I tried reading some classic sci fi books like I, Robot, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,
among others. I am struck by how mean the men are to anyone who isn’t themselves, and the lack of women represented, and the few women being represented as bad. The plots were interesting, so that’s something I guess. I just moved on to try The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet!
I recently started a job in robotics and would love to read some books on theme but would love some pre-filtered suggestions!
by SoppyMetal
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Project Hail Mary or anything by Andy Weir
Genesis echo by d. Hollis anderson – a few strong female leads in there
Anne McCaffrey. Some of her stuff is dated now, but she started writing to protest the way women were depicted in sci-fi. The Ship Who Searched, Partnership, Dragonsdawn, the Crystal Singer books, and Freedom’s Landing all have strong female characters (so do the other Dragonriders books, but they start with heavy sci-fi in Dragonsdawn, then they end up medieval for about 8 books before they rediscover tech so those ones are more fantasy)
The **Honor Harrington Saga** by **David Weber** ^(Book 1 – On Basilisk Station) follows the titular captain as she progresses through the ranks of the Royal Manticoran navy and, due to political issues, the Grayson Space Navy.
The series can be thought of as Horatio Hornblower IN SPACE for the first dozen books…
Peter Watts, in particular his {{Firefall}}. It is an uncomfortably book but not misogynistic.
Martha Wells, Ann Leckie, Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz!
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and the four other books in the following trilogy fall into decent sci-fi without the rampant sexism. Granted, there aren’t very many women characters, but the ones that do exist are usually portrayed as normal and competent in contrast to the zany male aliens and extremely jittery and generally confused main character. Plus it’s funny and you don’t get a lot of sci-fi that satirizes itself.
The Bruna Husky trilogy by Rosa Montero. Its about a replicant detective. It was inspired by blade Runner.
The autor recomends starting with The third book Times of hate which Its probable The best.
the actual star by monica byrne
the oryx and crake trilogy by margaret atwood
pretty much anything by ursula k leguin or octavia butler
Stick with newer sci-fi and you should be good.
*The Space Between Worlds* by Micaiah Johnson is excellent sci-fi/dimension hopping adventure. Not sci-fi in the “pew pew spaceships” way, but more of experimenting with time and alt-reality. A lot of it takes place in an “Indian Reservation” style rural town.
*This Is How You Lose the Time War* by Amal El-Mohtar is written like a series of love letters. Very interesting and romantic.
*Gideon The Ninth* is a fantasy/sci fi blend that has a wild setting and a “ten little indians” mystery to it. This one is a much denser read, but I think this series has a satisfyingly unique world with deep lore, especially in the sequels *Harrow The Ninth* and *Nona The Ninth* Some biting humor, cool magic system, and little details in the story that you almost need to read twice to appreciate fully.
*A Memory Called Empire* by Arkady Martine is fantastic and won the Hugo for best novel. Sequel came out in March 2021. About how memories live on after death and a bureaucrat takes on the job of someone who was murdered in that exact same position. She has to figure out what happened while also playing nice with the local government.
*The Vanished Birds* is a beautiful sci-fi book that was my top read of 2020. Interwoven plots and timelines with interesting characters and surprising connections.
*Elder Race* by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a fun novella which follows a journey to smite a “devil” from two different view points. One is the local warrior princess who seeks the assistance of an elusive god-like wizard who lives on the top of a mountain far from society. The second is the wizard, who is actually a scientist tasked with watching the natives from afar.
*The Memory Librarian* by Janelle Monae is a series of short stories set in her “Dirty Computer” universe. Some stories are more successful than others, but when it works, it WORKS. I eagerly look forward to future works from Monae, but I worry that the magic I found was due to the collaborators they chose as opposed to their own talent.