Start with high-confidence hard sci-fi books, then narrow by subgenre or adjacent topics.
Anathem
Neal Stephenson
The God Wave
Patrick Hemstreet
Leviathan Wakes
James S. A. Corey
The Ministry for the Future
Kim Stanley Robinson, Jennifer Fitzgerald
The Expanse Boxed Set: Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate
Aurora Rising
Alastair Reynolds
Elysium Fire
The Martian
Andy Weir
Project Hail Mary
Frank Herbert's Dune Saga 6-book Boxed Set
Frank Herbert
The Three-body Problem
Cixin Liu, Ken Liu
The Dark Forest
Cixin Liu
Blindsight
Peter Watts, T. Ryder Smith
Observer
Robert Lanza, Nancy Kress
Paradox
John Meaney
Paragaea
Chris Roberson
Fast Forward
Lou Anders, Kage Baker
The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson
Permutation City
Greg Egan
Diaspora
Dichronauts
Superposition
David Walton
Hot Planet
Hal Clement
