Please recommend Meaningful Sci-Fi

[WillAdams]

Meaningful in terms of what?

Human interaction and the definition of what it is to be human?

Candidates include: _I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream_ and _More than Human_

What humanity should and should not do?

_The Lathe of Heaven_ or _The Forever Hero_ trilogy (Dawn for a Distant Earth, In Endless Twilight, The Silent Warrior)

The consequences of technology?

Hal Clement is good for that, see the collection _Space Lash_, esp. "Raindrop" and "The Mechanic" (the latter also plays well to the matter of what defines humanity in terms of medicine).

For the problem of computer science, I've always found _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ a guilty pleasure, but not much else written on that is as meaningful, save maybe Marshall Brain's novella _Manna_ https://marshallbrain.com/manna1 (which has all the subtlety of getting clubbed by a baseball bat).

Arguably the best example of what a novel is about altering it is comparing the initial draft of Barry Hughart's _The Bridge of Birds_ http://barryhughart.org/bobdraft/chapter1.html with the published novel

[arjaybe]

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. I read it a long time ago and it's still with me.

[JSWolf]

H. G. Wells is another author to read.

[pwalker8]

This is one of those request that I generally don't know how to answer. One can find meaning in many things. I suspect the original poster has a very explicit political belief system and doesn't want books that might challenge them, otherwise why mention politics in the post.

SF has a whole sub-genre of utopia and dystopia books which examine the possibilities of various belief systems. Dystopia books seem to be particularly popular these days, especially in so called youth books. If one is looking for sf books that lean to the left of center, then I would suggest checking out Tor's catalogue.

[dwig]

The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuinn

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

If one is looking for sf books that lean to the left of center, then I would suggest checking out Tor's catalogue.

I didnt get that, but Iain Banks is left of center, even for the UK, which is far to the left of the US.

[paulag]

The Death of Grass by John Christopher. Some kind of disease wipes out grasses - which include rice, wheat, barley etc - leading to mass starvation. The same author also wrote post apocalyptic books for teenagers that were adapted into a TV series called The Tripods that aired in the UK in the 1980s.

[sadowski]

Originally Posted by RowdyRuff

A Deepness in the Sky?

I would add the 1st and 3rd volumes in the series ("A Fire Upon the Deep" and "The Children of the Sky") or, actually, why not all books by Vernor Vinge.

[Angst]

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Wonderfully written. Very hard to describe. A serf from a color-coded caste discovers more about the world he lives in, (Mars) than he knew possible.

[David Munch]

Originally Posted by curtw

I have read that, and it’s sequel. Enjoyed those too. Simmons is very good.

There are two more books in the cantos. Some people don't find them as good as the first two though, personally I loved them.

But yes, the Hyperion books are some of the sci-fi books that have had the most impact on me. The sheer scale of the work, and imagination, was profound.

Originally Posted by gmw

When I saw "Meaningful Sci-Fi" in the subject line my first thought was Ted Chiang. Regrettably he has so far only managed two short story collections, but if you want something intellectually intriguing and meaningful these are well worth visiting:

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, 2002
Exhalation by Ted Chiang, 2019

Agreed. Highly recommended. Stories of Your Life and Others is the best short story collection I have ever come across, by quite a mile.

[fathead]

Yoon Ha Lee: Machineries of Empire. This trilogy is baffling and enthralling in equal measure; I can't describe it but I strongly recommend it.

[lxpose]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. I read it a long time ago and it's still with me.

Yes! This is such a fine book. The sequel Children of God is also well worth reading.

[kickerofelves]

Another vote for The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell & the sequel Children of God. I'd add

The Left-Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin
Ian Banks Culture novels
The Three Body Problem - Liu Cixin
Solaris - Stanislaw Lem (the Johnston translation)

[Uncle Robin]

Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora - an anti-terraforming SF novel by an author whose most successful work was a terraforming trilogy.

[Mikou]

1. The Xenogenesis trilogy by Octavia Butler
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
4. Anthem by Ayn Rand
5. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
6. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
7. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
8. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin
9. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
10. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, 2002