The most recommended books about spacecraft

This book was the basis for the movie The Thing, which I love—the first movie, not the remake.

To me, this book is just an awesome setting for a monster tale. Researchers in the Antarctic trapped with a thawed-out alien creature? I mean, come on! That’s everything I want in a book. It’s a quick read, but it’s truly phenomenal… and frightening.

I was hooked on this locked room mystery from the opening premise: six newly minted clones awake on a generation ship and must solve their own murders.

The rest of the story did not disappoint, taking me on a crash course through the history, ethics, and sociological implications of cloning, a technology that in this future society has made many people functionally immortal.

I love a satisfying mystery, especially one with strong sci-fi underpinnings, so this really hit the spot for me.

In quite a challenging tale Lorna Love finds herself dead and on a spaceship. As the memories of her life return we find a question being posed; does the way you remember things affect the influence they have on your life? It’s quite a quirky book but generates a lot of thought about the way you view events and the way you let them affect you.

Eldon Hall led the development of the Apollo Guidance Computer, that one-cubic-foot device with 76kb of memory that navigated, guided, and controlled each of the Apollo spacecraft — the machine that I helped program. His book is both a detailed description of the Apollo computer and a history of its development. The most dramatic chapter chronicles the bold decision to use integrated circuits in the design of the computer — all of the same type, to encourage the vendor to keep making them — although that technology was then anything but reliable. 

When I first read this board book, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Amalia Hoffman’s vibrant chalk art is amazing, but the plot is a bit odd and the puns were corny. (Sorry, one really can’t help making vegetable puns after reading this book.) But my kids were obsessed! It moved into heavy rotation at our house, and I came to love little Pete the pea who leaves his safe pea pod to travel the galaxy on his carrot spaceship. It’s full of jokes and adventures perfect for the preschool crowd. I mean, who doesn’t want carrot rocketships for a snack?

Rama is a spaceship, not a space station, but it's huge and ancient, and at first appears to be abandoned. Then the human explorers realize it's just sleeping. This is a prime example of science fiction's "sense of wonder" at the strangeness of the Universe. When I read it, at about age 14, it utterly blew me away with its combination of rock-hard science and utter weirdness. It also has the best final line ever.

Dawn was the first book that nailed my jaw to the table from the opening chapter right through to the last page. I marveled not only at Butler’s wonderful style and inventiveness, but at the boundaries she crossed that I had never dared, and did so without inflicting emotional destruction. Better, she married these shocking concepts with complex social relationships, sensuality, a brilliantly emergent plot, and radical views of a future that still make me squirm (in a good way). An absolute masterpiece that changed my definition of science fiction done well.

Perfect for embracing your inner space adventure geek. Seventh Grade vs. The Galaxy grabs your hand and pulls you into deep space for a grand, fun, and funny star-sweeping good time. There’s excitement, cool spaceships, scary alien races, and an awesome group of kids that suddenly finds themselves in over their heads. You won’t believe how quickly you zip through this book. You just won’t want to put it down.

I can still quote the opening of this novel verbatim: "It was around the hub of the evening on the planet of Porlumma that Captain Pausert, commercial traveler from the republic of Nikkeldepain, met the first of the witches of Karres. It was just plain fate, so far as he could see." Thus opens the most delightful romp in all of science fiction. When Pausert rescues three enslaved young girls, he sets in motion a comedy of errors, conspiracy, piracy, and intrigue that expands to involve the entire galaxy. Just who are these mysterious witches of Karres, and how can Captain Pausert return them safely to their home when everyone who's anyone is out to get them...and him?

A love story for the ages, set inside of a giant spaceship! Amy wakes up from cryogenic sleep only to fall for a boy she was never supposed to meet… Add in great writing, a murder mystery, and the dark vacuum of space, and you’ve got every ingredient for a timeless young adult journey. Amy + Elder forever.

It Starts With A Kiss is a cyber romance novella. JL Peridot’s prose is lyrical and beautiful. This book has steam and spaceships. What’s not to love for a romantic geek like me? 

Peridot's style fascinates me. Her voice is unique, almost like she’s casting a spell. The story may unfold on a spaceship, but she paints with words in a way that keeps the cold darkness of space anything but detached. And, come on: it’s not every author who can make a pair of coveralls sexy like Peridot does in this book!  

If you enjoy It Starts With A Kiss, I highly recommend following Peridot’s newsletter. She often writes short fiction and anthology contributions. All of her stories are beautifully told. Even when she’s writing chilling romantic horror, you’ll still be mesmerized.

