Childhood's end started my journey into science fiction. Amazing book.

Even coming from a physics background, Death’s End blew my mind. There are so many creative, unique solutions to common sci-fi problems. The scale of the story is just so immense. I also think it’s the best written book in the trilogy. Liu’s character work is much better in this volume, something that’s always been the weakest part of the story.

'Ubik' and 'Childhood's End' are two of my all time favorites. Never heard of the other three authors but will be checking them out for sure.

I used to work in a bookstore and Spin was one of my staff picks. I sold many a copy of that book and many of those people who bought it came back to tell me how much they loved it. If you like Spin, there is a book with a similar premise called Quarantine by Greg Egan. It's more a cyberpunk novel, but takes the idea of a vast enclosed bubble suddenly surrounding the Earth, put there by unknowns, in completely different directions from Spin.

Glad to see comments about Greg Bear. For whatever reason his books have a profound effect on me. RIP Mr. Bear. Several of his books blew my mind. Eon and Eternity, Anvil of Stars, Moving Mars, and Blood Music. Also, Poseidon's Wake by Reynolds definitely blew my mind. Epic concepts! I suggest you read the whole Poseidon's Children series. Very good.

I TOTALLY agree with your review of Liu's Remembrance of Earth's Past. Had the exact same thoughts. 3 body blew my mind, the dark forest was an exciting great read that is probably my favourite among the 3. But Death's End was way beyond anything I've ever read.. I took a while to recover from it that I didnt' feel the same as compared to the other 2. Splendid review

One book that totally blew my mind (another Arthur C. Clarke) was 2001: A Space Odyssey. I still remember reading it for the first time and getting to that one line, "My God, it's ____." (I don't want to spoil it for anyone!) It's been decades since I first read it and though I can't remember any details of where I was or how old I was or anything, I remember the feeling of my heart skipping a beat and just kinda freaking out when I read that part. It's one of those moments you wish you could erase from your mind so you could experience for the first time, all over again.

Great to see Robert Charles Wilson getting some attention. I’ve read several of his including Spin and they are fantastic. Blind Lake really stuck with me. Probably read it 20+ years ago and I still think of it. I still need to read books 2 & 3 of The Three Body Problem. House of Suns and Ubik have both been on my TBR for a while. I’m in the middle of a HUMONGOUS move so I haven’t been reading complex sci-fi lately as I’m absolutely exhausted by the end of the day. I keep finding books I want to both read and reread as we move our vast collection.

Brilliant video! Thank you

Anne Leckie's "Ancillary " series was truly mind blowing. Some similarities with the first book shown here, and so rich in invention.

So awesome to see someone who loved Childhood's End as much as me! I had to read it for a high school literature class, and almost 20 years later I still think about it, and have reread it multiple times!

Loved Ubik. I’ve read all but House of Sun - just got it in audio from the library. Thank you for this fun video.

I love the energy and info in your videos. I really enjoy them! Keep up the great work!!

Because of how long ago it is since I started reading sci-fi, its hard for me to remember which ones really blew my mind. Except for one, which made me a fan in the first place. I remember picking up an anthology of short stories by Isaac Asimov, and reading Nightfall. Such as a simple premise, but it literally made me think of how we perceive the world around us , and how hard it was to imagine a different reality. Early Clarke books were great for some science and engineering concepts that were way ahead of their time. But the first of the classic authors that blew my mind was Alfred Bester, especially The Stars My Destination. Such a timeless writing style, and the amount of ideas he just casually throws out there in such a short book is astonishing. And another odd one, is Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. It was published in 1937, and so I expected it to be rather quaint, but it is a very strange beast. Its so long since I read it, that I can't remember the details but I do remember being in awe of the scale of it.

Yeah Childhood’s end left me saying “wow” once it was done and while I love most scifi I read, that’s not a reaction I often have. Ubik has been on my tbr for some time but I’m adding house of suns as well

Awesome video man!! Yes I totally agree! Deaths End totally blew my mind! Still in awe of everything that was covered in that book lol I’ve been meaning to check out Alastair Reynolds and House of Suns sounds like a great one to pick up! Great list man!

