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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.
The Calculating Stars
Mary Robinette Kowal, 2018
A meteor wipes out most of Earth, so the space race starts early—and a mathematician fights to be on the rocket. Kowal's alt-history swept the Hugo and Nebula, and deservedly.
The Echo Wife
Sarah Gailey, 2021
Evelyn's husband cheats on her with a clone of Evelyn herself, grown from her own research. Gailey turns domestic betrayal into sharp, nasty bioethics—come for the affair, stay for the identity crisis.
§ About this list
- Books
- 74
- Published
- 1895–2024
- Average rating
- 4.1 / 5 across 56,266 ratings
- Genres
- Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopian
Most-rated on The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
- 11984 · George Orwell
Orwell's dystopia of rewritten history and permanent surveillance remains a benchmark for the genre. Decades on, it reads as warning, not period piece.
- 2Project Hail Mary · Andy Weir
A man wakes alone on a spaceship with no memory and only the scientific method for company. Weir drives the amnesia premise with relentless problem-solving.
- 3Dune · Frank Herbert
Common questions about The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
- How many books are on The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time?
- The Esquire 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time has 74 books, published between 1895 and 2024.