As some of you may be aware, I am deep in the process of cataloguing my sizable library in spreadsheet from. This is entirely for my own benefit, because I am an enormous nerd. However, it is nerdery I intent to share with the world. During the process of this data gathering, I have unearthed a few curiosities. here are some of them.

Missing Years

I have read a book published for the first time in every year between 1946 and 2023, with two exceptions. Those missing years are 1960 and 1978 Given that I’ve compiled a list of over five hundred books, these gaps are curious. I suppose my next task must be to fill them with some older works of fiction.

The Average Book

Taking all of these books into account, it can be reasonably determined that the average book was a space opera novel of around 400 pages, published some time in the twenty-first century. The author of that book would be an American man by the name of John Brown. Clearly, no such book exists in actuality, but that is what the data would have you believe. And if John Brown’s work sounds interesting, I should say he has a score of 3.75 out of 5.

Steampunk

2007 saw the start of a steampunk explosion that unfolded for several years, before coming to an end around 2020. The steampunk movement covered multiple continents and a variety of authors, but does appear to be over. No other genre can boast such a concentrated period of releases.

The Best Year

The best year for science fiction was 2013 with an average rating of 4.22/5. It was a year marked by military SF (including a double Jack Campbell release), steampunk from Cherie Priest and George Mann, and hard SF from Ben Bova and Stephen Baxter. It was also a year dominated by ongoing series from big names such as James S.A. Corey and John Scalzi.

The Worst Year(s)

Tied for worst year with a rating of 2.33/5 are 1976 and 1984. 1976 saw disappointments in the form of Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune, Frederik Pohl’s Man Plus, and The Gryb by A. E. van Vogt. The year was boosted by a strong showing from Isaac Asimov’s The Bicentennial Man & Other Stories. In 1984, Frank Herbert appears again with the lacklustre Heretics of Dune, while Asimov (writing together with wife Janet) offers a rare dud in the from of Norby’s Other Secret.

Data Skew

Owing to the period I started reading science fiction, the years between 2010 and 2013 feature the most books. Due to increasing care with purchasing newer releases, the period after 2018 skews more positive than the randomly chosen books of earlier years.

Missing Data

The figures used here are pulled from the extensive records I’ve been keeping since 2017, but my SF reading goes back a little further than that. There are 72 books listed in the collection to which I have assigned no rating there is a chance that some of these will be reread in the future, but for now they exist only as names, and are not influencing the average ratings through their inclusion.

Closing Thoughts (For Now)

I’m sure there are going to be plenty of interesting finds in the archives as a result of this project, but for now, those are the most fascinating titbits. If you have the time, it’s a project I highly recommend committing to. Even with sites like GoodReads and StoryGraph, a good old spreadsheet can show you so much more.