Exploration book series in reading order

Ben Bova

138 books• 17 series

Ben Bova, born Benjamin William Bova on November 8, 1932, was an American writer and editor whose career lasted 60 years; Bova died on November 29, 2020. As editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Bova won the Hugo Award six times, later served as editorial director of Omni, and was president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. The catalogue holds 138 books of science fiction and science fact, from The Star Conquerors (1959) to Pluto (2025). Non-fiction such as The Milky Way Galaxy (1961) sits beside series including Grand Tour, Orion, Kinsman, Sam Gunn, Jake Ross and the Star Quest Trilogy. Subjects name space opera, lunar bases, space stations and space colonies.

Isaac Asimov

553 books• 31 series

Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer who also taught biochemistry at Boston University. Hard science fiction is the core of Asimov's reputation, and the Foundation series about a fallen space empire is the most famous work; Asimov ranked with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke as one of the "Big Three" of the genre. The output also covers mysteries, fantasy and popular science, with non-fiction lines such as How Did We Find Out and the Library of the Universe. Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 books. This catalogue opens with the story Marooned Off Vesta (1939) and names Asimov on 400 of the listed books.

Stephen Baxter

78 books• 19 series

Time travel, alternative history, space exploration and prehistoric peoples run through the 78 catalogued books of Stephen Baxter, an English hard science fiction author born in 1957 who holds degrees in mathematics and engineering. Raft (1991), Timelike Infinity (1992), Anti-Ice (1993), Flux (1993), Ring (1994), The Time Ships (1995), Voyage (1996) and Titan (1997) are among the early titles, and Hearthspace (2025) is the newest. Series include the Xeelee Sequence, Manifold, Destiny's Children, Time's Tapestry, Northland, NASA Trilogy, Mammoth, Flood and World Engines.

Carl Sagan

17 books• 2 series

Carl Sagan wrote popular science about astronomy, life on other planets and the search for signals from them. Intelligent Life in the Universe (1966) is the earliest catalogued title, followed by The Cosmic Connection, Dragons of Eden, Broca's Brain and Cosmos (1980). Seventeen books make up the catalogue, fiction included, and it closed in 2006 with The Varieties of Scientific Experience.

Arthur C. Clarke

74 books• 10 series

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (16 December 1917 to 19 March 2008) was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer and television host. Clarke promoted space travel in books and magazine essays, received UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for popularising science in 1961, and was called the Prophet of the Space Age. The Space Odyssey and Rama series appear in the catalogue with A Time Odyssey and Blue Planet, and Against the Fall of Night (1948), Prelude to Space (1950) and The Sands of Mars (1951) are among the early titles.

Stephen Hawking

6 books

Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942 - 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist who directed research at Cambridge's Centre for Theoretical Cosmology and held the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics there from 1979 to 2009. Born in Oxford to a family of physicians, Hawking entered University College, Oxford at seventeen and took a first-class degree in physics. The six books catalogued here are the George stories for readers in grades 3 to 5, from George's Secret Key to the Universe (2007) to George and the Ship of Time (2018), covering cosmology, space flight and astronauts.

Chris Hadfield

6 books• 2 series

Chris Hadfield is a retired Canadian astronaut who flew two Space Shuttle missions and commanded the International Space Station. His six catalogued books start with An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth (2013) and You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes (2014), filed under space flight, photographs from space and Canadian biography. The Apollo Murders series carries Hadfield's fiction, running from The Apollo Murders (2021) through The Defector (2023) to Final Orbit (2025).

Ken MacLeod

31 books• 8 series

Ken MacLeod, born in 1954, is a Scottish science fiction writer whose novels The Sky Road and The Night Sessions each won the BSFA Award, with further nominations for the Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Campbell Memorial awards. A techno-utopianist, MacLeod works libertarian socialist themes through his fiction and has taken the Prometheus Award three times. He was a Guest of Honour at the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow in 2024 and sits on the advisory board of the Edinburgh Science Festival. Twenty-six books span 1995 to 2024, including the Fall Revolution, Engines of Light and Corporation Wars sequences.