5 Mind-Bending New Wave Sci-Fi Books You Need To Read

It can be a little strange to hear a modern opinion on the sci-fi of the 60s and 70s. I was in my teens through most of the 70s and, as an avid sci-fi nut, read pretty much anything that was available - certainly all those books in this list. I don't recall any sense of 'mind-blowing' though; it was just how things were at the time. 😎

I'm a little surprised that the 'Illuminatus' trilogy by Shea and Wilson is not on the list - that really was mind-expanding!

Also rather more light-hearted (but still mind-expanding) was The Greenwich Village trilogy of 'The Butterfly Kid', T'he Unicorn Girl' and 'The Probability Pad' by C. Anderson, M. Kurland and T.A. Waters respectively.

Keep up the excellent exploration of the genre! 👍

Im kind of pleased that I've read most of these.
Not a fan of scanner darkly but currently rereading Roadside Picnic, its great and Behold the man is super short too.

great vid!

Excellent selection. I must admit I haven't read Dalgren but I love Samuel R Delaney's other books. He's a great world builder and if I had to choose an all-time favourite (which is almost impossible, lol) it would be his Babel-17. The Lathe of Heaven is in my top fave list and I would also add Inverted World by Christopher Priest (1974) and Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys (1960). Cheers, Darrel. :)

insanely inspirational video!

If you can can choose two from PKD; then for a second Moorcock I'd shout out the Final Programme and the other Jerry Cornelius books. A series of shattered, holographic narratives scattered across a string of interweaving 20th centuries. A very tasty world Mr Cornelius. Your failure mention J.G. Ballard is glaring omission, even if his name isn't a penile double entendre.

I'm thrilled that you put Moorcock's "Behold The Man" at the top of the list! Here's a guy who hung out with the Rolling Stones, wrote lyrics for Blue Oyster Cult and partied with Jimi Hendrix. If anyone can be considered a rockstar among sci-fi authors, it's Michael Moorcock!

I would add the purple book by Philip Jose farmer and futurological congress by Stanislaw Lem

I read "Lathe of Heaven" when it was first published in 1971. I've fallen in love with everything by LeGuin ever since.

I loved Roadside Picnic! I havnt got to A Scanner Darkly yet, but I adored Ubik!

Great list! 👍🏼 If I may suggest another one by PKD: “Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said”?

I've read The Lathe of Heaven and A Scanner Darkly but will have to check out the others. BTW Public TV did a decent movie of The Lathe of Heaven and there is an animated A Scanner Darkly. Nice list Darryl.

Hey. Could you talk about Cosmic Horror in Science Fiction?😂

Great video! Just added quite a few to my TBR list!

I just can't get behind Dhalgren. I can't not understand something and like it, unlike William Gibson who wrote the forward. A lot of it is more "slice of life" than scifi anyway.

Babel 17 by Samuel Delany is also great.

Once again, thank you, Darrel. You are one of the best on YT!

Strange coincidence. UKL and PKD graduated from the same high school in the same class, but they didn't recall if they ever met.

'Sheeps look up' by John Brunner, my all time favourite.
Btw... From where are the pics you use?

Thanks ❤

Lathe of Heaven, the nearest LeGuin gets to PKD territory.

Dhalgren, Slaughterhouse 5, Lathe of Heaven ... some of my all time favorites in your list.
My two favorite authors from that period are Samuel R. Delany and Roger Zelazny.

“Shit got weird” indeed. Love New Wave SF

Love the art you use in all your vidios.

The images are amazing. Would love to look up the artists - are they linked somewhere?

Some New Wave books I remember and enjoyed for that period are The Son of Man by Robert Silverberg, The Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg, The Iron Dream and Men in the Jungle by Norman Spinrad, Dr Adder by K.W. Jeter, Ambient by Jack Womack.

If you really want your mind blown you need to read Son of Man by Robert Silverberg. It came out in 1971 and has to be read to be believed. It is totally emblematic of the wild time that was the early 70s. Son Of Man is an ultra psychedelic declaration of the wonder and infinite possibility of what it means to be human set against a far future Earth that is mythological in its splendor. Introspection, exploration, and sexual liberation abound and the characters are fascinating while at the same time being relatable. This book left a profound imprint on my 14 year old psyche when I read it many moons ago. Read it and thank me later.

