Top 10 Science Fiction Books - Banned Books 

I came across your channel very recently when I was attempting to satisfy my thirst for cyberpunk/techno-dystopia media, and you have easily become my favourite in the realm of literature and overall entertainment. Keep up the great work!

It's like people don't want to ban books for porn or bad language. They want to ban books for presenting ideas they don't like.

When I was in HS in the 1965, my senior English teacher had to submit her reading list to the principal who struck off almost all of her recommendations and gave her a list of "approved" books. When she gave us the "approved" list, she explained what it was. When we asked what she had recommended that was removed, she smiled and slowly (so we could write the titles down) told us. So, we read all of the banned books...which we probably wouldn't have done.

Banning (burning) Fahrenheit 451 is the definition of irony

I was in high school in the 70’s and my literature teacher chose Brave new World, Slaughterhouse 5, and 1984 for their political content. The Vietnam War was still raging and this was part of her protest to have us read these book.

Great video. The only thing worse than the outright banning of a book is the decision, by an editor or publisher, to remove an 'offending' chapter. As mentioned by another person, the last chapter of A Clockwork Orange was cut for the US printing. The ebook version of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is missing the chapter Way up in the middle of the air. All because someone in power at the publishing house had the idea that the expurgated version would sell better. That's vandalism.

I only came across your channel recently, and was so surprised by the books on the list. I grew up in sixties Europe and by the time I reached Grammar School in the 70s A good 60 percent of the books cited were recommended readers at school (12-16). It’s so extraordinary that they are now banned readers!

Good list and good description of the books. I live in England so was surprised that these were banned! Some of these are on the school curriculum over here.

TRIVIA: For many years, A Clockwork Orange was marketed in the States without its final chapter, in which Alex is completely cured, grows up, gets married and has a child of his own. The version without the final chapter is the one that Mr. Kubrick USD for the film. He didn't want the full story for the same reason that the US publisher balked: the full ending was too soft and made Alex look weak... It was "too British" of an ending. The chapter was tacked on to several editions in the 2000s.

I read 7 of your 10 books before I graduated from high school in 1973. Makes me wonder where and when they were banned.

I am surprised they haven't gone after some of Robert A. Heinlein's books. If you look at some of his charactor's morality actions that people today will reject, but at the same time they love Heinlein. Not that these should be in a grade school library, it's up to individual parents to over see their kids reading. I watched what my son read until he was old enough to choose, the same with music.

Most of these titles were required reading in my high school. College reading was a joke but associated with a group who thrived on science fiction. These books matures the mind. Makes one question their purpose, existence, and beliefs. Inspires one to go and find their answers. Hmm, it is time for me to question and explore new possibilities and get out of this slough I’m in. Thanks for this video!

Michael, glad to say that I had very few book banning challenges during my forty year as a public librarian. Some of my neighboring library districts had nasty challenges but very little worry for me. I'm not sure why there were no challenges of Science Fiction during my years in the business so perhaps it's just the type of reader the genre attracts?

Brave New World was required reading in my high school history class, along with Future Shock. It expands the mind and creates interesting conversations.

Great list! Several books that I love. One very minor thing about Farenheit 451. I think it was "firemen" instead of "firefighters" . The name is still applicable to our real world firefighters, but was intended to be a sort of double entendre for the reader. I'll go in the corner and talk through my nose and push my glasses up now.

In Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury accurately predicts the rise of internet-based social media. You could do a whole video on the fireman's wife.

A great list. I have read them all except Saga. The of the reasons why some books get banned is definitely perplexing.

Once banned, almost all of these books are now classics of the genre.

Great list Michael. Fantastic video. Strange how so many of these books are used as examples of society gone wrong and how thought provoking they are and yet people try to ban them.

Great list of books! Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorites. I need to start reading some Vonnegut.

This is soooo weird... many of these are books that should be (and in many countries are) on the mandatory reading list for any advanced english literature course in school. Hearing that people attempt to ban these books feels so unreal.

I read Slaughterhouse-Five for high school English class. Good book and I became a fan of Kurt Vonnegut.

