Solaris has one animating idea and is kind enough to state it directly: “Human beings set out to encounter other worlds, other civilizations, without having fully gotten to know their own hidden recesses, their blind alleys, well shafts, dark barricaded doors.” Now that you’ve seen it, I’m not sure you need to read the book. Perhaps one of the movies will suffice.
Blindsight has so many ideas competing for attention that I put it down.
The Mote in God’s Eye seems, 120 pages in, to have no ideas whatsoever besides a love for Star Trek and the British empire.
A few quick reviews of 'first contact' boks
2026-09-07