All the above plus the writer who first got me into the genre as a young lad. I remember it to this day... Hal Clement "Mission of Gravity". Also "Needle" by the same author.

Now I'm heavily into Iain M.Banks and Peter F. Hamilton ("The Algebraist" from the former and "Pandora's Star and its sequel "Judas Unchained" from the latter are corkers).

Peace

moo