Dark Universe by Daniel F. Galouye



Richard Dawkins, biologist: “Dark Universe is hauntingly imaginative, and uses the medium of science fiction to let the reader reconstruct how myths can start.”



Deprived of light in their refuge far underground, the descendants of the survivors of a nuclear holocaust have heightened hearing. They navigate using the echoes from clicking stones, and develop a religion around the memory of lost light. Then the protagonist, Jared, begins to question his tribe’s beliefs.



Dark Universe, published in 1961, was nominated for the prestigious Hugo Award for its ability to draw readers into this strange underground world.

Journey of Joenes by Robert Sheckley



James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia hypothesis: “Journey of Joenes is a mid-20th century version of Voltaire’s Candide. “I like it because I am often asked to predict the future state of the world and authors like Voltaire, Wells, Orwell and others of their kind appeal more than purely technical prophets. Both are needed, but as an inventor I assume that I know how unknowable the technological future is.”



This satirical tale takes place after the world as we know it has ended. The few survivors, living on Pacific islands, tell folk tales of mythical remembrances of 1970s America, through the travels of a legendary character called Joenes.

The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem



Sean Carroll, cosmologist: “It’s a wide-ranging exploration of robotics, technology, computation, and social structures. Very mind-expanding, with a fantastic sense of humour.”



Trurl and Klapaucius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each other. They travel to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving jobs, with dire consequences for their employers.



The Cyberiad, published in 1967, is by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem who is best known for his novel Solaris. Advertisement

Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack



William Gibson, cyberpunk novelist: “It’s a book you really have to read to see why.”



Set in a near-future New York City, this dark book describes a disintegrating society where the air is toxic, gangs roam the streets and tuberculosis is rampant. In vivid language worthy of A Clockwork Orange, the story is told through the diary of 12-year-old Lola, who descends from a life of privilege and private schooling into a deadly gangster underworld as her family struggle to survive.

New Maps of Hell by Kingsley Amis



Robert May, former UK chief scientific adviser: “This is the book that made science fiction grow up. It’s a scholarly review that takes science fiction seriously – which is how I think it should be.”



Though best-known for his mainstream novels, Kingsley Amis was an avid science fiction reader, and his literary criticism on the genre, New Maps of Hell, was published in 1960. Spanning the works of masters like Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, as well as topics such as bug-eyed monsters, revolutionary inventions and the exploration of outer space, the entire spectrum of science fiction comes under Amis’s critical eye. In this book Amis coined the phrase “comic inferno” to describe a type of humorous dystopia.

We by Eugene Zamiatin



Margaret Atwood, novelist: “We contains the rootstock of two later streams – the creepy, too-smiley Utopia, as in Brave New World, and the Big Brother Dystopia, as in Nineteen Eighty-Four. It isn’t well known because it hasn’t been available in an up-to-date translation until recently.”



Set in the 26th century in a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the all-powerful Benefactor, the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState live out lives devoid of passion and creativity – until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: he has an individual soul.

Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon



Stephen Baxter, science fiction writer: “I suspect most general readers won’t have heard of Olaf Stapledon. He knew H. G. Wells and influenced Arthur C. Clarke, so was an essential link in the development of the genre. And his own greatest novel, Last and First Men, a kind of god’s-eye-view survey of the human far future, is as bracing and original today as it was when it was published around 80 years ago– and in terms of technique it pushes the form of the novel about as far as it can go.”



Last and First Men is one of the most ambitious novels of the 20th century. It imagines how humans might evolve in the next two billion years, covering 18 distinct human species. It was first published in 1930, and speculates about evolution, terraforming and genetic engineering.

Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland



Kim Stanley Robinson, science fiction writer: “Floating Worlds was published to acclaim in 1976, but has not been remembered as much as it should be. But Holland’s immense power as a novelist, and her new take on old science fiction themes, turn everything to gold.”



A story about Earth and other colonies in the solar system, some hundreds of years from now, when humans have begun to evolve into separate species and Earth is a mess. Floating Worlds is the only science fiction book by historical novelist Cecelia Holland.

The Listeners by James Gunn



Seth Shostak, astronomer: “I read this book two decades ago as I was first becoming involved with the search for cosmic company – at the suggestion of a colleague at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute. This year, the SETI endeavour passed its half-century mark, and The Listeners rings particularly true. If only we could find that signal…”



For 50 years humankind listened to the stars and heard nothing. But one day an answer came. An answer no one was expecting, and almost no one wanted.



The Listeners, published in 1972, is credited with inspiring the real-life hunt for extraterrestrial life, and perhaps even Carl Sagan’s more famous book Contact.