2w ago

In the mood for engineering / competence porn. What are your favourite novels / series?

As an example, I love the Martian, and I think a lot of older books from authors like Asimov are heavily into engineering / competence porn. Other favs in this category include the standalone novel Rendezvous with Rama to leave you wishing for more, most of the Culture series for happy utopian vibes, Schlock Mercenary for humor, Dahak series for fun mindless popcorn.

Edit: I'm so happy to have found a replacement for r/books and the rest of them.

105 comments

The Expanse is a great at engineering read. Doubly so for a space opera. Lots of very legit science in the science fiction there.
- Oh yes, I love the Expanse. For some reason it doesn't quite strike me as engineering / competence porn though, maybe because there's a big focus on the human side.
  
  Yeah it’s most definitely a space opera. There’s so much good science in there though.
- You just reminded me I have to get caught up with that series again so I can read the last book. I powered through the whole series before the last book was released and now I kind of forget what was going on, to jump in again.
  
  I kind of forget what was going on
  Protomolecule. Lots and lots of protomolecule.
  
  It’s so easy to read, worth starting over. If you read fast you’ll get through it all in a couple months.

If you end up searching online for that kind of things, "hard science fiction" is the phrase that's usually used for it.
A lot of good recommendations here. Some endorsements and other recommendations:
Project Hail Mary by Weir is a no brainer choice if you liked The Marian. He gets the science right.
Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky is amazing, and the first of a trilogy, so more to read.
The whole Expanse series, by James Corey is good and he does a good job with the science, especially the celestial mechanics.
The Uplift series (starting with Sundiver) by David Brin is great, and Brin is will known for hard SF. It's from the 80s.
Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie, is great and the first of a series as well.
Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress, is great, with a good science background, though it's more genetics than engineering. Really cool story though.
I also agree with the recommendation on Saturn's Children, by Charles Stross. Also the first of a loose series.
On the flip side, I really didn't care for Three Body Problem, and though the Bobiverse books seem fun, I'm not sure I'd call them firmly hard SF.
- The Three Body Problem is bad. The hype for the book is a good example of "The Emporer's New Clothes".
  
  It’s a little bit of a slog. There are a lot of cultural references, plot devices, characters, and ways of moving through the story that are literally foreign to the western mind. Odd injections of what feels like philosophy. At least the version I read. Once you get used to it it gets better.
  
  I was surprised at how little I liked it given the hype.
  
  I have finished the series and absolutely loved it.
  Could you please explain why you consider it bad?
- Thanks! There a few that I hadn’t heard about!
  
  Oh, certainly. In case it's helpful, here's a post I made last spring with notes from a year of reading - it's pretty much all SF and fantasy. Many of the books mentioned in this thread are there. I've been reading about the same amount since, and will probably do another post on the anniversary of that one.
- I haven't read Beggars in Spain or Saturn's Children yet, will take a look!
  
  I'd love to hear what you think, I enjoyed both quite a lot.

The first two thirds of Seveneves is really good at exactly what you describe. Once you get to the third part (you'll recognize it) just pretend the book ended before that.
- I was the opposite. The first 2/3 was a slog to get through to reach the inevitable. If people enjoy doomsday scenarios it’ll work for them, thouugh. The last 1/3 was when everything got really interesting for me and ended way too soon.
- Seveneves was a wild ride, and I appreciated the way its scope broadened, but I definitely wasn't expecting it.
- I liked the third half. But it's quite a shift

I'm sure you've read or heard this before, but project hail mary is great. The whole bobiverse series was incredibly satisfying to read and the 5th book is out recently in the form of an audio book. Low pressure, low commitment series thats just full of engineering porn.
- Yeah, I loved pretty much all of Andy Weir. I should get back to the Bobiverse. I tried it once and couldn't get into it for some reason. I don't recall the exact details now, and maybe I was misunderstanding something, but there was some stuff about his drones destroying entire solar systems for raw minerals, that just seemed plain nonsensical to me? I guess with all the good things people are saying about it I should go back and figure out what rubbed me wrong the first time.
  
