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
181 • 3,040 Readers • 353 pages • 3.9
#2
#3
1950 • 1,066 Readers • 182 pages • 4
#4
#5
1979 • 1,134 Readers • 287 pages • 4.4
#6
#4 of 18 in Hainish Cycle
1969 • 1,555 Readers • 267 pages • 4.1
#7
2000 • 2,102 Readers • 282 pages • 3.8
#8
2008 • 1,064 Readers • 208 pages • 4.3
#9
2014 • 2,166 Readers • 333 pages • 4.1
#10
1968 • 2,027 Readers • 223 pages • 3.9
#11
#1 of 6 in Remembrance of Earth's Past
2006 • 3,588 Readers • 400 pages • 3.9
#12
1949 • 6,841 Readers • 328 pages • 4.2
#13
2018 • 255 Readers • 144 pages • 3.6
#14
1900 • 3,553 Readers • 332 pages • 3.9
#15
2010 • 291 Readers • 257 pages • 3.2
#16
#17
1953 • 831 Readers • 212 pages • 4
#18
1972 • 635 Readers • 226 pages • 4
#19
1959 • 640 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 • 103 Readers • 416 pages • 3.9
#26
2017 • 151 Readers • 288 pages • 3.6
#27
#1-3 of 3 in 1Q84
2009 • 1,098 Readers • 1,184 pages • 3.7
#28
#29
#30
2023 • 197 Readers • 380 pages • 3.6
#31
1978 • 1,842 Readers • 1,553 pages • 4.2
#32
#33
#34
2009 • 666 Readers • 336 pages • 4
#35
2015 • 182 Readers • 432 pages • 3.3
#36
1992 • 233 Readers • 3.3
#37
1979 • 56 Readers • 254 pages • 3.3
#38
#1 of 4 in Wayfarers
2014 • 1,734 Readers • 423 pages • 4.1
#39
2000 • 185 Readers • 3.3
#40
2021 • 4,541 Readers • 496 pages • 4.4
#41
#1 of 2 in St. Leibowitz
1959 • 743 Readers • 334 pages • 3.9
#42
#1 of 6 in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
1979 • 4,282 Readers • 215 pages • 4.2
#43
#44
1955 • 439 Readers • 278 pages • 3.8
#45
#46
2003 • 486 Readers • 464 pages • 4.1
#47
2017 • 317 Readers • 11h 54m • 4
#48
49 Readers • 4.5
#49
1894 • 1,346 Readers • 144 pages • 3.7
#50
#51
1963 • 696 Readers • 288 pages • 3.8
#52
1962 • 1,698 Readers • 72 pages • 3.9
#53
1961 • 821 Readers • 222 pages • 3.8
#54
#1 of 3 in Children of Time
2015 • 1,934 Readers • 600 pages • 4.3
#55
#56
2020 • 50 Readers • 3.4
#57
2019 • 2,770 Readers • 223 pages • 3.9
#58
1967 • 295 Readers • 303 pages • 3.7
#59
#2 of 5 in The Book of the New Sun
1981 • 132 Readers • 303 pages • 4
#60
#62
#63
1949 • 16 Readers • 205 pages • 3
#64
#65
1963 • 185 Readers • 236 pages • 4.1
#66
2000 • 212 Readers • 304 pages • 3.6
#67
1985 • 702 Readers • 453 pages • 4.1
#68
1937 • 154 Readers • 272 pages • 3.8
#69
1992 • 1,784 Readers • 448 pages • 3.9
#70
2000 • 78 Readers • 356 pages • 4
#71
2020 • 34 Readers • 4.2
#72
2024 • 174 Readers • 336 pages • 4.3
#73
2012 • 841 Readers • 318 pages • 3.8
#74
#1 of 4 in Lady Astronaut Universe
2018 • 633 Readers • 384 pages • 4
#75
2021 • 403 Readers • 256 pages • 3.7