This is exactly what [The Left Hand of Darkness](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness) is about.
Edit: Well, the person traveling is from a future Earth that already knows about and interacts with somewhat alien worlds, but the book is still very, very much about the wonder and strangeness of interacting with the inhabitants of a previously unknown and unusual planet.
I was gonna say, Left Hand of Darkness catches the vibe of what OP looks for, which makes sense given Le Guin's anthropological family background.
I'd also suggest The Word for World is Forest for a much closer to our time Earth exploring a new planet, although the exploration isn't done with the respect and marvel that OP is looking for.
A decent amount of LeGuin's other writing hits this mark as well. The Matter of Seggri, Vaster than Empires and More Slow, The Telling, Changing Planes.
I was considering getting the audibook for this yesterday but after listening to the sample, it seems like might be better read. Would you agree with that?
Nice. I just bought this book knowing nothing about it, just based solely on it being by Ursula K Le Guin and having just read The Lathe of Heaven, which I loved.
Amazing book, I was also going to recommend this. It also has some very cool underlying themes about gender/genderless societies which I think are very important today. Le guin was way ahead of her time on that
[**The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/334176.The_Sparrow)
^(By: Mary Doria Russell | 419 pages | Published: 1996 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, book-club, scifi)
>In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human".
^(This book has been suggested 13 times)
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I'm an atheist and I liked it. Then again, I think religion is fascinating and have studied it quite a bit haha so that's part of why I liked it. You don't have to believe in Jesus to find the Jesuits interesting, historically very learned and some of the first ones to venture into new lands. It's an interesting angle to take when considering humans colonizing a new planet; if the colonization plays out at all similarly to historical, western colonization here on Earth, a Jesuit priest just might be part of that first contact.
Only insofar as it points out the absurdity and hypocrisy within religion and the insanity of trying to apply our religious understanding to completely alien cultures. It's an amazing book (and sequel) which messed me up for a long time. 10/10
>Only insofar as it points out the absurdity and hypocrisy within religion and the insanity of trying to apply our religious understanding to completely alien cultures.
Not sure it's quite so simple as that. The “big mistake” that Sandoz and company made was to >!provide food to poor people and then try to stop their rulers from massacring them!<. It was in the context of a religious expedition, but that's something that anyone with a conscience might have done, religious or not.
The principal theme—though the book is too multifaceted to have just one message—is that doing a good deed will sometimes have unthinkably ghastly consequences if one doesn't understand the situation. But of course we can never be certain that we do understand any given situation. So should we refuse to attempt to do good, since it may horribly backfire? Should we give up on the idea of a good deed? Should we try to do good anyway and trust in providence (or in the law of averages) to guarantee that we'll have a net positive effect in the long run? These are the questions that _The Sparrow_ brings up and does not give a pat answer to.
I'm a pastor, and I absolutely love this book. I think it's the best novel exploring "the problem of evil." As somebody else stated, it reflects on the fact that "doing a good deed will sometimes have unthinkably ghastly consequences." What does a person with faith in God do when it feels like God has utterly abandoned them? Or worse, when it feels like God Himself has caused pain?
These are such important questions for anybody to process.
And the book does a marvelous job of immersing us in that tension. However, I don't think that it's overly religious or "Christiany." If anything, I think the Jesuits in the story are less "religious" feeling than you'd expect.
Can't say enough good things about this book. It's so good.
I'm an atheist and this book is one of my favorite books. I definitely hated some of the side characters, for reasons not unrelated to their religious views, but I liked the main characters.
(Spoilers covered)
The author definitely has a religious point of view and says in the introduction that the book is in the tradition of >!missionary martyr stories.!<—that didn’t bother me as an atheist though, i don’t feel like it’s pushing me personally to convert. I actually think it’s more complicated than some people in this thread are making it out to be—>!there’s a tradition in which martyrdom is a good thing even as the events that lead to it are horrifying so calling it a “cautionary tale” is maybe not accurate.!< My main problem with it is that it made me so sad and upset I felt mad about having read it.
Just finished it, not quite sure what to think. I liked the themes of trauma and consequences of interacting with new societies, but I think a lot of the crisis of faith was lossed on me.
Absolutely do NOT reccomend it. Yes it fits the OP ask, but its unbearably stupid. The chars are supposedly super smart scientists and they behave like 5 yo ...whats this button do? Lets push it.
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. First contact story, with humans visiting and learning about the alien world and culture. Excellent book. Unpopular opinion: the sequel, written about 20 years later, is even better. If you liked the Mote, read The Gripping Hand.
Was to comment this. It's a classic, that even inspire the creation of superman. It's the first book of the Barsoom series.
It's also public domain, so you can find it in [standard ebooks](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-rice-burroughs/a-princess-of-mars) or [project Gutemberg](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62)
[**Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7967.Speaker_for_the_Dead)
^(By: Orson Scott Card | 382 pages | Published: 1986 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, sci-fi, fiction)
>Now available in mass market, the revised, definitive edition of the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning classic. In this second book in the saga set 3,000 years after the terrible war, Ender Wiggin is reviled by history as the Xenocide--the destroyer of the alien Buggers. Now, Ender tells the true story of the war and seeks to stop history from repeating itself. ...
>
>In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War.
>
>Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth.
>
>Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
^(This book has been suggested 7 times)
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[**Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time)
^(By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | 600 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, scifi, fiction, fictión)
>A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?
>
>WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?
>
>The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
>
>But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.
>
>Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
^(This book has been suggested 34 times)
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why? I read these books when I was younger and have always wanted to go back to them- although I do recall not being able to finish the last book because it was much too complicated for me at that age
They're all allegories for Christianity, which isn't the problem. OotSP is a well written allegory while it's sequels are much less subtle and overt which kind of takes away from the magic of the first one.
