There are a lot of individual books not listed in these collections, books like:
Children of Time and Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (and much of his fantasy work⌠often focusing on insects or shape-shifters)
The Uplift Cycle by David Brin
Lobsters by Charles Stross
The Green Brain by Frank Herbert
etc
Does anyone else have any similar lists of science fiction with themes that may appeal to iNat users?
Books that should be added to those on the above lists.
Or individual books/series.
Oh yes, thatâs exactly the bock that flooded my mind when I read the topic of this entry. The nature descriptions are like a poem. Many other ingredients have a lynchian touch :)
Many of Sheri S. Tepperâs books deal with genetics, evolution and the environment. Quite a few of her books are dated, but they are still great reads.
I especially enjoyed The Companions, but thatâs probably because Iâm so fond of dogs :).
The movie was 99% different to the book, so donât use it as an indicator of the quality. They legit took out almost all the most important elements of the book, it was essentially a brand new movie rather than an adaptation
Avatar? Among other aspects of the movie, I was tickled by the adaptations displayed by the flora and fauna, and the notion there was a symbiotic connection with the Gaia being.
Robert J. Sawyerâs Quintaglio Ascension trilogy tackles astronomy in the first book; evolution in the second book; and a frantic race to space in the final book. Oh, and the Quintaglios are a race of sapient Tyrannosaurs, have fun.
Speaker for the Dead (sequel to Enderâs Game) by Orson Scott Card may be of interest to some iNatters. I think itâs less in the vein of what youâve recommended, but there is a strong theme of morality involving the discovery of new species that could be detrimental to humans. Probably my favourite book.
In that respect, I recall Xenocide was an interesting book as well, but itâs been a long time (a note for the uninitiated - the first novel, Enders Game is great, but in no way involves other life forms, except indirectly). A lot of Iain Bankâs Culture novels have interesting novel life forms, and the idea of sentient artificial life is interesting. I have a kind of love/hate relationship with his novels. Often there are large parts where nothing really happens, and suddenly it all wraps up in 100 pages or so!
This is timely for me - Iâve been looking for more Sci Fi novels to read.
Grass I read when we were staying at the Wilderness National Park. In a raised log cabin, looking down on river and very tall reeds, among which the kayaks disappeared. Never. To be seen. Again.
Perfect setting!
Not a book and more fiction than science but
The world of the Monster Hunter series has always really appealed to me, as it basically takes a bunch of crazy kaiju-like beasts and dragons with equally crazy powers, and explains them/makes them act as just normal animals in universe.
The games have a theme that is something along the lines of âliving in harmony with natureâ as well, as you hunt the monsters not for sport, but for research and to maintain balance
I really enjoyed Hellspark by Janet Kagan. As a general rule, the entire genre of âfirst contactâ books will probably appeal to zoologically-minded iNatterers.
Oh, maybe Seanan McGuireâs Incryptid series. An extended family of cryptozoologists has many adventures researching and protecting naturally occurring, but not conventionally known Cryptid species (ââŚany creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically; term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E, Wall in 1983.â)⌠e.g., basilisks, gorgons, dragons, to names just a few.
They end up working in opposition to The Covenant of St. George, a sect of fanatics who want to kill all âunnaturalâ creatures, which they define as anything that was not on Noahâs Ark.
Itâs a nice long series with both long and short fiction.