Science fiction · Similar reads
Books like Foundation
The best books like Foundation are Dune, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and The Selfish Gene. Foundation by Isaac Asimov is about decline of empire, prediction and free will, knowledge as power. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Dune
01
Frank Herbert · Science fiction
Dune is set in a feudal interstellar civilization thousands of years in the future, on the desert planet Arrakis — the only source of the spice melange, which enables space travel and extends life.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
02
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari · History
Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Selfish Gene
03
Richard Dawkins · Science
The Selfish Gene reframes evolution from the organism's point of view to the gene's.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - Guns, Germs, and Steel
04
Jared Diamond · Science
Guns, Germs, and Steel is Jared Diamond's attempt to answer a question posed to him by a Papua New Guinean politician named Yali: why did Europeans end up with so much cargo — wealth, technology, power — while other peoples had comparatively little?
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Atlas Six
05
Olivie Blake · Fantasy
Six of the world's most powerful young magicians are recruited by the Alexandrian Society, a secret organization that has preserved forbidden knowledge since antiquity.
Both dig into knowledge as power.
Read the summary → - The Name of the Wind
06
Patrick Rothfuss · Fantasy
The Name of the Wind is the first volume of the Kingkiller Chronicle, told as the oral history of Kvothe — a figure of such mythological status that stories about him have become wildly contradictory and probably false.
Both dig into knowledge as power.
Read the summary → - 2001: A Space Odyssey
07
Arthur C. Clarke · Science fiction
2001: A Space Odyssey begins with prehistoric man-apes encountering a featureless black monolith that somehow catalyzes their cognitive leap from prey to hunter.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Fire Upon the Deep
08
Vernor Vinge · Science fiction
The galaxy in A Fire Upon the Deep is zoned by the speed of thought: near the galactic core, the Slowness, where intelligence itself is limited; farther out, the Unthinking Depths; and further still, the Transcend, where entities of incomprehensible intelligence emerge and occasionally intervene in the affairs of the merely civilized.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
09
A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Becky Chambers · Science fiction
Rosemary Harper boards the Wayfarer under a false identity, hoping to escape a family history she cannot speak about.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Memory Called Empire
10
Arkady Martine · Science fiction
Mahit Dzmare, ambassador from a small, semi-independent mining station to the vast Teixcalaanli Empire, arrives at the capital to find her predecessor has died under suspicious circumstances and the neural implant that was supposed to give her access to his memories and knowledge is three years out of date.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - All Systems Red
11
Martha Wells · Science fiction
Murderbot is a SecUnit — part robot, part cloned human tissue — that has hacked its own governor module and is technically free, though it has chosen not to tell anyone.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - Annihilation
12
Jeff VanderMeer · Science fiction
A team of four unnamed women — the biologist, the anthropologist, the surveyor, and the psychologist — enter Area X, a forbidden coastal wilderness where something has gone wrong for decades.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary →
Books like Foundation: quick answers
What are the best books like Foundation?
The best books like Foundation by Isaac Asimov are Dune by Frank Herbert, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Foundation, such as decline of empire, prediction and free will, knowledge as power.
What should I read after Foundation?
A natural next read after Foundation is Dune by Frank Herbert. A kindred science fiction read. Other strong choices are Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.
What books are similar to Foundation by Isaac Asimov?
Foundation centers on decline of empire, prediction and free will, knowledge as power. Books with a similar feel include Dune by Frank Herbert, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
