A guide to NPR's top 100 sci-fi and fantasy books

Posted at 1:13 PM on September 30, 2011 by Marianne Combs (3 Comments)
Filed under: Books

Over the summer National Public Radio compiled a list of the 100 top science fiction and fantasy books, based on listener nominations. J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings came in first place.

Well, in a sharp departure from the norm, NPR failed to provide any contextual analysis for the list. It was a list, and nothing more.

But wait, the folks at SFSignal.com have come to the rescue; they've developed a flowchart to help you figure out which book is right for you.

Below is a just a miniature representation of the actual flowchart, which you can check out in all its glory here.

Is your favorite on the list? Which is it? Which great sci-fi or fantasy book failed to make the list? Let us know...

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Comments (3)

Wonderfully funny, and yet helpful. Whoever designed this has wit, a good sense of organization, and a love for the field. I am still trying to figure out some of the more obscure comments. "Funny hats" for THE DIAMOND AGE?

Posted by Daniel Pinkerton | September 30, 2011 2:37 PM

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Fun and apt! but, a bit guy-heavy and definitely missing some all time favorites, notably most stories in which the central struggle is as much interior/psychological as between external "good and evil"... such as:
--- Patricia McKillip, "The RIddle Master of Hed" trilogy
--- Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series ("A Wizard of Earthsea" and ff...)
--- John Crowley's "Little, Big" and Aegypt series
--- Julie Czerneda's Clan cycle, particularly the "Species Imperative" series
--- under "mystery" (far right), add China Mieville's "The City, The City"...
--- under humor, Michael Moorcock's "Dancers at the End of Time" and Connie Willis' short stories, "Impossible Things"

Posted by Karen Wills | October 1, 2011 9:32 PM

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sigh... Anne McCaffrey's Dragons are sci-fi, honest! especially the later you get into the series!

Posted by d.m. rotach | October 5, 2011 2:06 PM

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