Sci-fi, at its core, is social commentary. And it’s not reserved for nerds or dorks or Star Wars fans as one might imagine. Underneath the imaginative “what if” situations and scientific jargon are always observations on human nature, and how humanity responds under the pressure of tech advances or even extraterrestrial visitors.
And while Orwell’s “1984” is peak dystopian surveillance fiction, or Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is the first “true” sci-fi novel, today we’re looking at space travel. Besides its relevance today for humanity’s insatiable curiosity to explore the unknown—especially seen through the billionaire space race of Musk or Bezos—it’s because space makes us see terrifyingly small.
And with this, it helps us forget all the anxieties or minor inconveniences of our contemporary age.
If you want to marvel at the stars with a little more sparkle in your eye, make every little problem on this Earth seem utterly insignificant (and maybe fall into a temporary existential crisis), here are books to read that go beyond our solar system.
“The Three-Body Problem” by Cixin Liu
What if aliens came to Earth? Well, this trilogy goes way farther than that, spanning billions of light years, but starting in a secret military project in communist China.
From commentary on extremist environmentalist groups to theoretical physics that might fly over your head, it’s the very human aspects, from art to love, that ground it. There are elements of cosmic sociology, too, that make you imagine what life would be like in contact with other terrestrial planets.
There are three books in the Chinese novelist’s trilogy, “The Three-Body Problem (2008),” “The Dark Forest (2008),” and “Death’s End (2010),” an epic conclusion that faces the terrifying realization that the universe could just be a crowded place.
But at the end of it all, does it really matter? Reading the entire trilogy will make your daily terrestrial anxieties feel laughably, profoundly small.
“Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card
This ’80s novel is a favorite science fiction novel for kids, especially because kids are the main protagonists.
We follow Ender, who is recruited into an orbital military academy and subject to harsh training. While it starts out feeling like a high-stakes game of zero-gravity laser tag against insectoid species called “Buggers,” it spirals into a psychological exploration of galactic-scale manipulation. You start to think about how individual human lives can be eaten up by the cold machinery of an unforgiving universe.
And if not the machinery of the universe and evil aliens, maybe just evil, human adults.
“The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury
This poetic collection of interconnected stories chronicles humanity’s attempts to colonize Mars after fleeing a troubled, war-torn Earth.
Ray Bradbury masterfully blends whimsical prose with eerie, melancholic isolation as humans displace the native Martians, only to realize they can’t escape their own destructive nature—and are no better than the species they colonized. The book strips away our terrestrial arrogance and shows how human civilizations can easily vanish into cosmic dust, without a trace.
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“Foundation” by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov is essential reading for any science fiction fan. Having written more than 500 books throughout his life, his short stories and non-fiction textbooks are just as engaging.
“Foundation” is a seven-part series considered the grandfather of space epics, written in the 1940s. It centers on mathematician Hari Seldon, who uses “psychohistory,” a data-driven science, to predict the collapse of the galactic empire. To shorten the dark age, he establishes a foundation of scientists to preserve human knowledge across millennia.
Asimov writes on such a staggering, multi-century scale that makes humanity seem like a footnote in a massive mathematical equation.
“Dune” by Frank Herbert
“Dune” has seen a recent resurgence in popularity with the blockbuster renditions starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya. Set on the desert world of Arrakis, we follow the messianic-like Paul Atreides, as his family is betrayed for control of “the spice,” the most valuable substance in the universe.
Besides the world-building that covers feudal space politics and ecology, there is a heavy sense of spirituality that melds with the science fiction, immersing you in a universe governed by ancient prophecies and powers magnified by the gripping litany against fear, quote, “Fear is the mind-killer.”
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams
If you’re looking for a laugh, pick up the franchise by Douglas Adams, either “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980)” or “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984).” The five-part trilogy begins with Earth being unceremoniously demolished by a bureaucratic alien race to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
We then follow Arthur Dent, a perfectly ordinary Englishman who escapes, then wanders a chaotic, absurd universe equipped with nothing but a towel. Douglas Adams uses comedy to deliver the ultimate cosmic humbling—that Earth isn’t special, and is officially rated as “mostly harmless,” while the universe is too big to care about our feelings.
Shrinking the ego, blowing our mind
Besides expanding the imagination, science fiction is so great because it shrinks the ego and makes you sit with your book, mouth open, a little mind-blown, and maybe even a little lost. But somewhere between the terror and wonder is a limbo that makes you think: If we’re only a speck in the cosmos, perhaps our problems are, too.
And our brief moment in this universe is all the more precious for it.
