Pre-Blog Classic SF – Part 1 

With the recent posting of my Dune review and plans for reading the rest of the series plus plans for reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, I’ve been asked a few times about why I don’t read more Classic SF. The easy answer to that is that I have – LOTS – but nearly all of that happened pre-Blog. I started reading SF heavily back in the 70’s and 80’s and read a LOT of Classic SF around that time. I thought it might interest some of you at least to see what I’ve read (pre-Blog) in the area before moving onto the more ‘classical’ classics later. So, here’s part 1 of the SF list in chronological order of reading. [Note: I won’t be mentioning books like 1984 or anything by H G Wells as these will be covered in my classical classic post]. 

Triplanetary by E E Doc Smith 

Dune by Frank Herbert 

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov 

City by Clifford Simak 

Childhoods End by Arthur C Clarke 

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke 

Foundation by Isaac Asimov 

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke 

Ringworld by Larry Niven 

A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G Weinbaum 

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick 

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham 

Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss 

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman 

Hothouse by Brian Aldiss 

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein 

Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement 

Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore 

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham 

The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin 

I was actually quite ‘hard’ on what I considered a classic here – if I was in any doubt I erred on the side of caution and said ‘No’. No doubt, if you asked me again the list might be slightly different. I should complete the pre-Blog list next time. It’s not exactly an exhaustive list as there’s a short gap between the end of my paper(!) records and the Blog starting but it’s close enough. More next time.