SFBC's Top 50 Books List Goes Walkabout
Back in 2003, it was the SFBC's 50th Anniversary. (Hurray! Go, us!) And we celebrated in various ways -- we had special giveaways and threw a party at Worldcon and so on -- but one of the things we did to publicize the fact that the club was eligible to join AARP was to compile a list of The 50 Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books, 1953-2002. (Which I finally found on our website; it's not linked on the current-member side anywhere I could find.)
It was a fun list to put together -- we butted heads here over the last few slots, and some of the placement in the top 10, but they were great discussions -- and then I was interviewed by USA Today about the list, but eventually the hoorah was over.
But suddenly the list has popped back up -- the webmaster of epic-fantasy.com posted it, along with a note from the webmaster obsessing about the fact that very few recent books were on the list. James Nicoll (a SFBC reader, noted online fan, and all-around interesting fellow) noticed that, reposted the list over at his place, and sparked more discussion.
One thing I will point out is that the top ten is ranked, but the books below that are in alphabetical order by title; we thought it was silly to spend that much time arguing to determine that , say Stormbringer was #22 and Ringworld was #25.
Update: the list seems to have turned into a meme, though those infected by the meme are under the impression that the list is of novels (it isn't) and that it was put together by Time magazine (they take credit for everything!). I noticed it at Keith R.A. DeCandido's blog, but it's probably all over the place right now.
Further Update: Sherwood Smith has some interesting thoughts about the list (and influential books in general). Also, the list has turned into a full-blown meme, though many still seem to think it came from Time.
Comments
I'm glad to see I've read and/or own quite a number of the 50 most significant SF books. It would have been cool to list the year published as well. PS. It's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (not Philosopher!) - I thought I'd missed a new one.
Posted by: Susan Larsen | November 14, 2006 01:34 PM
Susan: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the original British title of the first book, and is the author's preferred title -- it was changed for American publication out of nervousness that American youngsters would find "philosopher" off-putting.
Posted by: Andrew Wheeler | November 14, 2006 02:19 PM
I've seen the list circulating as a LiveJournal meme properly attributed to the SFBC. But that attribution has led people to wonder whether the list was limited to books that the Club had in print. I suspect this isn't true, but I thought I'd ask.
Posted by: Thomas Schoene | November 16, 2006 08:00 AM
Thomas: No, the list wasn't limited to books in the SFBC at the time -- the only thing SFBC-specific was that we were the ones who did the list.
(I think the club has now offered everything on the list, at one time or another -- A Wizard of Earthsea was the lone holdout for a while -- but that's not the same thing. Our offering the books, and our putting them on the list, are both effects, and the root cause of both is that these books are major and important in the field.)
Posted by: Andrew Wheeler | November 16, 2006 08:49 AM
Andrew: Thanks. I'll spread the word.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 16, 2006 09:49 AM
One thing I will point out is that the top ten is ranked, but the books below that are in alphabetical order by title . . .
Except that The Rediscovery of Man should really be #38, with On the Beach and Rendezvous with Rama each moved up a notch. But I'm just picky that way.
Honestly, it made me question whether the list I saw (on LiveJournal, as a meme-thingy, properly attributed) was actually your official list.
Posted by: sanbreakity | November 28, 2006 10:27 AM