WOW! What a great video, one of your best. I never understood Dahlgreen, read Roadside in Russian (widely assumed the "forbidden" areas symbolized censored parts of society of the USSR - thought and location), Lathe showed that a one-answer-fixes-all-problem approach leads to more problems but (for me) it was repetitive. Scanner (the book) was so powerful. Behold the Man was exquisite ("Jesus Comes Again" by Vardis Fisher is a great non-sci-fi similar work). Dick's Radio Free Albemuth, VALIS and Divine Invasion were A++ (based on the same theme) but the last one, the Transmigration of Timothy Archer was just too "woo woo".

Great video!

Watching this great video, I kept thinking about Son of Man, by Robert Silverberg, published in 1971. I literally found this book (in a used car my dad bought) when I was in 8th grade.

Scenes like the slow zone where it takes years to move one step, or another where the protagonist dissolves in a river to form into a carrot like vegetation, had me pondering its concepts years after I read it.

What's the story on the art shown here? Especially 'Behold the Man'.

I am a writer. Thanks

loved all of these books. behold the man especially is like a way more eye opening twilight zone episode than tv would ever allow, so its a great read and the prose is perfectly on point.

oh and to add a new new waver to your list it would be the dark short story collection deathbird stories by harlan ellison.

Valis ❤

I'm afraid you are way off beam as to what New Wave SF is when you include the Strugatsky Brothers and Lem. By default, New Wave SF was limited to the anglophone world and as Lem and the Brothers were behind the Iron Curtain and not even writing in English. Those authors come from different traditions to both the US and UK New Waves, which were also in themselves different.

Thanks for the video. I gave up on Valis halfway through, I lost interest. When I read Lathe of Heaven after LeGuin's more famous novels, I found it a fun read, but it seemed like a YA novel. Perhaps I will reread it after your insights.

The aesthetics in your videos are just ❤❤

Finally! Someone mentions stand on Zanzibar! Unbelievable how much the picture he paints looks like our world now! Amazing book that more people should read!

For PKD, I think I would have gone with Valis in the main 5. For Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle. Good shouts otherwise!

Love it when "shit gets weird', great review THANKS for the video! I grew reading these books and were amazing and got me thinking in the early 80's that computers and cyberpunk technologies would eventually come on the scene, took a while but we have/are getting there!

I'm surprised no Book of the New Sun (wolfe). Maybe because your short list is limited to single book stories.

Im surprised Harlan Ellison didn't make your list. If nothing else he came up with the best titles for his stories.

Are we to believe it was just a coincidence that you followed Dick with Moorcock?

Slaughter House Five is so great. Something that makes it real compelling, I knew this already when I first read it, is the ww2 parts are based off of Kurt's actual experience, in essence those parts are a biography of his time in the war. He was captured by the Germans and was a pow in Dresden during the fire bombings.

I am looking for a book I read more than 20 or maybe more years ago, it is a psychedelic/Sci-Fi type story, the only thing I remember was that if a character in the book smoked a Camel plain cigarette on the the wrong side they would turn into an actual camel or some such.

If anyone perhaps remeber it, please, please, please let me know.

Lathe of Heaven. I was introduced to the story through the PBS/BBC dramatization decades ago. Was very cool.

A special on J. G. Ballard would be great!

Dhalgren was tough to read, I couldnt even finish it but I was a teenager. The Lathe of Heaven and Slaughterhouse 5 were both great.

I happen to have read all 5 of your picks. 2 out of 3 of your honorable mentions. I'd like to single out Philip K Dick for a rant. I read not only Valis, but the Valis trilogy. What a boring and disagreeable read they were. The whiny protagonist with his religious delusions of apostolic times folding onto the current. The whole series went nowhere. Then I made the mistake of reading Scanner Darkly. I hadn't learned. Another rambling psychotic mess. I'll never pick up another Philip K Dick book again.
As for the others. Loved them! Lathe of Heaven - how perfect. How mind blowing. Behold the Man - glad you mentioned that. You jogged my memory having read it in the 70's and forgot about it. Roadside Picnic - just read that recently. I'm glad I discovered that one.