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Clarke and Asimov are waaaay over-represented.

I tend to find one book by either is over-representation. I'm not fond...

Hey, don't get me wrong, I like some of the ideas, but the writing just doesn't do it for me.
Sadly the same tends to be true of Phillip K Dick for me. I just don't get engaged by his writing, but damn some of his ideas were good.

[AugustWest]

Were you disappointed with Red Thunder, or was that just me?  I mean, if anyone else had written that book--fine.  But I expected so much more from JV.

Haven't read it.  I need to seek it out.

As I said earlier, I find Phillip K. Dick highly overrated.  I think he's kind of been adopted by Hollywood, so that may explain some of his acclaim.  But The Man in the High Castle in the top ten SF novels?  No way.  It's been a while since I read it, but it seems like it was basically "What if the Japanese had won WWII?"  The Three Stigmata was a little more engaging, but not strikingly so.

[Va]

Haven't read it [Red Thunder].  I need to seek it out.

Don't pay too much for it--you'll be pissed.

[TALKYdude]

I thought the Upanishads were some kind of Indian Bible. What is the story with their inclusion?

[andalucia]

I thought the Upanishads were some kind of Indian Bible. What is the story with their inclusion?

As I learned by rote in high-school philosophy, the Upanishads are "the first recorded human attempt to understand the universe metaphysically rather than just temporally"-- so I'd imagine they're trying to be uber-inclusive with their definition of science fiction as, basically, imaginative writing.

[V-Adore]

I thought the Upanishads were some kind of Indian Bible. What is the story with their inclusion?

As I learned by rote in high-school philosophy, the Upanishads are "the first recorded human attempt to understand the universe metaphysically rather than just temporally"-- so I'd imagine they're trying to be uber-inclusive with their definition of science fiction as, basically, imaginative writing.

Yeah, this is basically it. The Upanishads  are not precisely science fiction per se, but they're the earliest evidence of some of the big science-fiction tropes. They integrate significant discussion of the nature of the universe into the narrative, and one of their biggest themes is "man vs. destiny" and "man vs. (meta)physics," which show up in SF work a lot. I would hesitate to call them "science fiction," but they're clearly one of the earliest works of speculative fiction ever written.

(And they said Religion 101 would never be useful! Ha!)

[Mantonio]

Was happy to see one of my fav's - Red Mars - included on the list, slightly disapointed that none of Ken MacLeod's Fall Revolution books were included.

[TALKYdude]

I thought the Upanishads were some kind of Indian Bible. What is the story with their inclusion?

As I learned by rote in high-school philosophy, the Upanishads are "the first recorded human attempt to understand the universe metaphysically rather than just temporally"-- so I'd imagine they're trying to be uber-inclusive with their definition of science fiction as, basically, imaginative writing.

Yeah, this is basically it. The Upanishads  are not precisely science fiction per se, but they're the earliest evidence of some of the big science-fiction tropes. They integrate significant discussion of the nature of the universe into the narrative, and one of their biggest themes is "man vs. destiny" and "man vs. (meta)physics," which show up in SF work a lot. I would hesitate to call them "science fiction," but they're clearly one of the earliest works of speculative fiction ever written.

(And they said Religion 101 would never be useful! Ha!)

Thanks to both of you. That's sort of what I'd figured, I guess. Although I do remember a couple of years ago a friend who's really into various flaky stuff showing me some website that tried to prove that ancient Hindus had space travel based on some holy texts, probably the Upanishads.
Oh dear, this won't do, will it :-) I'd better get to Googling and not leave everyone hanging.
Ah, that's right. Vimanas. Fascinating reading, doubt any of it is true but who knows? It just seems like they're stretching a lot to make their point. But allegedly the Hindus of the Rama Empire had antigravity technology and flew around in these Vimanas. And supposedly what ended their civilization was nuclear warfare, with the effects of it described in lots of detail and sounding much like what the aftermath of a nuke is like. And then there's Oppenheimer quoting Lord Krishna in the Bhagavadgita at the first nuclear test detonation: I am become death, destroyer of worlds.
So, I don't know. If I'm in a credulous state of mind baked out of my mind I can believe it but it's hard to when mostly sober-minded.
I just went and counted which ones I'd read. For shame. Only 21 of the 100. I was quite surprised. I guess I haven't read as much sci fi as I'd thought.

[PinkStainlessTail]

I just went and counted which ones I'd read. For shame. Only 21 of the 100. I was quite surprised. I guess I haven't read as much sci fi as I'd thought.

Forgot to do the count test. 47 for me.

[Bozack]

I just went and counted which ones I'd read. For shame. Only 21 of the 100. I was quite surprised. I guess I haven't read as much sci fi as I'd thought.

Yeah, I thought I was a pretty big nerd until I started hanging around here. These people absolutely SCHOOL me, man. It's like some a bunch of English majors at a Red Dwarf convention.

[sjlimmer]

For shame. Only 21 of the 100. I was quite surprised. I guess I haven't read as much sci fi as I'd thought.

Only 22 for me, and I've never even heard of many of these people, not to mention all the names I know whose works I've never touched (Card and LeGuin, for example).

But I'm discussing this on the intarweb, so I must still be pretty nerdy.

[wombat]

It's like some a bunch of English majors at a Red Dwarf convention.

Bozack, if I haven't mentioned lately that I love you, I apologize for the oversight.

I have also only read 21 of these, at least that I am positive about.  But this number is misleading about how many hours of my youth were spent reading science fiction, because while I wasn't reading the other books on this list I was reading every other book by Harlan Ellison, every other book by Ray Bradbury, Phillip K Dick, Ursula LeGuin...  not to mention poor snubbed John Varley. I guess I figured once you found someone you liked you should stick with a proven thing.  Too bad, since there's a lot of stuff there I should have read and now probably never will.

[Ben-San]

34 for me.

Why is Dragon's Egg on this list? It is not a very good book.

[AugustWest]

I counted 35.  Odd in that I consider myself an SF fan.  However, I've read a lot more short SF than novels.  Also, I tend to concentrate my reading on works from the 50's to the 70's.

Bozack, you're young yet.  Have no fear, in ten years or so you'll be just as dorky as the rest of us.

[Choop]

What the FUCK? I read sci-fi ALL THE TIME. I just counted, and apparently I read mostly shitty sci-fi, because I've only got 8 on the damned list. EIGHT? ?

I mean,




??!