SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

My favorite kind of science fiction could best be described by this definition:

"Science fiction that focuses on the soft sciences (psychology, sociology, anthropology, or political science etc.), or just science fiction books with a big focus on the culture or functioning of alien, far future, or otherwise speculative societies."

I created a list for books like that and would love it if you could help add books to it or vote on it.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

Joanna Russ?
Some Robert Silverberg?

Chad Oliver for sure, alien anthropology.

The Book of Strange New Things
Dark Eden

Robert J. Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax trilogy .

Added the last three books mentioned to the list. Just wanted to make it clear that the list is open for everyone. You can add any books you can think of directly to the list. Not sure which books by Joanna Russ, Robert Silverberg and Chad Oliver to add since I haven't read any of them yet.

It would be very welcome if anyone wanted to vote on the list as well. There are currently very few votes, most of the books only have a single vote so there are a lot of good books far down on the list and a few I'm not sure even fit on the list halv way up the list.

Thanks for the suggestions and help!

Johan wrote: "It would be very welcome if anyone wanted to vote on the list as well. There are currently very few votes, most of the books only have a single vote so there are a lot of good books far down on the list and a few I'm not sure even fit on the list halv way up the list.
"

I suspect that'll change as more people become involved. It'd be easy to vote for all the SF by people like le Guin and Tepper, but I tried to limit myself...


Interesting to see how people define the term

Added The Word for World is Forest last night.

Paul wrote: "Interesting to see how people define the term ."

I'll have to admit that the definition in the lists description is more a description of the kind of science fiction that I prefer. "Soft Science Fiction" just happened to be the term that I felt was closest to what I meant. I know it is sometimes used to refer to all science fiction that isn't hard scifi, that doesn't care about scientific validity, but that's of course not what I mean here.

This is the sort of science fiction I like too.

I added The Lathe of Heaven and Walk to the End of the World to your list (and voted on a few others). Hope that was ok :-)

I've been wanting to read The Lathe of Heaven a long time. I'll have to make time for it soon. Thanks for the friends invite and for voting in the list!

I added Asimov's Foundation. Hari Seldon's psychohistory is central to the plot.

Would Orwell's 1984 be considered soft SF?

Trike wrote: "Would Orwell's 1984 be considered soft SF?"

I think so. It's actually given as one of the examples in the wikipedia article for soft science fiction. I guess dystopian fiction could be seen as a subgenre of soft SF. I can't think of any counter examples right now at least.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_sc...

I added Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper because it primarily concerns the idea of whether the Fuzzies are sentient.

I also added a bunch of Octavia Butler's books, because she focuses more on the psychology of what-if rather than the nuts and bolts.

Added Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre because of its focus on the emotional aspects of healing.

Added The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson because it's more about the impact the mysterious towers have on society than the tech. I don't even think he answers the question of what they are. Most of his books are like that, actually, but this is the only one I added.

Added Flowers for Algernon because it is the quintessential soft SF book.

Added Nightfall by Asimov because it's more about the psychological effects of sunset on the people who live a world with multiple suns than it is about the science of it.

I think Little, Big by John Crowley is soft SF, but I don't recall it clearly enough to add it.

Wouldn't many of PKD's books fall under this catagory particularly A Scanner Darkly?

Johan wrote: "I've been wanting to read The Lathe of Heaven a long time. I'll have to make time for it soon. Thanks for the friends invite and for voting in the list!"

It is an excellent book. I'd also recommend the 2002 movie with Lukas Haas (I believe there's an older one, but I've not seen it).

The older PBS adaptation of Lathe of Heaven is better, in my opinion. It was done on a shoestring budget and it shows, but it's got a verve to it the new doesn't.

Basically in my opinion anything that is Space Opera is soft science fiction.

Any Star Trek or Star Wars novels would also be considered soft science fiction.

Trike wrote: "I added Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper because it primarily concerns the idea of whether the Fuzzies are sentient.

I also added a bunch of Octavia Butler's books, because she focuses..."

I think Little Big is categorized as Fantasy on Goodreads. I think any books where there is a magical house and faeries would definitely be considered fantasy I think in most people's book.

Hank wrote: "Wouldn't many of PKD's books fall under this catagory particularly A Scanner Darkly?"

Yes, I think a fair amount of PKD's books fall under soft sf.

Johan wrote: "My favorite kind of science fiction could best be described by this definition:

"Science fiction that focuses on the soft sciences (psychology, sociology, anthropology, or political science etc.),..."

I read your list and think that a book that really belongs on it is The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester.

I must admit I did not even know of this definition. I tend to think of Science Fiction and that's that. However, I believe the following by Julian May might fall into the category:

The Many-Coloured Land
The Golden Torc
The Nonborn King
Adversary

Also:

Intervention
Jack the Bodiless
Diamond Mask
Magnificat

Hope that helps.

Kevin wrote: "Basically in my opinion anything that is Space Opera is soft science fiction."

Ha! Whereas I tend to think of Soft SF as any SF book that cannot comfortably fit into Space Opera, Military SF, Hard SF, Cyberpunk, or Steampunk (and even Steampunk and Cyberpunk are often really Soft SF...and I can actually see most Space Opera in the same sense).

Hmm...could we even boil it down to Soft SF is everything that isn't all about scientific verisimilitude?

Also, I find it very amusing that Foundation is on the Soft SF list. I mean, I agree with that assessment, but look at almost any Hard SF list and you'll find it on there too. It's not Hard SF, though. Totally full of fanciful, impossible, and/or unexplained magic technology (and psionics!). Definitely NOT hard.

Yeah I was surprised to see FOUNDATION listed as soft SF.

What about sci fi concerning economics?