"Dragon's Egg" is a great little book written by a physicist/aerospace engineer and it shows.
this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2026
79 points (100.0% liked)
Books
7848 readers
107 users here now
A community for all things related to Books.
Rules
- Be Nice. No personal attacks or hate speech.
- No spam. All posts should be related to books.
- No self promotion.
Official Bingo Posts:
Related Communities
Community icon by IconsBox (from freepik.com)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
The Mote In God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Hey this is a good call that should be higher on the list. Not as much humor, but a great alien contact story with well grounded science and A+ storytelling. An all-time great book.
Children of Time from Adrian ~~Tartovsky~~ Tchaikovsky
Came here to suggest this one too. Spider culture is quite interesting.
Big upvote for this, though his last name is Tchaikovsky , or alternately Czajkowski. He's become my favorite author currently writing.
If you liked Project Hail Mary, then you should read the Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor. The premise is as follows:
Bob is dead. Long live Bob.
Tap for spoiler
Software engineer Robert Johansen uses his share of the money from the buyout of his company (the rest having been split amongst the employees) to start a trust to support his end-of-life maintenance needs. But Bob's idea of "end-of-life" is being cryogenically frozen until such a time as whatever killed him can be fixed. What he wasn't counting on, however, was getting hit by a car later that day and waking up over a hundred years later. Finding that, not only has he not been revived, but instead digitised, but also that the christofascist government doesn't recognise him as a human or worthy of rights, he is surprised to also be informed that the reason they instantiated his consciousness was to become the guiding intelligence of a Von Neumann Probe, and that Bob is going to the stars... At least, he should be, as long as none of the opposing factions in the government or any of the other countries also building their own probes nuke him first.
Bobiverse is an example of hard science fiction, with similar limitations to what PHM uses. The primary conceits that go beyond what's currently assumed to be possible are:
- the assumption that it is possible to simulate consciousness using electronic media
- the existence of some method of interacting with the fabric of reality to warp spacetime through a reactionless drive (here called "subspace theory"). This assumption allows for interstellar travel over reasonable time scales (but not superluminal travel) and, later, communications. Think a combination of the "Ansible" and the Bussard ramjet from "Tau Zero"
- the fantasy that most people have comprehensible reasons for their actions.
E: I also wish to advocate for Children of time and, if you have additional spare time, Seveneves.
Seconding the Bobiverse. If you like a single guy having to science his way out of desperate situations, Bobiverse is definitely for you!
Or, rather, a plural guy.
Obviously both Weir's other books, The Martian and Artemis.
Also recommend the Silo book series by Hugh Howey. Not nearly as hopeful or optimistic, but there's a similar very strong vein of problem solving / human ingenuity just like in Andy Weir's work.
load more comments
(7 replies)
Old Man's War by Scalzi. A lot like heinlein used to write.
Yes to this.. what a good series. Less of the sciencey wonder and puzzles that phm offers but more future science concepts that are really interesting and the applications of in war.
If you want a weird recommendation that isn't a SciFi clone but matches a really wild world with some pretty hard rules with loose justification because its cool.
The Lost Swords: Fred Saberhagen. It feels like the kind of stuff where you praise your character for their ingenuity and cringe at their failures. World is also real neat.
I liked the Bobbiverse series, starting with We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor. The first 3 books were great. IMO the 4th is ok, and currently listening to the 5th. Fun fact, the narrator for the Project Hail Mary and Bobbiverse series audiobooks is the same - Ray Porter, who fantastic.
Seconded. The Bobiverse is fun.
I also recommend anything narrated by Ray Porter - he is excellent.
load more comments
(6 replies)
The Expanse. Foundation.
Also Andy Weir is a piece of ****
Why?
He recently went on the podcast of the critical drinker (a right wing racist ableist asshole), complained about how the woke didn't like his writing of a female caracter in artemis, saying we should have a Japanese Elon Musk etc...
