Name: The Fifth Science
ISBN: 9781796356304

The Fifth Science

The Galactic Human Empire was built atop four sciences: logic, physics, psychology, and sociology. Standing on those pillars, humans spent 100,000 years spreading out into the galaxy: warring, exploring, partying — the usual. Then there was the fifth science. And that killed the empire stone dead. The Fifth Science is a collection of 12 stories, beginning at the start of the Galactic Human Empire and following right through to its final days. We’ll see some untypical things along the way, meet some untypical folk: galactic lighthouses from the distant future, alien tombs from the distant past, murderers, emperors, archaeologists and drunks; mad mathematicians attempting to wake the universe itself up.And when humans have fallen back into savagery, when the secrets of space folding and perfect wisdom are forgotten, we’ll attend the empire’s deathbed, hold its hand as it goes. Unfortunately that may well only be the beginning.

What Hacker News says

smallerfishFeb 2025

Exurb1a is also worth reading. He's better known for his YouTube video essays (which vary between bleak and profound, usually within the same video), but he has published several books. I got about halfway through Fifth Science before leaving it on a plane (yesterday); I plan to rebuy it so that I can finish it.

Here's one of his stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKouPOhh_9I

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code_WhispererMar 2024

Not sure about underrated, but if you mean lesser-known, here is some of the most memorable, possibly lesser-known science fiction I've read over the past few years. These are the ones that stick in my brain and continue to generate thought, even though I read them months (or even years) ago:

"Chocky" by John Wyndham

"This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (a new all-time fave for me)

"The Book of Strange new Things: A Novel" by Michel Faber

"The City and the City" by China Miéville

"The Fifth Science" by Exurb1a

"The Initial Fold" series by Nick Adams

"Peacemaker's Code" by Deepak Malhotra (still not sure why this is not more well-known)

"Eifelheim" by Michael Flynn (a most unusual premise and a gob of seemingly inane stuff to get through at about the 2/3 point, but IMHO worth it)

"Providence" by Max Barry (heart pounding)

"Hench" by Natalie Zina Walschots

"Orange World" by Karen Russell (short stories but many qualify as sci-fi, very memorable to me)

And here are some definitely well-known examples that also stick in my head:

"Infernum" by Jayson Adams

"The Fourth Wing" and "Iron Flame" by Rebecca Yarros (more fantasy than sci-fi, but very well done if you can handle two or three extended and explicit sex scenes)

"Rabbits" by Terry Miles (book includes some hidden hints and puzzles that lead you to things outside the book

"We are Legion (We are Bob)" series by Dennis Taylor

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code_WhispererAug 2021

The one that sticks in my head the most (and which I did not think I would enjoy based on the book jacket blurb) is "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I highly recommend to anyone who listens. I also recently encountered "The Fifth Science" by someone named 'Exurb1a' and enjoyed it so much that I am now reading another of his books named "Geometry for Ocelots" Andy Weir's "Hail Mary" is an imaginative and fun read, as is "The Startup Wife" by Tahmima Anam. Oh! And "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet' (or almost anything else) by Becky Chambers.

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TimSchumannJun 2021

Read the whole Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy a few years back.

Check out 'There Is No Antimemetics Division' -- just the most recent one I read and really enjoyed, quick read too, probably only a few hours if you really dig into it, took me like 4 or 5 IIRC.

Also, because it's timely. A friend recommended me the above book, and it reminded me of this book that I have yet to recommend to him...

The Fifth Science by Exurb1a

Other good ones in no particular order.

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds -- probably my favorite starting point for his work as it's a standalone novel, but I've read everything he's written and enjoyed most of it. This is a story told over the course of multiple tens of millions of years, and it flows well.

Culture Series by Ian M. Banks -- Only made it through the first two books, and really enjoyed them, having trouble getting into the third but I have a feeling I'll enjoy the rest of the series. Just re-read the 2nd a few days ago.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky -- Planet of the Apes but with Spiders, not entirely accurate but an apt teaser I think.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie -- Only got through the first in this series of three, but really enjoyed it.

I've probably burned through another 250 books in the last 5 years or so, this is just top of mind recent memory stuff. I have the good luck that my father is an absolute monster with reading, so I'm a few thousand recommendations behind.

Feel free to reach out, e-mail is username here at gmail.

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