CBG Sci-Fi Book Ranking

[Nomadic]

Well this is one I have wanted to do for awhile and have been waiting for the right time to do. The fantasy book rankings looks like they are coming along quite nicely. So then lets see what you all think of the tech-minded brother of fantasy. Anything that could fall under sci-fi is good here (that includes techno-thrillers, futuristic survival, etc). And yes we do allow sci-fi short stories since there are so many of them. This will of course follow the same scoring style as that set up by the esteemed Phoenix in the fantasy version.

[note]This thread collects and ranks science fiction novels. To vote, copy the list at the bottom and give each series or novel you've read, in whole or in part, a rating from 1 to 10 stars, using whole numbers only please. If a book isn't there that you want to vote on, then add it to your list.

Score Meanings:
1 - Unreadable
3 - Poor
5 - Mediocre
7 - Good
10 - Among the finest works in the genre

A series will only appear on the rankings if it has at least three votes. The collected votes per series by members appears below the book rankings list.[/note]
CBG's Sci-Fi Book Rankings:

Place	Book/Series	Avg Score	Votes	Total Score
1	Dune Series	9.22	9	83
2	Ender's Game Series	8.83	6	53
3	Hitchhiker's Guide Series	8.75	4	35
3	War of the Worlds	8.75	4	35
4	Starship Troopers	8.67	3	26
5	Robot Series	8.33	3	25
6	Brave New World	8	4	32
7	Fahrenheit 451	8	3	24
8	1984	7.75	4	31
9	Dune Saga	7.67	3	23
9	Foundation Series	7.67	3	23
10	Jurassic Park Series	7.22	9	65
11	Sphere	7.16	6	43
12	John Carter of Mars	7	3	21
12	Star Wars: Thrawn Trilogy	7	3	21
13	Neuromancer	6.8	5	34
14	The Time Machine	6.25	4	25
15	Andromeda Strain	5.75	4	23
16	The Handmaid's Tale	5.67	3	17

