Science fiction is broadly divided into two subgenres: soft sci-fi and hard sci-fi. Some of the most popular franchises, such asStar WarsandStar Trek,are soft sci-fi: while they may enjoy playing with various scientific ideas, they incorporate many technologies or powers that are impossible according to current scientific knowledge.
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In hard science fiction, the author does their best to only include plausible technologies. Sublight engines and planet-sized machines may be ludicrously expensive and difficult to develop, but they exist on the fringes of possibility. Other technologies, such as cloning and orbital travel, already exist; hard sci-fi explores their potential. These books are some of the best entry points for those new to this exciting genre.
Updated Jun 03, 2025, by Patrick Armstrong:Every genre of fiction has something unique to contribute, some storytelling angle that no other kind of fiction quite nails the same way. Science fiction, like many genres, is further divided into numerous subgenres, ensuring that there’s a story for every reader’s taste. Hard science fiction blends the real with the imaginative, allowing scientifically-minded authors to stretch the boundaries of what is possible without straying too far from scientific law. In this tenuous realm between the actual and the possible, many beautiful novels have been born. These are just some of the best hard sci-fi novels for newcomers to this fantastic subgenre.
14We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
Canadian novelist and programmer Dennis E. Taylor has a reputation for creating highly detailed and original sci-fi worlds injected with clever references and humor. At the heart of Taylor’s work isWe Are Legion (We Are Bob),a novel that deals with the effects that cryonics and other technologies have on society.
The titular character Bob has sold his software company and is looking forward to relaxing for a change. Of course, novels aren’t much without conflict, so it can’t be that easy for Bob.He gets killed crossing the street and wakes up a century laterto discover that he is now state property,integrated with a computer by sinister scientists,and responsible for a probe in search of habitable planets. While that premise may seem like the fantastical stuff of soft science, the technologies at the core of the plot are handled with great care, making it an insightful as well as charming read.
13Seveneves
The name Neal Stephenson will be familiar to many sci-fi fans, given that his speculative fiction played an integral role in launching the cyberpunk genre and coining many related terms that are still in use today. Though not as famous asSnow Crash,Sevenevesis a great novel in its own right, tellingthe story of humanity’s desperate attempt to save itself after the moon disintegrates.
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One of the most interesting aspects of the story is Stephenson’s examination of humanity’s evolution following the catastrophe. By leaping ahead 5,000 years from the loss of the moon,Sevenevesis able to look at the way the species and its society have changed. Despite its over-the-top beginning,Sevenevesis a clear-eyed story of the science that can save the species from disaster but perhaps cannot save the species from itself.
12Dragon’s Egg: A Novel
Dragons are probably one of the last things that readers think of when asked to imagine a hard-hitting, scientific novel.Dragon’s Egg: A Novelby Robert L. Forward may change that.The central subjects of the book are about as hard as they come: the science of neutron stars and evolution.
The novel’s chief triumph, however, isn’t in its tackling of science—despite how well done that tackling is—but rather the portrait it paints ofextraterrestrial life and alternate civilizations.The Cheela make for fascinating sci-fi creatures, giving the reader plenty of reasons to stick around even if they don’t care for other parts of the plot.
112001: A Space Odyssey
It may have been the Stanley Kubrick adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel that cemented2001: A Space Odysseyin the popular consciousness, but it’s the quality of Clarke’s writing that led to the movie’s creation in the first place. Whereas the movie had to cut many of the hard sci-fi elements that give this story its incredible depth, the novel allowed Clarke to explore his ideas more fully.
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Clarke’s expertise blends deft technical writing with fantastic suspense,creating a one-of-a-kind story unafraid of tackling deep topics like the ramifications of AI and nuclear war. One of the biggest achievements is the way in which the novel depicts space travel, giving readers a visceral sense of what it really means to move through the universe.
10Red Mars — Kim Stanley-Robinson
Hard sci-fi must thread a needle that soft sci-fi doesn’t worry about: including enough plausible, well-reasoned science that readers suspend their disbelief, but not so much that readers feel like they’re being lectured to instead of entertained. Kim Stanley-Robinson is an expert at this balance.
Red Marsleans heavily on astrophysics to make the society of its Martian plausible, but this novel — as well asits influential sequelsGreen MarsandBlue Mars —doesn’t drown readers in too many facts.Red Marsis clean, powerful storytelling, and a must for fans of hard sci-fi and newcomers alike.
9The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress — Robert A. Heinlein
Heinlein’s name stands as tall as any other in science fiction, and novels likeThe Moon Is a Harsh Mistressdemonstrate why. It’s the story of a lunar colony that revolts against earth. This novel is notable for its thoughtful presentation of the moon’s and earth’s differing cultures, as well as the technologies that make the colony feasible.
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Sci-fi aspects of particular interest include HOLMES IV, the Lunar Authority’s master computer, as well as the way that life in low-gravity makes a return to earth impossible for citizens of the moon. Thanks to his excellent dialogue and thorough dive into lunar politics, Heinlein’s world feels real and lived-in.
8Tau Zero — Poul Anderson
Space is big, to no one’s surprise. Equally unsurprising, the ways in which people travel through space tend to be a fascinating subject. Sublight and faster-than-light (FTL) travel, teleportation, and more obscure means can merely facilitate a story, or they can be its focus.
In Poul Anderson’sTau Zero,space travel is the story of a malfunctioning light-speed engine that speeds inexorably up instead of slowing down.The crew of the Leonora Christine is then faced with a harsh reality:the difference between ship-time and external time, as their ship rockets onwards into the void, leaving everything they knew behind.
7The Andromeda Strain — Michael Crichton
Sometimes, science fiction can anticipate actual scientific advances. Examples fromStar Trekand other popular series abound, andThe Andromeda Strainby Michael Crichton is yet another example.
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Framed as a scientific report documenting the outbreak of an extraterrestrial microorganism in Arizona,The Andromeda Straingoes to great lengths to explain and defend the science behind its premise. Its use of charts, graphs, and technical terminology may dissuade some, but these features are exactly what make the novel an outstanding example of its genre. As much as possible, the book wants to give readers the experience of an actual scientist.
6Rendezvous With Rama — Arthur C. Clarke
Winner of multiple awards, Clarke’s classic novelRendezvous with Ramais about a massive, mysterious object that appears within the solar system on a trajectory to the sun. Humanity understandably sends a spacecraft to investigate the object, which they dub Rama. This is right about when the humans realize that Rama belongs to an ancient civilization.
The book is a scientific exploration of Rama’s manyinterlocking mysteries and ambiguities. Thanks to Clarke’s brilliant writing, this is a novel that won’t lose readers for a moment, even when diving into the nitty-gritty of the way things work and why.
5Ringworld — Larry Niven
Fans of theHaloseries are intimately familiar with the idea of a ring-like object in space capable of housing entire ecosystems, but the idea was popularized in science fiction of Larry Niven’s Nebula, Hugo, and Locus award-winning novelRingworldfrom 1970.
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To be sure, there are other ideas within the novel that fall on the side of soft sci-fi, but the idea at the heart of it all — that of the ringworld itself — is shockingly possible. In reality, the scientific consensus is that terraforming would be a simpler, more efficient means of interplanetary colonization than the construction of such a massive object, but that doesn’t make ringworlds any less possible.
