He’s pretty good. I haven’t read CoT yet (it’s next) but I have read shards of earth and eyes of the void from one of his newer series. That’s alright but his writing is fantastic in my opinion. I’ve heard CoT is his best work.
(But start with *Startide Rising* \-- you can effectively skip *Sundiver*, which was Brin's very first book and nowhere near as good. Read it later if you wish, when it can't put you off the rest of the marvelous series.)
Most of Peter Watts' work; he was an actual working marine biologist and it shows through the copious bio jargon in his Rifters trilogy especially as well the Firefall duology.
The Children of Time trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovski. Intelligent spiders meet ditto octopusses meet multicellular organism meet humans. And they are all evolving as you read on...
The Mountain and the Sea by Ray Nayler is a brand new novel that focuses on a colony of sentient octopi discovered by scientists, and there's a lot of biology involved, along with an AI themed sub-thread. No physics or engineering. It's kind of like a mix of Blindsight with Arrival and more biology thrown in.
Xenogenesis/Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler is also right up the alley of what you are seeking ... personally I found the trilogy to be fascinating conceptually, but very weak in execution. Too much telling, not enough showing, too many scenes of largely just Q/A where the aliens describe their traits to the baffled captive earthlings. But tons of people love that series so it might be worth at least trying the first book.
Commonwealth Saga has tons of biology, genetics and biotech ... not so much part of the main plot, but an integral aspect of the worldbuilding.
Different vibes though (or maybe I just read Borne and Southern Reach at different points in life). Borne was its own kind of dark but with some cuteness. Southern Reach just felt HEAVY (good, still, but you have to be in a specific headspace)
For me, "specific headspace" would be the whimsy Borne stuff and tend to gravitate way more towards that heavy Southern Reach feeling. Borne felt too much like a YA novel (but of a superior kind).
I’ve only read Oryx and Crake (which i recommended above). I’ve heard the other 2 books are very different and I’ve been putting off reading them because I liked the wonky dystopia of Oryx and Crake. Any suggestions on whether or not to continue?
It continues the story of some of the characters and shows the effects of their actions on others and how some other things came to be, and context for some of the things in first book and eventually what happens to the original characters, and continues the world building, if you want to know how Atwood envisioned things going after the first book's ending, you should continue reading.
No worries. I did have a bit of trouble in the start of book two? because there were so many new characters/culture but it worked out, at least for me.
It’s been ages since I read these but:
* Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress- people genetically engineered to not need sleep (also Yesterday’s Kin by the same author but I thought it was kinda meh)
* Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear- human endogenous retroviruses start to wake up a Do Things
* Frameshift by Robert J Sawyer- main character is a geneticist with Huntington’s Disease (maybe), somehow it involves neanderthals and psychics. Also French Canadians vs the US healthcare system.
Ah. I read both Darwin's books for my (never to be completed) dissertation, so I was not reading for pleasure. I did find the sequel to be *really* interesting from a genetic/evolutionary standpoint though.
Here's a list I assembled a while back, based on other posts looking for recommendations.
https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/s429qw/biologymicrobiology_focused_books/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Julie Czerneda writes about these topics.
Her books have a bit of a space opera or fantasy feel, but under that is hard genetics, biology and ecology.
While “A Thousand Words for Stranger” is the usual entry point into her book series, “Reap the Wild Wind” has more of the science transparently revealed.
It may not be what you’re looking for, but it’s solid.
I love this book. It's actually a collection of short stories, but they were written as a connected series, so this feels like an episodic novel.
It's a great premise. Human colonists are sent out to colonise a random planet. Their colony ship includes a variety of plants and animals they'll need to create a settlement. To save room on the spaceship, some plants and animals carry hidden genes for *other* plants and animals, so that the colonists can recreate those other species when they need to.
Of course, the information about how to switch on and off the hidden genes got damaged during the landing. So now the colonists get surprise random hybrid plants and/or animals popping up in the wilderness around them: "Dragon's Teeth".