Childhood’s End irrevocably changed me. It’s been over 20 years now, and I’m still affected by it.

I loved the first two books of Remembrance of Earth’s Past; hearing you say that Cixin Liu upped the ante with the final installment has me super excited. I love the fact that I haven’t the slightest idea what’s going to happen! 💥 😆

If you want really mind bending Sci-Fi I'd recommend Wind Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, NineFox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee, Palimpsest (novela) by Charles Stross, and Fifth Season by NK Jemisin. The whole genre of speculative fiction has really entered a fantastic place in the last decade where the ideas and premises of the stories are so much more creative and imaginative, while the writing is rich and varied with many voices.

Im new to sci fi books and recently came across your channel. Thanks to you i found some interesting books to start off with! And also love your excitement and explanations. New sub! 🤞🏼

You do an excellent job of telling me why I might like a book without giving in to excessive plot summary. Bravo!

Wow this was awesome Jonathan. Sorry to hear you were under the weather but glad to see you are on the mend. I think the sci-fi book that blew my mind was Jurassic Park and how creative Crichton was with how extinct dna was extracted to clone dinosaurs.

Somehow I knew you were going to cover Childhood's End. It really is a unique book. You're never really sure how to think of the aliens. And yes, the ending is sad and comforting at the same time.

Great list! I've read all 5 books and love all of them. Each book has very unique concepts. But Death's End left a very special feeling in me. I'm already impressed with the first book (The Three Body Problem), but somehow the next two books keep getting better and better with wild ideas.

Still haven’t been able to stop thinking about Death’s End which I finished at that start of the year. Childhood’s End is on my list.

All of these sound really good. I’ve never even heard of Ubik. Rememberance of Earth’s Past is on my list to read for sure.

Definetly going to be starting Ubik. Sounds like an in depth philosophical work that takes one outside of their perception of reality. From the outset a new approach to reform systemattic theology can really be taken on in a new light especially John Brown's single volume systemattic theology. Seems simular to what reform Presbyterian circles mention concerning a theoretical conception of reality.

Childhoods End is one of my favorite sci-fi books. I belong to a book club where we play round robin on who gets to choose the next book of any subject, and last summer I choose Childhoods End, all the other readers loved it and we had great discussions about it.

Loved Ubik. If you like that you’ll probably like PKD’s Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch as well as Alfred Bester’s work.

Great video, hopefully you feel better!!!

"House of suns" sounds a lot like "we are the universe (we are Bob)" And I loved it, so I might give this one a try 😂

Great choices. Childhood's End floored me ages ago, when I was a kid. I discovered Clarke, Asimov, and then Ellison. Whoa.

You recommending House of Suns really is spot on. I subverted all my expectations. It wasn't easy getting into it and I was almost ready to put it down when it started becoming intense and had me at the edge of my seat just like you say till the end. Also I thought that the main character's love relationship was kinda dull as per his writing for quite some time but I was near tears at the end. Powerful stuff.

My own list: A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge. Use Of Weapons, by Iain M Banks. Hardwired, by Walter Jon Williams. Startide Rising, by David Brin. The Vang: The Military Form, by Christopher Rowley. If you are a prolific reader of science fiction, you may have read all of these. If you haven't, read them now.

Love your reccomendations.

THIS WAS REALLY GREAT -- NEVER HEARD OF THE FIRST TWO AND VERY GOOD TAKES ON THE OTHERS. I HAVE READ ALL KINDS OF AC CLARKE BUT NOT CHILDHOODS END FOR SOME REASON NOW I WANT TO GET CRACKIN ON IT HA. ALSO SUNS AND SPIN TOO OF COURSE. THX!

Excellent reviews. I'm picky with what I watch but you had PKD and he is my favourite author so I tuned in. Have read all these books except for Death's End, I've read Three Body Problem and the other 2 are on my Kindle. Agree with thoughts they are all mind blowing books.

House of Suns is just incredible. It's one of those books that sticks with you.

