A bildungsroman like no other, Dune captures the hearts of young and old, alike. Paul Atreides' journey from boy to man, warrior, and finally, a god, commands your attention from the very first page. Few things are guaranteed in life, but Frank Herbert's classic, one of the most celebrated novels of all time - science fiction or otherwise - is enduringly readable, endearingly memorable, and entirely unforgettable.

"You are what you do, when it counts." - The Masao

Such is the essence of this novel. Though not nearly as painstakingly crafted as Dune, this novel grabs the second spot on the list by sheer audacity. There are many, many outstanding offerings of military science fiction that simply don't approach the rawness of this gut wrenching fable that warns of the sheer incompetence of the martial beast. So often we are reminded that soldiers are nameless numbers; they are cannon fodder, marching toward an inevitable end. But when the madness and the pressure of battle become too great for the mind to bear, survival finds a way.

William Gibson is considered the father of cyberpunk, but in hindsight Neuromancer reads drab and blurry, whereas Snow Crash is most visceral and radiant. With whip-smart wit, Stephenson brings Hiro Protagonist (yes, that's really the main character's name) to larger than life proportions, both in actual and virtual reality. Where Gibson flounders at describing virtual life, Stephenson excels. Indeed, the somewhat infamous Second Life software was inspired by Snow Crash. The Top 13 loves this tongue-in-cheek, playful chronicle.

Simmons is a consistently amazing author and his pen arcs well outside of the science fiction genre (see, for example, his recent historically based fiction). Yet Hyperion remains his most original work to date. Told as a frame story, an interlocking plot hesitantly emerges from the point of view of six pilgrims, though their recountings do not merge seamlessly. The murky picture that develops resembles a sort of Faustian Canterbury Tales.

Left to the hands of lesser men, a series of works about social engineering in the framework of science fiction would almost surely produce a dud. Thankfully, Asimov, one of the most brilliant and prolific science fiction authors of all time, penned this first entry in this mind-bending narrative (as well as six succeeding volumes). Asimov lends his unique and thoughtful intelligence to the story, consistently surprising and amazing even the most adroit reader. For those fearing entrapment in another huge series, fear not. The cardinal book stands alone.

At the risk of retrieving a tired turn of phrase, if any novel on this list is deserved of the label tour de force, Fire is the one. Vinge possesses that rare ability to devise characters so otherworldly and outside the realm of the familiar, while still flawlessly integrating them into an emotional and personal framework that we can fathom. In a nimble two-step, Vinge offers parallel threads, one panoramic, the other microscopic in comparison, spinning a yarn with uncommon mastery.

Miéville thrusts heroism on an unlikely subject, as a scientist confronted with his greatest challenge unleashes a nightmare upon his city. To put things right, he must take on the highest halls of government and the deepest depths of the criminal underworld. The prose is alternately gaudy and awkward, then beauteous and apt. Miéville does not cow to the editor nor should he; in Perdido Street Station he has created a lush and imaginative realm, filled with all manner of oddment and mutation, terror and wonder. His menagerie of characters and the intricacies of his setting leave a lasting, possibly scarring mental image.

The human conscience is able to be saved digitally. Beating death is simply a matter of uploading into a new body, if money is no object. This is something that killers might want to entertain, as those who have been wronged often seek retribution. Ostensibly a murder mystery, Altered Carbon combines noir fiction and cyberpunk in a dizzying concoction. Morgan effortlessly balances the pace of revealing the plot with scenes of incredible and frequent violence. His gift to us is one of the most hardboiled characters to ever grace the written page.

Many are familiar with the recent film version - which follows the novel almost exactly - though the tale loses its ferociousness on screen. Thematically, Scanner tackles drug use, identity, and corruption of the state. A semi-autobiographical work by Dick, dressed in the familiar trappings of science fiction (Dick feared low sales from a "normal" story), he dares us to imagine a future where America has lost the war on drugs. With the identity of undercover agents hidden, it is possible for them to remain fully anonymous to both law enforcement and the drug community - but drug addiction leads to interesting psychological consequences.

Equal parts espionage and space opera (imagine a James Bond story without earthly bounds), Consider Phlebas is the obvious wading pool for entering the sizable sum of Banks' Culture series. People and machines coexist peacefully in the Culture, though the common thread running through the series indicates there will be net loss for the biological characters and net gain for the mechanical. Take everything you know about predictable, comfortable, usual plot and throw it out the window. Expect nothing, as moral ambiguity and unforeseen plot twists run roughshod over your emotions. Banks is a merciless owner of his creations.

Morlock and Eloi, two words that strike a chord with even the most uninitiated to science fiction, are revisited and revamped in this update to the classic The Time Machine, which was recognized as an official sequel by the estate of The Time Machine author H.G. Wells. In an attempt to return to the original future to save one of the Eloi, the time traveler stops relatively earlier along the arc of the future and in another timeline. What follows takes us from the Paleocene to the furthest reaches of the future in a grand and sweeping tale. Baxter ties up all loose ends with aplomb.

Exploring and expanding on the subject of colonization, governmental power, and revolt, Heinlein develops the backdrop of a lunar colony tethered to the Earth by duty and run by a supercomputer gone self-aware. One of the computer operators stumbles upon this fact and, with the computer's help, is able to guide Luna to independence from Earth. Within this fantastic setting, Heinlein manages to interweave libertarian overtones and innovative cultural modifications brought about by the colonial inhabitants' rare environment, all while painting a wondrous picture of a frontier-town Moon.

The science fiction genre is often criticized for a lack of character development, but in Rama, it quickly becomes clear that the characters are minimized for a reason: Everything pales in comparison to Rama, a great craft that has appeared in our solar system, and the mysteries it holds. Clarke is a master of suspense, and while he is most often associated with his 2001 series, Rama is his most decorated novel. Perhaps it was so well received because it accomplished what many others have not; it introduces a mystery without revealing the man behind the curtain.