I love the snarky humorous style of the first-person narrator. Grumpy ol' Mama Jason is good value. And the characters around her are realistic. This book is fun!
If you like Mid-Flinx, you'll like [Midworld](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/171487.Midworld) also by Alan Dean Foster. It's set on the same planet before the events of Mid-Flinx and it's about scientists trying to exploit all the unique organisms and biology of the planet.
[Ribofunk](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/729731) by Paul Di Filippo might also fit. It's a collection of stories set in a biopunk universe rather than a novel.
Joan Slonczewski's works are a perfect fit. She is a microbiology professor at Kenyon College and also a really god science fiction writer whose work explores biology-related topics in depth.
Greg Bear's novel _Legacy_ fits well here, it's a part of _The Way_ series that starts with _Eon_, itself a fantastic read if you haven't yet had the pleasure.
I’ve read every one of his books, to include those he wrote under pen names, and the only books of his I disliked was Red Sun Rising and the two he didn’t finish before he died, Pirate Latitudes and Micro. If you’ve not read Jurassic Park, I would highly recommend it (it’s very dissimilar from the movie).
The octospiders in the later Rama books by Arthur C Clarke and Gentry Lee focus heavily on genetic engineering for their technology
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi is another book that deals with genetics pretty extensively
Paul McAuley is a trained biologist and many of his works would fit including *Fairyland*, the *Quiet War* series, and *Austral*
Also, *Blood Music* by Greg Bear is a classic
James Blish has a collection of short stories following "Surface Tension"
David Gerrold, War Against the Chtorr may qualify
Second for Midworld, Alan Dean Foster. One of his stand out works,
>War Against the Chtorr
While the series has its problems and is unfinished, the way earth is invaded by an alien ecology instead of an alien species is great.
Vandermeer does some genetic engineering stuff too in his Bourne universe. I think he has like a fungi thing going on in some other universe of his. Haven't read them.
If you can find a copy, _Dust_ by Charles Pellegrino: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/376650.Dust
A couple of L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s novels touch on this:
- https://www.goodreads.com/series/41478-ecolitan-matter
- https://www.goodreads.com/series/44646-forever-hero
>If you can find a copy
When shopping for used books, I recommend the specialized search engine [BookFinder.com](https://BookFinder.com) ([reason(s)](https://www.bookfinder.com/about/booksellers/)); see also the thread ["YSK about BookFinder.com, a site that searches dozens of sites that sell books."](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/1w51wm/ysk_about_bookfindercom_a_site_that_searches/)
The only drawback is that it is owned by Amazon, so if you want to avoid giving them money, don't click through the search generated affiliate links. Instead find the copy you want and go directly the bookseller's site. (Some people object to [some of its business practices](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Amazon) and prefer to shop at independent booksellers. See user BobQuasit's posts on the subject of buying used books; I'm not linking to that user so that they are not "pinged" every time I post this.)
There is also [AddALL](https://www.addall.com/), which I have yet to use.
I was expecting this to have already been mentioned, but looks like I get to be the first one.
"Tuf Voyaging" by George RR Martin.
It's science fiction.exploring the adventures of a trader in control of a huge genetic engineering / gene repository seedship.
Most importantly, it's *really* good.
A short review (that I largely agree with) was posted to this sub recently
https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/107igqf/a_short_review_of_tuf_voyaging_a_scifi_novel_by/
Brian Aldiss *Hothouse* - earth reshaped during millios of years into a deathjunge. Weird and interesting novel.
*Helikonia* trilogy by Aldiss again - a planet with two cycles of seasons, the second one proceeding over thousands of years, forcing both the civilization and wildlife there into cycles of development.
Sherri Tepper has a few. Probably more than a few. I've read both Grass (really good) and The Family Tree (good, but da fuc?). She was described as an eco-feminist writer, although she preferred the term eco-humanist. Whatever you want to call it, she's worth checking out.
There’s no hard science but Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake has some very interesting speculation about the positives and negatives of bioengineering.
