SF Book Project: Part 9
April 6, 2011
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein. A re-telling of the book of Job combined with parallel dimension-hopping. Irreverent and hilarious. One of the few times Heinlein manages to make a point without becoming didactic.
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. A classic trilogy of hard SF, this novel explores the colonization of Mars and the future of humanity in the solar system. Robinson is a true master at combining politics, economics, sociology, physics, and biology into a centuries-spanning epic.
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. Alternating chapters describe a vaguely futuristic pulp noir setting and a rural fantasy. As the novel progresses the worlds begin to converge in unexpected ways.
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. Vinge's masterpiece. A fleet of human traders explores a new star system on the promise of non-human intelligence. They find a race of intelligent spider-like creatures, but are beaten there by another human civilization. After a short battle, the two sides are forced to work together to survive while waiting for the spiders to develop their own space-faring technology. Themes of technological stagnation and decline for the humans contrast with the optimism of the spiders, creating a beautiful harmony.
N-Space by Larry Niven. A collection of short stories. Most are on the boundary between SF and horror.
Moving Mars by Greg Bear. A group of students lead a revolution against the powers of Earth, aided by a new technology that allows them to tweak the physical states of objects in the universe.