The Fantasy Review’s list of 5 Classic Science Fiction Books That Will Challenge What You Think You Know.
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
From the blurb:
Journey to the Center of the Earth was published in 1864 in French under the name Voyage au centre de la Terre. In this science fiction novel, a German professor believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide, Hans, descend into the Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull, encountering prehistoric animals and natural hazards, before eventually coming to the surface again in southern Italy, at the Stromboli volcano.
The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
From the blurb:
Due to circumstances within our control . . . tomorrow will be canceled.
The Eternals, the ruling class of the Future, had the power of life and death not only over every human being but over the very centuries into which they were born. Past, Present, and Future could be created or destroyed at will…
Ubik by Philip K. Dick
From the blurb:
Glen Runciter is dead.
Or is he?
Someone died in the explosion orchestrated by his business rivals, but even as his funeral is scheduled, his mourning employees are receiving bewildering messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping and regressing in ways which suggest that their own time is running out.
If it hasn’t already.
At the Earth’s Core (Pellucidar #1) by Edgar Rice Burroughs
From the blurb:
The author relates how, traveling in the Sahara desert, he has encountered a remarkable vehicle and its pilot, David Innes, a man with a remarkable story to tell. David Innes is a mining heir who finances the experimental “iron mole,” an excavating vehicle designed by his elderly inventor friend Abner Perry…
Engine Summer by John Crowley
From the blurb:
In the drowsy tranquility of Little Belaire, the Truthful Speakers lead lives of peaceful self-sufficiency ignoring the depopulated wilderness beyond their narrow borders. It is a society untouched by pain or violence and the self-destroying ‘Angels’ of the past are barely remembered. But when Rush That Speaks leaves his home on a pilgrimage of self-enlightenment, he finds a landscape haunted by myths and memories. The overgrown ruins reflect a world outside that is stranger than his people ever dreamed…