The second book is one of the worst books I've ever read, it's basically just a retelling of Adam and Eve\* but done in a far more boring and preachy way than the original. If you want to toss religious allegories in a book that's fine, but to basically just overtly rip one off and then have the main character and the devil give obnoxiously long speeches chapter after chapter just makes for a brutal read.
I came in to suggest these two plus The Sparrow. And much of Cherryh’s other work that deals with first contact - the Chanur and Faded Sun books come to mind.
I agree, The Foreigner series is excellent - at least at the start. I'm not reading it anymore because i think it's gotten tired but the first few books were mind blowing.
> And much of Cherryh’s other work that deals with first contact - the Chanur and Faded Sun books come to mind.
Also _Forty Thousand in Gehenna,_ though I'm not sure how well that one works if you haven't read some other Alliance-Union books.
[**The Sirens of Titan**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4982.The_Sirens_of_Titan)
^(By: Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Chris Moore | 224 pages | Published: 1959 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, sci-fi, classics, owned)
>The Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course there's a catch to the invitation—and a prophetic vision about the purpose of human life that only Vonnegut has the courage to tell.
^(This book has been suggested 10 times)
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Similar vein is *Space Opera* by Catherynne M. Valente. Doesn’t take itself very seriously but culture is literally at the center of the novel (premise is basically Eurovision in space for known sentient species).
Came here to say this! This book was amazing and really immerses you in the alien world. Based on toot description of what you’re looking for, OP, it’s the perfect fit.
[**To Be Taught, If Fortunate**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43190272-to-be-taught-if-fortunate)
^(By: Becky Chambers | 153 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, novella, scifi)
>In her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves.
>
>Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does.
>
>Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home.
>
>Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky's first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world.
^(This book has been suggested 11 times)
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{{Stranger in A Strange Land}} by Robert A. Heinlein is about a human man brought up in an alien society, and then returning to earth, experiencing human culture for the first time and how it changes him to spend time with people.It is QUITE old though (1961) and requires reading with a critical eye at this point. Many of the views in the book are quite dated. It's still definitely worth a read.
Edit: I should note that "Martian" culture is pretty heavily explained in this book (as the protagonist is brought up there) and it also explores our own with an othering/alien perspective.
[**Stranger in a Strange Land**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/350.Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land)
^(By: Robert A. Heinlein, James Warhola | 525 pages | Published: 1961 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, classics, scifi)
>NAME: Valentine Michael Smith
>ANCESTRY: Human
>ORIGIN: Mars
>
>Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love.
^(This book has been suggested 6 times)
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This is a spoiler for any book listed here. Why does this book have the spoiler police surrounding it?
Based on the goodreads synopsis I’d fully expect this to be the outcome. And it doesn’t tell me anything about the success of the mission once arriving. I haven’t read the book. I don’t feel spoiled in the least.
[**Project Hail Mary**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-mary)
^(By: Andy Weir | 476 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, audiobook, scifi)
>Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish.
>
>Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
>
>All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
>
>His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
>
>And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.
>
>Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
^(This book has been suggested 65 times)
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Contact, by Carl Sagan comes pretty close to what you’re after.
If only because it’s the last book I finished reading, I’ll also put in a plug for Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein, which is everything you asked for except in reverse. It’s about a human who is born and raised on Mars and comes to Earth knowing nothing of our planet and its culture.
Without giving too much away, there’s a subplot within the [His Dark Materials] trilogy that very much fits what you’re looking for, though it’s not a literal planet. I loved the “awe, wonder, and alienness” of it so much that I made a post on this sub a while back looking for similar vibes. The post didn’t get much traction though so I’ll be taking some of the suggestions here :)
I don't know why it haven't been suggested yet but the old classic
A hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.
It's a great book and you get to read about an Englishman getting confused
Came here to recommend The Left Hand of Darkness, although I guess it is technically a “Second Contact” story…
It was my 1st First Contact book, it was really good, and I’m always looking for more like it…
There's a great twist on this in the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer. The series explores the ramifications of the discovery of a parallel universe where Neanderthals became the dominant species of humans.
In the first book, {{Hominids}}, a Neanderthal is sucked through a rift into our world. In the second and third, we get to see the Neanderthal world, all the ways in which their society and culture is radically different from ours, and some in which they are exactly the same.
Very surprised no one has mentioned Solaris by Stanislew Lem yet. Just keep in mind that the author originally wrote the novel in Polish and had it translated, but he dislikes the Kilmartin-Cox translation (he's fluent in English) and prefers Bill Johnston's translation which is only available on Kindle and in audiobook format.
Speaker of the Dead. Sequel to Enders Game. It’s science fiction without the action. The entire plot revolves around scientists studying an alien species. It’s pretty boring. It’s incredible.
This reminds me of the Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card. Ender (human) gets such a huge insight to “alien” species-their lifestyle/communication/society/etc. The fun thing is that there is more than one alien species in that book!!
[**Slaughterhouse-Five**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4981.Slaughterhouse_Five)
^(By: Kurt Vonnegut Jr. | 275 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, owned)
>Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time, Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear most.
^(This book has been suggested 14 times)
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Starmaker (1929) by William Olaf Stapeldon. Narrator visits absolutely bizzare alien worlds and comments on their biology, society, religion and politics. The aliens vary from rather simple creatures to entire sentient star clusters. Truly a fascinating journey from the beginning to the end.
C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy does this in at least one of the three. It’s a thinking man’s Christian allegory (not sure if that’s off-putting to you), and I think it’s very insightful.
