Top 200 Science Fiction Books (Pre-2000)
This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.
About this list
Sci-Fi Lists, 200 Books
This is a list of the best 200 Pre-2000 science fiction books as determined by Peter Sykes at Sci-Fi Lists.
This list was originally published in 2021 and was added to this site almost 3 years ago.
| Rank | Book | Authors | Year | Country | Language | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14207 | Planet Of The Apes | Pierre Boulle | 1963 | French | French | |
| 5577 | VALIS | Philip K. Dick | 1981 | American | English | |
| 7126 | Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany | 1966 | American | English | |
| 1451 | The Children of Men | P. D. James | 1992 | British | English | |
| 12924 | More Than Human | Theodore Sturgeon | 1953 | American | English | |
| 10751 | Stand on Zanzibar | John Brunner | 1968 | British | English | |
| 2665 | The Lost World | Arthur Conan Doyle | 1912 | British | English | |
| 16776 | The Ship Who Sang | Anne McCaffrey | 1969 | American | English | |
| 14985 | Memory | Lois McMaster Bujold | 1996 | American | English | |
| 1071 | The Midwich Cuckoos | John Wyndham | 1957 | British | English | |
| 7066 | Double Star | Robert A. Heinlein | 1956 | American | English | |
| 13739 | The Difference Engine | William Gibson, Bruce Sterling | 1990 | American | English | |
| 13321 | Downbelow Station | C. J. Cherryh | 1981 | American | English | |
| 11798 | The Uplift War | David Brin | 1987 | American | English | |
| 2900 | City | Clifford D. Simak | 1952 | American | English | |
| 14985 | Virtual Light | William Gibson | 1993 | American | English | |
| 6285 | Earth Abides | George Rippey Stewart | 1949 | American | English | |
| 14190 | Alas, Babylon | Pat Frank | 1959 | American | English | |
| 4204 | Darwin's Radio | Greg Bear | 1999 | American | English | |
| 3144 | Dhalgren | Samuel R. Delany | 1975 | American | English | |
| 14985 | The Songs Of Distant Earth | Arthur C. Clarke | 1986 | British | English | |
| 16870 | From The Earth To The Moon | Jules Verne | 1865 | French | French | |
| 10498 | Battlefield Earth | L. Ron Hubbard | 1982 | American | English | |
| 9033 | Citizen Of The Galaxy | Robert A. Heinlein | 1957 | American | English | |
| 6437 | Blood Music | Greg Bear | 1985 | American | English | |
| 14202 | Tau Zero | Poul Anderson | 1970 | American | English | |
| 17165 | Flashforward | Robert J. Sawyer | 1999 | Canadian | English | |
| 16893 | The Gods Of Mars | Edgar Rice Burroughs | 1913 | American | English | |
| 7978 | Anthem | Ayn Rand | 1938 | American | English | |
| 7878 | Forever Peace | Joe Haldeman | 1997 | American | English | |
| 17165 | Foreigner | C. J. Cherryh | 1994 | American | English | |
| 17165 | Grass | Sheri S. Tepper | 1989 | American | English | |
| 5906 | The First Men In The Moon | H. G. Wells | 1901 | British | English | |
| 1609 | The Drowned World | J. G. Ballard | 1962 | British | English | |
| 17165 | The Forge Of God | Greg Bear | 1987 | American | English | |
| 14985 | Galapagos | Kurt Vonnegut | 1985 | American | English | |
| 16938 | The Stainless Steel Rat | Harry Harrison | 1961 | American | English | |
| 17165 | The Rowan | Anne McCaffrey | 1990 | American | English | |
| 13920 | The Cyberiad | Stanislaw Lem | 1965 | Polish | Polish | |
| 16954 | The White Mountains | John Christopher | 1967 | British | English | |
| 2931 | Martian Time Slip | Philip K. Dick | 1964 | American | English | |
| 2974 | The Female Man | Joanna Russ | 1975 | American | English | |
| 2446 | The Space Merchants | Frederik Pohl, C. M. Kornbluth | 1952 | American | English | |
| 17165 | The Engines Of God | Jack McDevitt | 1994 | American | English | |
| 14944 | Player Piano | Kurt Vonnegut | 1952 | American | English | |
| 14985 | Armor | John Steakley | 1984 | American | English | |
| 11798 | The Snow Queen | Joan D. Vinge | 1980 | American | English | |
| 11414 | Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang | Kate Wilhelm | 1976 | American | English | |
| 1399 | Star Maker | Olaf Stapledon | 1937 | British | English | |
| 7707 | On The Beach | Nevil Shute | 1957 | Australian | English | |
| 2359 | Invasion Of The Body Snatchers | Jack Finney | 1955 | American | English | |
| 17165 | Beggars In Spain | Nancy Kress | 1991 | American | English | |
| 14979 | Time Out Of Joint | Philip K. Dick | 1959 | American | English | |
| 13559 | The Inverted World | Christopher Priest | 1974 | British | English | |
| 17165 | Diaspora | Greg Egan | 1997 | Australian | English | |
| 14985 | The Many Coloured Land | Julian May | 1981 | American | English | |
| 8182 | Timescape | Gregory Benford | 1980 | American | English | |
| 14985 | In The Garden Of Iden | Kage Baker | 1997 | American | English | |
| 13922 | Dangerous Visions | Harlan Ellison | 1967 | American | English | |
| 7799 | Dreamsnake | Vonda N. McIntyre | 1978 | American | English | |
| 7950 | Woman On The Edge Of Time | Marge Piercy | 1976 | American | English | |
| 14985 | The Real Story | Stephen R. Donaldson | 1991 | American | English | |
| 14198 | Nova | Samuel R. Delany | 1968 | American | English | |
| 17082 | The Man Who Sold The Moon | Robert A. Heinlein | 1950 | American | English | |
| 11798 | Cyteen | C. J. Cherryh | 1988 | American | English | |
| 17091 | Little Fuzzy | H. Beam Piper | 1962 | American | English | |
| 2235 | Last And First Men | Olaf Stapledon | 1930 | British | English | |
| 14232 | Permutation City | Greg Egan | 1994 | Australian | English | |
| 17106 | Logan's Run | William F. Nolan | 1967 | American | English | |
| 17165 | Earth | David Brin | 1990 | American | English | |
| 8537 | Man Plus | Frederik Pohl | 1976 | American | English | |
| 17165 | Starfish | Peter Watts | 1999 | Canadian | English | |
| 14963 | Dying Inside | Robert Silverberg | 1972 | American | English | |
| 11797 | A Case of Conscience | James Blish | 1958 | American | English | |
| 17165 | Dragon's Egg | Robert L. Forward | 1980 | American | English | |
| 2466 | Non Stop | Brian Aldiss | 1958 | British | English | |
| 2713 | Mission Of Gravity | Hal Clement | 1954 | American | English | |
| 2236 | The Futurological Congress | Stanislaw Lem | 1971 | Polish | Polish | |
| 9225 | Slan | A. E. van Vogt | 1940 | Canadian | English | |
| 2086 | The Sheep Look Up | John Brunner | 1972 | British | English |