  I'm stuck on Bobiverse too. This whole section on the Archimedes alien did me in.
  
  there was some stuff about his drones destroying entire solar systems for raw minerals, that just seemed plain nonsensical to me?
  Not sure what exactly seems nonsensical to you but it’s a well known concept that is also explained thoroughly in the books. You might want to read up on von Neumann probes.
- Holy shit, new bobiverse? Thanks for the knowledge.
- I really wanted to love "Project Hail Mary", but Andy Weir can't write characters and that killed it for me for some reason
  
  Can you elaborate on what specifically bothered you? I didn't notice anything when I read it but it was a good while ago

Allow me to chime in with a science fiction favorite: A Canticle For Leibowitz By Walter M Miller. It’s a collections of three interrelated novellas set a few thousand years apart… but there are themes and one character present in all three. Compelling characters and lots of humor make this a must read.
Anyone else read it?
- It’s a brilliant book, though I have yet to read the sequel. Can’t recommend it enough.
  
  Isn’t that funny — me too. I’m not sure why I keep putting it off. Perhaps because it was finished by another author… the guy who wrote “They’re Made of Meat.” His name escaped me presently.
- Thanks, I'll put it on my list!
- Yep. This is a good one. And if you like Babylon 5, watch Deconstruction of Falling Stars (S04E22) which has a nod to the book.
  
  Interesting. I didn’t get into that show but perhaps I’ll give it another try.
- It's one of my favourites.
  FIAT LUX!

Murderbot series has a tremendous amount of tech.
- Heads up — Murderbot series can be fun, but I’d say it’s more “robocop” than hard sci fi.
  
  I’d say it definitely counts as competence porn though, it’s got tons of high-stakes hacking and problem solving.

Hard scifi by Greg Egan is a trip and you'll never be the same afterwards. Permutation City and Diaspora are my favorites.
For more modern take, Children of Time is beautifully narrated and I could listen to it all day for years and never get tired of the narrator.
For a universe that keeps on going with problem solving Vorkosigan Saga is very feel good and I think in line with a book like the Martian albeit a bit less hard though solid on its approach to deduction and wit.
- Yep! Everybody here keeps mentioning Greg Egan and I'll give him a shot. The rest I've read and love. Thanks!

I recently read "Blindsight" by Peter Watts which was about how first contact could work with an entirely alien species. It goes deep into both the physical and social sciences involved, and was a fun journey as well.
- Nice to see r/printSF is alive and well on Lemmy. 😄
  While Blindsight is an amazing book, I'm not sure it's got much in the way of competence porn. Some fantastic psychological science speculation for sure, though.
  
  printSF
  If Captain Picard can read physical books in his ready room in the 24th century, I can quite well read them in the 21st, thank you very much!
  (I don't actually begrudge people who prefer reading on Kindles, but I like the feel of real books)
  
  Nice to see r/printSF is alive and well on Lemmy. 😄
  RIGHT‽‽‽

Neal Stephenson's Seveneves has a lot (A LOT) of orbital mechanics jargon if you're into that sort of thing. Personally, I skipped most of it.
- His explanations are why I read any of his books. I find his prose dry and bland, even if he's telling an interesting story. I stay for the fun facts.

I recently found the Bobiverse to be a light-hearted read in this category.
Engineer becomes von Neumann probe and has to solve quite a lot of interesting issues while bootstrapping and dealing with settling in the galactic neighbourhood
- Enjoyed project hail mary, but bobiverse didn't quite do it for me. >!Atheist gets recruited by religious cult. Proceeds to go to planet of the apes to play god. I found it to be mostly ok up to that point though. !<
  Religion as portrayed in this book makes the characters very one dimensional. It's also peppered with references to popular culture, which doesn't really do that much for me.
  
  Wow you read a lot more into the religious theme than I did. I found it an exploration of the engineering behind almost every SciFi trope rather than playing god.
  And as an atheist I found the religious characterisation entirely adequate, it is a minor part of the characters personality, and it's only in the obnoxious ones that it becomes dominating. Which is quite close to how it is in my daily life.
  But yes, the whole series is made within and to serve nerd culture, it is a long long stream of references and in-jokes at multiple levels, including the main premise. It just happens to also be intelligently written.
  
