gjerawlins@watdaisy.UUCP (Gregory J.E. Rawlins) (06/09/85)
[fnord]
First off, i get the distinct impression that many people
didn't vote for a book because they assume that everyone else
voted for it - bad idea. If you like a book, and it's SF, vote
for it, it doesn't matter how "well-known" or old it is. This is
supposed to be a poll of the CANONICAL SF books - that is all
the books which (most) people think everyone should read.
Secondly, don't vote for "the <mumble> series of books" this
will only work if _I_ know the title of the <mumble> series.
In a similar way - don't say ALL of <mumble>'s books should
be in the list, such votes are immediately discarded since they
add nothing to the poll.
Note that this is a poll of the _BOOKS_ which you think
should be read by everyone interested in SF, i don't care if you
think Heinlein is God, just telling me so without recommending
any of his books means that nothing you say counts. VOTE FOR
BOOKS.
Finally a lot of people wrote me to complain about the books
in the list so far. Please remember i am only REPORTING the
current state of the poll, if you have some book you like and it
isn't mentioned write in and vote for it.
About classification: it isn't necessary to supply me with a
description of the entire book and where it fits in in the genre,
something simple like one the following tags will do: first contact,
faster-than-light, subgenre creation, many worlds, historical,
fantasy, subworld creation, hard science, unique conception,
exploration, interspecies relationships, psychology, linguistics,
anthropology, religion, space-opera, whimsy, rites of passage,
fun, adventure, superior writing, sword and sorcery etc.
About the postings: ideally i would like a list ordered
alphabetically by author with the titles of each authors books
in an indented list following the authors name. But that isn't
a necessary requirement. (It would be a big help though, since
i receive about 3 letters a day each with about 20 books).
To whet your appetite and maybe jog your memory, here is a
list of the top 40 most cited authors so far:
Asimov, Isaac
Asprin, Robert Lynn
Bester, Alfred
Bradley, Marion Zimmer
Bradbury, Ray
Brin, David
Brunner, John
Brust, Steven
Clarke, Arthur C.
Clement, Hal
de Camp, L. Sprague and Pratt, Fletcher
Dickson, Gordon R.
Donaldson, Steven R.
Eddings, David
Farmer, Philip Jose
Ford, John
Gibson, William
Haldeman, Joseph
Harrison, Harry
Heinlein, Robert A.
Herbert, Frank
LeGuin, Ursula K.
MacCaffrey, Anne
McKinley, Robin
May, Julian
Niven, Larry
Niven, Larry and Pournelle, Jerry
Panshin, Alexei
Piper, H. Beam
Pohl, Frederick
Rosenberg, Joel
Smith, E.E. 'Doc'
Stasheff, Christopher
Tolkien, J.R.R.
Vance, Jack
Varley, John
Wells, H.G.
Wolfe, Gene
Wyndham, John
Zelazny, Roger
--
Gregory J.E. Rawlins, Department of Computer Science, U. Waterloo
{allegra|clyde|linus|inhp4|decvax}!watmath!watdaisy!gjerawlinsNewman.pasa@Xerox.ARPA (06/13/85)
From: Newman.pasa@Xerox.ARPA
Can we make negative votes on authors in your list - each negative vote
cancelling out one positive vote?
>>Davegjerawlins@watdaisy.UUCP (Gregory J.E. Rawlins) (06/15/85)
In article <2279@topaz.ARPA> Newman.pasa@Xerox.ARPA writes: > >Can we make negative votes on authors in your list - each negative vote >cancelling out one positive vote? > >>>Dave Uhhhh....Run that past me one more time? Since this is a list of the Canonical books in SF it seems to me that everyone should have a say, meaning that if someone went to all the trouble of mailing me a book title it will appear _somewhere_ in the list - although if few others thought it important/entertaining enough it would not be high in the list. It seems that your suggestion would be conducive to a species of "Poll Wars". By the way this is no more "my list" than it is yours (or any net.sf-lovers reader for that matter) - anyone who wants to vote gets equal attention. Also, i note the use of "authors" - this is _not_ a list of "best authors", but "books that everyone should read". Was this a joke i missed or what? Greg. -- Gregory J.E. Rawlins, Department of Computer Science, U. Waterloo {allegra|clyde|linus|inhp4|decvax}!watmath!watdaisy!gjerawlins