I haven't read Artemis, and only read project hail Mary, given how cringe the parts on earth are (the discussions of sex feel like they're written by a 15 year old), I have no doubt the "wokes” are right.
Critical drinker is neither ableist or racist, sorry Star Trek fans.
If you're a fan of his, perhaps you can provide more detail? Looking through his channel does seem to suggest that he's against the inclusion of 'identity politics' in films/TV
Andy Weir is a piece of ****
Ok, source? I genuinely want to know.
I've already cut Rowling out of my life, I'm not above adding on to that list given a compelling reason.
He recently went on the podcast of the critical drinker (a right wing racist ableist asshole), complained about how the woke didn't like his writing of a female caracter in artemis, saying we should have a Japanese Elon Musk etc...
I haven't read Artemis, and only read project hail Mary, given how cringe the parts on earth are (the discussions of sex feel like they're written by a 15 year old), I have no doubt the "wokes” are right.
Clarksworld. Monthly SciFi publication
I have heard that "The Expanse" is a very good book series. Tho I haven't watched the series or read the books.
Three Body Problem is a great tv-series that are also based on books. If I recall correctly the author of Three Body Problem won the sci-fi award when he released that book.
Going to also chime in for The Expanse series. Fantastic book series and fantastic show. Both are in my all time favorites.
Another upvote for The Expanse book series. It has been one of the very few series where I was actually waiting for and monitoring for the next book to be released. The TV series was good, but the books are so much better and carry on well past where the TV series let off.
I could not recommend the Expansion series highly enough. all 9 books in the main series were great. the show was awesome as well, although they only touch on the first 4 books or so and the events happen in a slightly different order. if you're looking for an epic space saga that never lets you forget about the consequences of being in the vacuum, pick up a copy of Leviathan Wakes
Infinite by Jeremy Robinson is similar. the sequel is not as good and gets preachy. But the first book stands alone with a good stopping point.
Uh the martian
Well, first of all, "The Martian" by the same author.
In case it helps any, I made a post with a giant number of spoiler-free short reviews of SF and fantasy books, including most of the ones mentioned here (might have to click the links to the earlier posts for a number of them.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Have you read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or Journey to the Center of the Earth? They very much are the genesis of the kind of pop science novel style that Weir writes in. A lot of the science is wrong but that’s pop sci for you.
Contact by Carl Sagan
Seveneves
If it's the alien encounter you like, you could try the Lilith's Brood trilogy by Octavia Butler or A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys.
If you’re looking for empathy and kindness with an alien species, check out the Wayfarers books by Becky Chambers.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Depends on what parts you liked most.
I have currently almost finished "The Forge of God" by Greg Bear.
It is a "Earth is threatened by a cosmic plague" type of story with strong science background and some truly alien alien encounters and leaves you in the dark about what the heck is actually going on for a long time.
But it is much more serious and lacks the light-heartedness of Hail Mary.
Can recommend it nonetheless.
load more comments
(2 replies)
If you liked the “astronaut(s) on a distant world do science and meet interesting aliens” aspect Robert L. Forward's Camelot 30K and his Dragon's Egg and Rocheworld series might have a similar vibe.
Maybe also Iain M. Banks' The Algebraist or The Player of Games, though they're much further from “hard” science fiction and focus on the characters rather than the science.
Also maybe Larry Niven's The Mote in God's Eye? Maybe somewhere between the previous ones when it comes to science I'd say.
Or possibly James P. Hogan's Giants aka Minerva series, starting with Inherit the Stars..? It ends up a bit space opera-y, but the first books are about astronauts solving a mystery on the Moon...
(And if you get into that you might also enjoy Frederick Phil's Heechee saga, starting with Gateway...)
load more comments
(6 replies)
I listened to Project Hail Mary on Audible. Then eventually it recommended The Expeditionary Force series of books narrated by R.C. Bray.
I am on book 8 now... Can't stop.
A deepness in the sky
I'd say "A Fire Upon the Deep" first, as it was written earlier, and Deepness was technically a prequel.
view more: next ›