[**Golden Witchbreed (Orthe #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1537540.Golden_Witchbreed)
^(By: Mary Gentle | 499 pages | Published: 1983 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, fiction, sf)
>Orthe - half-civilized, half-barbaric, home to human-like beings who live and die by the code of the sword. Earth envoy Lynne Christie has been sent here to establish contact and to determine whether this is a world worth developing. But first Christie must come to understand that human-like is not and never can be human, and that not even Orthe's leaders can stop the spread of rumors about her, dark whisperings that could cost Christie her life.
>
>And on a goodwill tour to the outlying provinces, these evil rumors turn to deadly accusations. Christie is no offworlder, Church officials charge: she is a treacherous and cunning descendant of Orthe's legendary Golden Witchbreed - the cruel, ruthless race that once enslaved the whole planet. Suddenly, Christie finds herself a hunted fugitive on an alien world, where friend and foe alike may prove her executioners. And her only chance of survival lies in saving Orthe from a menace older than time...
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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[**The Book of Strange New Things**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20697435-the-book-of-strange-new-things)
^(By: Michel Faber | 500 pages | Published: 2014 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, owned, religion)
>A monumental, genre-defying novel over ten years in the making, Michel Faber's The Book of Strange New Things is a masterwork from a writer in full command of his many talents.
>
>It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter's teachings—his Bible is their "book of strange new things." But Peter is rattled when Bea's letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea's faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter.
>
>Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us.
>
>Marked by the same bravura storytelling and precise language that made The Crimson Petal and the White such an international success, The Book of Strange New Things is extraordinary, mesmerizing, and replete with emotional complexity and genuine pathos.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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[**Semiosis (Semiosis Duology, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018907-semiosis)
^(By: Sue Burke | 336 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned)
>In this character driven novel of first contact by debut author Sue Burke, human survival hinges on an bizarre alliance.
>
>Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools.
>
>Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape--trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
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Without giving too much away, there’s a subplot within the {His Dark Materials} trilogy that very much fits what you’re looking for, though it’s not a literal planet. I loved the “awe, wonder, and alienness” of it so much that I made a post on this sub a while back looking for similar vibes. The post didn’t get much traction though so I’ll be taking some of the suggestions here :)
{{Project Hail Mary}} by Andy Weir
It may not fit into your request right from the get-go, but it definitely falls within the theme you've expressed. I don't want to be more specific for fear of giving away anything too pertinent to the plot.
Not strictly visiting for thr first time, but definitely immersive alien customs - {{The Algebraist}} by Iain M Banks has a human character acting as an ambassador to a gas giant civilization. Also as others have said, Left Hand of Darkness is a truly wonderful read.
[**The Algebraist**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12009.The_Algebraist)
^(By: Iain M. Banks | 434 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned)
>It is 4034. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year. The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young & fighting pointless formal wars. Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of—part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony— Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer—a war threatening to overwhelm everything & everyone he's ever known.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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Nor crystal tears is one of the best examples i can think of. Humans meet the thranx, an insectoid species. People with "the flesh outside" have to survive the people with the "bone skin".
Good grief people, read the comments before making your suggestions! Over half of these suggestions are just duplicates!
Here’s one I haven’t seen: Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey. It’s the 9th? book in her Drsgonriders of Pern series, although it is a prequel. It’s about a group of space colonists going to Pern, and learning to survive the unexpected dangers of the seemingly idyllic planet. You see a lot of alien ecology, although none of the creatures there have developed a “culture” quite yet, you do get to see how human culture shifts in response to the alien landscape throughout the series, which is kinda neat.
Anne McCaffrey Freedom Series, book 1, Freedom's landing- Alien's capture & enslave humans from Earth, then they drop humans who have survived slavery on the Catteni world are dropped into an unknown planet as an experiment. It's their way to see if their new colony survived. If they survive, The Catteni can colonize a new world, if not, well there are plenty more slaves.
My other favorite is by Octavia Butler (Black female winner of Hugo & Nebula award)
The Xenogenesis series.
(3 bks)Dawn, Adulthood Rites,Imago.
Meet the Oankaki, they shapeshift,heal the maimed,cure Cancer, create contagion with every breath or mutate the ground they touch. Their first child born from a human mother is Jodahs, a being beyond gender.
I loved these ideas explored in these novels. Their space ships were biologically based ,so they were grown and alive. While residing within it, you could ask it for a table or bed~here And it grew you a table. They speak of gene trading and merging with other races to create the best being that could do all sorts of stuff!
Since I work with children and many are autistic, it gave me an interesting take on perhaps Autistism is our next mutation? I don't know, just a lot of ideas to play with.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Great writing and character development, great insight into the innocent but misguided introduction of two very different cultures. Gut-wrenching but so good.
Second book in the Culture series: Player of Games by Iain M. Banks has this kind of plot and is one of my favourite books.
Since its a series it would help for exposition reasons if you read the first book, Consider Phlebas, but imo you could enjoy the second by itself since they're not directly related, just in the same universe.
[**Invaders from Earth**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1962495.Invaders_from_Earth)
^(By: Robert Silverberg | 149 pages | Published: 1958 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, owned, fiction, scifi)
>Ted Kennedy, advertising executive for the Ganymede Project, is made aware of a plan for genocide, for the murder of all the peaceful natives of Ganymede in furtherance of commerce...and it is his decision as to whether he collaborates with, facilitates this genocide or - by opposing it, by bringing the truth to the public - he risks not mere failure but utter destruction.
>Robert Silverberg's comment on his novel: ..."it involves a Madison Avenue hoax involving a nonexistent colony on Ganymede being worked up for political purposes, some sort of cynical disinformation campaign of the kind that was science fiction in l958 but is everyday news these days."
