Books like Taking the Stars by Peter Ifland

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune follows Paul Atreides as he rises from betrayed heir to the enigmatic Muad'Dib, guarding the precious spice melange that fuels galactic politics and extends life.

Pride and Prejudice is a classic novel by Jane Austen.

Andy Weir’s debut science‑fiction bestseller follows astronaut Mark Watney, stranded on Mars in 2035, as he uses ingenuity to survive.

Isaac Asimov’s classic science‑fiction saga follows psychohistorian Hari Seldon as he establishes a Foundation to preserve knowledge and prevent thirty‑thousand years of darkness after the fall of the Galactic Empire.

In the 29th century, humanity’s vast Hegemony spans dozens of worlds connected by farcaster portals, while the enigmatic Shrike guards the Time Tombs on the lone planet Hyperion. A diverse pilgrimage of chosen individuals must each recount why they were summoned to witness the tombs’ reverse time cycle.

In a global international mission, scientists use radio astronomy to intercept a mysterious extraterrestrial signal, setting off a race to decode the message that will change humanity’s view of its place in the universe.

The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller that dramatizes the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693, reflecting on McCarthyism and American history through allegory.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s landmark 1969 novel explores a gender‑fluid alien society on the ice‑bound world of Gethen, challenging human assumptions about sex, politics, and humanity through a compelling diplomacy adventure.

Alastair Reynolds’ debut, Revelation Space follows scientist Dan Sylveste as he probes a long‑lost alien civilization and battles a relentless killer aboard a dying starship, risking reality itself.

Craig of the Mohicans, a frontier scout turns away from civilization, forming a bond with a Mohican warrior as they escort two sisters across the perilous wilderness of America's frontier.

The year is 1962, but a future where computers empower individuals instead of being intimidating machines already exists in the mind of a fifty-seven-year-old psychologist named J. C. R. Licklider.

A historical romance set in 16th century England, featuring Lorna Doone, a young woman who is kidnapped and becomes a fugitive during the Monmouth Rebellion.

Writing is perhaps humanity's greatest invention. Without it there would be no history and no civilization as we know it. The Story of Writing is the first book to demystify writing for the general reader. In a succinct and absorbing text, Andrew Robinson explains the interconnection between sound, symbol and script, and goes on to discuss each of the major writing systems in turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan today. He explores "proto-writing," including Ice Age symbols, tallies and Amerindian pictograms, and surveys the astonishing multiplicity of alphabets - not only Greek, Roman, Hebrew, Arabic and Indian scripts, but also the Cherokee "alphabet" and the writing of runes. Full coverage is given to the story of decipherment, and how the words of past ages have been brought back to life through the efforts of Champollion, Ventris and others. And in a provocative chapter devoted to as yet undeciphered scripts, Andrew Robinson challenges the reader: can the code of the Indus script, Cretan Linear A, the Phaistos Disc or Easter Island ever be broken? Armchair decipherers who read this book will be well placed to make discoveries that herald the next breakthrough.

A speculative history that explores alternative futures based on omitting nine significant events in modern history, including the American Revolution and JFK's presidency.

A sequel to Marrow, The Well of Stars follows the Great Ship as it heads toward the ominous Ink Well nebula, where a god‑like entity threatens its existence and the crew must rely on the unique abilities of Mere to survive.

A sweeping social history of religion that explores the influence of the great monotheisms on the past and the modern world.

Enormous skyscrapers will house residents and workers who happily go "for weeks" without setting foot on the ground. Streamlined, "hurricane-proof" houses will pivot on their foundations like weather vanes. The family car will turn into an airplane so easily that "a woman can do it in five minutes." Our wars will be fought by robots. And our living room furniture - waterproof, of course - will clean up with a squirt from the garden hose. In Yesterday's Tomorrows Joseph J. Corn and Brian Horrigan explore the future as Americans earlier in this century expected it to happen. Filled with vivid color images and lively text, the book is an eloquent testimony to the confidence - and, at times, the naive faith - Americans have had in science and technology. The future that emerges here, the authors conclude, is one in which technology changes, but society and politics usually do not. The authors draw on a wide variety of sources - popular-science magazines, science fiction, world fair exhibits, films, advertisements, and plans for things only dreamed of. From Jules Verne to the Jetsons, from a 500-passenger flying wing to an anti-aircraft flying buzz-saw, the vision of the future as seen through the eyes of the past demonstrates the play of the American imagination on the canvas of the future.