Note: this list is from 2015.

The book that jumps out now (Jan 2021) as my favorite SF is Blindsight by Peter Watts.  Read it twice (that's rare).  Might read it again.

My favorite Science Fiction novels.   Used to be my favorite genre, perhaps it still is, though I tend to read history when I get around to reading books.  I do still read Gardner Dozois's annual "The Year's Best Science Fiction" short story anthologies.

Eon	Greg Bear	In Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendevous with Rama" a big hip enters the solar system and nothing happens for three whole novels. Bear's "Eon" starts with the same premise but jam packs it with tons of high-concept and action.
The Galactic Center saga	Gregory Benford	Mechs hunting down humans, grand scope,
Diaspora	Greg Egan	Fleeing, extrapolated to something grander
Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson	If we were to colonize Mars right now, how would we do it? We send 100 people…
The Forge of God	Greg Bear	fun end of the world tale
Manifold Time	Stephen Baxter	A guy gets to watch the universe age all the way to civilizations trying to capture the last energies prior to entropy death
The Thousand Earths	Stephen Baxter	Perhaps the grandest scale I've read.  Wow.  He wasn't happy with trying to capture the last heat before entropy death (from Manifold Time).  Here the aim is manipulate Star Formation to string out a longer stelliferous era.  When that future looks too bright, Plan B.
The Gateway/Heechee series	Frederik Pohl	Gateway is fun and Heechee Rendezvous is idea-packed
End of Exile	Ben Bova	I loved this in junior high, probably not appriate for anybody beyond junior high
Hyperion	Dan Simmons	long long long, but creates some enduring images and asks (and answers) the question "If God were to ask us right now to sacrifice our son as he did Abraham, do we do it?"
Dune	Frank Herbert	I remember not being able to put this down while at the Academy (not a good time to have a five-day distraction)
A Canticle for Leibowitz	Walter M. Miller, Jr.	1961 Hugo Winner
The Mote in God's Eye	Niven/Pournville	seemed kind of dated when I re-read it recently..
The Foundation Series	Aasimov
Startide Rising	David Brin	fun
Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card	didn't get into the series, though
The Wheel of Time Series	Robert Jordan	Fantasy, which I don't generally read or like. But these very long books were like Lord of the Ring with women (which LOTR needed)
Doomsday Book	Connie Willis
Sphere	Michael Creighton	Loved the book, movie not so much.
Dragon's Egg	Robert Forward	life on a neutron Star

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