Arthur C. Clarke always seemed to be the "classic" sci-fi writer to me. His short stories are great - the Rama trilogy is brilliant (if a little longwinded in the latter novels). He's probably good for younger readers too as his style is pretty straightforward "normal" future fiction - not too much way out there stuff.
Isaac Asimov's novels always seemed a little slow to me but his short stories are great. There are 2 collection books of sci-fi stories I know of plus a couple of others more fantasy based. Plus they might be more inclined to get into other areas once they recognize his name (he did write about almost everything at some stage).
Along with Heinlein and Bradbury these guys should also give a sort of "old time" view of sci-fi your youngsters can compare with more modern writers.
Robert J Sawyer mentions something very like this (developed by the Neanderthals in their parallel universe) allowing destruction of viruses (virii???) and pathogens in humans. I had no idea it was based on anything even remotely similar in reality. Pretty cool.
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Arthur C. Clarke always seemed to be the "classic" sci-fi writer to me. His short stories are great - the Rama trilogy is brilliant (if a little longwinded in the latter novels). He's probably good for younger readers too as his style is pretty straightforward "normal" future fiction - not too much way out there stuff. Isaac Asimov's novels always seemed a little slow to me but his short stories are great. There are 2 collection books of sci-fi stories I know of plus a couple of others more fantasy based. Plus they might be more inclined to get into other areas once they recognize his name (he did write about almost everything at some stage). Along with Heinlein and Bradbury these guys should also give a sort of "old time" view of sci-fi your youngsters can compare with more modern writers.
Robert J Sawyer mentions something very like this (developed by the Neanderthals in their parallel universe) allowing destruction of viruses (virii???) and pathogens in humans. I had no idea it was based on anything even remotely similar in reality. Pretty cool.