Best sci-fi books to read this Christmas – including one about a PARALLEL universe

ARE YOU captivated by the Singularity Apocalypse? Does A.I. fascinate you? If you answered ‘yes,’ we’ve got you covered with these must-reads.

Featuring a mix of sci-fi classics and newer bestsellers, you will want to add these books to your cart the next time you hit Barnes and Noble.

Frankenstein and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? are considered two of the most famous sci-fi books.

1. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick

Released in 1968, Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is considered one of the most influential sci-fi books of all time, as well as a founding document of the new wave science fiction movement

The book, which is set in post-apocalyptic San Francisco, follows bounty hunter Rick Deckard on his mission to capture and kill six fugitive androids.

The text became so popular, it was eventually turned into the critically acclaimed film, “Blade Runner,” which stars Harrison Ford.

2. The Island of Doctor Moreau – H. G. Wells

This lesser-known text by War of the Worlds author, H.G. Wells, is a gripping tale that features a shipwreck, human-animal hybrids, and, of course, a mad scientist.

Wells, himself called the novel, “an exercise in youthful blasphemy”.

The novel touches on a number of philosophical themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity, and man’s relationship with nature.

3. Dark Matter – Blake Crouch

Dark Matter was published in 2016, and therefore a much newer sci-fi book than our previous recommendations.

However, that doesn’t make the novel, which is based on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics, any less evocative.

The plot follows a professor who wakes up one day to an entirely different life, which might have been his reality had he gone down a different path in the past.

The text, described by NPR as a “jet-propelled science thriller,” asks the important question, “what if I made different choices when I was younger?” but in a really digestible (almost anti-Stephen King) type of way.

4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

This novel, which is the first out of seven-book series, is labeled as “comedic sci-fi.”

The series is also one of the most successful in the sci-fi genre as they have been widely distributed around the world in more than 30 languages and have also been turned into successful films.

This text, particularly, follows the adventures of Englishman Arthur Dent as he navigates life after a race of aliens known as the Vogons destroyed Earth.

5. The Martian – Andy Weir

The Martian is Andy Weir’s debut novel, and for a debut, let’s just say, it hits the mark.

It was so good, it got turned into a movie of the same name starring Matt Damon (you’ve probably seen it).

Basically, this is a gripping tale of survival that follows an American astronaut, Mark Watney, as he becomes deserted on Mars in 2035.

6. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley

We couldn’t end our list without including perhaps the most famous sci-fi novel of them all: Frankenstein by Mary Shelly.

The book, which is sometimes called The Modern Prometheus, was first published in 1818 anonymously, and then again in Paris in 1821 — that time with Shelley’s name.

The novel follows Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in a lab for an unorthodox scientific experiment.

The book recognizes all of the major themes in life including birth and creation, family, God, and nature.

Dystopian-themed books have grown in popularity since the 60s

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