I made this topic on another forum and got quite a few good suggestions, so I figured I would make it here too. A few more good books to add to the list couldn't hurt. I'm really interested in reading some good sci-fi books, but whenever I look online all I see are recommendations for Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, etc. That's great and all, but I have absolutely no interest in the science behind the technobabble. Any scientific explanation beyond "it goes ding when there's stuff" tends to bore me at record speed. Basically I'm looking for some good, intelligent sci-fi books that focus heavily on the characters. It can be fun fluff or deal heavily with sociological or political themes. I don't care. As long as it focuses primarily on people instead of the science or technology I'll probably enjoy it. Ender's Game is the perfect example of what I'm looking for in a book.
Someone's doubtlessly already mentioned it, but Dune is a good example of science fiction that isn't about science at all (besides sociology). Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion is a duology by Dan Simmons that has a sequel duology, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion.
Anne McCaffrey's "Pern" books, including the Harper Hall books are fantastic. Some people also like her "Crystal Singer" books, but I'm not so into them. The Moreau series by S. Andrew Swann is EXCELLENT. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moreau_series If you like the cyberpunk genre but want a less techy edge to it you might consider the Shadowrun series. You don't want the new stuff, though...you'll want the old Original Shadowrun books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shadowrun_books Scroll down to "Novels". I recommend just starting at the beginning with the books published by FASA, esp the first four. For that matter, the Battletech novels are pretty good too (anything before the Invasion of the Clans).
On the classic side, check out Theodore Sturgeon, John Wyndham, Ursula K. LeGuin, H. G. Wells, etc. More modern: Peter Hamilton, Tony Daniel, Neal Asher . . . .
Le Guin would be my first suggestion. Go and immediately read The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Lathe of Heaven. Then, sit back and reflect on them.
The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson Excellent dialogue, suspenseful situations, and some of the most memorable characters I have ever come across. Probably my second favorite book after Dune if that says anything. I actually want to reread it just thinking about it.
- Anything by Simmons (primarily the 'Hyperion' saga - epic space opera) - Scalzi's 'Old Man's War' series
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Leguin Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg When HARLIE Was One by David Gerrold
"Soft" doesn't mean shallow. It just means that it isn't focused on the hard sciences: math, physics, astronomy, etc. Le Guin's work is more sociological.
Poul Anderson's The Saturn Game is one of my favorites. It's not too heavy on the hard elements. Instead, it's about the crew of a ship on its way to Saturn, playing virtual role-playing games to relieve the boredom, and things start to get a little... confused. It's a short story rather than a full novel, but still quite enjoyable.
Given the OP's starting point on how interested (or rather, not interested) he is in the science, I'm not sure Peter Hamilton's what he's looking for. Even Neal puts a lot of effort into explaining the hard science of the runcibles any time it becomes important (in so far as you can with any FTL situation). For modern stuff, I'd suggest David Feintuch's Seafort books - they're at the Trek-ish sort of level of 'The FTL fusion drive exists, it has these limitations, and hence consequences which impact on how the characters live their lives, and that's it in terms of the physics'. Scalzi's Old Man's War series is a good suggestion, as his science is very important, but not until you've got used to it all, and he then springs a gob-smacking unexpected consequence on the reader.
You might want to reconsider Asimov.. especially the original Foundation trilogy. Yes.. it's set far into the future and uses many high tech gadgets (though nuclear weapons as the strongest weapon available seems kinda quaint nowadays) but he doesn't go into "transphasic couplers needed to reverse the polarity of xyz".. he tells a grand story set in the future. Period. Dune has already been mentioned.. read all original books by Frank and be prepared to get a huge lesson in SF sociology (it's a shame he didn't get to finish the series on his own) but avoid the sequels/prequels written nowadays as they are very light and unworthy crap besides his books.
"Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem -- not hard SF, it's more a psychological study of the limitations of human consciousness in the face of a truly alien mind.
David Brin and John Scalzi are good choices. Spider Robinson's classic Callahan's Crosstime Saloon is amazing. You can't go wrong with a book about a bizarre bar... Mike Resnick's Santiago and the companion novel Dark Lady are strictly character-driven and awesome tales that stand apart from the norm, one about a bounty hunter and the other about a woman who seems to keep appearing in photos and other recorded mediums over thousands of years. For slam-bang space opera of the first order try Keith Laumer's Earthblood. There's a wild novel called And Having Writ about aliens landing/crashing in Teddy Roosevelt's Presidency and changing the course of our history. It's told from the alien's viewpoint and is hilarious. Anything by Harlan Ellison is "soft" scifi. You might try a collection of shorts by Barry Malzeburg called Welcome To the Monkey House. Norman Spinrad is another "soft" writer who avoids technical details for mind-wrenching emotional/sociological tales. H Beam Piper is a personal fave. His Little Fuzzy is a classic and pretty obviously influenced Speilberg to write E.T., his two collections, Federation and Empire are reflections of history through a scifi lens and his other collection, Paratime! is ground-breaking alt-hist work. Jack McDevitt's Eternity Road is fun, if you can find it the SM Stirling Draka series(or the omnibus edition) is a great tale, if somewhat dark and nauseating. If you like a D&D-with-guns-and-ammo approach Mary Gentle's Grunts! is side-splittingly funny, Glen Cook's Wizardry Compiled is a unique approach to computer programming and magic, Zelazny's Princes of Amber(published recently as The Amber Chronicles V 1, 2), is both top-notch and genre-defying and Peter Hamill's Forever is one of the most haunting books I've ever read. Oh, and saving the best for last- Jack Finney. Time and Again. Also, Rewind by William Sleator. Both are about time-travel and yet they are nothing alike. Both are the kind of books that leave you feeling like someone peeled your scalp back and let a breeze pass over your brain. If you need more, PM me. I currently own about 4500 scifi books and have read 2-3 times that so I have a good knowledge base to draw on....
If you want excellent characterization and world-building in a scifi framework with little science background beyond "this happens", try the Miles Vorkosigan adventures by Lois McMaster Bujold. Start with The Warrior's Apprentice.