The best science fiction books about survival that even non-sci-fi fans will love

Project Hail Mary is a thrilling novel where the main character, Ryland, wakes up with no memory of who he is or how he got there, and he quickly realizes that he is the only hope for saving humanity from a dire threat.

The protagonist waking up at the beginning of the book reminded me of how I started my book. I was hooked as Ryland uses science to figure out who he is, and I loved how that thread of science takes on a life of its own. But most of all, I loved the crisp writing and how only two incredible characters with the will to live can lead an entire book. Get the characters right, and the rest will follow. Amazing, emotional journeys transcend science fiction.

Slaughterhouse-Five is a literary classic about a man who becomes "unstuck in time" and travels between different points in his life. The blending of grim reality with science fiction elevates the book above a single anti-war genre. I was so intrigued by the idea of reliving any moment of your life as non-linear events. Everything always has existed and always will.

Foreshadowing and free will are strong undertones. How much of life is designed and how much do we get to choose? Mixed timelines can be confusing, but often the end is worth the journey. After all, a lifetime’s worth of reality and imagination can be pieced together in strange and wonderful ways.

Contact explores the possibilities of extraterrestrial life and humanity's place in the universe. What I loved about Contact is what’s often overlooked in its common description. The contact being made is not only with life beyond Earth but also with those people most dear to us who we’ve loved and lost. This longing to reconnect fits perfectly with the idea of survival, not only for oneself, but for the memories of others.

Sagan's writing is wonderfully descriptive, and he does a masterful job of weaving together science, philosophy, and fiction to create a memorable story. We follow the main character, Ellie, from her first young thought to the openness of a universe of possibilities. The character development is strong, and the themes, including the search for meaning and the importance of communication, are beautifully explored.

How to Create a Mind is a fascinating non-fiction book that explores the intricacies of the human brain and the potential for creating artificial intelligence. It does an excellent job of weaving together scientific research, personal anecdotes, and philosophical musings. Powerful computers are essential to solving human longevity. So, I ask what if those computers need to be partly human themselves? I wish we could simply feed this book into an AI, let it know this is the blueprint to how our human minds work, then set it free to do its best creation. Make us into a human-computer that can live past our expectations. Whether fictional or real, this is a survival story that will leave even non-sci-fi fans with a lot to consider.

Red Rising is fast-paced science fiction that follows the journey of Darrow, a low-caste member of a society divided by color, as he rises up against the tyrannical rulers of his world. There’s a single sentence on the first page that I think bridges sci-fi with human emotion in such a striking way that I had to stop and say out loud, “If I were a publisher, I would buy this book right here, on this crazy-good concept alone because whatever comes next has got to be amazing.” The writing is engaging and immersive, and while set on Mars, the world-building is rich and detailed, and the characters are well-developed and complex. I read this book not only as a sci-fi story, but as a tale of real personal drama.