Everything I've read from Alastair Reynolds has been gold. I've read every story in the Revelation Space universe in order as well as many of his standalone novels and every one of them becomes my favorite story the minute I pick the story up. He's a remarkable writer.

One book that blew my mind when I read it for the first time was Eon by Greg Bear. But Cixin Liu's trilogy is the most mind blowing SF I have ever read. This author singlehandedly revived the Big Concept SF genre, I'm so totally in awe of these books !

great video adding to my tbr!!!

Ooo.! I have House Of Suns on my Kindle! Got side tracked from reading it a while back. Definitely need to get back into it.....after I finish The Three Body Problem, that is.😊

The Prefect , Chasm City, and Revelation Space were my favorite by Allister Reynolds Whipping Star, Dosadi Experiment by Frank Herbert Hellstroms Hive by Herbert Matter and Hegemony by Iain Banks Enders Game by Card Mote in God's Eye by Pournelle Rendezvous with Rama Flash by Modesitt Hero series by Modesitt Shockwave Rider by Brunner Postman by Brin Lost Fleet by Cambell Velocity series by O' Keefe Foundation Trilogy & the Robot series by Azimov Midshipmans Hope series by Fentuch

The mind-blowing series I recommend is David Brin's Uplift trilogy. The first, Sundiver, is the weakest of the three and merely serves to establish the universe and core ideas. The second, Startide Rising is the best and really pushes the ideas forward (it won two major awards.) The third, Uplift War, is good but not great. There is a second Uplift series which is alright with the third book being one of the strangest things I've ever read or even encountered.

Speaking of blowing minds , being born -65 , I grew up in the classic marvel and Dc superhero comics era. By chance , I stumbled across one of my sons books on the living room table , ten years ago ; Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Read the back and just HAD to start reading. Ka-boom !!! Mind blown. Hahaha , a 48 year old man reads a book that overthrows his childhood. My oh my.

Tried House of Suns per your recommendation and was really floored, thanks will be trying the others (already read Childhood's End many years back), and more Reynolds for sure.

Thank you for this, I'm on deployment and I've been looking for new audio books.

Childhood's End is on my TBR for Mostly Sci-Fi September, along with Rendezvous with Rama. Thanks for the list!

Would love to see this same title but with fantasy (for scifi lovers)

I kinda like the new term you invented - "mind bendeling"! Awesome video! How have I missed "House of Suns"?

Loved Childhood’s End. Moving Mars by Greg Bear is also a great one and so underrated.

I've been REALLY wanting to read the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy - like, frothing at the mouth - but i told myself i have to finish the Revelation Space trilogy first. Redemption Ark has been really good so far. Feels a lot more focused than book one. Have you read that trilogy?

Wonderful list! I'm reading 3BP now! Also, I do not know Alastair's work so I dove into it online and am considering buying House of Suns and perhaps also Chasm City and Pushing Ice. They sound very interesting!

Speaker For The Dead has remained with me as one of the mindblowing stories. Really unexpected!

Very interesting books you cover in your video. I read none of them yet, but the last three are more or less on my "to read" list for some time now. "House of Suns" and "Spin" are new for me, but especially the first sounds intriguing. Some of my favorites are: Hyperion. More like a collection of short stories, but they really hit hard. An absolute must read. The murderbot diaries. An artificial being, made as an obedient security-unit with outstanding abilities, develops its own free will. Somehow like a coming-of-age story from the viewpoint of a cyborg. Lots of action and fun to read. The Bobiverse trilogy. (although there are more than 3 books now) A very funny story about a nerd from our time becomes an immortal artificial intelligence with the ability to duplicate himself and his (their) journey to the stars.

Great choices, all of them. Other equally great novels: "Solaris" by S. Lem, "Timelike Infinity" , "Ring" and " Raft" by S. Baxter, "Ringworld" by L. Niven, "The Left Hand of Darkness " by U. Le Guin, "The three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" by P. K. Dick, "2001" by A. Clarke, " Bug Jack Barron" and "The Agents of Chaos " by N. Spinrad, " Star Maker" by O. Stapledon...

