I’ve dedicated far too much time to reading rationalist fiction. This is a list of stories I think are good enough to recommend.
Here’s my entire rationalist fiction bookshelf —a mix of works written explicitly within the genre and other works that still seem to belong. (I’ve written reviews for some, but not all.)
Here are subcategories, with stories ranked in rough order from “incredible” to “good”. The stories vary widely in scale, tone, etc., and you should probably just read whatever seems most interesting to you.
If you know of a good rational or rational-adjacent story I’m missing, let me know!
Long stories (rational fiction)
Worm
Worth the Candle
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Pale
The Steerswoman (series)
The Erogamer (warning: X-rated)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Optimal
The Gods Are Bastards
Dr. Stone
Significant Digits (HPMOR sequel)
A Practical Guide to Evil
Pokemon: The Origin of Species
The Last Ringbearer
Unsong
Fine Structure
Luminosity
Ra
Long stories (not rational fiction, but close)
The Dark Forest (second book of a trilogy, other books are good but not as close to rational fiction)
The Diamond Age
Red Plenty
Strong Female Protagonist
Spinning Silver
Ender’s Shadow
Blindsight
The Great Brain (series, quality is consistent)
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
The Martian
Anathem
Short stories and novellas (rational or close)
Most of Alicorn’s work (generally not on Goodreads, so not rated there). Currently the best working rationalist fiction author, IMO.
Friendship is Optimal (spinoff stories)
The Metropolitan Man
The Rules of Wishing
The Dark Wizard of Donkerk
It Looks Like You’re Trying To Take Over The World
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
The Sword of Good
The Dark Lord’s Answer
A Girl Corrupted by the Internet is the Summoned Hero?
If be keen to hear right how you’re defining the genre, especially when the author isn’t obviously a member of the community. I loved worm and read it a couple of years ago, at least a year before I was aware rational fiction was a thing, and don’t recall thinking “wow this seems really rationalist” so much as just “this is fun words go brrrrrrrr”
I think that “intense, fanatical dedication to worldbuilding” + “tons of good problem-solving from our characters, which we can see from the inside” adds up to ratfic for me, or at least “close to ratfic”. Worm delivers both.
Ah, that makes sense. I absolutely adore Fine Structrue and Ra but never considered it ratfic (though I don’t know whether Sam Hughes is hanging in rat circles)
The book poses an interesting and difficult problem that characters try to solve in a variety of ways. The solution that actually works involves a bunch of plausible game theory and feels like it establishes a realistic theory of how a populous universe might work. The solutions that don’t work are clever, but fail for realistic reasons.
Aside from the puzzle element of the book, it’s not all that close to ratfic, but the puzzle is what compelled me. Certainly arguable whether it belongs in this category.
I like many books on the list, but I think you’re doing a disservice by trying to recommend too many books at once. If you can cut it down to 2-3 in each category, that gives people a better starting point.
If you want recommendations, just take the first couple of items in each category. They are rated in order of how good I think they are. (That’s if you trust my taste — I think most people are better off just skimming the story summaries and picking up whatever sounds interesting to them.)
My ratings and reviews of rationalist fiction
I’ve dedicated far too much time to reading rationalist fiction. This is a list of stories I think are good enough to recommend.
Here’s my entire rationalist fiction bookshelf —a mix of works written explicitly within the genre and other works that still seem to belong. (I’ve written reviews for some, but not all.)
Here are subcategories, with stories ranked in rough order from “incredible” to “good”. The stories vary widely in scale, tone, etc., and you should probably just read whatever seems most interesting to you.
If you know of a good rational or rational-adjacent story I’m missing, let me know!
Long stories (rational fiction)
Worm
Worth the Candle
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Pale
The Steerswoman (series)
The Erogamer (warning: X-rated)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Optimal
The Gods Are Bastards
Dr. Stone
Significant Digits (HPMOR sequel)
A Practical Guide to Evil
Pokemon: The Origin of Species
The Last Ringbearer
Unsong
Fine Structure
Luminosity
Ra
Long stories (not rational fiction, but close)
The Dark Forest (second book of a trilogy, other books are good but not as close to rational fiction)
The Diamond Age
Red Plenty
Strong Female Protagonist
Spinning Silver
Ender’s Shadow
Blindsight
The Great Brain (series, quality is consistent)
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
The Martian
Anathem
Short stories and novellas (rational or close)
Most of Alicorn’s work (generally not on Goodreads, so not rated there). Currently the best working rationalist fiction author, IMO.
Friendship is Optimal (spinoff stories)
The Metropolitan Man
The Rules of Wishing
The Dark Wizard of Donkerk
It Looks Like You’re Trying To Take Over The World
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
The Sword of Good
The Dark Lord’s Answer
A Girl Corrupted by the Internet is the Summoned Hero?
If be keen to hear right how you’re defining the genre, especially when the author isn’t obviously a member of the community. I loved worm and read it a couple of years ago, at least a year before I was aware rational fiction was a thing, and don’t recall thinking “wow this seems really rationalist” so much as just “this is fun words go brrrrrrrr”
I think that “intense, fanatical dedication to worldbuilding” + “tons of good problem-solving from our characters, which we can see from the inside” adds up to ratfic for me, or at least “close to ratfic”. Worm delivers both.
Sounds right to me! I’m reading worth the candle at the moment :)
Ah, that makes sense. I absolutely adore Fine Structrue and Ra but never considered it ratfic (though I don’t know whether Sam Hughes is hanging in rat circles)
I also love Alexander Wales’ ongoing This Used To Be About Dungeons
Can you give your view why The Dark Forest is an example of near rationalist work?
I guess it shows societal dysfunction, the (extreme) alienness or hostility of reality, and some intense applications of game theory.
I think I want to understand “rationality” as much as the book.
The book poses an interesting and difficult problem that characters try to solve in a variety of ways. The solution that actually works involves a bunch of plausible game theory and feels like it establishes a realistic theory of how a populous universe might work. The solutions that don’t work are clever, but fail for realistic reasons.
Aside from the puzzle element of the book, it’s not all that close to ratfic, but the puzzle is what compelled me. Certainly arguable whether it belongs in this category.
I like many books on the list, but I think you’re doing a disservice by trying to recommend too many books at once. If you can cut it down to 2-3 in each category, that gives people a better starting point.
If you want recommendations, just take the first couple of items in each category. They are rated in order of how good I think they are. (That’s if you trust my taste — I think most people are better off just skimming the story summaries and picking up whatever sounds interesting to them.)
Cool, thanks!