Fleep by Jason Shiga. Comic. Short. Beloved by many, including the late great Aaron Swatz

http://www.shigabooks.com/fleep.php

They're Made out of Meat

Terry Bisson 1991 (793 words)

https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/thinkingMeat.html

I didn't read all the comments - hopefully not a duplicate.

Also a really good sci-fi series if you want something a bit different:
by qntm https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub

I recommend the following stories in the series if you like it:

SCP-055 by qntm (first half) and CptBellman (Addendum A onwards)

We Need To Talk About Fifty-Five

Introductory Antimemetics

Unforgettable, That's What You Are

CASE COLOURLESS GREEN

Your Last First Day

They're all pretty short so you can decide how much you enjoy it to keep going.

Antimemetics Division Hub - SCP Foundation

The SCP Foundation’s ‘top-secret’ archives, declassified for your enjoyment.

The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin.

David Brin

The Postman

and an easy fun read by him:

The Practice Effect

Charles de Lint's only easy reading fun book: Wolf Moon

By Me: Kirk's First Crappy Nano Book: The Sword

The Death of Grass (science fiction thriller that's only 231 pages)

Not sure if it counts but IMHO everyone should give some good comics a shot:

Obviously, Watchmen is the top (almost completely similar to the movie BTW):
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/472331.Watchmen

Other than that, The Boys is much better (funnier, bloodier, more adult oriented) than the TV series. Sin City is a bit artsy but worth the shot if you like the style. And I have heard Transmetropolitan is pretty good sci-fi.

Goodreads

Discover and share books you love on Goodreads.

The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate by Ted Chiang

BLIT

It's a very short story, but pretty good.

Project Hail Mary and Artemis by Andy Weir (author of The Martian)

Outland and Bobiverse (First book of series is We Are Legion) by Dennis E. Taylor

http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/blit.htm BLIT (acronym of Berryman Logical Imaging Technique) by David Langford is my favorite short story, which posits a world where highly dangerous types of images called “basilisks” have been discovered; these images contain patterns within them that exploit flaws in the structure of the human mind to produce a lethal reaction.

The Forever War, deals with the implications of light speed travel and cultural change, horrific battles in low pressure environments.

Might I recommend H.G. Wells? Can't go wrong with the classics. The Time Machine is under a hundred pages, and The Invisible Man clocks in at about one fifty. Both are fairly unique in their approach to storytelling, too. Wells favors a documentarian style, which blends surprisingly well with fantastical sci-fi concepts, in my opinion.

I, Robot

It’s a collection of short stories, written by Isaac Asimov, that aren’t hard to read, but leave you with a good amount to think about. Highly recommend

The diamond age

great

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin. Short story but still sticks with me.

A different bounty market for books that are not science fiction. I'd appreciate some recommendations about books that are somewhat introspective, or stay with you for a while, or make you feel intense emotions etc.

Finished reading the Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect, great book! Also read Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories. Both great books, would recommend. Thank you to those who recommended these!