Tue
Sep 27 2011 8:00pm
20 comments
How to Choose Your Favorite of NPR’s Top 100 SFF Books
Stubby the Rocket

Back in August, NPR had everyone vote on their favorite SFF titles, and tallied the top 100 for your browsing and bragging pleasure. Of course, navigating a list that size can be pretty rough, even for an aficionado. So SFSignal went ahead and made it easy for the rest of us: here’s a handy flow chart to help you find your new favorite books! (Click here for the super-enlarged view.)

fantasy | NPR | science fiction | Internet | charts
20 comments
Brit Mandelo
1. BritMandelo
view all by BritMandelo | Tuesday September 27, 2011 08:12pm EDT
Oh, dear. That thing is fabulous.
Jenny Reid
2. jenreidreads
view all by jenreidreads | Tuesday September 27, 2011 08:24pm EDT
Brilliant!
Matt London
3. MattLondon
view all by MattLondon | Wednesday September 28, 2011 12:17am EDT
New toy.
ClintACK
4. ClintACK
Wednesday September 28, 2011 12:29am EDT
Awesome. And I just ordered several new "samples" from Amazon. And realized it's been way too long since I've reread Hitchikers.
Ian Johnson
5. IanPJohnson
view all by IanPJohnson | Wednesday September 28, 2011 02:56am EDT
I am now going to show this to all my friends when they ask me what SFF book they should try for the first time. It gives a great overview of the breadth of the genre and also contains snarky humor– perfect!
Brent Longstaff
8. brentus
view all by brentus | Wednesday September 28, 2011 05:15am EDT
This is awesome, entertaining, and useful. But my to-read list was already creaking at the seams, so I'm not sure I'll thank you...
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
9. tnh
view all by tnh | Wednesday September 28, 2011 05:46am EDT | amended on Wednesday September 28, 2011 05:47am EDT
Brentus, books you own but haven't read emit a gentle, beneficial radiation; and by the time you do get around to reading them, they're almost like old friends.
Ian B
10. Greyfalconway
view all by Greyfalconway | Wednesday September 28, 2011 07:31am EDT
Went through the whole thing, lol, great!
ClintACK
11. dwndrgn
Wednesday September 28, 2011 09:14am EDT
That thing is awesome! Perfect thing to whip out and give to newbies! And good for a chuckle. I need a poster sized version to put up in my library*!

*Or, rather, the dusty room full of piles of books I call my library.
A.J. Bobo
12. DaedylusSL
view all by DaedylusSL | Wednesday September 28, 2011 11:20am EDT
Wow, that thing is a amazing. Kudos to whoever put it together.

And, oh my goodness, Neil Gaiman has a lot of entries in that list. And he deserves every one.
Chris Slye
13. Magentawolf
view all by Magentawolf | Wednesday September 28, 2011 11:36am EDT
My pile(s) of 'to-be-read' books are literially life-threatening at the moment. I.. can't.. add.. to them... yet... I MUST.
Chris Slye
14. Magentawolf
view all by Magentawolf | Wednesday September 28, 2011 11:42am EDT
Actually... after looking over that graphic, I can honestly say that there is only one book on that list that I haven't read yet.

I've never heard of Doomsday Book by Connie Willis...

I'm not sure what this says...
Ashley Fox
15. A Fox
view all by A Fox | Wednesday September 28, 2011 12:22pm EDT
Simply, and utterly, good. Reading this resulted in a flurry of social network yammering.
ClintACK
16. xolotl
Wednesday September 28, 2011 02:06pm EDT
...any list that puts Malazan at 81st is not worth reading...
Ian Johnson
17. IanPJohnson
view all by IanPJohnson | Wednesday September 28, 2011 03:34pm EDT
@12: It's not just Gaiman: Neal Stephenson, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Larry Niven all have a lot of books on the list.

(It's cool how all four books of what I think of as the "Neal Stephenson Big Four" Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, and Anathem] are all on the list.)
ClintACK
18. nancym
Wednesday September 28, 2011 04:10pm EDT
One of the guys here at work wants to get into SF, asked me where to start. I showed him the NPR list but he was overwhelmed. This is perfect!

...wow, my lunch hour just flew by very quickly...
Sim Tambem
19. Daedos
view all by Daedos | Wednesday September 28, 2011 04:44pm EDT
"Enjoy stories about orphaned farm boys?"
"No."
"Tough."

Classic.
ClintACK
20. Rancho Unicorno
Wednesday September 28, 2011 08:27pm EDT
Has A Memory of Light has been cancelled? Is there something that they know that I don't?

Or does a pending completion count as completion?
Ian Johnson
21. IanPJohnson
view all by IanPJohnson | Wednesday September 28, 2011 09:41pm EDT
@20: I'm positive AMoL hasn't been cancelled, just delayed.

If it were cancelled, then Tor would have to deal with a million and a half crazed WoT fans tearing the Flatiron building to shreds with the One Power, then going on a saidar-fueled rampage that ends with the entire eastern seaboard reduced to smoking ash.

NEVER piss off a WoT fan. They know neither forgiveness nor pity. (Kidding, WoT fans! Please don't hurt me!)
ClintACK
22. ElspethK
Thursday September 29, 2011 01:51pm EDT
@11: The poster-sized print just came up elsewhere so I checked SFSignal for any copyright info: they're clearly fine with it and have added a zipped version for printing.

Unfortunately they outsourced the download so you have to jump through hoops. Which I did but there has to be a better way.

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