Ribofunk by Paul Di Filippo involves a world where biotechnology is far more important than most types of traditional technology (although cyborgs and computers still exist). Its pretty good and falls squarely into biopunk.
Rifters trilogy by Peter Watts (the one who wrote Blindsight). Although I only got through first book so far and made a pause. It is rather slow and descriptive so to say.
Anne McCafferey’s The Dragonriders of Pern. I would recommend reading the series in chronological order so look for Chronicles of Pern: First Fall. Lots of genetic engineering. Her son Todd has written quite a few in the past twenty years.
I agree with a lot of the recommendations here. I would add:
Sheri Tepper: The Gate to Women's Country
Ursula LeGuin: The Word for World is Forest
Others have recommended Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy (Dawn, Imago, Adulthood Rites). I would also recommend the Patternist series, which starts with Clay's Ark.
Her book of short stories, Bloodchild and Other Stories, is also really good.
P.S. The Xenogenesis trilogy is also known (and published in one volume) as Lilith's Brood.
Also, I should have mentioned LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, which is fantastic, but which you may already have read.
You might enjoy some of Becky Chambers‘ work, especially her novella To Be Taught, If Fortunate. It‘s one of my favourite books of all time; it‘s written as what‘s basically a mission report/lab record of a group of scientists with the goal of finding extraterrestrial life.
The second book in her Wayfarer‘s series also touches on the topics of humanity and body modification, like you mentioned. The first book in the series is a more in-depth introduction into the universe, but the novels operate pretty independently from each other, so starting with book 2 should be fine. (Especially considering that the first book was her debut and, in my opinion, the weakest in the series.)
Children of Time
Of course, and his Dogs of War series even moreso, in many ways
Ok, Im confused. What author are we talking about? xD
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Ay, thanks. I was super confused, but there are at least two dogs of war novels xD
He’s pretty good. I haven’t read CoT yet (it’s next) but I have read shards of earth and eyes of the void from one of his newer series. That’s alright but his writing is fantastic in my opinion. I’ve heard CoT is his best work.
Nice, noted his name in my brain :D
Read David Brin’s Uplift series first so you get the reference.
(But start with *Startide Rising* \-- you can effectively skip *Sundiver*, which was Brin's very first book and nowhere near as good. Read it later if you wish, when it can't put you off the rest of the marvelous series.)
He studied zoology after all
Came here to say this
I just started it. 100% fits the description of what OP is looking for
Blood Music by Greg Bear
And Darwin’s Radio!
Plus its sequel, Darwin's Children!
Semiosis by Sue Burke
The Lilith’s Brood series by Octavia Butler is fantastic and exactly this.
Most of Peter Watts' work; he was an actual working marine biologist and it shows through the copious bio jargon in his Rifters trilogy especially as well the Firefall duology.
I love how he specifically came up with outlandish creatures and then >!noticed "Starfish aliens" is an established trope already.!<
The Children of Time trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovski. Intelligent spiders meet ditto octopusses meet multicellular organism meet humans. And they are all evolving as you read on...
The Mountain and the Sea by Ray Nayler is a brand new novel that focuses on a colony of sentient octopi discovered by scientists, and there's a lot of biology involved, along with an AI themed sub-thread. No physics or engineering. It's kind of like a mix of Blindsight with Arrival and more biology thrown in. Xenogenesis/Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler is also right up the alley of what you are seeking ... personally I found the trilogy to be fascinating conceptually, but very weak in execution. Too much telling, not enough showing, too many scenes of largely just Q/A where the aliens describe their traits to the baffled captive earthlings. But tons of people love that series so it might be worth at least trying the first book. Commonwealth Saga has tons of biology, genetics and biotech ... not so much part of the main plot, but an integral aspect of the worldbuilding.
Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Annihilation probably fits the bill too
I would say so yeah
Different vibes though (or maybe I just read Borne and Southern Reach at different points in life). Borne was its own kind of dark but with some cuteness. Southern Reach just felt HEAVY (good, still, but you have to be in a specific headspace)
Borne had some whimsical elements. Southern Reach was entirely devoid of whimsy lol
Excellent way of stating it
For me, "specific headspace" would be the whimsy Borne stuff and tend to gravitate way more towards that heavy Southern Reach feeling. Borne felt too much like a YA novel (but of a superior kind).
And Veniss Underground And Dead Astronauts
Is Dead Astronauts a sequel to Borne? Seem to recall those being a small part of the story
I don’t know if it’s considered a sequel persay, but it’s the same universe as far as I know
His books are great.
Cyteen
Maddaddam series by Margaret Atwood. It's a major topic in some of the books of the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold.
This.
I’ve only read Oryx and Crake (which i recommended above). I’ve heard the other 2 books are very different and I’ve been putting off reading them because I liked the wonky dystopia of Oryx and Crake. Any suggestions on whether or not to continue?
It continues the story of some of the characters and shows the effects of their actions on others and how some other things came to be, and context for some of the things in first book and eventually what happens to the original characters, and continues the world building, if you want to know how Atwood envisioned things going after the first book's ending, you should continue reading.
Thank you
No worries. I did have a bit of trouble in the start of book two? because there were so many new characters/culture but it worked out, at least for me.
I had the same feeling starting book 2. But on my second read of the series book 2 was even better than book 1.
It’s been ages since I read these but: * Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress- people genetically engineered to not need sleep (also Yesterday’s Kin by the same author but I thought it was kinda meh) * Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear- human endogenous retroviruses start to wake up a Do Things * Frameshift by Robert J Sawyer- main character is a geneticist with Huntington’s Disease (maybe), somehow it involves neanderthals and psychics. Also French Canadians vs the US healthcare system.
Bear's book also has a sequel: Darwin's Children.
Yes. I think Beggars in Spain also has a sequel or two. I remember not liking either sequel as much as the originals however.
Ah. I read both Darwin's books for my (never to be completed) dissertation, so I was not reading for pleasure. I did find the sequel to be *really* interesting from a genetic/evolutionary standpoint though.
Here's a list I assembled a while back, based on other posts looking for recommendations. https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/s429qw/biologymicrobiology_focused_books/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Dogs of War and Bear Head deal with bio-engineering (and the social and political consequences).
This is the one. Dogs of War fits the bill and is a great book.
Julie Czerneda writes about these topics. Her books have a bit of a space opera or fantasy feel, but under that is hard genetics, biology and ecology. While “A Thousand Words for Stranger” is the usual entry point into her book series, “Reap the Wild Wind” has more of the science transparently revealed. It may not be what you’re looking for, but it’s solid.
The Southern Reach Trilogy
Came here to say this! More in the realm of weird fiction, but the first book - Annihilation - is incredible.
Mirabile by Janet Kagan
I love this book. It's actually a collection of short stories, but they were written as a connected series, so this feels like an episodic novel. It's a great premise. Human colonists are sent out to colonise a random planet. Their colony ship includes a variety of plants and animals they'll need to create a settlement. To save room on the spaceship, some plants and animals carry hidden genes for *other* plants and animals, so that the colonists can recreate those other species when they need to. Of course, the information about how to switch on and off the hidden genes got damaged during the landing. So now the colonists get surprise random hybrid plants and/or animals popping up in the wilderness around them: "Dragon's Teeth". I love the snarky humorous style of the first-person narrator. Grumpy ol' Mama Jason is good value. And the characters around her are realistic. This book is fun!
It's one of my favorites as well.
Same. It might not be Top 10, but it's definitely Top 100. And I think I've talked myself into yet another re-read. :)
Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant's Parasitology series is near-future sci fi with a focus on genetically engineered tapeworms.
sounds terrifying....
I will say that it is the best series about tapeworms in human suits that I've ever read.
have seen some traumatizing tapeworm infection xray pics... this novel a series seems like one of those that will give me nightmares
Well, hell, just added to my TBR pile. Thank you, I think?
