Robert Heinlein wrote some really good stuff (before becoming increasingly erratic in his later years). Very entertaining and fun. Here are some that I would recommend for starting out with:
Tunnel in the Sky. The opposite of Lord of the Flies. Some people are stuck on a wild planet by accident, and instead of having civilization collapse, they start out disorganized and form a civilization because it’s a good idea. After reading this, I no longer have any patience for people who claim that our natural state is barbarism.
Citizen of the Galaxy. I can’t really summarize this one, but it’s got some good characters in it.
Between Planets. Our protagonist finds himself in the middle of a revolution all of a sudden. This was written before we knew that Venus was not habitable.
I was raised on this stuff. Also, I’d like to recommend Startide Rising, by David Brin, and its sequel The Uplift War. They’re technically part of a trilogy, but reading the first book (Sundiver) is completely unnecessary. It’s not really light reading, but it’s entertaining and interesting.
Note about Tunnel in the Sky—they didn’t just form a society (not a civilization) because they thought it was a good idea to do—they’d had training in how to build social structures.
Robert Heinlein wrote some really good stuff (before becoming increasingly erratic in his later years). Very entertaining and fun. Here are some that I would recommend for starting out with:
Tunnel in the Sky. The opposite of Lord of the Flies. Some people are stuck on a wild planet by accident, and instead of having civilization collapse, they start out disorganized and form a civilization because it’s a good idea. After reading this, I no longer have any patience for people who claim that our natural state is barbarism.
Citizen of the Galaxy. I can’t really summarize this one, but it’s got some good characters in it.
Between Planets. Our protagonist finds himself in the middle of a revolution all of a sudden. This was written before we knew that Venus was not habitable.
I was raised on this stuff. Also, I’d like to recommend Startide Rising, by David Brin, and its sequel The Uplift War. They’re technically part of a trilogy, but reading the first book (Sundiver) is completely unnecessary. It’s not really light reading, but it’s entertaining and interesting.
Note about Tunnel in the Sky—they didn’t just form a society (not a civilization) because they thought it was a good idea to do—they’d had training in how to build social structures.