Books like 'User Friendly'
Readers who enjoyed User Friendly by Spider Robinson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi action / adventure hard sci-fi technology humor dark
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Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars · 80 ratingsA lone astronaut.An impossible mission.An ally he never imagined.Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and Earth itself will perish.Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time... -
![Network Effect by Martha Wells]()
Network Effect by Martha Wells
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 58 ratingsMurderbot returns in its highly-anticipated, first, full-length standalone novel... -
![The Martian by Andy Weir]()
The Martian by Andy Weir
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 95 ratingsSix days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there... -
![Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey]()
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsWe are not alone.On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system... -
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![Exit Strategy by Martha Wells]()
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 57 ratingsMurderbot wasn’t programmed to care. So, its decision to help the only human who ever showed it respect must be a system glitch, right?Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr... -
![For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor]()
For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsBob Johansson didn't believe in an afterlife, so waking up after being killed in a car accident was a shock. To add to the surprise, he is now a sentient computer and the controlling intelligence for a Von Neumann probe. Bob and his copies have been spreading out from Earth for 40 years now, looking for habitable planets. But that's the only part of the plan that's still in one piece... -
![Artificial Condition by Martha Wells]()
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 65 ratingsIt has a dark past – one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue... -
![We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor]()
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsAlternate Cover Edition can be found here. Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street... -
![Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells]()
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsNo, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall... -
![Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson]()
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsCryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods—World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, crypt analyst extraordinaire, and gung-ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe...Categorized as:
humor technology 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history asia audiobook -
![Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey]()
Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsAbaddon's Gate is the third book in the New York Times bestselling Expanse series. For generations, the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt - was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artefact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has emerged to build a massive structure outside the orbit of Uranus: a gate that leads into a starless dark... -
![Fair Trade: An Alien Invasion Story by Mackey Chandler]()
Fair Trade: An Alien Invasion Story by Mackey Chandler
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMost of my writing is in a series people seem to enjoy but there is a constant small crowd who say: I'd really like your take on an alien invasion story. Well this is for them. The bulk of the aliens come to Earth stories assume their vast superiority, sometimes invincibility. Sometimes they suddenly appear on the white house lawn dictating terms... -
![Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells]()
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 59 ratingsSciFi’s favorite crabby A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah's SecUnit is.And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good... -
![The Complete Stories, Vol. 1 by Isaac Asimov]()
The Complete Stories, Vol. 1 by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe first volume consists of the stories previously collected in Earth Is Room Enough, Nine Tomorrows, and Nightfall and Other Stories (but not the commentary from Nightfall and Other Stories). Volume One contains the following 48 short stories:- The Dead Past- The Foundation of S. F...Categorized as:
humor 20th-century action-adventure anthologies classics dystopia fiction hard-sci-fi -
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![The Gap Into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die by Stephen R. Donaldson]()
The Gap Into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die by Stephen R. Donaldson
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Chaos and Order comes the conclusion of the Gap series. As the crew attempts to pursue the pirate ship Soar and her captain, their hopes turn to Angus Thermopyle. Angus, Morn Hyland, and her son, Davies, race home, unaware that Warden Dios and The Dragon are locked in a final confrontation that may alter the fate of humankind forever. HC: Bantam... -
![Breakaway by Craig Alanson, R.C. Bray]()
Breakaway by Craig Alanson, R.C. Bray
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Expeditionary Force saga continues with Breakaway, the eagerly awaited sequel to number-one Audible-ranked and New York Times best-selling Brushfire, from an epic sci-fi writer at the top of his game. Join the millions of listeners who have enjoyed R.C. Bray’s hilarious portrayal of Joe, Skippy, The Merry Band of Pirates and so many other unforgettable characters... -
![Old Man's War by John Scalzi]()
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsJohn Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-- and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate... -
![The Cyberiad by Stanisław Lem]()
The Cyberiad by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsA brilliantly funny collection of stories for the next age, from the celebrated author of Solaris. Ranging from the prophetic to the surreal, these stories demonstrate Stanislaw Lem's vast talent and remarkable ability to blend meaning and magic into a wholly entertaining and captivating work...Categorized as:
humor technology 20th-century action-adventure ai anthologies audiobook children-books -
![Daemon by Daniel Suarez]()
Daemon by Daniel Suarez