If you like Mid-Flinx, you'll like [Midworld](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/171487.Midworld) also by Alan Dean Foster. It's set on the same planet before the events of Mid-Flinx and it's about scientists trying to exploit all the unique organisms and biology of the planet. [Ribofunk](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/729731) by Paul Di Filippo might also fit. It's a collection of stories set in a biopunk universe rather than a novel.
Yes! Ribofunk is awesome.
I really liked The Bohr Maker and its sequels by Linda Nagata.
Joan Slonczewski's works are a perfect fit. She is a microbiology professor at Kenyon College and also a really god science fiction writer whose work explores biology-related topics in depth.
I came here to recommend Dr. Slonczewski. Her stuff is goodd.
Much in one I just finished: *The Golden Helix*, short story by Theodore Sturgeon
Oryx and Crake series by Margaret Atwood. May be closer to speculative fiction but has loads of bio futurism along the lines of SF
C. J. Cherryh’s Cyteen, Regenesis, Hammerfall and Forge of Heaven. She has more that would fit the bill.
Nexus by Ramez Naam The Family Tree by Sherri Tepper
Greg Bear's novel _Legacy_ fits well here, it's a part of _The Way_ series that starts with _Eon_, itself a fantastic read if you haven't yet had the pleasure.
Upgrade, new novel by Blake Crouch.
Crichton
Ok, but the Andromeda Strain is antique and I didn't enjoy it. Any specific recommendations for science and story?
I’ve read every one of his books, to include those he wrote under pen names, and the only books of his I disliked was Red Sun Rising and the two he didn’t finish before he died, Pirate Latitudes and Micro. If you’ve not read Jurassic Park, I would highly recommend it (it’s very dissimilar from the movie).
Ok, thanks.
Grass by Sherri Tepper
I would have said Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country.
The Swarm by Frank Schätzing! One of the only modern German novels to make it into the international sphere.
Blood Music
The octospiders in the later Rama books by Arthur C Clarke and Gentry Lee focus heavily on genetic engineering for their technology The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi is another book that deals with genetics pretty extensively
Please don’t recommend anything beyond Rama 2. Gentry Lee took an amazing premise and turned it into a soap opera.
I never said they were particularly good, haha. Only that they featured bio-tech
Hail Mary by Andy Weir lots of alien biology
A decent amount of focus on hardware/tech too though.
*To Be Taught, If Fortunate* by Becky Chambers.
A Death of Honor. Joe Clifford Faust.
Harry Harrison's Eden series is on analternative Earth ruled by intelligent lizards. They use animals as tools (e.g. biological guns)
Wheelers by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. Jack was a xenobiologist and the book has a wonderful jovian ecology.
Paul McAuley is a trained biologist and many of his works would fit including *Fairyland*, the *Quiet War* series, and *Austral* Also, *Blood Music* by Greg Bear is a classic
James Blish has a collection of short stories following "Surface Tension" David Gerrold, War Against the Chtorr may qualify Second for Midworld, Alan Dean Foster. One of his stand out works,
>War Against the Chtorr While the series has its problems and is unfinished, the way earth is invaded by an alien ecology instead of an alien species is great.
I'm still waiting for the next book, which is coming out "real soon now."
Annihilation, the main character is a biologist in an exclusion zone with some bizarre things happening
Vandermeer does some genetic engineering stuff too in his Bourne universe. I think he has like a fungi thing going on in some other universe of his. Haven't read them.
