The Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
Posted by Greg at 05:52, 24 Aug 2011A few weeks back I pointed out NPR's reader poll of the top 100 science fiction and fantasy titles. Well, after more than 60,000 votes, the results are now in - here's the top ten as voted by the public:
- The Lord Of The Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
- Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
- The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
- A Song Of Ice And Fire series, by George R.R. Martin
- 1984: A Novel, by George Orwell
- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
- The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
View the entire top 100 at NPR
Not a lot of surprises at the top of the list, although I was rather shocked that one of my personal picks, The Day of the Triffids, didn't even make the top 100. Any other notable inclusions or omissions that caught your eye (remembering that Young Adult and horror were left out, as they will get their own poll...so, no Harry Potter by default)?
Also at NPR: Parsing the results.
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Comments
2 May 2004
14 hours 33 min
I like Neil Gaiman, but I wish his fans would be a little less obsessive when it comes to these polls. American Gods is a good book, but it didn't impact science fiction & fantasy the way other books in the top 100 did. In fact, I'd swap American Gods with Neil's graphic novel The Sandman -- now this is a series I'd vote ahead of Gods, it's a worthy #10. Philip K Dick should have something in the top ten. William Gibson's Neuromancer is one that's very unlucky to miss out on the top ten as well. Zimmer Bradley's Mists Of Avalon, Le Guin's Earthsea, Beagle's Last Unicorn...
Well, it's just a list of opinions. Heck, I'd just say here are 100 books that people love, in no particularl order. Personally, I love all good books equally. :-)
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@levitatingcat
22 August 2004
9 weeks 2 days
I certainly didn't see it that way. If that was the poll, I would have voted another way. I read this as my favorites. I voted based on that.
-sh
2 May 2004
14 hours 33 min
And I did say, "here are 100 books that people love, in no particularl order. Personally, I love all good books equally."
Greg's disappointed Day of the Triffids missed out. I'm surprised a few novels didn't rate as high. This is what these lists are for! To debate and argue and suggest and compare. And I stand by my comment on Neil Gaiman fans bombrushing polls -- but at least they're nicer people than the Pharyngula poll rushers. ;-)
I agree with you on the Dune Chronicles -- the sequels didn't grab me the way the first novel did. Classic. And impactful!
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@levitatingcat
14 April 2009
34 min 11 sec
I concur with what you wrote.
I think the 'American G_ds' vote just tells me the nationality and age of who voted :3
My top 10 would include "A Fine & Private Place" by Beagle, "The Bear Comes Home" by Rafi Zabor (I like it so much I read it to my roomie who was in the vegetable patch, the vegetative state room, in the hospital) & the Sandman series.
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All that lives is holy, life delights in life.
--William Blake
22 August 2004
9 weeks 2 days
I only voted for the rest of the Dune Chronicles because I had to. Given the choice, I would have only voted for Dune.
-sh
12 April 2007
1 hour 52 min
:)
It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
18 September 2007
12 hours 17 min
Nothing by Stanislaw Lem on that list. Fail.