In Slaughterhouse-5, Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. He has a cozy home in a zoo on Tralfamadore that he shares with Montana Wildhack. Vonnegut was a POW in Dresden when it was firebombed; his air raid shelter was the slaughterhouse of the title. He had often said that the movie adaptation of Slaughterhouse-5 was his favorite of the ones made from his books. I love it.

The remarkable thing about this list is how great most of these books are! I've read all but 2 but will be adding the Leguin and Clockwork Orange to the TBR. Thanks for the video!

Great list! I’ve read several of these but still need to get to some of them.

Great video! I still haven't read any Ursula K LeGuin and that needs to change soon.

I love it when you hold up the copy of cats cradle with the "green?" that matches your green screen, so it looks like you can see through it. Very Sci Fi. Btw. great episode. I've read a lot of those titles.

When Slaughterhouse-Five came up, I asked myself if I wouldn't have preferred Cat's Cradle to put on this list. Now I see that you did. If there was an author to put on the top ten twice, it would have to be the esteemed Mr. Vonnegut.

Nothing draws attention to a book like a good old fashioned book ban. A friend of mine once woke up in the middle of the night in time to see his neighbor throwing a book in the ditch and lighting it on fire. Never found out what it was though.

I’ve read 9 out of 10, and thought they were great! This could almost double as a top 10 list for me, thanks!

So MANY books I need to go back and re-read. Thanks for trip down memory lane!

Interesting collection. I have an autographed Ender's Game on my bookshelf, and Vonnegut went to my mother-in-law's high school. I once worked in a booth in a parking lot that was once Vonnegut Hardware.

Thanks for the list. I am adding them to my read list. Cat's Cradle looks cool when you are holding it since the V is being affected by the blue screen.

What amazes me is how many of the so called 'banned' books were on my high school's 'suggested reading' list back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We read and discussed in depth one 'major' novel a trimester. As a freshman I read The Scarlet Letter, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and The Diary of Ann Frank, As a sophomore I read The Most Dangerous Game, The Fall of the House of Usher and Animal Farm. This should give you an idea what was taught.

Orson Scott Card wrote Ender's Game in 1985, when he was still fairly liberal in outlook (witness his recording of The Secular Humanism Revival Meeting). He was radicalized after 9/11 (witness his disavowal of The Secular Humanist Revival Meeting).

Just discovered your site. Well done! Banned books are always a fascinating topic for me personally. I always keep in mind, though, the difference in school libraries and public libraries. All schools are to take seriously the notion of 'in loco parentis', that is, the school is to act as parent for the students while attending school. NOt to take the place of parents (which some educations tend to do). Even Stephen King embraced this loco parentis concept, and, in an interview/Q&A went on to say yes, the school has the right to ban a book it believes (or believes the parents will) find objectionable). HOWEVER!, King said, once you're away from the school, run, do not walk, to the local public library where you will most likely find the objectionable book and check it out IMMEDIATELY AND READ IT! Information in such a book is important for you to know because that information (or mind set) is objectionable to some in positions of power, meaning it reveals what is wrong with the position held by those in power. And for a kid this is always first and foremost parental power. Now, here's where it gets super-intersting for me: what if the PUBLIC library has ALSO BANNED the book? I raise this point because it seems to me that most of the books in your video were banned by school libraries. Yes? No? Schools ban because parents screech loudly about a book. Could be one parent. Public banning, though. . . well, this is when what is objectionable reveals not just what is wrong with, say, some parent's viewpoint but reveals what is wrong with the viewpoint held by THOSE IN POWER IN THAT PARTICULAR COUNTY/CITY, meaning possibly a LARGE GROUP OF POWERFUL (I.E. LIKELY RICH, BUT NOT NECESSARILY) PEOPLE WHO CONTROL THAT AREA/COUNTY. THIS is when a banned book gets really interesting because it now reveals political agendas and most likely the REAL REASONS behind what laws are enforced in that particular area of the country. Case in point: the banning of Huckleberry Finn long before the pejoritive term for black or Afro-Americans was objected to. This book completely undercut all Jim Crow laws, revealing that they were not just racist, but downright evil in denying a whole people their inalienable rights according to the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. The highly realistic portrayal of Jim, and Huckleberry's gradual realization and coming to terms with the truth that Jim is a human being in all ways imaginable, just like Huckleberry is, and therefore, what is Huckleberry going to do now that he realizes this. . . Yeah, banned books are VERY intersting for historical research and for discussion in contemporary society, who's in charge and what do such people find objectionable. . . . . Great video, and it never occurred to me to consider ANY science fiction novel in such a list.

