If you could only read one book by this author, what would it be?

I was out trawling the net yesterday and I came across this most excellent if you could only read one book by this author discussion.  I decided that I wanted to make my own discussion and so hijacked the idea.

My list is not a rehash of any top 100 lists, it is not my recommendation for the best book by the author either.  The authors and books here I have read.  The book I'm recommending for one of the following possible reasons:

1. Important to the genre
2. Representative of the work
3. Start of an important series
4. I just really really liked it

One of the best "First Contact" novels ever written

 
If you haven't read a book by one of these authors, then read this book.  If it makes you think or you like it, then you should probably read other books by this author too.

On a side note, some authors (e.g. Piers Anthony) are so prolific and have so many good series its hard to pick a good representative book.  I picked the single book I thought would appeal to most people.  I like many of his series and think you might like them too.  Don't worry, I've left off tons of books that I loved.

I expect there to be disagreement, I expect others to prefer other authors - is so please DO let me know.  I'm always looking for another good read :)

#		Author		Novel
1		Douglas	Adams	The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2		Richard	Adams	Watershipdown
3		Poul	Anderson	Tau Zero
4		Piers	Anthony	On a Pale Horse
5		Isaac Asimov	Azimov	Foundation
6		Stephen	Baxter	Manifold Space
7		Greg	Bear	The Forge of God
8		David	Brin	Startide Rising
9		Terry	Brooks	Magic Kingdom for Sale -- SOLD!
10		Edgar Rice	Burroughs	A Princess of Mars
11		Orson Scott	Card	Ender's Game
12		CJ	Cherryh	Cyteen
13		Arthur C	Clarke	Childhood's End
14		Michael	Crichton	Andromeda Strain
15		Stephan R	Donaldson	Lord Foul's Bane
16		Arthur Conan Doyle	Doyle	Hound of the Baskervilles
17		Alexandar	Dumas	The Three Musketeers
18		David	Eddings	Pawn of Prophecy
19		Philip Jose	Farmer	To Your Scattered Bodies Go
20		Robert	Forward	Dragon's Egg
21		Alan Dean	Foster	Nor Crystal Tears
22		Neil	Gaiman	American Gods
23		William	Goldman	The Princess Bride
24		Joseph	Haldeman	The Forever War
25		Harry	Harrison	The Stainless Steel Rat
26		Robert	Heinlein	The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
27		Frank	Herbert	Dune
28		James P	Hogan	Inherit the Stars
29		Robert	Jordan	Wheel of Time series is excellent but a single book may not be worth your time
30		Daniel	Keyes	Flowers for Algernon
31		Dean R	Koontz	Odd Thomas
32		Ursula	LeGuin	A Wizard of Earthsea
33		CS	Lewis	The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
34		HP	Lovecraft	The Call of Cthulhu
35		Robert	Ludlum	The Bourne Identity
36		George RR	Martin	Game of Thrones series is good but a single book may not be worth your time
37		Julian	May	The Many Colored Land
38		Ann	McAffrey	Dragonflight
39		Michael	McCollum	Antares Dawn
40		Michael	Moorcock	Elric of Melnibone
41		Larry	Niven	Ringworld
42		Larry & Jerry	Niven & Pournelle	The Mote in God's Eye
43		Frederick	Pohl	Gateway
44		Terry	Pratchett	Small Gods
45		Terry & Neil	Pratchett & Gaiman	Good Omens
46		Ayn	Rand	Atlas Shrugged
47		Alastair	Reynolds	Pushing Ice
48		Kim Stanley	Robinson	Red Mars
49		Brandon	Sanderson	The Way of Kings
50		John	Scalzi	Old Man's War
51		Sir Walter	Scott	Ivanhoe
52		George	Stewart	Earth Abides
53		JRR	Tokien	The Hobbit
54		Jules	Vernes	20,000 Leagues under the Sea
55		Verner	Vinge	Rainbow's End
56		David	Weber	Off Armageddon's Reef
57		HG	Wells	The War of the Worlds
58		George & Charles	Zebrowski & Pelligrino	The Killing Star

I've made a choice to count collaborations as a different author than either of the collaborators.

I will continue to update this as other books come to mind.  If you want to be updated on good author / book ideas tag, link, or comment on this entry.