If you were captivated by Ellie Arroway's quest to decode the message from Vega in Contact, you'll be drawn into the mysterious signals and scientific puzzles at the heart of The Three-Body Problem. Like Sagan's work, Liu's novel grapples with the ramifications of humanity's first encounter with extraterrestrial life, blending cutting-edge science with big philosophical questions.

If the meticulous scientific realism and technological plausibility of Contact resonated with you, Blindsight offers a deeply analytical take on humanity's encounter with the truly alien. Watts crafts a story where a crew of specialists investigates a mysterious signal from the edge of the solar system, pushing the boundaries of biology, neuroscience, and what it means to be conscious.

If you appreciated how Contact explored the challenges of communicating with an utterly foreign intelligence, The Sparrow will intrigue you. It follows a Jesuit priest and his team as they attempt to understand and connect with an alien species, delving deeply into the complexities and misunderstandings that can arise from cultural differences.

If you loved the sweeping sense of scale in Contact—from the search for meaning on Earth to the vastness of cosmic discovery—Children of Time will enthrall you. The novel spans millennia as humanity’s remnants encounter an evolving alien civilization, blending grand cosmic themes with intimate character moments.

If you found yourself pondering the philosophical and existential questions raised in Contact—about science, faith, and humanity’s place in the universe—Anathem will provide another rich tapestry of ideas. Stephenson’s novel follows Erasmas, a scholar in a cloistered society, as he’s drawn into a cosmic mystery that challenges the very nature of reality and consciousness.