Unearthed Shelf

Classic Sci-Fi Books

Finding classic science-fiction novels, popular series, hidden gems, and underrated masterpieces has never been easier!

All Books

The ugly little boy by Isaac Asimov book cover

The ugly little boy

Author: Isaac Asimov

Year: 1991

Rating:

other title: The Ugly Little Boy

Goodreads
Roadside Picnic by Аркадий Стругацкий book cover

Roadside Picnic

Author: Аркадий Стругацкий

Year: 1978

Rating:

[Comment by Hari Kunru in The Guardian][1]: > Soviet-era Russian science fiction deserves a wider audience in English. The Strugatsky brothers collaborated on numerous novels and stories, the best known of which is this, partly because it was film…

Goodreads
2001 by Arthur C. Clarke book cover

2001

Author: Arthur C. Clarke

Year: 1968

Rating:

A novel that proposes an idea about how the human race might have begun and where it might be headed...given a little help from out there. A colaboration of ideas with director Stanley Kubrick in the late 1960's it begins at "the dawn of man" and the…

Goodreads
Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke book cover

Childhood’s End

Author: Arthur C. Clarke

Year: 1952

Rating:

Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival ends all war, helps form a world government, and turns the planet in…

Goodreads
Contact by Carl Sagan book cover

Contact

Author: Carl Sagan

Year: 1985

Rating:

In December, 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who -- or what -- is out there? In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future -- and our own.

Goodreads
The Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein book cover

The Number of the Beast

Author: Robert A. Heinlein

Year: 1980

Rating:

Heinlein buff David Potter explained on alt.fan.heinlein, in a posting reprinted on the Heinlein Society, that the entire book is actually "one of the greatest textbooks on narrative fiction ever produced, with a truly magnificent set of examples of…

Goodreads
3001 by Arthur C. Clarke book cover

3001

Author: Arthur C. Clarke

Year: 1997

Rating:

A thousand years after the Jupiter Mission, astronaut Frank Poole is recovered and revived. He is intrigued by how much has changed. Then he receives a warning that the Monoliths have decided to destroy the human race.

Goodreads
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham book cover

The Day of the Triffids

Author: John Wyndham

Year: 1951

Rating:

When Bill Masen wakes up blindfolded in hospital there is a bitter irony in his situation. Carefully removing his bandages, he realizes that he is the only person who can see: everyone else, doctors and patients alike, have been blinded by a meteor s…

Goodreads
The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham book cover

The Midwich Cuckoos

Author: John Wyndham

Year: 1957

Rating:

In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious. A day later the object is gone and everyone awakens unharmed – except that all the women in the village are discovered to be pregna…

Goodreads
Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card book cover

Children of the Mind

Author: Orson Scott Card

Year: 1996

Rating:

The planet Lusitania is home to three sentient species: the Pequeninos; a large colony of humans; and the Hive Queen, brought there by Ender. But once against the human race has grown fearful; the Starways Congress has gathered a fleet to destroy Lus…

Goodreads