I used to avoid sci-fi because of non-realism. Not my cup of tea to read insanely powerful tech used in really disappointing ways (e.g. Sophons from Three Body Problem writing timestamps), or for example societies in 2030 that are culturally unchanged from 2010.

Then I tried Blind Date with a Book, which is where the book gets wrapped in brown paper and labelled with some hints about the book, so you know what kind of book you're buying but not the title or author. I ended up unwrapping Chiang's Story of Your Life, the short story collection. Chiang ended up pulling me back into sci-fi. Every story had sci-fi elements that were thought-provoking without being unbelievable, not to mention phenomenal worldbuilding, which I am a real sucker for.

Even if you're not a sci-fi fan I'd recommend several of the stories in Story of Your Life -- Tower of Babylon really left an impression in my friend group, to say the least.