Matthew Medney is the author of Existence Equation: What is the Price of Humanity?, out now from Gungnir. Below, he recommends three thought-provoking science fiction novels.
Leaving you stunned… thinking about what could be… dreaming of a fundamental change to reality… These are the feelings that all great science fiction should leave you with. Wanting more, wanting something to dream about, something to discuss.
Science fiction has always been at the forefront of discovery: wild science fiction plots that, when published, seemed out of the realm of possibility, only to become more realistic with each passing day.
Today, we are looking at an AI revolution and reigniting exploration to the moon and beyond. These are the areas of interest that sci-fi has been talking about for over 100 years, becoming reality.
Science fiction pulls from what could be and dreams of what can be. My three must-read books that any lover of the future should devour are:
Swords and Spaceships
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Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley: This is what happens when you pull a Victorian soldier out of time and drop him into modern London. But the real tragedy isn’t the culture shock; it’s falling in love with someone who was supposed to die 150 years ago.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu: Probably the most terrifying science fiction ever written, not because of monsters or war, but because Liu Cixin does the math and the math says we are cosmically, catastrophically alone, and that might actually be the good news.
And of course, the one that started it all: empires and technology, space elevators and warp engines…
Foundation by Isaac Asimov: When a mathematician looks at human civilization, runs the numbers, and realizes the dark ages are coming, he doesn’t sit and disappear; he builds a secret vault of human knowledge at the edge of the galaxy to make sure we survive them.
Every great science fiction book brings me back to the same question: What is the price of the stars?
The stars are yours… but only if you stop being human to reach them. Stay human, and Eden is your reward, right up until they cull you at sixty.
What would you choose? The answer isn’t that simple. I know which choice I’m going to make: Android. What would you decide?
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