Forum Discussion: Science Fiction Recommendations
Wednesday October 8, 2008
Science fiction is very popular among atheists and may be more popular than any other category of fiction. There is certainly a lot of science fiction out there to choose from, but for one reason or another some authors, series, or books "connect" with atheists better than others. What are some of your favorite science fiction books and why do you think other atheists might enjoy them?
I had no time in college to do anything other than eat, sleep, work, and study (and the last semester I had to pick one). My former reading habit sort of died a quick, painful death. I'd like to fix that.
I mostly miss sci-fi. I know I should broaden my horizons and all, but I want spaceships. Does anyone have any good recommendations for me? My favorite sort is rather pulpy/space opera-ey (I own Star Wars and Wing Commander books, after all), but I still like the good stuff too.
What do you think the reasons are that science fiction generally is popular among atheists and why do some authors, series, or books connect better than others? Add your thoughts to the comments here or join the ongoing discussion in the forum.
Comments
E.E. Doc Smith is probably one of the classic pulp novelists of early days.
David Drake does excellent military sci-fi with a focus on ground campaigns, or David Weber for a focus on starship combat (though be warned the main character is very much a mary sue).
I’ve recently discovered Karl Schroeder for a much harder grade of the actual science part.
Of course, there are the classic big names like Asimov, Heinlein, Niven & Pournell, Norton for quite a bit of whimsy. If you find anything by H. Beam Piper grab it and don’t let go.
Consider giving Spider Robinson a try; my only exposure to him that I can recall is the novel Variable Star that he wrote from some of Heinlein’s old notes, but I enjoyed most of it.
Also consider any of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. They’re technically fantasy, but I have never once failed to laugh out loud the first time through one of his books, and all my copies are dog-eared and broken-backed.
Quick mentions: Lois McMaster Bujold, Harry Turtledove, James P. Hogan, Alan Dean Foster, James Alan Grant.
Happy Reading
A few of the reasons I think SF appeals to atheists:
- rational protagonists (often scientists)
- stories about theocratic dystopias (but not the opposite)
- emphasis on science (often educational for non-scientists)
Brandon Braga is a TV screenwriter who has written for some of the Star Trek series. I heard him speak at an atheist convention. He said that the future societies depicted in Star Trek are in fact atheist societies, although the stories don’t emphasize that.
A few recommendations:
- Greg Egan for “hard” SF (especially Quarantine and Permutation City)
- Charles Stross
- Richard K. Morgan (if you like fast action, sex and violence)
- Greg Bear
- John Barnes (who has written novels in several different styles reminiscent of “classic” authors, e.g., Heinlein, Dick)
Also, Timescape by Gregory Benford is still one of the most scientifically plausible stories of communication (though not travel) through time.
What everyone else said.
I recommend
Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space Series
Peter F. Hamilton’s Fallen Dragon
Charles Sheffield’s Heritage Universe
Mike Resnick’s Penelope Bailey trilogy (or the Widowmaker books)
Barry N. Malzberg’s Galaxies
Steve Perry’s The Man Who Never Missed
Karl Hansen’s War Games
Richard S. McEnroe’s Skinner
etc.
I should have mentioned Terry Pratchett also, for his humor and satire. Especially his book Small Gods should appeal to atheists. I enjoyed it tremendously.
(Slightly tangentially.) I’ve heard a few atheists lately talk about Star Trek being a “secular humanist utopia”. I find this staggering - I’ve always detested Star Trek because of its (as I see it) completely un-subtle Christian overtones. A bunch of humans (read Xtians) with the occasional alien (read convert) roaming the universe (read missionaries) spreading human values (read Xtian dogma) to other races (read pagans, heathens, muslims, etc). Maybe Americans are so steeped in these traditions that they fail to see them for what they really are.
Well, Grumpy, I guess you could call that evangelism, but evangelism is not solely a Christian phenomenon, nor is it even a solely religious phenomenon. One can evangelise philosophical or political ideas too, and that’s a good thing if those are good ideas.
Apple Computer famously had a position it called “Evangelist” to spread the good news about its products. I suppose that it was similar to public relations at other companies.
My recommendations, in no particular order of preference:
* Philip K. Dick: “Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said.”
* Robert Heinlein: “Stranger in a Strange Land.” Also, “Revolt in 2100.” Also, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.”