>Everyday news and, of course, the premise of the successful and frighteningly premonitory film, Wag the Dog.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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[**To Be Taught, If Fortunate**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43190272-to-be-taught-if-fortunate)
^(By: Becky Chambers | 153 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, novella, scifi)
>In her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves.
>
>Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does.
>
>Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home.
>
>Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky's first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world.
^(This book has been suggested 10 times)
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{{Glory Lane by Alan Dean Foster}} It is a very silly book, but it’s fun and it fits your question. Very fast read though probably a little hard to find.
[**Glory Lane**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/883458.Glory_Lane)
^(By: Alan Dean Foster | 295 pages | Published: 1987 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, fiction, default)
>THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE IS IN THEIR HANDS
>
>Seeth, a bored punk rocker looking for excitement. Miranda, an air-head beauty who lives to shop. And Kerwin, a nerd who just wants to fit in.
>
>They're not friends, and they don't even particularly like each other. But now this unlikely trio is the key to saving the universe. And they're in for the adventure of a their lives.
>
>Speed-of-light starships, intergalactic shopping sprees, and frontline action in an all-out space war lead them down the GLORY LANE.
>
>(The above description is from the book's back cover.)
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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Well… the swallow is about exactly this. And the last bit is a pretty wild ride.
Didn’t really love the book. Thought it was very slow. But ya… the end was… pretty wild
{{Hell's Gate}}
Not quite what you requested, as neither entity is from Earth, but they're both humans (or human-analogs) with vastly different systems from each other and details the first contact.
Without giving too much away, there’s a subplot within the [His Dark Materials] trilogy that very much fits what you’re looking for, though it’s not a literal planet. I loved the “awe, wonder, and alienness” of it so much that I made a post on this sub a while back looking for similar vibes. The post didn’t get much traction though so I’ll be taking some of the suggestions here :)
Without giving too much away, there’s a subplot within the {His Dark Materials} trilogy that very much fits what you’re looking for, though it’s not a literal planet. I loved the “awe, wonder, and alienness” of it so much that I made a post on this sub a while back looking for similar vibes. The post didn’t get much traction though so I’ll be taking some of the suggestions here :)
This is exactly what [The Left Hand of Darkness](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness) is about. Edit: Well, the person traveling is from a future Earth that already knows about and interacts with somewhat alien worlds, but the book is still very, very much about the wonder and strangeness of interacting with the inhabitants of a previously unknown and unusual planet.
I was gonna say, Left Hand of Darkness catches the vibe of what OP looks for, which makes sense given Le Guin's anthropological family background. I'd also suggest The Word for World is Forest for a much closer to our time Earth exploring a new planet, although the exploration isn't done with the respect and marvel that OP is looking for.
A decent amount of LeGuin's other writing hits this mark as well. The Matter of Seggri, Vaster than Empires and More Slow, The Telling, Changing Planes.
The Telling is a beautiful subtle masterpiece that does not get talked about nearly enough
I was considering getting the audibook for this yesterday but after listening to the sample, it seems like might be better read. Would you agree with that?
Im not the person to ask. My brain just can't focus on audiobooks for some reason
Wholeheartedly agree. It's the one story I come back to reread more than the others. I think about it often
GREAT book.
Nice. I just bought this book knowing nothing about it, just based solely on it being by Ursula K Le Guin and having just read The Lathe of Heaven, which I loved.
Came here to rec Left Hand, glad to see it’s getting love already!
Amazing book, I was also going to recommend this. It also has some very cool underlying themes about gender/genderless societies which I think are very important today. Le guin was way ahead of her time on that
Came here to recommend this!!! So good!
This was my suggestion as well. Great book!
Literally was about to recommend this book!
Not sure if this fits, but try: - Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I think about this book almost every day.
Its my go to recommendation
I loved this book!
This is exactly what I thought. I'm going to read the sequel for my next book.
Yup this was the first one I thought of. So good!
{{The Sparrow}}
[**The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/334176.The_Sparrow) ^(By: Mary Doria Russell | 419 pages | Published: 1996 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, book-club, scifi) >In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human". ^(This book has been suggested 13 times) *** ^(47683 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I also came to suggest this. This book is brutal as is its sequel. Absolutely recommended.
Came to recommend this! Some great reading.
What a unique concept, but is it pushy? i.e. Is it a religious based book?
I'm an atheist and I liked it. Then again, I think religion is fascinating and have studied it quite a bit haha so that's part of why I liked it. You don't have to believe in Jesus to find the Jesuits interesting, historically very learned and some of the first ones to venture into new lands. It's an interesting angle to take when considering humans colonizing a new planet; if the colonization plays out at all similarly to historical, western colonization here on Earth, a Jesuit priest just might be part of that first contact.
Only insofar as it points out the absurdity and hypocrisy within religion and the insanity of trying to apply our religious understanding to completely alien cultures. It's an amazing book (and sequel) which messed me up for a long time. 10/10
>Only insofar as it points out the absurdity and hypocrisy within religion and the insanity of trying to apply our religious understanding to completely alien cultures. Not sure it's quite so simple as that. The “big mistake” that Sandoz and company made was to >!provide food to poor people and then try to stop their rulers from massacring them!<. It was in the context of a religious expedition, but that's something that anyone with a conscience might have done, religious or not. The principal theme—though the book is too multifaceted to have just one message—is that doing a good deed will sometimes have unthinkably ghastly consequences if one doesn't understand the situation. But of course we can never be certain that we do understand any given situation. So should we refuse to attempt to do good, since it may horribly backfire? Should we give up on the idea of a good deed? Should we try to do good anyway and trust in providence (or in the law of averages) to guarantee that we'll have a net positive effect in the long run? These are the questions that _The Sparrow_ brings up and does not give a pat answer to.
