Reading order
| # | Title | Year | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Consider Phlebas | 1987 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
| 2 | The Player of Games | 1988 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
| 3 | Use of Weapons | 1990 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
| 4 | The State of the Art | 1991 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
| 5 | Excession | 1996 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
| 6 | Inversions | 1998 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
| 7 | Look to Windward | 2000 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
| 8 | Matter | 2008 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
| 9 | Surface Detail | 2010 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
| 10 | The Hydrogen Sonata | 2012 | Iain M. Banks | Buy |
The Culture series is a landmark of modern science fiction, created by the Scottish author Iain M. Banks. The series follows the eponymous Culture, a vast, post-scarcity, interstellar society that is both a technological marvel and a radical social experiment.
The Culture is governed by Minds—immensely powerful and sentient AIs—who ensure the well-being and freedom of all its citizens, both biological and artificial. The stories often focus on the edges of this utopia, where the Culture interacts with less advanced or more aggressive civilizations, often through its “Special Circumstances” division, which handles the dirty work of intervention.
Banks’s vision is one of grand scale, featuring incredible mega-structures like Orbitals and General Service Vehicles (GSVs), and exploring deep philosophical questions about power, morality, and the nature of intelligence. Each novel is a complete, standalone story set within this shared universe, allowing readers to jump in almost anywhere.