* Pat Caddigan: “Dirty Work.”
* A.A. Attanasio: “Radix.”
* John Varley: the Titan trilogy (the third volume provides a hilarious satire of the religions of the hoominz).
Don’t read much Science Fiction but one book I read many years ago that has stayed with me is entitled “Earth Abides”. Very well written in my opinion.
My impression as to why Science Fiction is appealing to atheists (and theists also) goes back to something I heard long ago. Good science fiction is first and foremost a morality tale.
I suppose one could argue that religious texts take this seemingly universal human need for moral tales a step further by focusing various morals / values on a god or gods. But that is speculation on my part with no research to back it up.
Robert Heinlein’s “Time Enough for Love” is an excellent read.
One thing I liked about Asimov’s “Foundation Trilogy” was the Mule. In a scientific regime that thought it could predict anything the unpredicted “Mule” arose and changed everything. I always saw it as a cautionary tale I could carry with me. Another lesson concerned the Governor of a planet who was leaving because all the troublemakers and thus interesting activity had been sent off planet so rather than be bored to death he left too.
“Childhood’s End” by Arthur C. Clarke will always be my favorite though. The essence of melancholy.
Used to read sci-fi to the virtual exclusion of all else back in the day. As I’m rather an oldish codger, that means the old guard mainly: Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury (for a more humanistic, poetic perspective), Knight, Anderson,Kornbluth et al. Got away from it for a few decades while I did other stuff, and have never fully returned. However, I’ve gotten some excellent reads over the past few years from Dan Simmons (he mixes good science with classic literature like no one else I’ve ever seen or heard of)—particularly the Hyperion series and the “duology” of Illium and Olympos; Orson Scott Card (though you may have to abide some of his Mormonism, which does sometimes slip in)—especially the Ender series; Greg Benford, already mentioned here by Paul Buchman for Timescape, and the Niven-Pournelle collaboration, with emphasis on the Motie series (The Mote in God’s Eye and The Gripping Hand) and Lucifer’s Hammer.
I’ve read some of William Gibson’s stuff too and, though I find it fascinating for the cyber-stuff, I also find it kind of, if you’ll pardon the term (hey, it’s just a metaphor to me!), soulless, even nihilistic. I find it much harder to give a fig what happens to the characters as opposed to, let’s say, those in a Koontz or King novel, where it’s relatively easy to pull for the protagonist(s).
Butt there’s no end of good science fiction out there, both from the “classic” masters and the new crew. Which is good news for my retirement.
If any of us ever get to retire, that is.
I was terrified of science fiction as a child from seeing some of the Outer Limits, the Twilight Zone, movies about things that eat people’s brains and, of course, the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.
It wasn’t until I had an assignment from school to watch the Twilight Zone’s “I Sing the Body Electric” episode that I began to get interested. I also started with the authors who were heavy on the science aspect, Asimov and Clarke, and some classics from school, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Jekell and Hyde. I moved to Heinlein (Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Waldo)and remember watching the final season of Star Trek (I don’t think they were supposed to be Christian imperialists, remember Theodore Sturgeon’s “prime directive”?).
As things began to get strange in my teenage years, I could related to Aldus Huxley, Harlan Ellison, Norman Spinrad, Robert Silverberg, Frank Herbert’s Dune, George Orwell and anything by Ray Bradbury. Indiana’s own Kurt Vonnegut was my favorite for a long time. The only science fiction author who has impressed me since was Douglas Adams, although I wouldn’t trade anything for the nights I spent reading my daughter’s favorites to her, Madeline L’Engle, J.K. Rowlings, J.R.R. Tolkein, Eoin Colfer and Gregory MaGuire. (Sorry, not a spaceship in the lot.)
Maybe I just don’t read enough to know who’s the most imaginative these days. I like a lot of the movies that have been out, Will Smith’s sci fi movies, Men in Black and I Robot; Star Wars, Blade Runner, the Matrix movies and I never missed an episode of the new Battlestar Galactica. Does Clockwork Orange count as Sci Fi? Does Terry Gilliam’s Brazil? Time Bandits? Mad Max? A Boy and His Dog? Spaceballs, Invader Zim? Jimmy Neutron?
The Sci Fi I prefer now is something that examines alienation and the complexities of life (but always with a sense of humor).