theFantasyReviews.com yesterday published "9 Essential Science Fiction Books for Beginners" (link below). I don't agree with them all, so I thought I'd ask here, what are the top 5-ish books you would pick to introduce someone (let's say ages 15-99) to science fiction?
https://thefantasyreviews.com/2023/03/05/9-essential-science-fiction-books-for-beginners/
NOTE that I did not ask "what are the BEST science fiction books". I am talking more about accessible and enjoyable as an introduction. For example, recommending The Three Body Problem (or if we want to stretch the definition of SciFi a bit and include something like Gravity's Rainbow) to someone who's never read science fiction before, you'd almost certainly be turning them OFF to science fiction for good (opinion)
I put up the list that I did because I think they are all accessible and a good mix of classic, modern, opera, etc. They are all engaging, yet none beats you over the head with worldbuilding.
I'm torn on OSC, so I didn't list it - yes, he's problematic, but Ender's Game is absolutely brilliant. Cosmic Jr. loved it and it's how I got him to read sci-fi.