These are really just the very best. The whole revelation space series is not to be missed.

This might have been the first hard sci fi book I read, off my dad's bookshelf. Perennial classic.

This gets mixed reviews, but there's so much in there that seems like it's going to happen.

Weird, obscure old school - maybe the inspiration for Red Dawn.

Insane 50s sci fi - and also kind of predicted the evolution of ad tech

The Bobiverse books seem like they're going to be silly, and they are, but they are also very good and a lot of fun. Read them straight through in a week a couple months ago.

It took me a while to come to Dune, but it really stuck with me as an adult

These two are the OGs.

Read the Stephen Baxter followup - The Timeships as well

The Culture books are DENSE - but this is a great place to get started (and something that Michael and I feel is really timely given where LLMS are).

So much that came after started here. The Apple TV series is pretty good so far too!

The Expanse Series is probably my favorite hard sci fi of the last 20 years, and it's as thoughtful as it is fun.

John Scalzi does a modern update of this in his Old Man's War series, which is also worth reading.

Scalzi's version of the Forever War. Read the whole series, plus the series he wrote after. And, basically, all of his stuff.

This may not be one of the very best, but it really stuck with me. Also liked his Rolling Thunder books, tons of fun.

These books were SO important to me in college. Worth noting that The Sky Road is sort of like an alternate future to the second and third books? Or are there multiple copies of everyone.

The best Mars books - the whole trilogy. New York 2140 is also worth reading. It's not quite the same universe, but it's close.

The standard recommendation would be Slaughterhouse-Five, and that should definitely not be missed, but I remember reading Cat's Cradle when I was 12 or 13 and getting slightly rewired.

So dated, but it's the kind of retro-future I truly love - One of the best parts of old sci fi is seeing how people used to think the world would look down the road

Such old school goodness.

Follows me on Twitter, so I've got that going for me.

Honestly, a lot of the inspiration for the life I've chosen to lead. And it's in part based on an article Neal Stephenson wrote for wired about my friend Sean Hastings.

Some people hated it, but I was very glad I made it through. For bonus Stephenson, read The Cobweb - relatively unknown early work he mostly authored.

Just re-read this. It holds up.

This one is often overlooked, but I think it's a truly beautiful book.

"The enemy's gate is down!"

Can I be on your team in the coming water wars?

Old school large scale space opera.

Good entry into PKD weirdness. Plus, Blade Runner is loosely based on it?

Unsettling classic retro-future.

Probably read this in high school? But worth coming back to.

Whole series is a blast.

If you have to choose one Heinlein, go with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, followed by Starship Troopers (IT'S SATIRE NOT FASCISM!) - Stranger in a Strange Land is the literary favorite, and is worth the read, but the others shaped my mind more.

My very favorite Heinlein, a book I read over and over again.

Probably my favorite book, except for Dirk Gently's. Dense beyond words, and arguably not sci fi? But arguably is.

Zones of thought. Do not miss.

This future wasn't as near when it was written, but it's getting closer.

The OG cyberpunk ride. "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." Really, the whole Sprawl Trilogy, and the Bridge Trilogy are worth it.

In the strange category of not being set in the future anymore. But still worth it, along with the other two "Blue Ant" books. Re-read last year and really enjoyed.

Haven't seen the Amazon series yet, but it's on my list. The Jackpot is pretty plausible?