  I found it to be mostly ok up to that point though.
  I'm a bit confused by this statement. The religious cult stuff takes place in like the first 15% of the first book and is then essentially dropped. What part were you ok with then? Just the 10 pages of Bob 1.0 before he got hit by a car?
- I should get back to the Bobiverse. I tried it once and couldn’t get into it for some reason. I don’t recall the exact details now, and maybe I was misunderstanding something, but there was some stuff about his drones destroying entire solar systems for raw minerals, that just seemed plain nonsensical to me? I guess with all the good things people are saying about it I should go back and figure out what rubbed me wrong the first time.
  
  It sounds like you accidentally starter with a later book because what you've described is a major plot story being built up for a bit.
  From this thread I think you might enjoy it :)

The Red Mars trilogy has some competence porn characters.
- Thanks! I bounced off the Mars trilogy. All the petty human drama and politics just felt way too much like current news (which is probably a compliment to his writing skills, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for at the time). I think I probably need a very relaxed state of mind to be able to dive into it.
- Seconded. Great series, logical, minimal unobtainium.

The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is like Horatio Hornblower in space. The main character has dwarfism and accidentally commandeers a mercenary fleet as a teenager.
- Freaking Miles antics.
- One of my favorites!

Kim Stanley-Robinson
His Mars trilogy and Science in the Capital are amazing.
He is my favorite hard science fiction writer for the blend of tech, politics, critiques of capitalism, and drama. His novels after those trilogies are good but some people find them fairly long winded and boring in parts... actually I do too, ah well.
- Thanks! I bounced off the Mars trilogy. All the petty human drama and politics just felt way too much like current news (which is probably a compliment to his writing skills, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for at the time). I think I probably need a very relaxed state of mind to be able to dive into it.

I'd reccomend the Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor.
First person narrative that fully embraces its main character as an engineering superstar with galactic level influence.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/192752-bobiverse
- Yeah, I've been told to reread it since apparently I missed some critical stuff my first time through.

Greg Bear - EON but more maths heavy, and has a bit of politics but a very good read
Larry Niven - Ring world series (maybe not competence focused, but strong science backing)
- Yep, added EON to my list based on the numerous recs here. Ringworld I've gone through, it's such a classic!
  
  Protector and sequels, too. I also liked Integral Trees, but maybe a little less so.

Tom Clancy SSN.
Good light reading (historical fiction) for before bed or when you wake up at 3am due to the sound of the Herscithem outside.
- Hers what?
  
  Herscithem
  From Google, 1st link: https://tinyurl.com/4xtwkcnk

The Fountains of Paradise It's literally an SF love letter to engineering.
Also there are two (or three?) sequels to Rendezvous with Rama.
Greg Bear's Eon/Eternity and The Forge of God/Anvil of Stars are all engineering delight.
2001, 2010, 2051, 3001 are great classics.
- There are no sequels to Rama. I wish there were, but there aren't. Odyssey series is a classic, yeah.
  Currently reading and enjoying Eon, so Greg's my next month of reading I guess! Will check out Fountains after that.
  
  There are no sequels to Rama.
  There's only six Dune books too ;-)
- Eon is definitely an all time favorite book of mine but Eternity is.... quite a slog

Nathan Lowell's Trader's Tales From the Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper series is pure competence porn. There's very little action or intrigue, just some guy working his way up from the bottom in interstellar travel and trade via, well, competence. Haha!

Do you like protagonists that use their wits to beat a scenario or the hard science more?
For example a fun read that’s, in my opinion, best experienced as an audiobook is the dungeon crawler carl. It’s definitely a good example of the first type. It’s not realistic. It’s literally real life made into a D&D game (LitRPG) it is just one scenario after another of Carl just finding ways to manipulate and play with the “rules” of the messed up game.
If you’re more into the hard science than The Expanse as others have said. Or maybe even the Revelation Space series where it is future tech but relativistic time plays a part. Less of the “one person/group against all odds” but a good read nonetheless.
- More looking for the 2nd at the moment. Though yes I did enjoy DCC and all the other series you mention, I've read them all (well maybe not all of Rev Space, at some point I lost track of the timeline and gave up).
  
