Human-alien encounters Books to Read Free Online

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Pick fiction or non-fiction, then a genre, then a topic inside it. A book can sit in more than one genre.

The full library classification — every book has exactly one, more granular than Genre. Different counts for a same-named bucket here vs. Genre reflect two different systems, not an error.

Human-alien encounters

Featured — award winners and classics first, when available. Use “Show different books” for a new selection.

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Camouflage

Joe Haldeman

2004 ★ 2.8

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

1969 ★ 4.2

This Immortal

Roger Zelazny

1973 ★ 3.6

Rosewater

Raúl García Campos, Tade Thompson

2018 ★ 3.9

Spin

Robert Charles Wilson

2005 ★ 4.1

三体

刘慈欣, Gwennaël Gaffric, Vincent Schmitt et al.

2008 ★ 3.9

The Uplift War

David Brin

1987 ★ 3.9

Gateway

Frederik Pohl

1977 ★ 3.5

Redshirts

John Scalzi

2012 ★ 3.8

Children of Time

Adrian Tchaikovsky

2016 ★ 4.2

The Wanderer

Fritz Leiber

1964 ★ 3.0

The War of the Worlds

H. G. Wells

1898 ★ 3.8

Speaker for the Dead

Orson Scott Card

1987 ★ 4.1

A Darkling Sea

James L. Cambias

2014 ★ 4.0

Manifold

Stephen Baxter

2000 ★ 3.4

The Draco Tavern

Larry Niven

2006 ★ 3.5

The Humans

Matt Haig

2013 ★ 3.6

The Cole Protocol

Tobias S. Buckell, Eric Nylund

2008 ★ 2.8

The Temporal Void

Peter F. Hamilton

2008 ★ 3.8

Halo

Eric S. Nylund

2011 ★ 4.3

Out of the Dark

David Weber

2010 ★ 2.7

Necroscope

Brian Lumley

1988 ★ 3.6

The Search for WondLa

Tony DiTerlizzi

2010 ★ 4.2

When Its A Jar

Tom Holt

2013 ★ 3.7

Revenger

Alastair Reynolds

2016 ★ 3.8

The True Meaning of Smekday

Adam Rex

2001 ★ 4.6

Dawn

Octavia E. Butler, Aldrich Barrett

1988 ★ 4.2

The Infinite Sea

Richard Yancey

2014 ★ 4.1

Interstellar Pig

William Sleator

1984 ★ 4.0

The Day of the Triffids

Cover by Andy Bridge, Marcel Battin, John Wyndham

1951 ★ 4.0

Browse free books to read online

Book Explorer lets readers browse the free, readable part of the Open Library catalogue by familiar genres, or by the exact subject tags Open Library assigns each book. Every book has its own page with a reader where one is available, plus links to Open Library, your library, Libby and Amazon.