Great theme for a video! Ireland in the mid-20th century followed the Vatican's black-list of any literature that wasn't in line with the church's total control of social norms. My mum was in secondary school in the early 60s, taught by Dominican nuns. But her teachers would bring in blacklisted books, e.g. Catcher in the Rye, and tell the girls it was an important work of literature that they *should* read. Good call to put Farenheit 451 at the top of the list, as a banned book about banning books!!! Also, I highly recommend the audiobook of A Clockwork Orange read by Burgess himself. He has a shouty North-of-England voice that puts a totally different flavour on it, especially the Nadzat! Loved your t-shirt collection too.... jealous!

100% agree that the Speaker for the Dead is the strongest booking the Enderverse. Great list, thanks. And so it goes.

Love the shout-out to Fantom Comics! I used to stop by there when I wrapped up rehearsal at Studio Theatre.

Thanks for the reading list. I’ve read 7 of the books here but a couple I don’t really remember so a rereading is required. Enders Game is one of my favorite books and it begins an excellent series of books well worth reading. Left Hand of Darkness was very unique to me. The concept of people being genetically modified to be both male and female was fascinating. A big burly Army General could have given birth to a child when he was a female. Well worth a read. Hand Maids Tale is mainly being banned because we appear to be in the early stages of the story line. Those that are pushing a far right “Christian” nation don’t like the connotation that it is not ideal. And of course “1984” was forecasting to what is going on today. This book ties in nicely with a Hand Maids Tale as to where today’s fundamentalists will lead us

This is a great list of the best of science fiction! I recommend them all.

Fahrenheit 451 is not only about burning books, but also about the offered and preferred alternative: mindless television shows...

This is a great idea and a really interesting list. In what context were these books banned? I assume it was in schools? I can think of a number of great Russian SF books that were banned in the Sovet Union - Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, Strugatsky Bros' Roadside Picnic, Mikhail Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog. All really interesting reads, banned for political reasons.

One graphic novel series everybody should read: The Incal by Jodorowsky & Moebius. An absolute must. Thanks again Mike!!!

I love how cool the V looks on the Cats Cradle cover

Enders game just seemed like Heinlein starship troopers fan fiction

I'm only at 5 of the 10 - I'm excited to read the others as our views are well aligned. Are you only into sci-fi? Because I would love to see similar videos for each genre

The Handmaid's Tale is a magnificent book, even creepier now than it was when it first came out. I've read almost all of the books on your list.

i have a question, this banned books list its like banned on your country or that they are more likely to get banned anywhere? i have to check if there are banned books on my country. also, i never thought fahrenheit might be banned anywhere, silly me. on saga i think its labeled for mature readers (i had read the first issues when it came out but didnt liked, i just wanted to read something else of brian since y the last man) so its ok to not handle it to your children heh.

I've read and liked them all. Good reviews!

The main thing I know Orson Scott Card for is that he wrote Commodore 64 programs for Ahoy! magazine. Haven't read any of his SF yet

I delayed reading 1984 for a long time because I was afraid of gratuitous violence but there wasn't as much as I feared

If you had a good time with the graphic novels, you might like the trade paperbacks of Vertigo's DMZ by Brian Wood and Ricardo Burchielli. It is a near future, so I'm not sure if it counts as science fiction for this list, but it is similar to The Handmaid's Tale in that it is speculative fiction.

Children being recruited as soldiers: as if this didn't happen in many countries right now!😢

Great list and video! As many have commented here, all these banned books are thought-provoking and make us analyse our lives and societies. I’ve read a few and want to get to others. A couple however might be too difficult for me right now, especially with their violence (Clockwork). Like you, I don’t believe in censorship, whether a full novel or bits in one. Thanks 😊

A note on Handmaid.. not the first time I have heard the main character's name given as "off-fred". Her name is "of-fred" because she currently is being used by Commander Fred Waterford. The handmaids are considered so disposable they are not allowed to have names, they are named after their current user. If they change to another household either due to giving birth or failing to become pregnant their name is changed to represent that man instead, IE "of-glen".