Latest Counted Votes: Phoenix

Votes to Date
[spoiler]
Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency; khyron1144 (10)
Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide Series; Phoenix (9), Ninja D! (10), Ishmayl (6), khyron1144 (10)
Aaron Allston & Micheal Stackpole - X-Wing Series; Nomadic (6)
Kevin J. Anderson - Saga of the Seven Suns; Ninja D! (8)
Kevin J. Anderson & Brian Herbert - Dune Saga; Phoenix (8), Ninja D! (8), Steel General (7)
Isaac Asimov - Empire Series; Acrimone (6), khyron1144 (7)
Isaac Asimov - Foundation Series; Acrimone (8), Phoenix (7), khyron1144 (8)
Isaac Asimov - Robot Series; Acrimone (9), Phoenix (8), khyron1144 (8)
Isaac Asimov - The Last Question; Nomadic (10)
Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale; Acrimone (6), khyron1144 (5), sparkletwist (6)
Greg Bear - Anvil of the Stars/Forge of God; Acrimone (7)
Greg Bear - Darwin's Radio/Darwin's Children; Acrimone (7), khyron1144 (7)
Greg Bear - Eon; Acrimone (5)
Greg Bear - Moving Mars; Acrimone (8)
Ray Bradbury - Farenheit 451; Nomadic (8), Acrimone (8), Ishmayl (8)
Ray Bradbury - The Veldt; Ishmayl (9)
Edgar Rice Burroughs - John Carter of Mars; Kapn Xeviat (7), khyron1144 (7), sparkletwist (7)
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game Series; Acrimone (9), Phoenix (9), khyron1144 (10), Pellanor (9), Steel General (7), Atlantis (9)
Arthur C. Clarke - Space Odyssey Series; Nomadic (9), Kapn Xeviat (7)
Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's End; Nomadic (7), Acrimone (10)
Bruce Coville - My Teacher Series; khyron1144 (7), Ishmayl (8)
Bruce Coville - Rod Albright's Alien Adventures series; khyron1144 (8)
Micheal Crichton - Andromeda Strain; Acrimone (7), Ishmayl (7), Phoenix (6), Kapn Xeviat (3)
Micheal Crichton - Congo; Phoenix (6), Kapn Xeviat (7)
Micheal Crichton - Jurassic Park Series; Nomadic (7), Kapn Xeviat (10), Acrimone (6), Ishmayl (6), Phoenix (7), Ninja D! (10), khyron1144 (6), Pellanor (8), sparkletwist (5)
Micheal Crichton - Sphere; Ishmayl (6), Phoenix (6), Ninja D! (10), Kapn Xeviat (7), khyron1144 (7), Pellanor (7)
Micheal Crichton - Timeline; Phoenix (7), Ninja D! (8)
Philip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?; Eladris (9)
Philip K. Dick - Minority Report; Ishmayl (6)
Philip K. Dick - The Crack in Space; Ishmayl (8)
Antoine de Saint Exupéry - Little Prince; Acrimone (10), khyron1144 (8)
C.S. Friedman - The Madness Season; Acrimone (7)
C.S. Friedman - This Alien Shore; Acrimone (8)
C.S. Friedman - To Conquest Born; Acrimone (5)
David Feintuch - Nicky Seafort Series; Acrimone (9)
William Gibson - Neuromancer; Acrimone (4), khyron1144 (6), Pellanor (8), Steel General (8), Eladris (8)
Joe Haldeman - Forever War; Acrimone (6)
Peter F. Hamilton - The Reality Dysfunction Series; Acrimone (7)
Robert A. Heinlein - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls; khyron1144 (8)
Robert A. Heinlein - Friday; Acrimone (7), khyron1144 (8)
Robert A. Heinlein - I Will Fear No Evil; Acrimone (6), khyron1144 (9)
Robert A. Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress; Acrimons (8), khyron1144 (10)
Robert A. Heinlein - The Number of the Beast; khyron1144 (8)
Robert A. Heinlein - The Past Through Tomorrow Collection; khyron1144 (9)
Robert A. Heinlein - Starship Troopers; Acrimone (8), khyron1144 (10), sparkletwist (8)
Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land; Acrimone (5), khyron1144 (10)
Robert A. Heinlein - Time Enough For Love; Acrimone (6), khyron1144 (9)
Robert A. Heinlein - To Sail Beyond the Sunset; khyron1144 (8)
Frank Herbert - Dune Series; Acrimone (10), Phoenix (10), Ninja D! (10), khyron1144 (8), Pellanor (8), Steel General (9), sparkletwist (9), Atlantis (10), Ishmayl (9)
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World; Kapn Xeviat (10), Acrimone (8), Ninja D! (6), sparkletwist (8)
Greg Iles - Footprints of God; Acrimone (9)
Madeleine L'Engle - Wrinkle in Time; Acrimone (10)
Anne McCaffrey - Crystal Singer Series; Acrimone (9)
Walter Miller jr. - Canticle for Leibowitz; Acrimone (9)
Elizabeth Moon - Serrano Series; Acrimone (7)
Elizabeth Moon - Vatta's War; Acrimone (8)
Larry Niven - Ringworld; Phoenix (8)
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - Footfall; Acrimone (7)
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - Lucifer's Hammer; Acrimone (8)
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - The Mote in God's Eye; Acrimone (8)
George Orwell - 1984; Acrimone (9), Phoenix (8), Ninja D! (5), Atlantis (9)
Kim Stanley Robinson - Mars Trilogy; Acrimone (9)
John Scalzi - Old Man's War; Acrimone (8)
Mike Shepherd - Kris Longknife Series; Acrimone (7)
Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer; Pellanor (8)
Neal Stephenson - Snowcrash; Pellanor (10)
Charles Stross - Timeline Diplomacy; Phoenix (5)
Theodore Sturgeon - Godbody; Phoenix (6)
Craig Thomas - Firefox; Nomadic (6)
Jules Verne - A Journey to the Center of the Earth; Nomadic (7)
Kurt Vonegut Jr. - Breakfast of Champions; Phoenix (9)
Kurt Vonegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five; Phoenix (9), Ishmayl (9)
David Weber - Honor Harrington Series; Acrimone (6), khyron1144 (7)
H. G. Wells - The Time Machine; Nomadic (8), Kapn Xeviat (5), Acrimone (5), Ninja D! (7)
H. G. Wells - War of the Worlds; Nomadic (9), Acrimone (7), sparkletwist (9), Atlantis (10)
Tad Williams - Otherworld; Ishmayl (6)
Timothy Zahn - Star Wars: Thrawn Trilogy; Nomadic (7), Acrimone (8), khyron1144 (6)
[/spoiler]

