Science fiction · Similar reads
Books like Sphere
The best books like Sphere are The Hot Zone, The Great Influenza, and Chaos: Making a New Science. Sphere by Michael Crichton is about the unconscious mind, fear and self-deception, first contact. 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.
- The Hot Zone
01
Richard Preston · Science
The Hot Zone is Richard Preston's account of the discovery of filoviruses — Marburg and Ebola — and, more urgently, the 1989 outbreak of a closely related virus in a primate facility in Reston, Virginia, twenty miles from Washington DC.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Great Influenza
02
John M. Barry · History
The Great Influenza is John M.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - Chaos: Making a New Science
03
James Gleick · Science
Chaos: Making a New Science, published in 1987, tells the story of how a loose network of scientists working across meteorology, mathematics, biology, and physics in the 1960s and 1970s developed chaos theory — the study of systems that are deterministic but unpredictable because tiny differences in initial conditions produce wildly different outcomes.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - 2001: A Space Odyssey
04
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.
Both dig into first contact.
Read the summary → - Blindsight
05
Peter Watts · Science fiction
Blindsight follows a crew of post-human specialists sent to intercept an alien object at the edge of the solar system in 2082.
Both dig into first contact.
Read the summary → - Contact
06
Carl Sagan · Science fiction
Contact follows Ellie Arroway, an astronomer and SETI researcher who has spent her career scanning the skies for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Both dig into first contact.
Read the summary → - Leviathan Wakes
07
James S.A. Corey · Science fiction
Two hundred years from now, humanity has colonized Mars and the asteroid belt, and the political fault lines between Earth, Mars, and the Belters — the third-generation descendants of asteroid miners — are the dominant tension in the solar system.
Both dig into first contact.
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 Sphere: quick answers
What are the best books like Sphere?
The best books like Sphere by Michael Crichton are The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick, 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, Blindsight by Peter Watts, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Sphere, such as the unconscious mind, fear and self-deception, first contact.
What should I read after Sphere?
A natural next read after Sphere is The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. A kindred science fiction read. Other strong choices are The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick, 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke.
What books are similar to Sphere by Michael Crichton?
Sphere centers on the unconscious mind, fear and self-deception, first contact. Books with a similar feel include The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick, 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, Blindsight by Peter Watts, Contact by Carl Sagan — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
