Recs if you like A Scanner Darkly...

you can enter a space. you are a regular guy, you can enter a room. you are a regular guy, you can do that transaction. you are a regular guy, you know how to answer the phone. you are a regular guy, you know what sleep is. you are a regular guy, you know what it means to be you.

all of these books have regular people as the protagonist doing all sorts of things, from kissing to killing!

as always, open to all suggestions!

"you exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you" sci-fi edition canon sci-fi authors (before the year 2000) that have shaped the science fiction we have today. suggestions are enthusiastically welcome ✨ (1 book per author)

For when you need to wallow in melancholy and misery: a collection of pessimistic, cynical, downbeat, depressing, doom and gloom fiction for my disillusioned friends.

More to come!

Got the holiday blues? Check out my list Christmas with the Cranks!

we have always tried to predict the future. these books were written about a future that is now our past - their predictions vary in terms of accuracy.

as always, open to suggestions!

Fiction about weird drugs that induce weird states/make you do weird things

Ideally not drugs that exist irl with cool new sci-fi names slapped on them. We're looking for totally new kinds of pharmacology here! Exciting (and potentially scary)!!

Under construction!

The list of books which are science fiction but not exactly.

The "science" part is not that important. Technology, space ships or how to pursue the time travel - obsolete. Truly important are the questions about the human condition.

Hopefully, I'll expand it with time.

Open for recommendations😊

These are some of the best cyberpunk books that are worth checking out if you like Bladrunner or the Cyberpunk 2077 video games

deep in the feels, experiencing life and all of its ennui, questioning the meaning of existence, the cosmic outline and confines of the world, and wondering if anything is actually real, and, if it is, why does any of it matter?

Classics and must-reads of Science Fiction from the 1960s and 70s designated as part of the New Wave of that era.

Research material and references from the podcast. Relying heavily on lists made by others.

Enter the dizzying mind of Philip K. Dick, one of the most prolific and impactful science fiction writers of all time; explore paranoia, grief, mind-altering substances, the nature of existence and what defines our humanity, distinguishes us from ersatz counterfeits, and altered and simulated realities warped by technology and drugs.

Books where substance abuse or addiction play a part in the story. Not always the main characters, but does have some kind of impact on the plot. Including memoirs but I haven’t read many so I’d love suggestions of both non-fiction and fiction.

An ongoing list of various fiction/-adjacent books from leftist authors or including leftist* themes and topics.

[* - leftist as an umbrella term here, including socialist, communist, anarchist themes and more!]

If you have read Bill Bryson A Short History of Nearly Everything and/or are craving an existential crisis, these books should do the trick (so I’m told).

Science fiction books in english published between 1970 and 1979.