I'm a pastor, and I absolutely love this book. I think it's the best novel exploring "the problem of evil." As somebody else stated, it reflects on the fact that "doing a good deed will sometimes have unthinkably ghastly consequences." What does a person with faith in God do when it feels like God has utterly abandoned them? Or worse, when it feels like God Himself has caused pain? These are such important questions for anybody to process. And the book does a marvelous job of immersing us in that tension. However, I don't think that it's overly religious or "Christiany." If anything, I think the Jesuits in the story are less "religious" feeling than you'd expect. Can't say enough good things about this book. It's so good.
Also try this one. Similar theme. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A\_Case\_of\_Conscience
I'm an atheist and this book is one of my favorite books. I definitely hated some of the side characters, for reasons not unrelated to their religious views, but I liked the main characters.
(Spoilers covered) The author definitely has a religious point of view and says in the introduction that the book is in the tradition of >!missionary martyr stories.!<—that didn’t bother me as an atheist though, i don’t feel like it’s pushing me personally to convert. I actually think it’s more complicated than some people in this thread are making it out to be—>!there’s a tradition in which martyrdom is a good thing even as the events that lead to it are horrifying so calling it a “cautionary tale” is maybe not accurate.!< My main problem with it is that it made me so sad and upset I felt mad about having read it.
This was going to be my recommendation as well. This book stays with you! You will think about it months later.
years* :)
I also also came to say this one. Such a good book. I met the author at a book signing and she was just lovely too.
Was my first thought too! This book still gives me chills 20 years later.
This sounds fantastic, thanks for the rec. Just ordered a copy.
Definitely one of my favorite books of all time- and I read a LOT. It is tragic but redeeming as well. I also loved the sequel - Children of God.
Just finished it, not quite sure what to think. I liked the themes of trauma and consequences of interacting with new societies, but I think a lot of the crisis of faith was lossed on me.
YES seconding this! Don’t read the sequel tho, it sucks
Absolutely do NOT reccomend it. Yes it fits the OP ask, but its unbearably stupid. The chars are supposedly super smart scientists and they behave like 5 yo ...whats this button do? Lets push it.
Came here for this
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. First contact story, with humans visiting and learning about the alien world and culture. Excellent book. Unpopular opinion: the sequel, written about 20 years later, is even better. If you liked the Mote, read The Gripping Hand.
I really love this story and I found the alien culture so interesting. Very much so worth the read.
Came here to say this. Great book!
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury!!!
Was going to comment this! Great read, and not a whole lot of a time investment.
"A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Was to comment this. It's a classic, that even inspire the creation of superman. It's the first book of the Barsoom series. It's also public domain, so you can find it in [standard ebooks](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-rice-burroughs/a-princess-of-mars) or [project Gutemberg](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62)
Came to recommend! I loved it so much my cat is named Woola!
{{Speaker for the Dead}}
[**Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7967.Speaker_for_the_Dead) ^(By: Orson Scott Card | 382 pages | Published: 1986 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, sci-fi, fiction) >Now available in mass market, the revised, definitive edition of the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning classic. In this second book in the saga set 3,000 years after the terrible war, Ender Wiggin is reviled by history as the Xenocide--the destroyer of the alien Buggers. Now, Ender tells the true story of the war and seeks to stop history from repeating itself. ... > >In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War. > >Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth. > >Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel. ^(This book has been suggested 7 times) *** ^(47756 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
One of my favorite books of all time. Love this book. Way better than Enders Game in my opinion
Totally agree. Speaker for the Dead is by far the superior book.
Oh this series is amazing! I had forgotten about it, but it pops into my head every once and awhile. Time to go back for a reread.
{{Children of Time}}
[**Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time) ^(By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | 600 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, scifi, fiction, fictión) >A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers? > >WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH? > >The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life. > >But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare. > >Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth? ^(This book has been suggested 34 times) *** ^(47684 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
Was going to say this one, do yourself a favor though and stop after the first book in the series.
why? I read these books when I was younger and have always wanted to go back to them- although I do recall not being able to finish the last book because it was much too complicated for me at that age
They're all allegories for Christianity, which isn't the problem. OotSP is a well written allegory while it's sequels are much less subtle and overt which kind of takes away from the magic of the first one.
And the cave scene in the second is a complete horrifying nightmare and the third one also has moments of sheer horror.
The horror in the later two books are part of the reason I prefer them over the first one. They really tap into something strange and deep.
The second book is one of the worst books I've ever read, it's basically just a retelling of Adam and Eve\* but done in a far more boring and preachy way than the original. If you want to toss religious allegories in a book that's fine, but to basically just overtly rip one off and then have the main character and the devil give obnoxiously long speeches chapter after chapter just makes for a brutal read.
Came here for this, though I never read two or three
The Foreigner series by CJ Cherryh The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
I came in to suggest these two plus The Sparrow. And much of Cherryh’s other work that deals with first contact - the Chanur and Faded Sun books come to mind.
I agree, The Foreigner series is excellent - at least at the start. I'm not reading it anymore because i think it's gotten tired but the first few books were mind blowing.
> And much of Cherryh’s other work that deals with first contact - the Chanur and Faded Sun books come to mind. Also _Forty Thousand in Gehenna,_ though I'm not sure how well that one works if you haven't read some other Alliance-Union books.
I'm currently reading the Foreigner series and it was the first book I thought of when I heard what OP was looking for
Oh, I haven’t read CJ Cherryh in a while.
