Essential science fiction and fantasy
The Princess Bride
When I saw the movie, I didn't even know there was a book. And the book is better, much better.
Foundation
The first book in the series that was voted the best fiction series of all-time. A classic.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
So funny and so good that I can read it in a single sitting. 42.
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
A very strange book that brings together Sir Richard Francis Burton, Hermann Goring, and every other person who has ever lived. The first in the Riverworld series.
Forever War
The first sci-fi book that I am aware of that accepts a realitivistic universe. Einstein would be proud.
Ringworld
A fantastic setting—an abandoned world which is a ring around a sun, with a surface area six million times Earth.
Gateway
Another classic sci-fi novel, set in an asteroid where an ancient alien species left behind spaceships that the humans use, but can't control.
The Gap into Conflict
The first in the Gap series. Dark and a little twisted, but an excellent series.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
One of my favorites. Step 1. Mix apocalypse and church politics. Step 2. Enjoy.
Zodiac
Before Stephenson was doing cyberpunk, nanotech, and encryption, he wrote a thriller about an environmentalist. The fact that it is hysterical is a nice bonus.
Snow Crash
The book that made Stephenson famous. Features the world's best character name: “Hiro Protagonist”.
Ender’s Game
Classic science fiction. After reading it for the first time in middle school, I thought that all sci-fi was this good. How wrong I was. I still maintain that all the sequels are awful, despite the good reviews.
Magician
First book in a long series. The first two are great, the next two are ok. The rest are dreck.
Gunslinger
The first book in the Dark Tower series. King’s books run the gamut from awful to brilliant, this series falls firmly in the latter.
Eye of the World
The first book in the Wheel of Time series. I really wish this series would end. I picked this was no book two, and Jordan has been stringing me along for 11 years. A great series, that some say is better than Lord of the Rings, but when all is said and done, a good editor would have been able to cut it in half.
The Lord of the Rings
Blah, blah, blah. Everyone loves it. And it is great, though a bit slow. That doesn’t stop me from re-reading it every couple of years.