Death's end is sci fi epic After reading it, i needed a week to get myself back together, so much to unload. The sophon robot, dimensional warfare, the short story of Constantinople girl, the encrypted fairytale....there's more! Wow, just wow!!! I don't think there will be another book like that in my lifetime.

My entry for this category would probably be Stephen Baxter's “Ring.”

Honestly, I want to read The Dark Forest (and Death's End) book because although I like the first book the plot is sooo slow at times and the writing style is not that appealing to me, but the ideas are very interesting

Think it'll get House of Suns, I've never read Alistair Reynolds before so this might be a good place to start, i hope it's not too hard for me to understand, great video!

Man Death's End!!! The last 150 pages contain 3 books worth of material, plus those stuff can get into your nightmares!!! Thumbs up (Y)

I liked "Blindsight" by Peter Watts and would recommend it. I had read the first two by Cixin Liu and really enjoyed them. I started on "Death's End" and gave up after a few pages in having trouble connecting with or caring about the opening. It's been sometime, I'll take another crack at it after this recommendation. Reading "A Fire Upon the Deep" now and not really enjoying the whole psychopathic dog packs portions but the ideas about dividing up galactic space is interesting and the book moves along well, so I'll finish it.

Hm, I may have to try House of Suns. I need something to get me out of this world right now! And, as always, I do love me some Childhood's End. Thanks for bringing it back to my attention. I'd read it years ago and then you mentioning it a while back made me want to read it again last (?) year. It may end up being a comfort read. You're right, it's weird how it's kinda scary but it's one you want to keep going back to. I hope you get to feeling 100% soon. I'm an amateur singer and I always hated when I'd get sick and my voice would stay messed up for weeks, even long after I was feeling fine.

Specific concepts in thr Manifold Trilogy by Baxter blew my mind. But if you like character driven stories this trilogy is not for you. Ring as well, that book blew my brain. Flux was very "okay" up until the very end. The ending was fantastic! (I know I gush about this author in every comment, sorry) I'm on The Dark Forest now, and my copy of the 3rd book just arrived. I love this story so far! Some of Crichton's books can make you go "oh wow!" Like Sphere and Andromeda Strain.

Arthur C Clark must have an uncanny ability to blow minds. I think if 2001 as being pretty jaw dropping. Childhoods End had me on the edge of my seat. I can appreciate him not leaving many loose ends. I’m currently reading Spin and enjoying it. It’s an intriguing read. I’ve not read any PKD but would like to soon. Great list!

Death's End is the sort of raw sci-fi that I didn't know I needed until I read it. I believe true Sci-fi should be about mind blowing ideas, not character development.

Haha. I commented about “Three Body Problem” on your video about most challenging sci-fi.

I don't know exactly why, but one of the books that kind of blew my mind was The beetle in the anthill by Strugatsky brothers. Not a read for everyone as it is mostly a psychological book and slow paced, but it was a book that I was thinking of long after I finished.

Kewl list of excellent books! -- David (chopped liver ;-) Brin

haha yeah can`t stop thinking about Death`s End ... even a year later after I've finished

Seedling Stars James Blish..... Incredible story of seeding the cosmos with genetically modified humans....Chapter "Surface Tension" is the story of microscopic humans living in a pond building their first spaceship- to get to the next pond.

Just finished the The Saints Of Salvation trilogy by Peter F. Hamiliton, very fun and huge scope. I'm not working much as I used to so looking to see what great books I've missed out on over the last 30 years or so. Thanks for some new, sort of, options!

The Dark Forest is a chilling concept

I discovered a series you have to check out called the 224-Verse by Jason Russell. Would love to hear your take in a future vid. Really enjoyed it.

I just read 10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights by Mitsuse (supposedly the greatest Japanese SF novel ever). Are you familiar? It has Plato, Siddhartha and Jesus in it, so you can imagine how strange it is. Thanks for the video.

If you’re interested in identity, consciousness, free will, artificial intelligence, neurology and game theory as well as evolution and biology then Blindsight by Peter Watts is amazing.

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany was a game-changer for me.

In the Ocean of Night, Gregory Benford.

