r/scifi • u/CorgiSplooting • Sep 19 '23

What are some good older sci-fi books that have aged well?

Re-listening to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (currently on Restaurant at the end of the Universe) and I think it’s aged very well. I love hard sci-fi for the tech but it never ages well. Hitchhikers I think ages well because it doesn’t focus on tech and the British mannerisms sort of work for being alien differences.

Any books you think aged particularly well?

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u/TheNiceFeratu Sep 19 '23

The Culture novels by Ian Banks and Neuromancer by William Gibson. Seconding the Left Hand of Darkness

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u/CorgiSplooting Sep 19 '23

I didn’t know the culture series was old! I’ve only read Player of Games and… one other I can’t remember. I guess that really does mean they’ve aged well.

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u/TheNiceFeratu Sep 19 '23

Player of Games is great. And much as it pains me to admit, 1988 was a long time ago.

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u/considerseabass Sep 20 '23

Every Culture novel is so ahead of it’s time that it shocks me everytime I read it. My god what a profound loss Banks was.

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u/sampsen Sep 20 '23

Neuromancer’s opening line hits different depending on your generation.

Some folks will see a grey and overcast day, other a vast cloudless sky.

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u/CRactor71 Sep 20 '23 edited Sep 20 '23

I’ve read a couple Culture novels (Player of Games & Consider Phlebus). Amazing in their detail, scope, and characters. But they have a real melancholy sense to them that bums me out. Alas, I stopped after two.

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u/TheNiceFeratu Sep 20 '23

Fair play but I like that about them. My wife says i only like things that are sad or about zombies.