The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

Since time immemorial, mankind has been looking up at the stars and dreaming. Those dreams became science fiction—a sprawling genre of distant worlds, artificial intelligence, and ethical questioning. From the pioneering voyages of the 1600s to the genre-defining birth of *Frankenstein* in 1818, sci-fi has evolved into a mirror for our own zeitgeist. As Doris Lessing famously said: > “Science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time.” For our latest **Summer Fiction Week**, we’ve expanded our net from 50 to **75 essential titles**. We limited the list to one book per author, emphasizing works that “boldly go where no one has gone before.” In ranked order, here are the best science fiction books of all time.