[Nomadic]

Space Odyssey Series, Arthur C. Clarke - 9
The Time Machine, H. G. Wells - 8
War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells - 9
Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne - 7
Jurassic Park Series, Micheal Crichton - 7
Firefox, Craig Thomas - 6
Childhood's End, Arther C. Clarke - 7
X-Wing Series, Micheal Stackpole & Aaron Allston - 6
Thrawn Series, Timothy Zahn - 7
The Last Question, Isaac Asimov - 10
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury - 8

[Xeviat]

I took a class on science fiction, but unfortunately we read a lot more shortstories than novels. Looking at this list I realize I need to read much more. Anyway, here are my votes for what I've read.

Arthur C. Clarke - Space Odyssey Series - 7: I found the pacing and length to be a bit much, but the material kept my interest all the way through.
H. G. Wells - The Time Machine - 5: I feel "The Time Machine" is very overrated, but I believe this is mostly from my general dislike of the socialist overtones. If I look past that, the book gets a 7.
Micheal Crichton - Jurassic Park Series - 10: I've read both books twice now, and the second time I read each I managed to finish them in just two days. If I'm unable to put a book down, I consider that a good book.

As for what I want to add to the list:
Edgar Rice Burroughs - "John Carter of Mars": Rating this book is tough. It was pulpy trash, full of all sorts of ethnocentric viewpoints (though you could say that of Tarzan too; white man doing Africa/Marse better than the natives). But it was absolutely the most exciting thing we had read all year, and the class talked about it for the rest of the semester. I have to give it a 7, because while it was greatly enjoyable it doesn't really deserve to be up there with "Capitol L" literature.

Aldous Huxley - "A Brave New World": This is most definately science fiction, and one of my favorite books I "had" to read (as opposed to choosing to read). I do find it interesting that this book is most definately an alegory, which I tend to not like, but for some reason I am fine with that within the science fiction genre. I'm going to give "A Brave New World" a 10.

[Acrimone]

Lord almighty... you're going to make me think about this aren't you?  OK, here we go.  The scores are a little high because, well, I'm partial to listing books I like.

