100 Must-Read Books About Space
It’s funny (wonderful?) that the books we so often associate with our future–books about space–are full of the same themes our very oldest stories contain. Adventure. Discovery. Confronting the unknown. Finding our limits. Constantly and always questioning what it means to be human.
In this list of must-read books about space, you’ll have your space opera epics, like the Vorkosigan Saga, or hard science favorites, like The Martian. I’ve also included some nonfiction books about space that nod heavily towards story-telling. But, hopefully within this list, you’ll also find some new and overlooked classics of the genre.
And whether each book takes place at the end of a long journey across space, on a fleet of warships patrolling the universe, or at the moment of first contact with an alien species, the thread combining all of these books is the thought of Space as a character onto itself. Space with a capital S. Space as a stand-in for all that we don’t know, but could discover.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
2. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (non-fiction)
3. A Passion for Space by Marianne J. Dyson (non-fiction)
4. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
5. Aftermath by Chuck Wendig
6. Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space by Betty Ann Holtzmann Kevles (non-fiction)
7. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
8. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield (non-fiction)
9. Anathem by Neal Stephenson
10. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
11. Arrival by Ted Chiang
12. Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
13. Behind the Throne by K.B. Wagers
14. Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh (non-fiction)
15. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
16. Bitch Planet by Kelly DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, and Robert Wilson IV
17. Central Station by Lavie Tidhar
18. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
19. Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris (non-fiction)
20. Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
21. Contact by Carl Sagan
22. Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman
23. Dawn by Octavia Butler
24. Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson (non-fiction)
25. Death of a Neutron Star by Eric Kotani
26. Descender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
27. Dove Arising by Karen Bao
28. Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh
29. Dune by Frank Herbert
30. Dust by Elizabeth Bear
31. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
32. EVE: The Empyrean Age by Tony Gonzales
33. Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells
34. Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach
35. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
36. Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
37. Gravity by Tess Gerristen
38. Half Way Home by Hugh Howey
39. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (non-fiction)
40. How It Ends by Chris Impey (non-fiction)
41. Hyperion by Dan Simmons
42. Inside a Silver Box by Walter Mosley
43. Kim & Kim #1 by Magdalene Visaggio, Eva Cabrera, and Claudia Aguirre
44. Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
45. Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
46. Lightless by C.A. Higgins
47. Magnificent Desolation by Buzz Aldrin and Ken Abraham (non-fiction)
48. Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja
49. Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
50. ODY-C by Matt Fraction and Christian Ward
51. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
52. On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard
53. On Basilisk Station by David Weber
54. Packing For Mars by Mary Roach (non-fiction)
55. Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku
56. Planetfall by Emma Newman
57. Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro
58. Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
59. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
60. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
61. Rogue Squadron by Michael A. Stackpole
62. Ringworld by Larry Niven
63. Rise of the Rocket Girls by Nathalia Holt (non-fiction)
64. Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin
65. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
66. Second Star by Dana Stabenow
67. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
68. Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer
69. Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
70. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
71. Southern Cross by Becky Cloonan, Andy Belanger, and Lee Loughridge
72. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
73. The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
74. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
75. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
76. The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord
77. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
78. The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal
79. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
80. The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
81. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
82. The Martian by Andy Weir
83. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
84. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
85. The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton
86. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
87. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
88. The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
89. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
90. The Stars Change by Mary Anne Mohanraj
91. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
92. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
93. Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
94. Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon
95. Triplanetary by E.E. Smith
96. Trouble on Triton by Samuel R. Delaney
97. Unbreathable by Hafsah Laziaf
98. Valor’s Choice by Tanya Huff
99. We Who Are About To… by Joanna Russ
100. Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee
As you noticed, there’s only 100 spots on this list. Because of that, I’ve limited it to one book per author, and if their best work is a series, included the first one from that series.
Now is where you chime in. I only had 100 spots. What other books about space would you add to help us hit 200? Shout out your absolute favorite books about space in the comments.
