The best science fiction books about investigations and discovery

I have the 1971 paperback printing of More Than Human, with the Robert Pepper cover art. The book has a special significance for me; although unrelated in plot, it has similarities to my book: it is science fiction, has an unusual structure, a complex timeline, deals with psychology, and features investigation and discovery. The fact that it was written in 1953, before the Internet, Earth satellites, personal computers, and cell phones, facilitates the reader’s attention to the rather complex story. Seven individuals, Lone, Janie, twins Bonnie and Beanie, Baby, Gerry, and Hip, are exemplars of inequality, with peculiar capabilities and shortcomings. The German word gestalt, meaning the forming of a pattern, describes how, together, they embody the next step in human evolution.

I had already read World of Ptavvs by Larry Niven when I chanced upon a rack of paperbacks at a books and comics store on Bissonnet in Houston. Ringworld’s cover, with Niven’s name and art by Dean Ellis, caught my eye. Four individuals, two human and two of different non-human species, travel far and explore diverse lands and cultures: Louis Wu, an older, wearied man, Teela, youthful and pretty, Nessus, a 3-footed Pierson’s Puppeteer, and Kzin Speaker-to-Animals, resembling a bipedal orange tiger. Once I started to read, I found it impossible to put down, except when compelled to stop and think; early on, when they first behold the majestic Ringworld from their starship, and later when reading the chapter The Perils of Teela Brown.

I once witnessed, at a science-fiction convention, Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison debate esoteric matters to the delight of fans. The Naked Sun deals with such matters. Earth detective Elijah Baley, assisted by robot Daneel Olivaw, investigates the death of Rikaine Delmarre, a prominent scientist. Delmarre died in unusual circumstances at his estate on the planet Solaria. In the 48th century, mankind has adapted to life in a variety of suns. Solaria’s population is sparse, and robots vastly outnumber humans. People avoid personal contact and live on distant estates, alone or with their spouses. Solarians customarily communicate remotely by holographic viewing. Baley and Olivaw have a puzzling assignment because except for Delmarre’s wife and house robots, considered incapable of murder, no one was at the estate at the time.

As an engineer and a writer, I admire Michael Crichton’s ability to reach readers with a technical or science background as well as those practicing or educated in the liberal arts, humanities, or entertainment. The Andromeda Strain was Crichton’s first book published under his own name. I have a copy of the Dell paperback, printed June 1970. The book recounts events that take place over five days, dealing with the discovery and investigation of an extraterrestrial organism brought to Earth by a military satellite designed to collect samples from near space. In this book, I feel Crichton is at his best in realistically describing what turns out to be a deadly technical problem while recounting the fears, anxieties, blunders, and heroic actions of men and women seeking a solution.

I was at a hospital, waiting to see my mother, who was recovering from an operation. Bored, I walked to a nearby store that sold snacks, magazines, and books, and picked up a paperback that looked interesting. I was thirteen and The Power was the first science-fiction book I read. The book begins with a meeting of a Navy committee for human research, conducting experiments on superior abilities that enhance the performance of military personnel. Before the meeting is over, the men and women attending discover that among them there may be a very unusual person, one so superior as to present an existential threat to lesser humans. Robinson, a Navy veteran of Korea and WWII with degrees in physics and journalism, deftly explores a possible path of human evolution.