Hi Michael, I see that you've recommended Saga. I'm going to recommend you check out Grant Morrison's The Invisibles. One of the greatest comic books of all time, and it was a huge influence on The Matrix as well. There's sci-fi, sigil and Voodoo magick, time travel, metafiction, immense psychedelia, highly Lynchian moments and mindfuck maximus. It's Grant's magnum opus and several essays and even books have been written about it.

Banned? I've read 9/10 of these, and have 8 in my library. No book should be banned, but I do agree with age restrictions.

What an interesting topic! I had no idea that any of these books had ever been banned. I’m not sure if you mentioned where they had been banned, or when? Was it schools in the US, or some schools? I’m not sure how banning actually works :)

On "Cats Cradle" you can see the back ground through the book he holds up. But his hand does not show through?

I noticed you are a fan of some graphic novels and wanted to suggest one, with great art, about Brave New World which you can search for.

An interesting selection. I'd be interested to see a list of the most-often challenged SF books.

The 'banning' of books in the UK from schools, libraries and so on simply doesn't happen in the same way as it seems to regionally in the US: it simply does not happen at all, really. So we tend to view 'banned books' as ones where there have been legal cases around the publication or withdrawal of titles and most of these happened before 1970- the 1960s were the last time books came under fire in a big way in Britain by the law- D H Lawrence, Hubert Selby Jnr and so on- the only SF novels that were actually banned in the UK by law- meaning that the publishers were successfully prosecuted by the authorities were Charles Platt's 'The Gas' and Samuel R Delany's 'The Tides of Lust'- I think you've probably seen my video on this. Incidentally, I've read all of the books in your list too- mostly decades ago, since the majority are seminal works. Vonnegut loomed large, I think he'd have liked that in a way....enjoyed it, Michael, thanks.

I'm surprised you did not mention Behold The Man by Michael Moorcock. I read the book years ago and again just recently. I was confused with my second read (a different edition) because the book seemed altered and abridged from what I remember. I suspect some very powerful religions were able to exert their influence and have the novel significantly changed.

with the exception of 'enders game' which i started but couldn't finish, i have read and enjoyed all of this literature. i am amazed that someone has seen fit to ban such gems. wonder what they'd make of some of jeter's cyberpunk? farmer's "image of the beast" and sequal would probably leave them catatonic and drooling😶

Wow. A great list.👍👍👍👍👍

I have read 6 out of 10. Asimov wrote one in which it took three sentient beings to create another sentient being. can't think of the title off hand. enjoyed this very much.

Philip Jose Farmer ended up on some ban lists as well.

In Fahrenheit 451, there is a subtlety of language at work, the main character is not a firefighter, he is a "fireman". The "firemen" set fires, not stop fires, they are employed to burn books. Calling them "firefighters" gives a mixed idea of what they are and that might cause some initial confusion to people who are new to the book.

Ooooohh I've read most of these! I guess I'd be banned too! Haven't seen Saga before though - do you think that would be a good vacation book?

Brave New World was one of the books we studied at high school when I was 14 back in the 60s. None of us had nervous breakdowns or required psychological therapy because of it. I guess we weren't snowflakes at the time. I've read most of these books and have enjoyed them. Perhaps it's because I love Sci-Fi and stories dealing with dystopia. I've even written a couple of novels myself dealing with subjects likely to get them banned

I was blown away, as some of these books I've read in high school. I am in Australia though.

People who ban books should be banned from banning books. I read all of these except for the graphic novel, many of them when I was young, and am glad I did. Lots of irony in this list. Vivian

Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and 1984 were all required reading in my late 70s High School in of all places: Central Florida.

This is now a creepy video knowing what we know about Michael

So who banned Slaughter House 5 and when and where was it banned? I have not heard that at all and the reasons given sound like its been banned here in the U.S. and it is not. Excellent book btw, the movie actually followed the book quite well compared to many other books turned in to movies, from what i remember.

Great list, I've read most of them.

Do you have a 451 kit ?

