The Cyberiad

Seconded for the Cyberiad. That's probably one of the more accessible Lem books, and it's absolutely hilarious.

For fun and/or lighthearted, I enjoyed: Stanislaw Lem: Cyberiad, The Futurological Congress, Tales of Pirx the Pilot; Steven Paul Leiva: Traveling in Space; Ted Chiang: Stories of your Life; John Scalzi: Old Man's War (and sequels)

Just finished: — Roadside Picnic, by the Strugatsky brothers. The very thematic Soviet sci-fi behind STALKER. — The Cyberiad, by Stanislaw Lem. A brilliant collection of short stories on language, philosophy, futurism. Currently: — Nexus, by Ramez Naam (book 1 of 3). Nanobots meet augmented reality, transhumanism. Good. — Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut. Hilarious stuff. — Poe's collected works. Next: — The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu. I have my hopes high.

IMB is a yes. All of it. Devour. Much like the works of Steven Erikson (Not SF) they're fantastically detailed, which isn't everyone's taste. The Cyberiad is a trove of beauty, ridiculous, sublime, educational - touching on things as far apart as philosophy and maxwell's demon. Amazing that they're not even in English given the wonderous translation.

Just finished reading "Fiasco" by Stanislaw Lem. Between that "Cyberiad" I feel like Lem doesn't get enough credit. Maybe part of it is not being in the Western European writer's camp? At any rate, I would say: Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Heinlein The Dispossessed, Le Guin The Stars My Destination, Bester Childhood's End, Clarke Stand out as some of my favorites. I'm pretty terrible at making top-5 lists, but those stand out as ones that I would read again in a heartbeat if there weren't already 50 books on the floor next to my bed waiting for me :)

I also heartily recommend "Cyberiad", a timeless collection of short stories.

It seems that most recomendations fall in the sci-fi genre. I'll add my personal favourite: Stanisław Lem (the author of Solaris). The Star Diaries and Cyberiad are a lot of fun mixed with really interesting ideas. But if you want to read a very actual story, including an anticipation of the Internet, take a look at this 1961 story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_from_the_Stars

depends on the subgenre :) Superhuman: Slan by A.E. Van Vogt More Than Human by Theodore STurgeon Odd John by Olaf Stapledon Post Apocalyptic: The Day of The Triffids by John Whyndham Earth Abides by George R. Stewart A Canticle for Lebowitz by...don't remember Space Opera/Adventure: any of The Culture novels by Iain M. Banks The Reality Dysfunction series by ...don't remember Hyperion series by Dan Simmons To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer Dystopian: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin <---highly overlooked, predates 1984 and Brave New World But the Absolute Best would be anything by: Stanislaw Lem (Cyberiad, Futurological Congress, Solaris) Alfred Bester (The STars my Destination, The Demolished Man) or Samuel R. Delany (Babel-17, Dhalgren, Trtion, Nova) oh and Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light and This Immortal are both great. Some of Philip K. Dick's stuff is great, but everyone recommends him. :) almost forgot John Brunner, check out Steel Beach, The Sheep Look Up, and Stand on Zanzibar.