The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
Since time immemorial, mankind has been looking up at the stars and dreaming, but it was only centuries ago that we started turning those dreams into fiction. And what remarkable dreams they are—dreams of distant worlds, unearthly creatures, parallel universes, artificial intelligence, and so much more. Today, we call those dreams science fiction.
Science fiction’s earliest inklings began in the mid-1600s, when Johannes Kepler and Francis Godwin wrote pioneering stories about voyages to the moon. Some scholars argue that science fiction as we now understand it was truly born in 1818, when Mary Shelley published Frankenstein, the first novel of its kind whose events are explained by science, not mysticism or miracles. Now, two centuries later, sci-fi is a sprawling and lucrative multimedia genre with countless subgenres, such as dystopian fiction, postapocalyptic fiction, and climate fiction, to name just a few. It’s also remarkably porous, allowing for some overlap with genres like fantasy and horror.
Sci-fi brings out the best in our imaginations and evokes a sense of wonder, but it also inspires a spirit of questioning. Through the enduring themes of sci-fi, we can examine the zeitgeist’s cultural context and ethical questions. Our favorite works in the genre make good on this promise, meditating on everything from identity to oppression to morality. As the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing said, “Science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time.”
Over two years ago, we published a version of this list featuring 50 books. But why stop at 50? Now, as part of our latest Summer Fiction Week, we’ve cast a wider net and expanded the list to 75 titles. Choosing the 75 best science fiction books of all time wasn’t easy, so to get the job done, we had to establish some guardrails. Though we assessed single installments as representatives of their series, we limited the list to one book per author. We also emphasized books that brought something new and innovative to the genre—to borrow a great sci-fi turn of phrase, books that “boldly go where no one has gone before.”
Now, in ranked order, here are the best science fiction books of all time.
#1
#2
#3
1950 • 1,129 Readers • 182 pages • 4
#4
#5
1979 • 1,195 Readers • 287 pages • 4.4
#6
#4 of 18 in Hainish Cycle
1969 • 1,646 Readers • 267 pages • 4.1
#7
2000 • 2,211 Readers • 282 pages • 3.8
#8
2019 • 1,151 Readers • 350 pages • 4.3
#9
2014 • 2,262 Readers • 333 pages • 4.1
#10
1968 • 2,149 Readers • 223 pages • 3.9
#11
#1 of 4 in Remembrance of Earth's Past
2006 • 3,820 Readers • 400 pages • 3.9
#12
1949 • 7,284 Readers • 328 pages • 4.2
#13
2018 • 267 Readers • 144 pages • 3.6
#14
1900 • 3,777 Readers • 332 pages • 3.9
#15
2010 • 303 Readers • 257 pages • 3.2
#16
#17
1953 • 879 Readers • 212 pages • 4
#18
1972 • 690 Readers • 226 pages • 4
#19
1959 • 675 Readers • 322 pages • 4
#20
#1 in Canopus in Argos: Archives Series,
1979 • 17 Readers • 364 pages • 2.2
#21
#22
#23
#24
#25
1992 • 107 Readers • 416 pages • 3.9
#26
2017 • 159 Readers • 288 pages • 3.6
#27
#1-3 of 3 in 1Q84
2009 • 1,174 Readers • 1,184 pages • 3.7
#28
#29
#30
2023 • 205 Readers • 380 pages • 3.6
#31
1978 • 1,949 Readers • 1,553 pages • 4.1
#32
#33
#34
2009 • 700 Readers • 336 pages • 4
#35
2015 • 187 Readers • 432 pages • 3.3
#36
1992 • 242 Readers • 3.3
#37
1979 • 58 Readers • 254 pages • 3.3
#38
#1 of 4 in Wayfarers
2014 • 1,818 Readers • 423 pages • 4.1
#39
2000 • 193 Readers • 3.3
#40
2021 • 4,848 Readers • 496 pages • 4.4
#41
#1 of 2 in St. Leibowitz
1959 • 791 Readers • 334 pages • 3.9
#42
#1 of 6 in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
1979 • 4,537 Readers • 215 pages • 4.2
#43
#44
1955 • 473 Readers • 278 pages • 3.9
#45
#46
2003 • 514 Readers • 464 pages • 4.1
#47
2017 • 331 Readers • 11h 54m • 4
#48
52 Readers • 4.5
#49
#50
#51
1963 • 736 Readers • 288 pages • 3.8
#52
1962 • 1,803 Readers • 72 pages • 3.9
#53
1961 • 883 Readers • 222 pages • 3.8
#54
#1 of 3 in Children of Time
2015 • 2,073 Readers • 600 pages • 4.3
#55
#56
2020 • 53 Readers • 3.4
#57
2019 • 2,915 Readers • 223 pages • 3.9
#58
1967 • 313 Readers • 303 pages • 3.8
#59
#2 of 5 in The Book of the New Sun
1981 • 140 Readers • 303 pages • 4
#60
#62
#63
1949 • 16 Readers • 205 pages • 3
#64
#65
1963 • 193 Readers • 236 pages • 4.1
#66
2000 • 221 Readers • 304 pages • 3.6
#67
1985 • 737 Readers • 453 pages • 4.1
#68
1937 • 165 Readers • 272 pages • 3.9
#69
1992 • 1,888 Readers • 448 pages • 4
#70
2000 • 81 Readers • 356 pages • 3.9
#71
2020 • 38 Readers • 4.2
#72
2024 • 192 Readers • 336 pages • 4.2
#73
2012 • 872 Readers • 318 pages • 3.8
#74
#1 of 4 in Lady Astronaut Universe
2018 • 664 Readers • 384 pages • 4.1
#75
2021 • 420 Readers • 256 pages • 3.7