  I checked the good reads list of top rated hard science and saw a few items I can recommend.
  Altered Carbon. A fun and intense read. Future hard science. If people’s consciousness could be transmitted/used for interstellar travel kind of thing then the scenarios listed here adhere to their own crazy rules.
  Three Body Problem. First book is amazing. The sequels are good enough but the translations are a little rougher but the story carries through.
  Enders Game. Tactical and hard science aspects to it. Gets more metaphysical later in the series.
  Contact. Absolute gem that I re-read a few years back.
  Ancillary Justice. More future/hard science but worth mentioning in any list I’m willing to put Altered Carbon in. It has a viewpoint and it’s use of alternate societal perspectives (from a society that is uniform in so many ways to organic “ship” drones to questions about what is a person/identity) all wrapped in a great sci-fi story
  The moon is a harsh mistress. A little dated and the way women/people are referenced shows it (much like foundation) but a solid one that is a little more hard science and may be more in line with what you’re thinking of.
  Going over this list I realize how hard it is to find true hard science (Martian) that doesn’t lean into the more future tech but consistent physical laws (Expanse) to way future nano tech or consciousness transfer (Altered Carbon, etc)

"Quarter Share: Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper" is a good one. It's usually not at high stakes as 'The Martian", but it's a journey across a well developed science fiction galaxy with a thoughtfully detailed societies and economies. And keep an eye out for the author, Nathan Lowell, here on the Fediverse. He seems nice.
"The Long Earth" is another in that the starting premise is deceptively simple, and then every social, economic and political upheaval stems directly from the single core science fiction premise.
- I really loved the concept and worldbuilding of the Long Earth. However I felt that the books didn't focus as much on the nitty-gritty as I'd like, instead becoming really metaphysical. I'd have loved to see how every aspect of society changed over time, but instead got a human interest story about a few people. Fun, but ultimately I felt like a lot of potential was wasted.
  Solar Clipper looks like some nice cozy slice of life SF, will put that on my list for when I'm in the mood for that :)
  
  Agreed on "The Long Earth". It was fun, but on the light side of what the premise begs for.
  I keep hoping we get more entries that explore the possibilities even further.

"Planetfall" by Emma Newman might fit your preferences judging by the things you said about books you've read! it's a 4 book series (i think) and mostly deals with the inner psychology of the main character of each book. also has a bunch of engineering in it, mostly hard sci-fi!

Recently, I've been reading the Interdependency series by John Scalzi. It starts with The Collapsing Empire, featuring an unlikely heir to the throne, a time of trouble and strife, and the likely impending doom of all mankind. A lot of the story focuses on the unlikely heir grappling with how to hold things together against the catastrophe that most people don't really believe is coming.
- Looks cool! I enjoyed Scalzi's Old Man's War series, will be nice to visit him again.

Another vote for Greg Egan. And I too really enjoyed the Children of Time series and anything written by Alastair Reynolds, although I don't think the genre is exactly what you're looking for. Finding modern, hard sci-fi really is pretty difficult.
I get where you're coming from with KSR's Mars series. I think Ministry for the Future was a better read, personally.
Also, I find that a lot of Crichton scratches similar itch to Andy Weir. Especially things like Andromeda Strain and Airframe.
- I might give Ministry a shot, haven't tried it yet. And Greg Egan is on my list now. Crichton, I did not like Sphere and I guess it turned me away from trying his other books. I guess I should give some of them another shot.

Just finished Exodus: The Archimedes Engine on audible. Space opera with a lot of world building. S bit slow to get started, but I really enjoyed it.
- Argh. Peter Hamilton. Don't all his books end with deus ex machinas? I got so annoyed at how Night's Dawn ended that I've avoided all his books ever since.
  
  I'll agree on Night's Dawn, but his Pandora Star series is still one of my favourite series and good competence porn. The characters aren't stupid and actually solve problems and predict events.

the mars trilogy (red mars/green mars/blue mars) by kim stanley robinson
- Thanks! I bounced off the Mars trilogy. All the petty human drama and politics just felt way too much like current news (which is probably a compliment to his writing skills, but it just wasn't what I was looking for at the time). I think I probably need a very relaxed state of mind to be able to dive into it.
  
  fair. to be honest, i havent read it since it was released in the 90s. i mostly remember the tech

105 comments