The Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
Posted by Greg at 05:52, 24 Aug 2011A few weeks back I pointed out NPR's reader poll of the top 100 science fiction and fantasy titles. Well, after more than 60,000 votes, the results are now in - here's the top ten as voted by the public:
- The Lord Of The Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
- Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
- The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
- A Song Of Ice And Fire series, by George R.R. Martin
- 1984: A Novel, by George Orwell
- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
- The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
View the entire top 100 at NPR
Not a lot of surprises at the top of the list, although I was rather shocked that one of my personal picks, The Day of the Triffids, didn't even make the top 100. Any other notable inclusions or omissions that caught your eye (remembering that Young Adult and horror were left out, as they will get their own poll...so, no Harry Potter by default)?
Also at NPR: Parsing the results.
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Comments
22 August 2004
1 year 10 weeks
I only voted for the rest of the Dune Chronicles because I had to. Given the choice, I would have only voted for Dune.
-sh
12 April 2007
11 min 52 sec
:)
It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
_______________
@red_pill_junkie
18 September 2007
1 hour 43 min
Nothing by Stanislaw Lem on that list. Fail.
19 December 2012
22 weeks 2 days
Anyone who expects daring, unusual or brave books to get to the top of these polls has never watched The Eurovision Song Contest. You can pretty much guarantee that the song that will win is the one that offends the majority least. Just look at this list
1984, Fahrenheit 451, A Brave New World and the Foundation Trilogy are officially classics so no big fuss there
The Lord of the Rings has been made into a blockbuster film so everyone thinks of that one
Hitchhikers guide also a film, and a radio and TV series
The Song of Ice and Fire series, is a soap opera in book form
So what's left? Ender's Game which is being made into a film so everyone has heard of it
And last but not least American Gods because Neil Gaiman has a huuuuge fan following that bumps his books up every list (Oh and HBO are going to make a series of it)
I suppose that leave Song of Ice and Fire as the odd one out - it isn't officially a classic (though it was started ion 1991), and it isn't being filmed (yet). Well, I expect there are so many copies of it out there that everyone remembers it (I don't know why).
I could come up with 10 (or 100) books I think are better, but since my taste doesn't match the average none of my books would eb at the top either. Oh well....
12 April 2007
11 min 52 sec
Give us the benefit of the doubt, will ya? ;)
And welcome to the Grail.
It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
_______________
@red_pill_junkie
6 April 2010
16 hours 25 min
i wish the classics like 1984 were a little higher on the charts. the only reason any of these youngsters know what Tolkien's saga is is because of Hollywood. Also, no PKD? *sigh*
...I forgot how I got here but everyone seems to be heading off in that direction. I hope someone brought food. I have a feeling this is going to be a long journey................
18 September 2012
10 weeks 6 days
Huh. It seems to ignore books not written in English. It's nice that they remembered Jules Verne, even though his books were originally marketed as YA. But it's sad to see no Raymond Roussel, Boris Vian, or Gustav Meyrink. Oh well...