Science Fiction Starter Kit

Tomorrow's questions, asked tonight. A guided first step into science fiction: where to begin, how to read it, and what to try next. About 47 hours of reading.

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Books: 5
Reading time: About 47 hours
Formats: PDF, web guide, content pack

A preview

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Why Read Science Fiction
How to Read Science Fiction
Your Reading Path
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Welcome

Why Read Science Fiction

Science fiction takes one idea about technology, society or the universe and follows it to its consequences. At its best it is a thought experiment that has learned to tell a story, and it leaves you looking at the present with fresh eyes.

Tomorrow's questions, asked tonight.
The Concierge

Practical

How to Read Science Fiction

Begin with character-driven science fiction if hard science intimidates you.
Ask what single change the author made to the world, then watch what follows.
Do not worry about the physics. The feeling is the thing.

Pairs with: A late night and a window with a view of the sky.

The full genre starter kit continues for another 2 sections.

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The books

On the reading list

Science Fiction

Artemis

Andy Weir

A resourceful smuggler in the first city on the Moon is pulled into a risky heist that turns into a fight for the whole colony's survival.

Science Fiction

Klara and the Sun

Kazuo Ishiguro

An Artificial Friend watches the world from a shop window and then from a family's home, learning what it means to love.

Science Fiction

Ready Player Two

Ernest Cline

The sequel to Ready Player One follows its hero into a new, more immersive virtual world, with a fresh quest and higher stakes for everyone inside it.

Science Fiction

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel

Years after a pandemic collapses civilization, a travelling troupe performs Shakespeare for scattered settlements, and old connections slowly surface.

Science Fiction