Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme that was formerly hosted by the booktuber, Lainey aka gingereadslainey. She recently passed the torch on, but you can find the topics and the Goodreads page of the book meme here. The topic is “Books you’re intimidated by.” In keeping with the site theme, I’ve narrowed the topic down.
Top 5 Intimidating Science Fiction Books
I would like to think that one day I will read every book on this list, but there’s a ridiculously small chance of that ever happening. (At least I admit it?)
Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
First (non-hype) paragraph of synopsis:
The novel centers on a ten-year interstellar voyage aboard the spaceship Leonora Christine, and it opens with members of the crew preparing for their departure from earth. It is an especially moving departure because they know that while they are aboard the ship and traveling close to the speed of light, time will be passing much more quickly back home. As a result, by the time they return everyone they know will have long since died. From practically the very first page, therefore, Tau Zero sets the scientific realities of space travel in dramatic tension with the no-less-real emotional and psychological states of the travelers. This is a dynamic Anderson explores with great success over the course of the novel as fifty crewmembers settle in for the long journey together. They are a highly-trained team of scientists and researchers, but they are also a community of individuals, each trying to make a life for him or herself in space. – continue to full Goodreads Synopsis
The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
Overarching synopsis:
From the first pioneers who looked back at Earth and saw a small blue star, to the first colonists – hand-picked scientists with the skills necessary to create life from cold desert – Red Mars is the story of a new genesis. It is also the story of how Man must struggle against his own self-destructive mechanisms to achieve his dreams: before he even sets foot on the red planet, factions are forming, tensions are rising and violence is brewing… for civilization can be very uncivilized. –from Goodreads
The Forge of God by Greg Bear
Basic synopsis:
On September 28th, a geologist working in Death valley finds a mysterious new cinder cone in very well-mapped area. On October 1st, the government of Australia announces the discovery of an enormous granite mountain. Like the cinder cone, it wasn’t there six months ago….Something is happening to Planet Earth, and the truth is too terrifying to consider…. -from Goodreads
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delaney
Basic synopsis:
Bellona is a city at the dead center of the United States. Something has happened there…. The population has fled. Madmen and criminals wander the streets. Strange portents appear in the cloud-covered sky. And into this disaster zone comes a young man–poet, lover, and adventurer–known only as the Kid. Tackling questions of race, gender, and sexuality, Dhalgren is a literary marvel and groundbreaking work of American magical realism. –from Goodreads
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
First (non-hype) paragraph of synopsis:
Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside “saecular” world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent’s walls. Three times during history’s darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside—the Extramuros—for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago. – From Goodreads
What books intimidate you? Let me know!
PS: Whatcha think about the slide show? Yes, no, maybe?
Embarrassed to admit but I didn’t even know that Lainey is no longer hosts T5W yet I have been participating in it weekly. I need to go read about that.
Sci-Fi novels generally intimidate me although I watch the movies. For instance; I liked The Martian though I am not sure I can read the book. Same with scary books I guess.
Here is my T5W, my books are all classics though ;https://dwgitau.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/t5w-intimidating-books/
Okay, don’t let the Martian book intimidate you. 1.) The science really isn’t overbearingly talked about, and when it is, there’s a good dose of humor in there most of the time and 2.) It’s sooooo much funnier than the movie.
I have Neal Stephenson’s book on my TRB list, but I can’t get to it either. It’s not that it intimidates me, I just keep finding other reads 😛
as for the rest, I’m kind of curious about the Mars trilogy
The slideshow looks good, have you checked it on mobile devices? as long as it works well there my guess is it’s a totally fine addition 😀