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsA high-tech thriller for the wireless age that explores the unthinkable consequences of a computer program running without human control—a daemon—designed to dismantle society and bring about a new world orderTechnology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire... -
![Unstable Prototypes by Joseph R. Lallo]()
Unstable Prototypes by Joseph R. Lallo
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFollowing his last adventure, Trevor "Lex" Alexander's life has managed to return to normal. He's back to splitting his time between delivering packages and transporting passengers, along with the occasional foray into testing highly experimental equipment... -
![Callahan's Lady by Spider Robinson]()
Callahan's Lady by Spider Robinson
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA HOUSE OF "HEALTHY" REPUTE...Welcome to Lady Sally's, the House that "is" a home -- the internationally (hell, interplanetarily) notorious bordello. At Lady Sally's House, the customer doesn't necessarily come first: even the staff are genuinely enjoying themselves... -
![Brass Man by Neal Asher]()
Brass Man by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIan Cormac, a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future, is hunting an interstellar dragon, little knowing that, far away, his competition has resurrected an horrific killing machine named "Mr. Crane" to assist in a similar hunt, ecompassing whole star systems. Mr... -
![The Gap Into Madness: Chaos and Order by Stephen R. Donaldson]()
The Gap Into Madness: Chaos and Order by Stephen R. Donaldson
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsAs the planetoid Thanatos Minor explodes into atoms, a specially-fitted cruiser escapes the mass destruction and hurtles into space only a step ahead of hostile pursuit. On board Trumpet are a handful of bedraggled fugitives from an outlaw world, old enemies suddenly and violently thrown together in a desperate bid for survival... -
![Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio]()
Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe second novel of the galaxy-spanning Sun Eater series merges the best of space opera and epic fantasy, as Hadrian Marlowe continues down a path that can only end in fire.Hadrian Marlowe is lost. For half a century, he has searched the farther suns for the lost planet of Vorgossos, hoping to find a way to contact the elusive alien Cielcin... -
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![Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds]()
Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe once-utopian Chasm City -a doomed human settlement on an otherwise inhospitable planet- has been overrun by a virus known as the Melding Plague, capable of infecting any body, organic or computerized. Now, with the entire city corrupted -from the people to the very buildings they inhabit- only the most wretched sort of existence remains... -
![Downward Cycle by J.K. Franks]()
Downward Cycle by J.K. Franks
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWho will survive the darkness? Life in a remote oceanfront town begins to spiral downward after a massive solar flare causes a global blackout. As planes fall from the sky, cars suddenly die, and most electrical devices stop working with catastrophic consequences. But the loss of electrical power is just the first of the problems facing the survivors. In the chaos, that follows... -
![Effacement by Hieronymus Hawkes]()
Effacement by Hieronymus Hawkes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhen recording every aspect of your life has become the law, what happens when your connection to the world is severed? With the advent of BioNarratus’s Vitasync neurochip, serious crime has all but disappeared. Without a lifelog you can’t get a bank account, medical insurance, or a job... -
![Last Stand: Bolos 4 by Keith Laumer, S.M. Stirling]()
Last Stand: Bolos 4 by Keith Laumer, S.M. Stirling
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsControlled by their tireless electronic brains which were programmed to admit no possibility of defeat, the gigantic robot tanks known as Bolos were almost indestructible, and nearly unstoppable. Almost. Nearly. A sufficiently determined enemy armed with nearly limitless firepower and willing to sustain terrible losses could destroy a Bolo...Categorized as:
technology action-adventure adult anthologies fiction hard-sci-fi military violent-conflict -
![More Tales of Pirx the Pilot by Stanisław Lem]()
More Tales of Pirx the Pilot by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCommander Pirx, who drives space vehicles for a living in the galaxy of the future, here faces a new series of intriguing adventures in which robots demonstrate some alarmingly human characteristics. Translated by Louis Iribarne, assisted by Magdalena Majcherczyk and Michael Kandel... -
![A Gift of Time by Jerry Merritt]()
A Gift of Time by Jerry Merritt
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Micajah Fenton discovers a crater in his front yard with a broken time glider in the bottom and a naked, virtual woman on his lawn, he delays his plans to kill himself. While helping repair the marooned time traveler’s glider, Cager realizes it can return him to his past to correct a mistake that had haunted him his entire life... -
![All Systems Red by Martha Wells]()
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 84 ratings"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern... -
![The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg]()
The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsPowerful and haunting, The Positronic Man is an unforgettable novel that redefines Isaac Asimov's and Robert Silverberg's place among the greatest science fiction authors of all time.In the twenty-first century the creation of the positronic brain leads to the development of robot laborers and revolutionizes life on Earth... -
![The Gap Into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises by Stephen R. Donaldson]()
The Gap Into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises by Stephen R. Donaldson
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsA master storyteller, Stephen R. Donaldson established a worldwide reputation with his unforgettable, critically acclaimed fantasy series The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant. Then, with The Real Story and Forbidden Knowledge, he launched a thrilling new science fiction series. Now the galactic epic continues as humanity struggles against the forces of ultimate evil--and its own dark nature... -
![Permutation City by Greg Egan]()
Permutation City by Greg Egan
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsThe story of a man with a vision - immortality : for those who can afford it is found in cyberspace. Permutation city is the tale of a man with a vision - how to create immortality - and how that vision becomes something way beyond his control... -
