Redshirts

Somewhat lesser-known sci-fi novels I read in the past: The Unincorporated Man (and three sequels) Cross between science fiction and fantasy: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality ("HPMOR") - the premise is that Harry Potter is raised by a good aunt and uncle, and is taught the Scientific Method and so he uses that when encountering magic. Old Man's War (and sequels) by John Scalzi Redshirts by John Scalzi Science-reality: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Ra by qntm There is no Antiemetics Division by qntm

Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others is the best, single-author collection of short stories I've ever read. If you like that, you might also enjoy The Lifecycle of Software Objects, an absolutely heartbreaking novella about simulated children, and his follow-up collection Exhalation. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is fantastic, and it's follow-up, Speaker for the Dead is even better, and my favorite science fiction novel of all time. They won back to back Hugo and Nebula awards. Card is a polarizing figure for his outspoken political opinions, but if ever the art should be separated from the artist, it's Speaker, which is an incredible exploration of empathy and responsibility, in addition to being a gripping, action-packed, science-literate read. Many more in this series, if you get into it.…

Lock In And Head On by John Scalzi. The only book of his I've enjoyed more is Red Shirts.

Isaac Asimov is one of the classics, of course. I'm particularly fond of the robot novels (all four of the Elijah Baley ones especially) and the entire Foundation series. Of course, you also can't miss the robot short stories. Oh, and The End of Eternity! At some point I found Charles Stross' Accelerando, which is freely available online (along with a bunch of other short stories), and found everything I've read (which is most of it at this point, I think) enjoyably fast-paced. In particular the Laundry series (of which I've bought every iteration as soon as they came out over the past few years) -- though arguably these maybe cross-over from SF into fantasy a bit -- and the Halting State trilogy.…

Wouldn't call it must read, but I found Joyce's Dubliners quite entertaining and at least close to stuff that's recommended for serious reading. The last book I thoroughly enjoyed was Scalzi's Redshirts, but it's probably less funny if you're not familiar with Star Trek at all.