Double Mobius Sphere
A deceptively dense first-contact mystery about a child prodigy, a starship crew, and humanity's place in the universe. Packed with mathematics, science, and philosophy, it's a fascinating exploration of big questions—even if the ending offers more heart than answers.
Taurus Four
A stranded space explorer encounters a primitive society descended from hippies and falls for a teenage girl. I kept reading in hopes that the protagonist's spectacular sexism was deliberate satire. Instead, the novel celebrates his misogyny and delivers one of the most appalling endings I've encountered.
Daughters of Earth
Three vintage science-fiction stories, one painfully misogynistic and two extraordinary. An intimate multigenerational history of women exploring space and a telepathic encounter between a stranded child and an alien mother make this collection well worth reading.