I'm not clear what people mean by banned book. Are they not available? Is there any book that has been banned from being printed and/or sold in the US?

#1 and #2 should be mandatory reading for all students, probably around the 9th grade.

Thank you for recommending _Saga_ - I have read and have all nine others; now I read this one, too. People, read all of these with open mind and heart, and *fight* those who would like to stop you. _Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too,_ as Heinrich Heine so presciently wrote.

I would be skeptical till you define banned. Do you have to smuggle these books from the Netherlands?

I enjoy you channel. I looked into banned books because I had never noticed all of those books (and many others) were banned and saw that yes, they are. But by who and what’s the penalty of reading them? It seems like a bunch of nobodies made a list that nobody cares about or even pays attention to. It like a government making rules for people that live light years away. Who would care what they said. But keep up the good work.

Where are all those books banned? I never caught this important piece of information in this video. And what "banned" actually means? Books cannot be sold in stores? Cannot be in public libraries? Current copies cannot be sold on secondary market? Or they just cannot be reprinted?

Regarding SAGA I work in a Comic book store This graphic novel is simply the BEST thing on the shelves I have also worked in a Porn store and am familiar with the genre There is NOTHING obscene or pornographic about this book .It is mildly and briefly graphic in some small points That is all You should choose your words better

I have read all but one of these. Now I have to find that one

I find myself troubled by the notion of people banning books such as these when I find myself much more disturbed by slasher flicks or other violence-oriented material that pass as entertainment. I've read a few of the books on this list, others I'm familiar with their movie versions. I read voraciously as a child and I don't recall being irretrievably damaged by any of the books I'd read, as some of these ban-hungry adults seem to fear. In middle school, I read a few books that a few adults would've crooked an eyebrow at. I remember reading "The Deer Hunter" and being completely drawn into it. If I could be said to be disturbed by any book, it was by "Lord of the Flies" and the barbarity of a bunch of schoolboys stranded on an island. I was saddened by the death of Piggy at the hands of other kids, but I don't think it caused me any lasting emotional damage. Where has "parental guidance" gone? I don't believe the authors of these books were writing them to be mean; they were expressing matters that they had found disturbing, had experienced or were otherwise thought to interesting subjects worth writing about. There are a lot of dark, terrible things in this world that cannot be eradicated by simply banning and hiding them. Dark human matters will persist because we don't take steps to understand why they happen and to deal with the conditions that feed them. We don't need to ban books... just make sure that kids (and ourselves) are emotionally ready to deal with them and provide them with guidance when they have questions.

I heard about SAGA but I haven't got my hands on a copy yet. It cool that Fahrenheit 451 made #1, which is a sort of like a joke.

it's been quite a few years since i read enders game, i really do not remember anything in it that could be described as pornographic

A banned book is a book that is no longer available to anyone as the government removes it from all locations and will not allow the sale of the book. These books are not banned, they are freely available on amazon and in the few bookstores that remain. Definitions matter, truth matters.

Are these books banned in America or worldwide?

My Favorite SF Writer was Theodore Sturgeon & his Book Venus Plus X was also banned... He also wrote a couple of my Favorite Star Trek Originals, "Shore Leave" & "Amok In Time" & wrote the Pon Farr Vulcan Mating Ritual & the Vulcan Greeting "Live Long & Prosper" & hand symbol. Also a couple of Twilight Zone episodes too. Interesting fact I got to stay in the House Aldous Huxley lived in Ojai, CA

Pity you did not add to your list "Camp Concentration" by Thomas Disch.

I am surprised Hubbards Decology is not included in your selection of banned books.

Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein and The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail.

In Fahrenheit 451, Montag is a “Fireman”, not a “Fire Fighter”.

Naked austronauts sounds like the Sally Forth comcis by Wallace Wood. lol. I agree. I'm not for banning books or censuring books as well.

It amazes me how many of those I found in my Middle School library and I read them. It probably explains why I am such a free thinker, but I would much rather they be placed in High School due to the very adult content in some of them.

When I read Brave New World, I interpreted it as a warning against that society , other people seem to interpret it as an advocacy for what he writing about.

Kurt vonnegut was parodied in Superman as "Wade Halibut Jr".