I would recommend Cosmic Trigger.
The subtitle is “The Final Secret of the Illuminati,” but that seems to have been a marketing decision. The book is more like an autobiography.
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I’d second @smulder: Cosmic Trigger (and its sequels, though they’re even harder to come by). He had a couple of features/interviews in the Fortean Times that demonstrate his world view very well, too.
[Edit] Oh! He did an encyclopedia/exploration of conspiracy theories that is excellent - discusses the mental fallacies that conspiracy thinking requires, by way Korzybski and e-prime.
‘Everything is Under Control’ Lovely book.
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On The Three Body Problem: I thought maybe there was a huge cultural disconnect, because I can’t really imagine so many scientists taking on the particular attitude and actions that they did when faced with… what they were faced with.
Currently about to finish Twelve Kings in Sharakai which I’m really enjoying. Reminds me a bit of the Black Company novels and of Fallen London a little, without actually being either of those things overall. I had a suspicion about a particular plot twist and a different one happened that may or may not rule it out.
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What do we know about utopian literature?
For instance, people seem to like Iain M. Banks. What should a new reader read first?
Asking for a friend, mostly.
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First thing is: I’d hardly call The Culture utopian. A terrifying blend of English medieval and 1984 authoritarianism, more like. They are not nice people, and it doesn’t really occur to them they’re not being nice, because they’re so invested in being the status quo. Did you mean dystopia?
I loved Against a Dark Background, mostly for the main character, but the plot puts her through extreme anguish. Her society includes a world where criminals are punished by having their brains extracted (killing the rest of their bodies), and used to replace the brains of quadrupeds who are raced for sport. Everyone just shrugs and says it’s just punishment, never considering things like wrongful conviction (naturally this comes up in the book).
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No, sorry, my friend wants utopia. She knows about The Dispossessed. I’m trying to find my copy. It’s in a box somewhere. Of course even that one is debatable.
If “the Culture” is not an example then I’m sorry for bringing it up. I haven’t read any Banks.
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To be honest utopias are harder to come by. All that I can think of is the two very old obvious ones Platos republic and moores utopia.
Maybe this will help.
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Also songs of a distant earth by Arthur C Clarke might scratch that itch.
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How about Cory’s Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom? That’s pretty utopian, albeit seen through the lens of someone suffering a mental breakdown.
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I have recently attempted The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (which is the first of 5 books) and I made it about 2/3rds of the way through before I gave up in boredom. The premise is that one day a device is invented that allows people to access a seemingly infinite number of parallel earths, but humanity never developed on any of them.
This should be the set up for some very interesting stuff, off the top of my head - how do you control crime? How do you manage pioneering these new lands given the limitations (what you can carry, no iron) but also modern design and manufacturing? What are the implications for society, both for those who leave and those who stay behind? This is all the sort of stuff that Pratchett is usually very deft at. Unfortunately, although he gets top billing his input seems to have been minimal.
What we’re left with is a meandering and fairly dull piece of prose, repeatedly scene-setting without interest or direction. I’m pretty sure that, had this been Pratchett’s project the 2/3rds of the book I read would have been condensed into a couple of chapters so he could get on with more interesting stuff.
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The counterpoint is that Banks portrays the anti-Culture movements as worse for realistic reasons, and doesn’t put humanoids on a pedestal with regard to AIs. It’s reasonably Utopian as far as I’m concerned.
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I read it not too long ago. It was fine, dated, I think. But not terrible. Not nearly as mind-bending as some people think of it, but maybe that’s because the mainstream culture has integrated at least some of the ideas found within the books. I found some aspects of it pretty sexist in it’s treatment of women, honestly.
I’m glad it read it, though.
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Obligatory:
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My definition of Utopia is different and basically comes from More’s book since he’s the one who originated the term as we now know it. To me utopias are judged by how they function and what their larger impact is, never mind the happiness of individual citizens. Amy society that creates as much misery as the Culture is therefore not a utopia. I wouldn’t want to live in it – not when some cult can get government approval to murder you because greater good something something.
More did argue that a well-balanced society creates well-balanced and therefore happy citizens, but the society came first. Like many 16-17c spec fic writers, he made the exploration of the idea primary, not conflict/resolution (leave that to the playwrights I guess).
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Maybe it’s due to the particular Banks books I’ve read, but it seems to me like non-Culture civilizations were usually the ones creating misery.
I’d still choose the Culture over early 21st century life on Earth, and early 21st century life on Earth over pretty much any earlier period of human history.
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Finally dug up and read through Colossus And The Crab the last book of the Colossus trilogy. It goes off the rails with martian super beings turning out to be worse than the super computer. A bit hokey but has a fitting end for our hero Charles Forbin and his creation.
They all suffer from some really bad sexist views but it was 1966 for the first book but that said they do have some really solid concepts and is a great dystopian take on what could go wrong with cold war paranoia.
The first book was made into a very good movie with very few changes from the source material. The technology of the film looks clunky by today standards but I think it holds up well cause the story is so damn good.
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After having it on my reading list for a while and seeing it discussed here I have finally read The Handmaids Tale. Since I recently attempted The Long Earth and had problems with the fairly turgid and meandering writing I found moving to Atwood was a joy.
She reveals just enough to pull you in, dropping hints so you can slowly build a picture of how bad things have got. It took me a surprisingly long time to realise that her name wasn’t Off-red but Of-Fred and by the time they got to Jezebels it was clear there wasn’t going to be a good ending to this.
Any recommendations for the next Atwood to read?
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Oryx And Crake
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Seconded! That’s what I’m slowly reading now.
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