The most recommended books on extraterrestrial intelligence

The first known object from interstellar space, ʻOumuamua, plunged through the solar system and headed out again in 2017. It was seen by telescopes for just 17 days, enough to tell that it wasn’t as the saying goes, a bird, a plane, or Superman. Perhaps it was a space vehicle or other artifact from distant aliens, an older and superior civilization than ours. At least that’s what the brilliant Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb suggests. I think his theory is soundly based on the limited observational data, but that doesn’t make it true, and other astronomers won’t touch aliens with a ten-foot telescope. They offer alternative explanations none of which clearly fit the data but that smack less of science fiction. Inquiring minds should read the book and decide for themselves.

Honestly, I couldn’t put this book down. I read Rogue Elements during a summer vacation on a lovely North Sea island and I had to force myself to have a break and go out for some bicycling and beach fun.

John Jackson Miller just had me hooked with his tale of dashing (but also sad and often drunken) ex-Starfleet officer Cristóbal Rios – introduced in Star Trek: Picard – living through a hilarious adventure while at the same time trying to find a new purpose in life after being cashiered out of his career because of some fishy diplomatic affair.

Grumpy gangsters, a dangerous woman, strange new crew members, and the hunt for a secret treasure keep Rios on the run throughout the whole novel. 

I worked as a classroom assistant for ten years and read a lot of books to the younger children, and this one was always a favourite for them. The children loved the funny rhymes and there would be lots of giggles because they knew what was going to happen next. The illustrations are amazing and they inspired the children to draw their own aliens. This book was read so many times that the pages started to fall out, but they were lovingly put back by the children.

I may be cheating here. Rapunzel is an old-time fairy tale, and Cress is a science fiction re-writing of that story, so I'm going to count it in this list as "historical." This is the third book in Meyers' Lunar Chronicles and it is my favorite of the bunch. Cress (Rapunzel) is incredibly smart and completely naive to the world. Her romantic interest is a completely dopey bad guy, who you shouldn't waste your time disliking. The odd situations they get themselves into mirror, to an extent, the famous fairy tale. Lots of fun.

I’m a sucker for a good alien invasion story. Add in some weird extraterrestrial plants taking over the world and I’m hooked!

It all began with the rain. Then, the strange seeds spread. Bit by bit, deadly plants cropped up everywhere. These things are no joke—I’m talking about man-eating varieties that release deadly pollen and have tentacles that won’t let go. The only people who might be able to fight back are a group of kids with unexplained abilities.

I loved how fast-paced and smart this book was. I also found it delightfully creepy! 

The World Over is the first book in a series, so it sets up the expectations for what is coming.

Winter, on the other hand, is the last in a series, and it did a lot to show me how to bring together an ensemble cast in a way that builds to a satisfying ending without making previous installments feel unnecessary or redundant.
While zombies don’t appear in Winter, the history of the experimentation done to create the evil queen’s lupine army gets a lot of screen time without crossing the line into over-telling.

For anyone interested in the more technical aspects of a zombie apocalypse, Winter is a great novel for learning to weave background exposition with foreground action.

I bought the book out of curiosity not even knowing it was for kids. And once I realized what it was, I read it to my son. He loved it. Let me describe it in the style it is written:

High-energy text right from the beginning. Honestly the inspiration for my own series and its style of writing. The protagonist has special powers that are ranked in a game-like manner using levels. It appeals to the gamer youth of today, relating to the games that they play even now despite having been written thirty years ago. A solid A plus production.

In a future US where NASA and the space program is all but defunct, former astronaut Sally Jensen is brought out of an involuntary retirement to lead a new, barely-qualified team on a most intriguing—and dangerous—mission to an asteroid that's slowing down as it approaches Earth. Gripping and addictive, I found myself not able to put this book down once I started it. This definitely falls into the sci-fi horror camp, a blend which—fortunately—this story handles really well. If you’re looking for a hard science fiction novel with a hefty helping of horror mixed throughout, you cannot go wrong with this gem!

When sixteen-year-old Leilani and her father traveled to O’ahu from Hilo to try a promising but experimental treatment for her epilepsy, they never expected to be stranded in the middle of a worldwide geomagnetic storm. With tsunamis striking randomly, all modern technology broken, and facing food shortages under martial law, Leilani and her father have to fight their way home. Along the way, Leilani discovers that the one thing that makes her different may be the one thing that saves us all. It’s an apocalyptic page-turner centered on Hawaii’s ecology and traditional cultural solutions.

I appreciate Dina's dedication. It makes her predictable in some ways, but this book does such a great job of showing the many facets of her dedication and endorses many of her actions while also forcing her to face the consequences and the need to rethink some things.

But I also come and stay and reread for the many wonderful, diverse secondary characters! I'd love to stay at Gertrude Hunt and listen (and shiver) over Caldenia's stories. I'd go for the chance to try Orro's cooking in an instant! There are too many other great characters for me to pick from, or I'd go on and on and on.

It's Dina's story, but I admire how multi-faceted her world is and how many secondary characters are fully realized. Not to mention Dina's skill at making guest rooms to suit guests, can she come and do my place?