As I commented on the article, who pretends to have read books? Sounds borderline neurotic.
I agree that Dune holds up, having read all of the pre-humous books for the first time earlier this millennium, fully two generations after first publication and when I already had a pretty solid sci-fi and pop culture pedigree. My mom wasn't even old enough to read Dune when it came out, but I found nothing dated or overexposed in the premises. I also found nothing "degenerative" in the sequels up through God Emperor (#4), though Children of Dune doesn't do much besides bridge Messiah and God Emperor (both of which are arguably better than the original novel). Heretics and Chapterhouse just got neck deep in the characters (or character lineages) and history in the way so many series do, without the standalone thematic strength of #s 1, 2 and 4. I avoided the son's apocrypha entirely.
Foundation, on the other hand, seemed mostly superfluous after having read the Dune series
In general, I find Clarke's own books inferior to the authors (and filmmakers, and whatnots) he inspires. He's the Velvet Underground of sci-fi, which is hardly a bad thing.
1984... hasn't literally everyone read it? To me it was Brave New World's uptight sister. Rigid, hammer-you-over-the-head allegory tends to fall flat with me.
Starmaker I read as a teen and it was certainly influential, but it's hard to say how it would strike me now.
I don't know if I would have stuck with Cryptonomicon if I hadn't read Anathem first. The "sci" in its sci-fi is not sexy stuff--mostly math, in the form of comp sci and crypto, with a little geology and metallurgy. It's an easy book to zone out on or fall asleep to. The ending technically wraps up all the plots, but in a way that you just quietly say, "Oh," and set the book down. Nevertheless, I felt enriched for having read it. It made my world a little bigger--on the inside.
Of the others on the list, Dhalgren is tentatively TBR and I might feel masochistic enough to tuck into Gravity's Rainbow at some point. I hadn't heard of The Long Tomorrow, but it looks interesting. I'm a big fan of The Man Who Awoke by Laurence Manning, and it sounds a bit similar.