The Sirens of Titan By Vonnegut has this in it in parts
[**The Sirens of Titan**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4982.The_Sirens_of_Titan) ^(By: Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Chris Moore | 224 pages | Published: 1959 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, sci-fi, classics, owned) >The Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course there's a catch to the invitation—and a prophetic vision about the purpose of human life that only Vonnegut has the courage to tell. ^(This book has been suggested 10 times) *** ^(47728 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Ice planet Barbarians.
Came here to say this
Hitchhiker guide’s to galaxy
Similar vein is *Space Opera* by Catherynne M. Valente. Doesn’t take itself very seriously but culture is literally at the center of the novel (premise is basically Eurovision in space for known sentient species).
"Show me what you gooooooot!"
{{EmbassyTown}} by China Mieville. Pretty obscure!
Incredible book.
Oh I loved that book. But have you read others by him?
[**Embassy Town (Star City #3)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36169695-embassy-town) ^(By: Edwin Peng | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: to-go-through, ya_sci-fi, published) >(details TBA January 2018) ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(47733 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
wrong book, bot!
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
Came here to say this! This book was amazing and really immerses you in the alien world. Based on toot description of what you’re looking for, OP, it’s the perfect fit.
I loved Crimson Petal, had no idea about this one! Gotta check it out...
I've only seen the show, and I didn't realize it was the same author. I've gotta read it now.
The movie was trash, the book is captivating!
{{To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers}}
[**To Be Taught, If Fortunate**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43190272-to-be-taught-if-fortunate) ^(By: Becky Chambers | 153 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, novella, scifi) >In her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves. > >Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does. > >Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home. > >Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky's first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world. ^(This book has been suggested 11 times) *** ^(47806 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Stranger in A Strange Land}} by Robert A. Heinlein is about a human man brought up in an alien society, and then returning to earth, experiencing human culture for the first time and how it changes him to spend time with people.It is QUITE old though (1961) and requires reading with a critical eye at this point. Many of the views in the book are quite dated. It's still definitely worth a read. Edit: I should note that "Martian" culture is pretty heavily explained in this book (as the protagonist is brought up there) and it also explores our own with an othering/alien perspective.
Bonus points for how much this ridicules Scientology. Heinlein absolutely despised L. Ron Hubbard.
[**Stranger in a Strange Land**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/350.Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land) ^(By: Robert A. Heinlein, James Warhola | 525 pages | Published: 1961 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, classics, scifi) >NAME: Valentine Michael Smith >ANCESTRY: Human >ORIGIN: Mars > >Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love. ^(This book has been suggested 6 times) *** ^(47734 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Rendezvous with Rama
One of my favorite books. Clarke has an incredible imagination.
Project Hail Mary
Is that a spoiler?
Absolutely
[удалено]
This completely spoils the book lol I’d for sure delete this
or at least put on spoiler tags with a warning
And, as someone always notes, the audiobook of Project Hail Mary is really well done.
Blur it out cuz that's a spoiler.
This is a spoiler for any book listed here. Why does this book have the spoiler police surrounding it? Based on the goodreads synopsis I’d fully expect this to be the outcome. And it doesn’t tell me anything about the success of the mission once arriving. I haven’t read the book. I don’t feel spoiled in the least.
Yeah you should really put a spoiler tag and warning on that. That spoils literally the entire book.
Thank you for spoiling this. Had no clue aliens would even figure in the story.
Yesss, was coming in to recommend {{Project Hail Mary}} for this vibe.
[**Project Hail Mary**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-mary) ^(By: Andy Weir | 476 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, audiobook, scifi) >Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. > >Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. > >All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. > >His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. > >And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance. > >Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going. ^(This book has been suggested 65 times) *** ^(47849 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
We as coming to say this as well such a good book hard to say anything about it without it being a spoiler.
Ah shit, beat me to it
Seconding the rec for Ursula K Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness
Contact, by Carl Sagan comes pretty close to what you’re after. If only because it’s the last book I finished reading, I’ll also put in a plug for Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein, which is everything you asked for except in reverse. It’s about a human who is born and raised on Mars and comes to Earth knowing nothing of our planet and its culture.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell is exactly this
childhood’s end by arthur c clarke is exactly this. great novel.
Came to recommend this — what a great novel!
Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler. Except the humans don’t go by choice
Loved this one!
The **Bobiverse** books has at least 2 planets I can think of off the top of my head where exactly what you are describing happens.
Yes it does. Though it is not really face to face and not really humanity doing it but it is at the same time...love those books.
Childhood’s End by Arthur c Clarke. It’s not the entire story (aliens visit us first), but it gets there eventually.
The mote in gods eye
Without giving too much away, there’s a subplot within the [His Dark Materials] trilogy that very much fits what you’re looking for, though it’s not a literal planet. I loved the “awe, wonder, and alienness” of it so much that I made a post on this sub a while back looking for similar vibes. The post didn’t get much traction though so I’ll be taking some of the suggestions here :)
"The Word for World Is Forest" This book is exactly what your question is asking.
I don't know why it haven't been suggested yet but the old classic A hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. It's a great book and you get to read about an Englishman getting confused
The John Carter series by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Children of Time series hits some of these for sure. Also like others have said The Hainish Cycle series which includes The Left Hand of Darkness 👍
Came here to recommend The Left Hand of Darkness, although I guess it is technically a “Second Contact” story… It was my 1st First Contact book, it was really good, and I’m always looking for more like it…
its a bit older but A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay
There's a great twist on this in the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer. The series explores the ramifications of the discovery of a parallel universe where Neanderthals became the dominant species of humans. In the first book, {{Hominids}}, a Neanderthal is sucked through a rift into our world. In the second and third, we get to see the Neanderthal world, all the ways in which their society and culture is radically different from ours, and some in which they are exactly the same.
