Classic Science Fiction Book Recommendations

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A little while ago a friend of mine finally found his way to the joyous state of being a science fiction reader. Cue chorus of applause for him. Now he's been a reader for much of his life but stuck mostly in the realms of TV/Film tie in stuff and biographies, never venturing into the good stuff, even though he's been a lifelong science fiction/fantasy/horror fan when it comes to TV/Film/Games.

So he asked if I could give him any recommendations; oh could I? So I put together a quick list of some of the best sf stories I could think of and set him to finding them (okay, I did also pass over a few  from my dupes pile to get him going.

Anyway having just gone mad and started to tidy my office a little I found the original list so I thought I'd add a quick blog entry and list them here in case anyone else is looking for some books to go hunt up and read. Some of them are pretty obvious, some might not be. Here goes.

Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's End / Rendezvous with Rama
Michael Moorcock - Behold the Man
Clifford Simak - City / Way Station
Ray Bradbury - Dandelion Wine / Fahrenheit 451 / Martian Chronicles
Ward Moore - Bring the Jubilee
Walter M. Miller Jr - A Canticle for Leibowitz
Frank Herbert - Dune
Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid''s Tale
Isaac Asimov - the Foundation Trilogy
Robert Charles Wilson - The Chronoliths
Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon
Edmund Cooper - Five to Twelve
Lester del Rey - Police Your Planet
Robert Sheckley - The Status Civilisation
Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5 (and anything by the author)
Harry Harrison - Make Room! Make Room!
Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light
Alfred Bester - The Stars, My Destination / The Demolished Man
Max Barry - Jennifer Government
Carl Sagan - Contact
Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Philip K. Dick - A Scanner Darkly
Julian May - The Saga of the Pliocene Exiles / Intervention / Galactic Milieu Trilogy

If you do try any from this list, I hope you enjoy them,

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