More like Reading the Wind

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DuneUniverse
universe78 books1963
About political intrigue.
“The desert planet, where empire runs on a single substance: the spice melange, which folds space, prolongs life, and unlocks prescience, and which exists nowhere else in the known universe.”
from the catalogue
Start with Dune →
includes Dune, Dune Prequels, Heroes of Dune, Dune Sequels, Background of the Dune Universe
The OutposterNovel
Gordon R. Dicksonstandalone novel1972
About survival, set in space.
“If your number came up, you joined the rest of the losers marked for exile from overcrowded Earth.”
from the catalogue
CoDominiumUniverse
universe98 books1971
Military science fiction.
“The body of work runs along a few hard threads rather than one line.”
from the catalogue
Start with The Mote in God's Eye →
includes Moties, War World, Falkenberg's Legion, Laurie Jo Hansen
The Dosadi ExperimentNovel
Frank Herbertstandalone novel1977
About political intrigue and aliens.
“Dosadi is rumored to be an experimental planet, and the experimenters are the froglike Gowachin, whose culture is founded upon a strange legal system in which McKie is the only human ever trained.”
from the catalogue
Old Man's WarSeries
series16 books2005
Military science fiction, adventurous in tone, about war, set in space.
“Sign a document at 65, saying you intend to join up 10 years later.”
from the catalogue
Start with Old Man's War →
Fallen DragonNovel
Peter F. Hamiltonstandalone novel2001
Adventurous in tone, set in space.