‘Cerebral’ science fiction recommendations please.

[Foghead]

I really want to think. About technology, science, space and mankind (or any ‘other’ kind)
Can anyone recommend anything please?

Crake not drake!!!

Oh, and my favourites, read so many times the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. Brilliant - he invented psychohistory.

I’d second Ancillary Justice. Likewise I didn’t enjoy the second in the series so much and didn’t bother with the third.

Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee series might be worth a look.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeelee_Sequence

Marking place!

Anything by Ray Bradbury.

And thank you all for the suggestions. I’ve just bought downbelow, ancillary justice and the 3 body problem. I needed some inspiration.

Alien Earth - Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb)

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin, though it's more fantasy than science fiction.

I've just finished Revelation Space, and really enjoyed it. I loved The Sparrow too. I like Neal Stephenson, Vernor Vinge, and Dan Simmons (Hyperion).

Can't remember the authors but really enjoyed "long way to a small angry planet" and "children of men". Both very science, space and future of mankind themed.

Really enjoying N.K Jemison novels, but they are less "real" science and space. But still excellent sci-fi.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky was pretty epic

ah, Children of time! Not children of men.

Marking my place...

This is a great thread, thanks for starting it Foghead, and to everyone who has contributed, lots of reading material here!

Red/Blue/Green Mars, trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. The characters are pretty one-dimensional but the detail of a manned mission to colonise Mars followed by impact on the First Hundred when the newer colonists come, is second to none.

Left Hand of Darkness, Dispossessed, Algebraist, Excession, Use of Weapons. When the Martians Came.

CJ Cherryh and a but lighter but still lots of science and psychology, Lois McMaster Bujold.

Following!
I've recently read Station Eleven and really enjoyed it. And hope that is the right title...

I was going to suggest ‘A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet’ too.
I got it for DH for Christmas and he finished it in no time and had finished the sequel by New Year.

Oh yes, definitely read William Gibson!

I recently read The Peripheral. Beautiful writing and such a fascinating premise.

Seconding (and thirding) Ancillary Justice, Children of Time and A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (and its sequel A Closed and Common Orbit).

Also, The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley.

Hellspark by Janet Kagan, worth checking out. Really made me think about language, she writes very well.

Ready Player One, it’s 25yrs old but so so relevant to today, possibly more so than when published.

I’m not sure about cerebral, but it certainly raises questions about where your online/real life start & end.

"Native Tongue" by Suzette Haden Elgin - I haven't re-read it in years, but remembering it for this thread makes me want to read it again.

I didn’t get on with Left Hand of Darkness. I did rate Gnomon though, can’t remember the author right now.

Ready Player One is less than a decade old. Are you thinking of Neuromancer?

Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit and sequel, Raven Stratagem - the first chapter is hard going because nothing is explained or spelled out for you, Lee just starts in the middle of a battle, throws ideas at you and keeps going. It does get easier to read as you go on though.

Ready Player One is less than a decade old. Are you thinking of Neuromancer?

Oh is it really? Oops. I could have sworn my copy had ‘25th anniversary edition’ on the front . Clearly I’ve got mixed with up with something else I’ve read.

Sorry for the entirely false info there, but the rest of what I said was definitely about Ready Player One and not the other mystery book!