The History Of Science Fiction

Author: Adam Roberts

Okay, no two authorities will ever agree on the history of science fiction; we can't even agree on a definition of sf, so how on earth are we going to agree on when it started or what it's made of. Even so, if you want a good, solid, no-nonsense history of the genre, this is the book for you. You're not going to agree with everything in the book. For instance, he identifies the starting point of sf as the burning at the stake of Giordano Bruno in 1600, which is just eccentric. But he covers the ground thoroughly. Unusually for single-volume histories of sf he also covers film and television and music and games and so on; and it's Adam Roberts, so you know he can tell a good story. And his underlying contention that sf is Protestant while fantasy is Catholic may be stretching things a bit, but it does make a lot of sense. There are lots of histories of sf now available (another will appear later in this list); they range from the mad (The World Beyond the Hill by Alexei and Cory Panshin) to the fairly specialist (Science Fiction in the 20th Century by Edward James), but none is as wide ranging, as comprehensive and as readable as this one.