What of RAW is worth reading as an introduction to his ideas and writings?
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I would recommend Cosmic Trigger.
The subtitle is āThe Final Secret of the Illuminati,ā but that seems to have been a marketing decision. The book is more like an autobiography.
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Iād second @smulder: Cosmic Trigger (and its sequels, though theyāre 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.
āEverything is Under Controlā Lovely book.
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On The Three Body Problem: I thought maybe there was a huge cultural disconnect, because I canāt really imagine so many scientists taking on the particular attitude and actions that they did when faced withā¦ what they were faced with.
Currently about to finish Twelve Kings in Sharakai which Iām 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: Iād hardly call The Culture utopian. A terrifying blend of English medieval and 1984 authoritarianism, more like. They are not nice people, and it doesnāt really occur to them theyāre not being nice, because theyāre 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 itās 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. Iām trying to find my copy. Itās in a box somewhere. Of course even that one is debatable.
If āthe Cultureā is not an example then Iām sorry for bringing it up. I havenāt 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 Coryās Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom? Thatās 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 weāre left with is a meandering and fairly dull piece of prose, repeatedly scene-setting without interest or direction. Iām pretty sure that, had this been Pratchettās 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 doesnāt put humanoids on a pedestal with regard to AIs. Itās reasonably Utopian as far as Iām 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 thatās 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 itās treatment of women, honestly.
Iām glad it read it, though.
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Obligatory:
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I think you can make an argument that the day-to-day existence for most citizens of the Culture is distinctly utopian; itās post-capitalist with full automation and strong AI meaning that work (and therefore money) are meaningless, the society is based on abundance, people are free to pursue whatever dreams they have and they have access to almost limitless technology to make their lives easier.
I donāt think the books themselves are utopian though, purely because focussing on these aspects of the Culture without looking at its underbelly wouldnāt make for very interesting reading, so Banks writes about the shady spec ops groups and the wars with other cultures.
If thereās any sci fi universe I could choose to live in though, it would definitely be the Culture.
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My definition of Utopia is different and basically comes from Moreās book since heās 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 wouldnāt want to live in it ā 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 itās due to the particular Banks books Iāve read, but it seems to me like non-Culture civilizations were usually the ones creating misery.
Iād 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 wasnāt Off-red but Of-Fred and by the time they got to Jezebels it was clear there wasnāt going to be a good ending to this.
Any recommendations for the next Atwood to read?
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