The Andromeda Strain
by Michael Crichton (1969)

The army gets the idea to mine extraterrestrial biological agents after scientists successfully set up a decontamination program. When a 'Scoop' satellite crashes into an Arizona desert a team of scientists is sent to clean up the mess. Crichton's first and possibly best remains popular thanks largely to a riveting film version.

The Ship Who Sang
by Anne McCaffrey (1969)

Written during a particularly troubled period in McCaffrey's personal life, The Ship Who Sang is a collection of stories about a highly intelligent but physically handicapped girl (Helva) who becomes the brain of a spaceship. Through Helva's adventures the stories explore the relationship between 'shell people' and the 'brawns' they are teamed with. Emotionally engaging sci-fi.

Blood Music
by Greg Bear (1985)

Bear is usually categorised as a hard sci-fi writer, but he is also closely associated with the cyberpunks. Brilliantly unorthodox researcher Vergil Ulam creates bio-computer microbes and - in classic mad scientist fashion - injects himself with them. As a result, an uplifting plague is unleashed which changes the course of history.

Jurassic Park
by Michael Crichton (1990)

While certainly no masterpiece, most readers will be pleasantly surprised with this thriller on which the hit feature film is based. A theme park featuring bio-engineered dinosaurs cops some industrial espionage and things get out of hand. Crichton's best since The Andromeda Strain and a mega-bestseller in its day. Worth a look.

Permutation City
by Greg Egan (1994)

Computer programmer Greg Egan followed-up the superb Quarantine (1992) with this tale of a self-aware virtual reality 'Copy' that wants to live out its life as the real person who created it. By law the copy has a bail-out option that will allow it to awake as original flesh-and-blood. The human version, however, has other ideas. Cutting edge.

Hominids
by Robert J Sawyer (2002)

On a parallel Earth where Neanderthals top the primate evolutionary scale a scientist's experiment goes wrong and he ends up in our world. He then has trouble coming to grips with our societal ills while, back at home, his partner is under suspicion of his murder. Another solid outing from topnotch Canadian writer Robert J Sawyer.

The Speed of Dark
by Elizabeth Moon (2003)

In the very near future an autistic bioinformatics specialist is asked to try an experimental 'cure' by the pharmaceutical company that employs him. He sets off on an internal quest of self-definition, with the concept of the 'speed of dark' pushing him to the outer limits. Hard to describe in five lines, but deserves its rave critical reviews.

Accelerando
by Charles Stross (2005)

Brilliant stand-alone novel constructed from some cutting-edge stories originally published in Asimov's. Beginning in the near-future it is the generational story of the Macx family and molecular nanotechnology. When Manfred Macx peddles some intelligence amplification technology he sets in motion a train of events that eventually leads to a systematic dismantling of the solar system.