classic sci-fi books to

Colin Slark
Team Member

ou may have heard of these books. You

might have heard how influential and
great and so on and so forth they are. These
books are all 30 or more years old, but they
have aged well. You may recognize some of
the elements contained within the pages, but
that is because these books are their genesis.

Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert: The Dune
series is massive. There are 20 books, two
TV miniseries, a David Lynch movie, comics,
video games and much, much more. In its
present state, the series is a bloated mess,
which should probably be avoided unless
you are a big fan. However, for a moment,
let us imagine it is 1965 and there is only

a single book named Dune. A young man

is found to be the culmination of a secret
breeding program as his family is killed all
around him, forcing him to live out his life
with a tribe of desert people. Dune features
treachery and power politics ona galactic
scale, as well as revenge, love, culture
shock, and some of the neatest fictional
creatures ever: the sandworms of Arrakis.

Foundation (1951) by Issac Asimov: Hari
Seldon is aman who has perfected
“psychohistory,” a combination of psychology
and history that can with great accuracy
predict future events. Seldon foresees the
collapse of the Galactic Empire in which he
lives and has created a society on a far away
planet called “The Foundation”, which

is set up to outlive the Empire. Originally
published in a serialized format, Foundation
tells the story of people trying to survive

as everything dissolves around them. The
series as a whole won a Hugo award for “Best
All-Time Series,” beating out The Lord of the
Rings. If you do not know, the Hugos are

the highest honours in science fiction and
fantasy media. Foundation is the best science
fiction series you've probably never heard of.

Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson: Do
you like the cyberpunk genre? Do you like
futuristic computer hackers with cybernetic
implants crouched in an alley, out of the
way of bright neon lights trying to earn

a big score? Neuromancer is the genesis of
that subgenre of science fiction. Case is a
former computer hacker whose last job
ended with his nervous system getting fried,
making him unable to hack anymore. Years
later, a beautiful woman and an ex-Green
Beret come to him with a proposition: they
would fix his nervous system if he agrees

to take on his biggest job ever. If you like
the video games Deus Ex or Watch_Dogs,
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner or even just

pulp noir, you will like Neuromancer.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979) by
Douglas Adams: You might have seen this one
in one of its many forms. It was originally a
radio series, but has also been a series

of books, a TV show, a video game,

and a movie. The great

thing about all the

incarnations

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DON’T PANIC

(and carry a towel)

of this series is that they’re slightly different.
Douglas Adams wrote different jokes and plot
points into all versions of his story so that
while the plot is basically the same across all
iterations, there’s something new for you to
discover if you’ve seen the TV show but
haven’t read the books. Arthur Dent

is an ordinary English bloke
who one day wakes up
to discover that
both his

house, and his planet are being demolished
to make way for a hyperspace route
bypass. If you’re a fan of science fiction
and humour, the first book in the series
features one of the best examples of wit to
have ever written in the genre.