The Science Fiction Books Which Had the Biggest Influence on Me

By Raymond Lockley

In discussing how we came to be the way we are with my friend one day, he mentioned that he had realized how significantly he had been influenced by certain science fiction books which he had read when he was younger--how concepts and outlooks had shaped part of his perspective and philosophy. I remarked that this seemed true for me also, and in comparing lists off the top of our heads, we had several of the same books in our libraries of influence. It seemed to me that it would be a worthwhile exercise to flesh out my list a bit, both for the reflective self-knowledge as well as an annoying conversation starter.

The list below is not a list of my favorite books, or of the best books in the sci-fi genre, but rather a list of the books which seem to have had some significant impact on my thought. It includes a few not always thought of as sci-fi, but which are at least widely embraced by the sci-fi community. The list also includes some from days less ancient than my childhood, and I hope that this is a good thing, suggesting that my view of the world has continued to evolve past adolescence.

While some of these books have had a much more significant influence on me than some of the others on this list, it is nevertheless difficult to rank them, so I have copped out and listed them by publication date...

Title Author Publ
The First Men in the Moon H. G. Wells 1901
Brave New World Aldous Huxley 1932
1984 George Orwell 1949
Earth Abides George R. Stewart 1949
I, Robot Isaac Asimov 1950
The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury 1950
Foundation Isaac Asimov 1951
The Man Who Sold The Moon Robert A. Heinlein 1951
City Clifford D. Simak 1952
Childhood's End Arthur C. Clarke 1952
Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand 1952
A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller, Jr. 1959
Alas, Babylon Pat Frank 1959
Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein 1961
R Is for Rocket Robert A. Heinlein 1962
Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 1963
Ringworld Larry Niven 1970
Lord Foul's Bane Stephen R. Donaldson 1977
Oath of Fealty Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle 1982
Ender's Game Orson Scott Card 1985
Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card 1986
Red Mars Kim Stanley Robinson 1992
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 1992
Calculating God Robert J. Sawyer 1992
Three-Body Problem Cixin Liu 2014


To index of lists