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   Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 03:17:30 JST Prof. Sam Lawler

   The final project for my astrobiology class (aimed at non-science students) is to read a scifi book with well-developed aliens and rate the aliens/exoplanets/space travel/human-alien interactions based on what students learned in class. I'm always looking for new books to add to the list (and more good scifi books to read!)

   My list for this year:

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     Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 03:17:39 JST Prof. Sam Lawler

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     Contact (Sagan)
     The 3 Body Problem (Liu)
     Old Man’s War (Scalzi)
     Rendezvous with Rama (Clarke)
     The Andromeda Strain (Crichton)
     Project Hail Mary (Weir)
     The Sparrow (Russel)
     Leviathan Wakes (Corey)
     Starship Troopers (Heinlein)
     Dune (Herbert)
     The Left Hand of Darkness (Le Guin)
     To Be Taught if Fortunate (Chambers)
     The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Chambers)
     Semiosis (Burke)
     Childhood’s End (Clarke)
     Ammonite (Griffith)
     All Systems Red (Wells)

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     Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 03:17:39 JST Prof. Sam Lawler

     in reply to

     Fuzzy Nation (Scalzi)
     Ender’s Game (Card)
     Binti (Okarafor)
     Translation State (Leckie)
     A Half-Built Garden (Emrys)
     Aurora (Robinson)
     The Algebraist (Banks)
     Blindsight (Watts)

     Of course this list is skewed by what *I* enjoy reading. But I'm always looking to expand. Any good ones I've forgotten?

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     Jenny Lepies (kultanaamio@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 03:17:48 JST Jenny Lepies

     in reply to

     @sundogplanets Mabye the book the movie "The Arrival" is based on... Story of your life by Ted Chiang

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     Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 03:17:49 JST Prof. Sam Lawler

     in reply to

     • Jenny Lepies

     @Kultanaamio I almost did! And then I realized that if I have one short story among a list of novels I KNOW which option ALL my students will pick.... (I did order that short story book from the library for myself, though!)

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     William Denton (wdenton@cosocial.ca)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 03:17:57 JST William Denton

     in reply to

     @sundogplanets A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge, with the Tines and the Skroderiders.

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     Phillip (pb4000@infosec.exchange)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 03:17:58 JST Phillip

     in reply to

     @sundogplanets No suggestions, but thanks for the reading list! I fear what my backlog of books is becoming

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     Legit_Spaghetti (legit_spaghetti@mastodo.neoliber.al)'s status on Friday, 17-Jan-2025 03:18:06 JST Legit_Spaghetti

     in reply to

     @sundogplanets Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler.

     The Oankali are a fascinating alien species, and I don't think I've ever read one like it before or since.

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith%27s_Brood

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