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 • 1,161 Readers • 182 pages • 4
#4
#5
1979 • 1,213 Readers • 287 pages • 4.4
#6
#4 of 18 in Hainish Cycle
1969 • 1,738 Readers • 267 pages • 4.1
#7
2000 • 2,308 Readers • 282 pages • 3.8
#8
2019 • 1,201 Readers • 350 pages • 4.3
#9
2014 • 2,316 Readers • 333 pages • 4.1
#10
1968 • 2,223 Readers • 223 pages • 3.9
#11
#1 of 4 in Remembrance of Earth's Past
2006 • 3,943 Readers • 400 pages • 3.9
#12
1949 • 7,499 Readers • 328 pages • 4.2
#13
2018 • 274 Readers • 144 pages • 3.6
#14
1900 • 3,892 Readers • 332 pages • 3.9
#15
2010 • 310 Readers • 257 pages • 3.3
#16
#17
1953 • 906 Readers • 212 pages • 4
#18
1972 • 733 Readers • 226 pages • 4
#19
1959 • 698 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 • 109 Readers • 416 pages • 3.9
#26
2017 • 164 Readers • 288 pages • 3.5
#27
#1-3 of 3 in 1Q84
2009 • 1,211 Readers • 1,184 pages • 3.7
#28
#29
#30
2023 • 246 Readers • 380 pages • 3.6
#31
1978 • 1,999 Readers • 1,553 pages • 4.1
#32
#33
#34
2009 • 724 Readers • 336 pages • 4
#35
2015 • 189 Readers • 432 pages • 3.3
#36
1992 • 248 Readers • 3.3
#37
1979 • 63 Readers • 254 pages • 3.3
#38
#1 of 4 in Wayfarers
2014 • 1,862 Readers • 423 pages • 4.1
#39
2000 • 198 Readers • 3.3
#40
2021 • 5,014 Readers • 496 pages • 4.5
#41
#1 of 2 in St. Leibowitz
1959 • 817 Readers • 334 pages • 3.9
#42
#1 of 7 in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
1979 • 4,672 Readers • 215 pages • 4.2
#43
#44
1955 • 494 Readers • 278 pages • 3.9
#45
#46
2003 • 530 Readers • 464 pages • 4.1
#47
2017 • 340 Readers • 11h 54m • 4
#48
52 Readers • 4.5
#49
#50
#51
1963 • 755 Readers • 288 pages • 3.9
#52
1962 • 1,844 Readers • 72 pages • 3.9
#53
1961 • 917 Readers • 222 pages • 3.8
#54
#1 of 3 in Children of Time
2015 • 2,145 Readers • 600 pages • 4.3
#55
#56
2020 • 53 Readers • 3.4
#57
2019 • 2,980 Readers • 223 pages • 3.9
#58
1967 • 327 Readers • 303 pages • 3.8
#59
#2 of 5 in The Book of the New Sun
1981 • 147 Readers • 303 pages • 4
#60
#62
#63
1949 • 17 Readers • 205 pages • 3
#64
#65
1963 • 196 Readers • 236 pages • 4.1
#66
2000 • 227 Readers • 304 pages • 3.6
#67
1985 • 759 Readers • 453 pages • 4.1
#68
1937 • 168 Readers • 272 pages • 3.9
#69
1992 • 1,956 Readers • 448 pages • 4
#70
2000 • 84 Readers • 356 pages • 3.9
#71
2020 • 42 Readers • 4.2
#72
2024 • 202 Readers • 336 pages • 4.2
#73
2012 • 894 Readers • 318 pages • 3.8
#74
#1 of 4 in Lady Astronaut Universe
2018 • 673 Readers • 384 pages • 4
#75
2021 • 425 Readers • 256 pages • 3.7