Older books I recommended for the present circumstance, after due consideration:
Lois McMaster Bujold, Young Miles (a three-book omnibus that is a good place to start reading the Vorkosigan series)
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Can't go wrong with this, beloved by 13-year-olds of any age.
Larry Niven, *Ringworld* Great Seventies SF.
Isaac Asimov, *The Foundation Trilogy* (great Forties SF) or *The Caves of Steel* (great fifties SF, also a mystery, with robots)
Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers, The Rolling Stones, or Starman Jones I think these are somewhat less dated than other Heinlein stories. Probably should have included Have Space Suit, Will Travel.
I'm thinking I could have included books by Anne McCaffrey or Arthur Clarke (my own favorite author) as well, but my correspondent really needed just one title, so I stopped.
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Lois McMaster Bujold, Young Miles (a three-book omnibus that is a good place to start reading the Vorkosigan series)
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Can't go wrong with this, beloved by 13-year-olds of any age.
Larry Niven, *Ringworld*
Great Seventies SF.
Isaac Asimov, *The Foundation Trilogy* (great Forties SF) or *The Caves of Steel* (great fifties SF, also a mystery, with robots)
Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers, The Rolling Stones, or Starman Jones
I think these are somewhat less dated than other Heinlein stories. Probably should have included Have Space Suit, Will Travel.
I'm thinking I could have included books by Anne McCaffrey or Arthur Clarke (my own favorite author) as well, but my correspondent really needed just one title, so I stopped.