Foundation Series (Asimov) - 8
Robot Series (Asimov) - 9
Empire Series (Asimov) - 6
Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller) - 9
Childhood's End (Clarke) - 10
Starship Troopers (Heinlein) - 8
Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein) - 5
Friday (Heinlein) - 7
Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Heinlein) - 8
I Will Fear No Evil (Heinlein) - 6
Time Enough For Love (Heinlein) - 6
Dune Series (Herbert) - 10
Footfall (Niven/Pournelle) - 7
Lucifer's Hammer (Niven/Pournelle) - 8
The Mote in God's Eye (Niven/Pournelle) - 8
Darwin's Radio/Darwin's Children (Bear) - 7
Moving Mars (Bear) - 8
Anvil of the Stars/Forge of God (Bear) - 7
Eon (Bear) - 5
The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood) - 6
Vatta's War (Moon) - 8
Serrano Series (Moon) - 7
Old Man's War et seq. (Scalzi) - 8
Forever War (Haldeman) - 6
Andromeda Strain (Crichton) - 7
Jurassic Park (Crichton) - 6
Red Mars et seq. (Robinson) - 9
Nicky Seafort Series (Feintuch) - 9
Honor Harrington Series (Weber) - 6
This Alien Shore (Friedman) - 8
To Conquest Born (Friedman) - a really strong 5
The Madness Season (Friedman) - 7
The Reality Dysfunction Series (Hamilton) - 7
Brave New World (Huxley) - 8
Thrawn Trilogy/Star Wars (Zahn) - 8
Wrinkle in Time et seq. (L'Engle) - 10
1984 (Orwell) - 9
War of the Worlds (Wells) - 7
Time Machine (Wells) - 5
Farenheit 451 (Bradbury) - 8
Ender's Game (Card) - 9
Little Prince (St. Exupery ???) - 10
Crystal Singer/Killishandra (McCaffrey) - 9
Footprints of God (Iles) - 9
Kris Longknife Books (Shepherd) - 7
Neuromancer (Gibson) - 4


That's just about all I can think of.  If anything else comes to mind, I'll be sure to let you know.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Otherworld (Tad Williams) - 6
Jurassic Park, Lost World (Crighton) - 6
Andromeda Strain (Crighton) - 7
Sphere (Crighton) - 6
The Crack in Space (Dick) - 8
Minority Report (Dick) - 6
Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury) - 8
The Veldt (Bradbury, in the anthology "The Illustrated Man") - 9

That's about as extensive as my sci-fi repertoire goes.

[Nomadic]

Ok done, took awhile though thanks to certain people who know whom they are without need to mention :P

Just one thing, could everyone remember to put the author's full name up. I had to search alot of names to fill them in and make sure they were the same author (I like sci-fi but I haven't read all there is by any stretch of the imagination).

If you have voted for a book in an official series your vote goes towards the whole series (so let me know if I mistook a series of books for separate ones).

[Acrimone]

Just one thing, could everyone remember to put the author's full name up. I had to search alot of names to fill them in and make sure they were the same author (I like sci-fi but I haven't read all there is by any stretch of the imagination).

Oops.  Sorry.   :cry:

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Just one thing, could everyone remember to put the author's full name up. I had to search alot of names to fill them in and make sure they were the same author (I like sci-fi but I haven't read all there is by any stretch of the imagination).

Heh, heh. I feel your pain ;)

Glad to see this up. I didn't want to maintain it myself, but I'm glad to see it.

I'd recommend alphabetizing by last name of the author.

Phoenix Votes:
Frank Herbert - Dune  10 (my all time favorite book)
George Orwell - 1984 8
Isaac Asimov - Foundation Series 7
Isaac Asimov - Robot Series 8
Micheal Crichton - Andromeda Strain 6
Micheal Crichton - Jurassic Park Series 7
Micheal Crichton - Sphere 6
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game (9)

New:
Michael Crichton - Congo 6
Michael Crichton - Timeline 7
Brian Herbert - Dune Saga 8
Charles Stross - Timelike Diplomacy (Singularity Sky/Iron Sunrise) 5
Theodore Sturgeon - Godbody 6

[Ninja D!]