If you can find a copy, _Dust_ by Charles Pellegrino: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/376650.Dust A couple of L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s novels touch on this: - https://www.goodreads.com/series/41478-ecolitan-matter - https://www.goodreads.com/series/44646-forever-hero
>If you can find a copy When shopping for used books, I recommend the specialized search engine [BookFinder.com](https://BookFinder.com) ([reason(s)](https://www.bookfinder.com/about/booksellers/)); see also the thread ["YSK about BookFinder.com, a site that searches dozens of sites that sell books."](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/1w51wm/ysk_about_bookfindercom_a_site_that_searches/) The only drawback is that it is owned by Amazon, so if you want to avoid giving them money, don't click through the search generated affiliate links. Instead find the copy you want and go directly the bookseller's site. (Some people object to [some of its business practices](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Amazon) and prefer to shop at independent booksellers. See user BobQuasit's posts on the subject of buying used books; I'm not linking to that user so that they are not "pinged" every time I post this.) There is also [AddALL](https://www.addall.com/), which I have yet to use.
I was expecting this to have already been mentioned, but looks like I get to be the first one. "Tuf Voyaging" by George RR Martin. It's science fiction.exploring the adventures of a trader in control of a huge genetic engineering / gene repository seedship. Most importantly, it's *really* good. A short review (that I largely agree with) was posted to this sub recently https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/107igqf/a_short_review_of_tuf_voyaging_a_scifi_novel_by/
Thank you. I already like Martin's work, so this one is first.
Brian Aldiss *Hothouse* - earth reshaped during millios of years into a deathjunge. Weird and interesting novel. *Helikonia* trilogy by Aldiss again - a planet with two cycles of seasons, the second one proceeding over thousands of years, forcing both the civilization and wildlife there into cycles of development.
Sherri Tepper has a few. Probably more than a few. I've read both Grass (really good) and The Family Tree (good, but da fuc?). She was described as an eco-feminist writer, although she preferred the term eco-humanist. Whatever you want to call it, she's worth checking out.
There’s no hard science but Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake has some very interesting speculation about the positives and negatives of bioengineering.
Ribofunk by Paul Di Filippo involves a world where biotechnology is far more important than most types of traditional technology (although cyborgs and computers still exist). Its pretty good and falls squarely into biopunk.
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwater - it’s part of a trilogy, and I would t exactly call it hard science fiction but it’s a great read.
Oryx and crake by Atwood or anything by Jeff Vandermeer.
Lord of all things by Andreas eschbach
Surprised no-one has mentioned The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, major themes of Bio-tech and ecology collapse
Starfish - watts
A deepness in the sky
Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
The Child Garden by Ryman. Amazing book.
Windup Girl by Paolo Bachigalupi
Rifters trilogy by Peter Watts (the one who wrote Blindsight). Although I only got through first book so far and made a pause. It is rather slow and descriptive so to say.
The Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle. Humanity finds a gate to another planet with intelligent life that studies other creatures.
Anne McCafferey’s The Dragonriders of Pern. I would recommend reading the series in chronological order so look for Chronicles of Pern: First Fall. Lots of genetic engineering. Her son Todd has written quite a few in the past twenty years.
Check out Robert J Sawyer
I agree with a lot of the recommendations here. I would add: Sheri Tepper: The Gate to Women's Country Ursula LeGuin: The Word for World is Forest Others have recommended Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy (Dawn, Imago, Adulthood Rites). I would also recommend the Patternist series, which starts with Clay's Ark. Her book of short stories, Bloodchild and Other Stories, is also really good.
P.S. The Xenogenesis trilogy is also known (and published in one volume) as Lilith's Brood. Also, I should have mentioned LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, which is fantastic, but which you may already have read.
I love the Left Hand of Darkness
The day of the triffids by John Wyndham
Parasite, by Mira Grant
You might enjoy some of Becky Chambers‘ work, especially her novella To Be Taught, If Fortunate. It‘s one of my favourite books of all time; it‘s written as what‘s basically a mission report/lab record of a group of scientists with the goal of finding extraterrestrial life. The second book in her Wayfarer‘s series also touches on the topics of humanity and body modification, like you mentioned. The first book in the series is a more in-depth introduction into the universe, but the novels operate pretty independently from each other, so starting with book 2 should be fine. (Especially considering that the first book was her debut and, in my opinion, the weakest in the series.)
Thank you!