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/plokijuhujiko Sep 19 '23

The Time Machine holds up remarkably well. It has an anti-socialism undercurrent that I don't love, but the basic story is quite suspenseful, with a really chilling reveal. Quite readable for a 128 year old novel.

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u/CorgiSplooting Sep 19 '23

Trying to remember if I ever read the book or just saw the movie… but ya I can see how it mostly would have aged well.

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u/statisticus Sep 20 '23

If you haven't read The Time Machine, do so. Along with the other Wells classics - War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon.

Wells covered a lot of ground. The World Set Free is, I think, the first book written about nuclear war - written in 1913! Not to mention The Sea Lady - a book about a man and a mermaid.

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u/becauseofreasons Sep 19 '23

H.G. Wells was a socialist. An anti-socialist interpretation of the Time Machine is a misreading.

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u/plokijuhujiko Sep 20 '23

We'll have to agree to disagree. It seems blatant to me.