Just reread House of Suns and it's still so good. That ending still haunts me.

Two of those I already read, and I agree the had some fantastic concepts! Two of the others I've added to my TBR list. The only one left was Deaths End. I started The Three Body Problem and I just could not get into it so I don't know if I'll ever go back and read the whole trilogy. 🤷‍♂️

Philipp K. Dick died far to young. He had so many strange ideas. Death's End was the hardest to read book of the three, but like you said, it's the way he explains how the universe in his books work, the sheer complexity of physics. I read Childhood's End two weeks ago. It's one of the Clark books I completly overlooked. I figured out very fast, how the overlords probably look like, but I loved how he played with this cliche. And that it isn't clear for a long time, what the plan is. If you like a way of "social" challenging SF books, I can recommend three books from Norman Spinrad. He wrote them between 1969 and 1972. "The Men in the Jungle", "Bug Jack Barrow" and "The Iron Dream". Nothing for the faint of heart.

Childhood's End is one i intend to pick up - i might start there

Have you read Diaspora by Greg Egan? I don’t think my brain has melted quite as hard as with this one.

Love PKD. Thank you.

New subscriber here :) Great video, I've only read remembrance of earth's past trilogy and I loved the scifi part but the characters! ugh! specially the way he writes female characters frustrated me a lot, it makes me wonder if he has ever met a woman hah. I still enjoyed the books and recieved the brain massage of trying to understand the huge scale of everything but that made the other thing even more frustrating haha. I added the rest of your list to my TBR, thanks.

I'm trying to learn Chinese on a whim to read Cixin in the original. I'll probably be reading the 25th anniversary edition when i get there

If you haven't yet, you should read Phillip K Dick's "Valis". It's pretty out there as well. Another one that's a bit... out there maybe is "Illuminatus Trilogy" by Robert Anton Wilson & Bob Shea.

7:50 First book mindblowing, second exponentially better, third even more mind blowing. I appreciate enthusiasm, but that's just not possible.

I recommend Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter, it's a good entry into the Xeelee Sequence, yet it can also stand alone as well. Second rec: Diaspora by Greg Egan

There was a book I don't remember author or title but he premise was humanity was at war with this ever evolving interdimensional entity, that could slow down time in order to like hyper evolve, at one point they were like a colony of rats and then like a space dragon. The main character was some thing of a detective if i remember correctly but it was really all over the place and if any one knew wtf i was talking about that would be great.

Some of greg egan early books were for me totally wow.

I hope multiple comments on the same year-old video still helps the algorhythm :) Anyway. I just finished House of Suns. And first of: I liked this book very much. It is an interesting story with interesting concepts and it is absolutely SciFi in the sense, that you could not tell the same story in a non-SciFi setting. BUT :) you have to power-through the first ~100 pages - which are absolutely aweful. Very gimmicky, intentionally written in a way that you have no idea what is going on, who is talking/thinking or who is in the room even. I was about to just throw this book away. Fortunately, after a while you get it and from then on (as long as you can appreciate or at least stomach the ridiculous gigantism) it becomes more and more interesting and the second half is an absolute page turner. I can imagine re-reading this book in 5 or 10 years :) There are some major parts of the story that go absolutely nowhere and could have been cut out of the book completely without affecting the story in any way (I won't say more because people might read this comment) - and the book is missing an epilogue, but other than that, very enjoyable. So thank you for the recommendation. If you don't know what parts I meant above, shift the following words on your keyboard one key to the right for every letter: "niesz" and "nirgwe"

Can you make a "Books with Great Movies" video?

Alright, I will read House of Suns.

I read Childhood’s End only a few weeks after finishing the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. It occurred to me that Jordan must have loved/been influenced by Clarke no doubt!!!

The Hyperion Cantos

Check Dragon's E by Robert L Forward......or The Seedling Stars by James Blish.....

My favourite scify series that totally blew my mind was the akasha pushpa series. Sadly will never be translated. The only english review of it in goodreads says clearly it would gad won the nebula if the authors were english.

To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Phillip Jose Farmer

The algorithm sent me.