The novel consists of interviews on a spaceship in the 22nd century.

The writing is beautiful and poetic, describing abstract objects in moving ways. I was deeply impressed how one can piece together various narrative threads through these truncated interviews. And it is a novel inspired by a visual arts exhibit. I love the collaborative aspect of it!

By the end, you’ll begin questioning what it means to be human. It’s translated from Danish, so yes, please, everyone read more translated fiction!

I'd never known anything about Gypsy culture (except cinematic stereotypes) until I read Silverberg's Star of Gypsies. Even though this book takes place on other worlds, centuries into the future, the traditions and the society of Gypsies survives. These nomadic spacefarers have evolved into important pieces of a galactic empire – an empire upon which the protagonist will have a profound effect. I loved the inventive world building and the complex yet often humorous main character, Yakoub. The tale fully engaged me from the very beginning and is one of those books I give my highest compliment – a page-turner you don't want to put down.

Helva is a ‘brain’, a person with a defective body who becomes meshed with a starship as its controller. Each brain-ship is partnered with a ‘brawn’, a human who acts as the liaison for the ship as well as its partner and protector. Helva loves singing and brings heart to her role as a scoutship brain.

Anne McCaffrey brings her signature romance to this book with a complex relationship that grows between Helva and her brawn as they explore the universe. McCaffrey is deft at creating characters that are vulnerable but still strong in their own way. Though Helva has no physical strength, she has a heart that loves to sing. Even though she is basically a starship, she holds on to her humanity.

There’s nothing like a good plot twist to rev up the reading experience—and the one in this YA sci-fi novel is a doozy.

Romy, a teenager, is alone on a spaceship following the deaths of her astronaut parents, and she’s the sole character throughout most of the story. The author has skillfully captured the eeriness of being utterly alone in outer space, far from human civilization.

I was innocently bopping along, watching Romy progress from despair to hope as salvation came within reach. Then—boom! The plot took a 90-degree turn that had me gasping in horror. Nothing turned out the way I expected, but that’s a good thing. This is a story I’ll never forget.

Dauntless is the first in the six-book Lost Fleet series, and sets off on an epic SF journey like no other. Jack Campbell’s approach to space battles feels realistic; while the tensions and terrors of the characters are sharply realised. The opening chapters take an entire fleet of ships deep into enemy territory – and maroon them there, under the sudden and unexpected command of Captain “Black Jack” Geary. A space legend, due to his presumed death, his rescue from hibernation means he is by far the most senior officer on any of the ships – a cause for resentment and conflict on his own ship and around the fleet. And as if that’s not enough for him to deal with, his ships face annihilation from the duplicitous Syndics who lured them into a deadly trap. How will they find their way home?

The first book of V.R. Tapscott’s Jane Bond series of humorous science fiction is a good release when you just need a lighthearted laugh.

While on break from her school librarian job, Jane Bond (no relation to the famous spy) finds part of a spaceship containing the AI pilot and sets off on an adventure to find more missing parts, sending her into plenty of humorous and dangerous situations. A very fun and enjoyable series.

When I’m not developing AI methods (or writing about them) I read. Most of what I read is science fiction. There’s nothing more imaginative than a good science fiction book, and many science fiction stories have inspired us to develop whole new technologies. This one probably won’t do that, but it has such a bizarre mind-bending world that I couldn’t resist recommending it. Niven is great at this kind of thing – the Ringworld books were a favourite of mine as a kid, and frankly, I could recommend another 30 of his books. But Integral Trees is entertaining, a little bizarre, and it even has diagrams to illustrate the underlying concepts at the start – what more could you ask for in a science fiction book?

Pirates…in space! Maybe you weren’t expecting space pirates on this list, but they’re just as cool as sea pirates. With a mix of Star Wars and the movie Overboard vibes, this story follows a down-on-her-luck Solara as she bargains for passage to another world and another life. However, some risks are bigger than others. So are some cons. And Solara might just have to team up with the last person she wants to in order to survive. I love the “found family” trope in this one and how you learn there’s more to people than you ever thought.  

Elizabeth Moon is a great writer, consistently able to sweep you along with her narrative, create (and compromise) complex characters, and make distant worlds and alien societies credible.

So I was very pleased when she decided to continue the story of the characters who first appeared in the Vatta’s War series into a new sequence of books. Into the Fire is only the second of these, but it has got me totally hooked. There are loose ends, escaped characters from previous stories, and a really engaging heroine with a very dark side. What is not to like!