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson - Dune House Trilogy : 8 I think I mostly enjoyed these because of the setting.  The writing wasn't bad, though.  I still don't understand how people can co-write books.
Frank Herbert - Dune Series : 10 I'll admit, I have not read them all. I do own them all, though, and what I have read is brilliant.  Thinking about this now I sorely wish I had more of my DVDs with me at my new apartment.
George Orwell - 1984 : 5 I liked what the book was about but they way it was written was boring to me.  I have ADHD, you need to work my mind more to keep me interested.
H. G. Wells - The Time Machine : 7 It has been so long since I read this...I do recall enjoying it quite a lot, though.
Kevin J. Anderson - Saga of the Seven Suns : 8 I know there is a lot of hate out there for KJA and that there is nothing groundbreaking about these books by any means.  In fact, it is pretty obvious where some of his ideas are stolen from.  I quite enjoyed what I read, though.
Micheal Crichton - Jurassic Park Series : 10 I love Micheal Crichton books very much.  I know I have read more than the three (actually four) that I have listed here but I don't remember them well enough to give them a fair rating.
Micheal Crichton - Sphere : 10 I may or may not have read this book three times by the time I was 15...just sayin'.  I like it a lot.  So much, in fact, that I am on my second copy of it (wherever it is).  The first one came from a garage sale and after a couple of readings, it literally fell apart.
Micheal Crichton - Timeline : 8 Solid book, though it got a bit drawn out.  MC writes a lot about scientific theories and "what if" this really worked...but the ideas this one sprang from probably were not developed enough or explained well enough.  
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World : 6  Again, I like what it is about but not how it was written.

I'm sure I'll think of more in time.  Should I edit this post when I do or make a new one?

[Xeviat]

Michael Crichton - Congo 7

New
Michael Crichton - Sphere 7
Michael Crichton - Andromina Strain 3

[khyron1144]

David Weber - Honor Harrington Series; 7
Edgar Rice Burroughs - John Carter of Mars; 7
Frank Herbert - Dune Series; 8
Greg Bear - Darwin's Radio/Darwin's Children; Acrimone 7
Isaac Asimov - Empire Series; 7
Isaac Asimov - Foundation Series; 8
Isaac Asimov - Robot Series; 8
Madeleine L'Engle - Wrinkle in Time; 8
Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale; 5
Micheal Crichton - Jurassic Park Series; 6
Micheal Crichton - Sphere; 7
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game; 10
Robert A. Heinlein - Friday; 8
Robert A. Heinlein - I Will Fear No Evil; 9
Robert A. Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress; 10
Robert A. Heinlein - Starship Troopers; 10
Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land; 10
Robert A. Heinlein - Time Enough For Love; 9
Timothy Zahn - Star Wars: Thrawn Trilogy; 6
William Gibson - Neuromancer; 6


More Heinlien:
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls 8
The Number of The Beast 8
To Sail Beyond the Sunset 8
Future History short stories (collected as The Past Through Tommorrow) and later as smaller paerbacks titled after stories, like The Man Who Sold The Moon) 9
By the way, The Number of The Beast establishes a framework where all Heinlein's work is possibly related and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and To Sail Beyond the Sunset elaborate it.  I saw no distinct references to Friday or "Gulf" but Jubal Harshaw (of Stranger in a Strange Land) recurs as do references to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Is the Ender's Game entry on the list meant to include all Ender-related Orson Scott Card works, including both the sequel series (starts with Speaker For The Dead) and the in-between-quel Shadow series (starts with Ender's Shadow)?

[Nomadic]

If its a series then it includes all of them. I have changed the name to the ender's game series (since the thing doesn't have an official name as such) to make that clearer.

[Pellanor]

Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game Series: 9
Micheal Crichton - Jurassic Park Series: 8 - would be a 7 but Dinos are +1
Micheal Crichton - Sphere: 7
William Gibson - Neuromancer: 8
Frank Herbert - Dune Series: 8 - I need to reread this, it's been too long
Neal Stephenson - Snowcrash: 10 - My god, this book is made of win. Everytihng by Stephenson is worth reading.
Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer: 8 - The first half of the book was awesome, and I love the setting and technology. The drummers weirded me out though.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

A couple more:

Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide series 9
Kurt Vonegut Jr. -Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions, etc. 9

[Steel General]

Dune (through Chapterhouse) - Frank Herbert: 8.5
Dune Saga - B. Herbert & Other?: 7
Neuromancer - Gibson: 8
Ender's Game, etc. - Orson Scott Card: 7