 pages • 4.3
#23
2002 • 621 Readers • 376 pages • 3.9
#24
2014 • 1,315 Readers • 208 pages • 3.7
#25
1992 • 64 Readers • 416 pages • 3.8
#26
2017 • 91 Readers • 3.7
#27
2009 • 715 Readers • 1,184 pages • 3.7
#28
1974 • 671 Readers • 218 pages • 4
#29
1975 • 172 Readers • 879 pages • 3.4
#30
2023 • 122 Readers • 380 pages • 3.5
#31
1978 • 1,314 Readers • 1,553 pages • 4.1
#32
2013 • 827 Readers • 416 pages • 4
#33
2019 • 937 Readers • 464 pages • 4.2
#34
2009 • 453 Readers • 336 pages • 4
#35
2015 • 128 Readers • 432 pages • 3.3
#36
1992 • 165 Readers • 3.3
#37
1979 • 25 Readers • 209 pages • 3.7
#38
2014 • 1,259 Readers • 518 pages • 4.1
#39
2000 • 125 Readers • 3.4
#40
2021 • 3,153 Readers • 496 pages • 4.4
#41
1959 • 507 Readers • 334 pages • 3.9
#42
1979 • 3,072 Readers • 215 pages • 4.2
#43
1996 • 470 Readers • 515 pages • 4
#44
1955 • 321 Readers • 278 pages • 3.9
#45
1984 • 1,530 Readers • 271 pages • 3.9
#46
2022 • 336 Readers • 312 pages • 4.1
#47
2017 • 232 Readers • 351 pages • 4
#48
34 Readers • 4.5
#49
1894 • 980 Readers • 140 pages • 3.7
#50
1962 • 1,200 Readers • 247 pages • 3.8
#51
466 Readers • 3.8
#52
1962 • 1,213 Readers • 149 pages • 3.9
#53
1961 • 579 Readers • 2h 3m • 3.8
#54
2015 • 1,369 Readers • 600 pages • 4.3
#55
2017 • 248 Readers • 400 pages • 3.8
#56
2020 • 27 Readers • 305 pages • 3.5
#57
2019 • 1,997 Readers • 4h 16m • 3.9
#58
1967 • 195 Readers • 303 pages • 3.8
#59
1981 • 85 Readers • 303 pages • 4
#60
1996 • 161 Readers • 500 pages • 4
#62
2015 • 37 Readers • 240 pages • 3.9
#63
1949 • 11 Readers • 205 pages • 3
#64
2017 • 111 Readers • 365 pages • 3.6
#65
1963 • 133 Readers • 236 pages • 4.1
#66
2000 • 141 Readers • 304 pages • 3.6
#67
1985 • 520 Readers • 453 pages • 4.1
#68
93 Readers • 3.7
#69
1992 • 1,268 Readers • 448 pages • 3.9
#70
2000 • 45 Readers • 356 pages • 3.9
#71
2020 • 12 Readers • 4.3
#72
2024 • 72 Readers • 336 pages • 4.2
#73
2012 • 592 Readers • 318 pages • 3.9
#74
2018 • 469 Readers • 384 pages • 4.1
#75
2021 • 301 Readers • 256 pages • 3.7