Sci-fi is usually broken into “hard” and “soft”, which usually relates to how grounded in reality it is. That’s not really what I’m talking about. I like the way that Weir’s books actually drop in descriptions of the relevant science at hand, sometimes with even some math involved. I like the spirit of the problem-solving of technical problems that constantly happens in his books. Obviously the character writing isn’t very good, but that’s not particularly what I’m looking for. What other engineering-heavy fiction books are out there?
by WaitForItTheMongols
4 Comments
I’d call that ‘actual scifi’ instead of the ‘fantasy with lazers’ that the genre has become.
The Bobiverse may fall into this, also maybe Daniel Saurez’s books.
Stephenson is often in that genre, esp. with Seveneves.
Peter Watts, a former marine biologist, often writes pretty “hard” and science-y (but with an emphasis on biological sciences — in the lead up to Blindsight, he released an in-fiction pdf about the biological basis for the setting’s vampires). I will warn you that the Starfish trilogy starts dark, and then gets *excessively* dark.
Similarly, Adrian Tchaikovsky is biology-focused hard sci-fi, and is all about the science.
Three Body Problem is fairly science-y.
Have Space Suit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein, but *most* of what he wrote is not at all like this.