Best Science Fiction books (add your suggestions)

[thomas86]

Anything by Ray Bradbury... duh!

[Annette_Brecheisen]

I'm so happy to see other people love so many of the same books as myself! The first sci-fi I ever read was in the form of a short story called "The Star-Pit" by Samual R. Delaney. It is still one of my favorite short stories.

[terrierTOM]

The Player of Games is a favourite of mine, and its a great start to the Culture Novels by Iain M. Banks
The Culture series is a great one, and every novel feels quite differenet to the last, so there should be something for everyone (but so far, Player is the best).

[Derk of Derkholm]

Another vote for the "Culture" series.

Also, an incredible author (who unfortunately did not write very many books) was Cordwainer Smith.

He created a very rich saga spanning a timeline of 13,000 years with benevolent overlords called "The instrumentality of Mankind".
He wrote one novel in this setting, "Norstrilia", which I can wholeheartedly endorse: http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/norstrilia.htm

The author, Cordwainer Smith (pseudonym of Paul M.A. Linebarger), himself was a very fascinating personality: scholar, professor, spy, author, expert on psychological warfare.
Read more about him here: Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, Colonel, United States Army

"While in Korea, Linebarger masterminded the surrender of thousands of Chinese troops who considered it shameful to give up their arms. He drafted leaflets explaining how the soldiers could surrender by shouting the Chinese words for 'love,' 'duty,' 'humanity,' and 'virtue'--words that happened, when pronounced in that order, to sound like 'I surrender' in English. He considered this act to be the single most worthwhile thing he had done in his life."

Best regards,
Andy