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![Robot Dreams by Isaac Asimov]()
Robot Dreams by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsRobot Dreams collects 21 of Isaac Asimov's short stories spanning the body of his fiction from the 1940s to the 1980s----exploring not only the future of technology, but the future of humanity's maturity and growth... -
![Burning Chrome by William Gibson]()
Burning Chrome by William Gibson
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTen tales, from the computer-enhanced hustlers of Johnny Mnemonic to the technofetishist blues of Burning Chrome... -
![The Final Dawn: by T.W.M. Ashford]()
The Final Dawn: by T.W.M. Ashford
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe sun is dying, and it’s taking the Earth down with it.Jack Bishop needs a pair of tickets aboard one of the Arks – colossal lifeboats destined to shepherd humanity to the stars. Desperate to save his wife, he signs up for a dangerous wormhole experiment… but something goes catastrophically wrong, and Jack finds himself cast into the Stellar Abyss... -
![Skyship Thrive by Ginger Booth]()
Skyship Thrive by Ginger Booth
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn ex-cop who cannot die. A moon full of settlers who cannot thrive. Mahina's terraformers built a high-tech urban paradise. Then Earth flooded the colony with desperate refugees, cop Sass Collier among them. The settlers who arrived with Sass died decades ago. Outside the citadel, their descendants die weak and young.Sass fought a rebellion against the city once...Categorized as:
humor action-adventure adult book colonization exploration fiction genetic-engineering -
![Early Years by Steven Campbell]()
Early Years by Steven Campbell
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCollection of short stories featuring Hard Luck Hank and his early days on Belvaille... -
![Dawnbreaker by Jay Posey]()
Dawnbreaker by Jay Posey
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWren is living in Greenstone under the temporary care of Charles and Mol, and the protection of Chapel. Unable to determine the fate of his mother and those he left behind in Morningside, Wren believes there is nothing left to do but wait for Asher’s final blow … until a man named Haiku walks into the Samurai McGann, looking for Three... -
![The Island by Peter Watts]()
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![The Eighth Continent: A Hard Science Fiction Thriller by Rhett C. Bruno, Felix R. Savage]()
The Eighth Continent: A Hard Science Fiction Thriller by Rhett C. Bruno, Felix R. Savage
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"This stellar near-future tale masterfully fuses SF thrills with an enthralling mystery." —Kirkus ReviewNick Morrison always wanted to be an astronaut. When a startup company recruits him to build a lunar launch system at the Moon’s south pole, Nick gladly leaves behind his troubled life on Earth—but Nick doesn’t know that the company is in financial and legal trouble... -
![The Madness Season by C.S. Friedman]()
The Madness Season by C.S. Friedman
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFor hundreds of years, Earth has suffered under the yoke of alien conquerors: the dreaded Tyr, a reptilian race in which all individuality is submerged into a single, overarching consciousness. Determined to keep humanity cowed, the Tyr have culled from the captive population the most intelligent, the most curious, the most likely to foment rebellion, and banished them from Earth... -
![Amped by Douglas E. Richards]()
Amped by Douglas E. Richards
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe highly-anticipated sequel to the New York Times & USA Today bestseller, WIRED. Note: WIRED was the #1 bestselling Kindle book of 2011 in two major categories: sciencefiction and technothrillers (and 19th overall).Kira Miller is a brilliant scientist who discovers how to temporarily boost human IQ to dizzying levels. But this transcendent intelligence brings with it a ruthless megalomania...Categorized as:
technology action-adventure audiobook book dystopia fiction genetic-engineering hard-sci-fi -
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![Delta-v by Daniel Suarez]()
Delta-v by Daniel Suarez
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsThe bestselling author of Daemon returns with a near-future technological thriller, in which a charismatic billionaire recruits a team of adventurers to launch the first deep space mining operation--a mission that could alter the trajectory of human civilization... -
![Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle]()
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsTHE LUCKY ONES WENT FIRST…The gigantic comet has slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam... -
![Store of the Worlds: The Stories of Robert Sheckley by Robert Sheckley]()
Store of the Worlds: The Stories of Robert Sheckley by Robert Sheckley
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRobert Sheckley was an eccentric master of the American short story, and his tales, whether set in dystopic cityscapes, ultramodern advertising agencies, or aboard spaceships lighting out for hostile planets, are among the most startlingly original of the twentieth century... -
![The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen R. Donaldson]()
The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen R. Donaldson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsAuthor of "The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant," one of the most acclaimed fantasy series of all time, master storyteller Stephen R. Donaldson retums with the second book in his long-awaited new science fiction series--a story about dark passions, perilous alliances, and dubious heroism set in a stunningly imagined future... -
![WWW: Watch by Robert J. Sawyer]()
WWW: Watch by Robert J. Sawyer
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAward-winning author Robert J. Sawyer continues his "wildly thought-provoking" science fiction saga of a sentient World Wide Web. Webmind is an emerging consciousness that has befriended Caitlin Decter and grown eager to learn about her world... -
![A.I. Apocalypse by William Hertling]()
A.I. Apocalypse by William Hertling
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsLeon Tsarev is a high school student set on getting into a great college program, until his uncle, a member of the Russian mob, coerces him into developing a new computer virus for the mob’s botnet - the slave army of computers they used to commit digital crimes.The evolutionary virus Leon creates, based on biological principles, is successful -- too successful...
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