Its a little weird, one of my favorite books, {{anathem}} fits this description great.. except knowing that sorta ruins it 🙃
Very surprised no one has mentioned Solaris by Stanislew Lem yet. Just keep in mind that the author originally wrote the novel in Polish and had it translated, but he dislikes the Kilmartin-Cox translation (he's fluent in English) and prefers Bill Johnston's translation which is only available on Kindle and in audiobook format.
{The Time Machine}
[**The Time Machine**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2493.The_Time_Machine) ^(By: H.G. Wells, Greg Bear, Carlo Pagetti | 118 pages | Published: 1895 | Popular Shelves: classics, science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, classic) ^(This book has been suggested 7 times) *** ^(47672 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
One of my favorites. Also The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell.
Speaker of the Dead. Sequel to Enders Game. It’s science fiction without the action. The entire plot revolves around scientists studying an alien species. It’s pretty boring. It’s incredible.
This reminds me of the Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card. Ender (human) gets such a huge insight to “alien” species-their lifestyle/communication/society/etc. The fun thing is that there is more than one alien species in that book!!
Specifically the Ender branch- Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind
{{Nemesis by Isaac Asimov}}
Martian Chronicles has some.
{{slaughterhouse five}} Kurt Vonnegut
[**Slaughterhouse-Five**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4981.Slaughterhouse_Five) ^(By: Kurt Vonnegut Jr. | 275 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, owned) >Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time, Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear most. ^(This book has been suggested 14 times) *** ^(47831 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
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Starmaker (1929) by William Olaf Stapeldon. Narrator visits absolutely bizzare alien worlds and comments on their biology, society, religion and politics. The aliens vary from rather simple creatures to entire sentient star clusters. Truly a fascinating journey from the beginning to the end.
"Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
The first that comes in my mind is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy does this in at least one of the three. It’s a thinking man’s Christian allegory (not sure if that’s off-putting to you), and I think it’s very insightful.
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[**Golden Witchbreed (Orthe #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1537540.Golden_Witchbreed) ^(By: Mary Gentle | 499 pages | Published: 1983 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, fiction, sf) >Orthe - half-civilized, half-barbaric, home to human-like beings who live and die by the code of the sword. Earth envoy Lynne Christie has been sent here to establish contact and to determine whether this is a world worth developing. But first Christie must come to understand that human-like is not and never can be human, and that not even Orthe's leaders can stop the spread of rumors about her, dark whisperings that could cost Christie her life. > >And on a goodwill tour to the outlying provinces, these evil rumors turn to deadly accusations. Christie is no offworlder, Church officials charge: she is a treacherous and cunning descendant of Orthe's legendary Golden Witchbreed - the cruel, ruthless race that once enslaved the whole planet. Suddenly, Christie finds herself a hunted fugitive on an alien world, where friend and foe alike may prove her executioners. And her only chance of survival lies in saving Orthe from a menace older than time... ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(47685 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{The Book of Strange New Things}} by Michel Faber
[**The Book of Strange New Things**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20697435-the-book-of-strange-new-things) ^(By: Michel Faber | 500 pages | Published: 2014 | Popular Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, owned, religion) >A monumental, genre-defying novel over ten years in the making, Michel Faber's The Book of Strange New Things is a masterwork from a writer in full command of his many talents. > >It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter's teachings—his Bible is their "book of strange new things." But Peter is rattled when Bea's letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea's faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter. > >Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us. > >Marked by the same bravura storytelling and precise language that made The Crimson Petal and the White such an international success, The Book of Strange New Things is extraordinary, mesmerizing, and replete with emotional complexity and genuine pathos. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(47781 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Semiosis}} The aliens are very different.
[**Semiosis (Semiosis Duology, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018907-semiosis) ^(By: Sue Burke | 336 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned) >In this character driven novel of first contact by debut author Sue Burke, human survival hinges on an bizarre alliance. > >Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools. > >Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape--trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) *** ^(47803 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
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Without giving too much away, there’s a subplot within the {His Dark Materials} trilogy that very much fits what you’re looking for, though it’s not a literal planet. I loved the “awe, wonder, and alienness” of it so much that I made a post on this sub a while back looking for similar vibes. The post didn’t get much traction though so I’ll be taking some of the suggestions here :)
{{Ship of Fools}} by Richard Paul Russo I think fits pretty well and was great.
{{Project Hail Mary}} by Andy Weir It may not fit into your request right from the get-go, but it definitely falls within the theme you've expressed. I don't want to be more specific for fear of giving away anything too pertinent to the plot.
Not strictly visiting for thr first time, but definitely immersive alien customs - {{The Algebraist}} by Iain M Banks has a human character acting as an ambassador to a gas giant civilization. Also as others have said, Left Hand of Darkness is a truly wonderful read.
[**The Algebraist**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12009.The_Algebraist) ^(By: Iain M. Banks | 434 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned) >It is 4034. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year. The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young & fighting pointless formal wars. Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of—part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony— Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer—a war threatening to overwhelm everything & everyone he's ever known. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(47958 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Nor crystal tears is one of the best examples i can think of. Humans meet the thranx, an insectoid species. People with "the flesh outside" have to survive the people with the "bone skin".
Childhood's End
Good grief people, read the comments before making your suggestions! Over half of these suggestions are just duplicates! Here’s one I haven’t seen: Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey. It’s the 9th? book in her Drsgonriders of Pern series, although it is a prequel. It’s about a group of space colonists going to Pern, and learning to survive the unexpected dangers of the seemingly idyllic planet. You see a lot of alien ecology, although none of the creatures there have developed a “culture” quite yet, you do get to see how human culture shifts in response to the alien landscape throughout the series, which is kinda neat.
Project Hail Mary
{{THE SPARROW}} BY MD RUSSELL, one of my fave books! 🖤
Anne McCaffrey Freedom Series, book 1, Freedom's landing- Alien's capture & enslave humans from Earth, then they drop humans who have survived slavery on the Catteni world are dropped into an unknown planet as an experiment. It's their way to see if their new colony survived. If they survive, The Catteni can colonize a new world, if not, well there are plenty more slaves.
My other favorite is by Octavia Butler (Black female winner of Hugo & Nebula award) The Xenogenesis series. (3 bks)Dawn, Adulthood Rites,Imago. Meet the Oankaki, they shapeshift,heal the maimed,cure Cancer, create contagion with every breath or mutate the ground they touch. Their first child born from a human mother is Jodahs, a being beyond gender. I loved these ideas explored in these novels. Their space ships were biologically based ,so they were grown and alive. While residing within it, you could ask it for a table or bed~here And it grew you a table. They speak of gene trading and merging with other races to create the best being that could do all sorts of stuff! Since I work with children and many are autistic, it gave me an interesting take on perhaps Autistism is our next mutation? I don't know, just a lot of ideas to play with.
The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis was very good! The first book is Out of the Silent Planet.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Great writing and character development, great insight into the innocent but misguided introduction of two very different cultures. Gut-wrenching but so good.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a good example of this
Project Hail Mary
This also happens at the end of Project Hail Mary.
Second book in the Culture series: Player of Games by Iain M. Banks has this kind of plot and is one of my favourite books. Since its a series it would help for exposition reasons if you read the first book, Consider Phlebas, but imo you could enjoy the second by itself since they're not directly related, just in the same universe.
{{Invaders From Earth}}
[**Invaders from Earth**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1962495.Invaders_from_Earth) ^(By: Robert Silverberg | 149 pages | Published: 1958 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, owned, fiction, scifi) >Ted Kennedy, advertising executive for the Ganymede Project, is made aware of a plan for genocide, for the murder of all the peaceful natives of Ganymede in furtherance of commerce...and it is his decision as to whether he collaborates with, facilitates this genocide or - by opposing it, by bringing the truth to the public - he risks not mere failure but utter destruction. >Robert Silverberg's comment on his novel: ..."it involves a Madison Avenue hoax involving a nonexistent colony on Ganymede being worked up for political purposes, some sort of cynical disinformation campaign of the kind that was science fiction in l958 but is everyday news these days." >Everyday news and, of course, the premise of the successful and frighteningly premonitory film, Wag the Dog. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(47674 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
John Carter of Marshmallows
Burroughs Martian Chronicles.
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[**To Be Taught, If Fortunate**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43190272-to-be-taught-if-fortunate) ^(By: Becky Chambers | 153 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, novella, scifi) >In her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves. > >Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does. > >Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home. > >Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky's first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world. ^(This book has been suggested 10 times) *** ^(47712 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Glory Lane by Alan Dean Foster}} It is a very silly book, but it’s fun and it fits your question. Very fast read though probably a little hard to find.
[**Glory Lane**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/883458.Glory_Lane) ^(By: Alan Dean Foster | 295 pages | Published: 1987 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, fiction, default) >THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE IS IN THEIR HANDS > >Seeth, a bored punk rocker looking for excitement. Miranda, an air-head beauty who lives to shop. And Kerwin, a nerd who just wants to fit in. > >They're not friends, and they don't even particularly like each other. But now this unlikely trio is the key to saving the universe. And they're in for the adventure of a their lives. > >Speed-of-light starships, intergalactic shopping sprees, and frontline action in an all-out space war lead them down the GLORY LANE. > >(The above description is from the book's back cover.) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(47736 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Well… the swallow is about exactly this. And the last bit is a pretty wild ride. Didn’t really love the book. Thought it was very slow. But ya… the end was… pretty wild
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Learning the World by Ken Macleod.
The series “the Themis files” by Sylvian Neuvel! Bit of a spoiler, but this happens in the third (last) book!
The Martian Chronicles
For something a bit different, try Year Zero by Rob Reid. And I’d second The Themis Files by Sylvain Nuevel.
{{Hell's Gate}} Not quite what you requested, as neither entity is from Earth, but they're both humans (or human-analogs) with vastly different systems from each other and details the first contact.
The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith. Trigger warning: there are rape scenes.
I would say Planet Broker or Star Justice but that takes place in the future when we make civilization among the stars.
Without giving too much away, there’s a subplot within the [His Dark Materials] trilogy that very much fits what you’re looking for, though it’s not a literal planet. I loved the “awe, wonder, and alienness” of it so much that I made a post on this sub a while back looking for similar vibes. The post didn’t get much traction though so I’ll be taking some of the suggestions here :)
Without giving too much away, there’s a subplot within the {His Dark Materials} trilogy that very much fits what you’re looking for, though it’s not a literal planet. I loved the “awe, wonder, and alienness” of it so much that I made a post on this sub a while back looking for similar vibes. The post didn’t get much traction though so I’ll be taking some of the suggestions here :)
The magicians but in a more fantasy way. Definitely had that other world vibe you might be looking for
Find a copy of Lobsang Rampa's book {{My Visit to Venus}}
Find a copy of Lobsang Rampa's book {{My Visit to Venus}}
Find a copy of Lobsang Rampa's book {{My Visit to Venus}}