Philosophical Science Fiction Novels You Should Read
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In this video, I’m taking about some books that I truly love. These are some of the best science fiction novels with philosophical themes. I talk about novels like Brave New World, a Chinese science fiction trilogy, and more.
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Brave New World 00:49
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Klara and the Sun 3:38
Parables of the Talents and Sower 5:45
Remembrance of Earth's Past 7:09
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For me Ted Chiang is the perfect blend of science and philosophy. He manages to step through ideas and new worlds in methodical ways that resemble the thought process of engaging with straight philosophy whilst still maintaining a satisfying narrative, it's strangely beautiful writing.
For sure, he was one of the highlight discoveries I had in my SciFi course in university. The amount of thought put into his short stories make them stunningly beautiful.
Ted's works are so very good that it's rather become a sort of deadlock for me-having read Ted Chiang's work before almost any other speculative fiction works, the chasm of a want to read something at par remains so unsatiatingly unfilled. Stanislaw Lem is another gem, who created a similar chasm, and now I live groggy-eyed scouring for another good spec-fic read in the lands of fiction.
Then you should try Ken Liu too. He's not an imitation of Ted but I got that strangely beautiful type while reading him too.
@@ravitejagangineni9070 The Paper Menagerie. Yaaaas. Has this video now become a colloquium of niche Speculative fiction readers just by virtue of its title now? Hahahahaha
@@ravitejagangineni9070 The Paper Menagerie, right? It's been on my to read list for a long time!
I'm a classical literature student going through exams season, and I've been feeling pretty burnt out lately, but discovering your channel was truly a turning point! Listening to people talk about literature and philosophy with competence and passion is truly inspiring, and a good reminder that I should be studying mainly for me and my own intellectual life rather than for the exam itself. Keep up the good work, greetings from Italy :)
Le Guin is my favorite writer and your description of her Hainish Cycle is borderline word for word what I've said to friends while recommending it. Like scarily close. Great video!
Do you recommend me to dive deep into the Earthsea series of books? I've gotten around to reading Le Guin.
I’m loving Stanislaw Lem, Polish writer. His most famous work is probably Solaris, but I really like The Star Diaries, short stories, easy to get through, with a blend of comedy, irony, thriller, politics, philosophy…
Star Diaries is amazing. I also really liked the Cyberiad.
Don’t overlook Lem’s novel FIASCO. It’s about first contact-with a planet whose inhabitants are so hostile to each other that the protagonists cannot get any reliable info about any of them.
Yes agreed. I actually wrote a small one pager in my Epistemology class about a bit in Solaris and received a high grade 😅 which is even funnier as I believe the epistemological theory I was writing about was published AFTER Solaris
Lem wasn’t a real person. The works attributed to him were written by a composite committee of Communists, at least according to Philip K. Dick.
@@DrEmerson84 That would surprise me very much, if it were true! Have you read him? Lem, I mean. His tone remains consistent, not shifting like you'd expect from a committee with different writers working on different bits of a book. His characters, too - except for natural growth-of-character, they don't change suddenly or abruptly or without reason. And his central themes are often subversive, about institutional failure and absurd misfortunes, not what you'd expect from a Stalinist committee which is blunt-edged heroes dedicated to a central authority. Also, his work is not formulaic as committee-written communist stuff often was. There are almost never trumpets of triumph, and on the relatively few occasions when things turn out well, it almost always turns out to be because of some lucky circumstance, not because of the protagonists' ingenuity.
The Cixin Liu books are fantastic. I’ve reread them and this is a great reminder I’d love to reread them again. One facet I missed the first time was the genius sense of humor in those books as well! There are many liu references that are common in my family now haha.
I'm going to re-read the series at some point this year and try to savour them (unlike previously, I basically binge read all 3 and then couldn't read anything else for weeks).
Crossing fingers for the Netflix adaptation to come out soon.
after reading the trilogy i feel like i will never find another novel so amazing, and that makes me sad (yes i enjoyed it that much). I hope i find something on this video tho
One of my favorites that I haven’t seen mentioned is Flowers for Algernon. Themes of personal identity and disability ethics.
One of my favorites that I wish more people read! It's also super short and accessible.
I read it back when I was in high school.I cried so much after reading it.
there was a great movie based on it called Charly. It was great, it's on YT for free.
Oh my God, that book is so sad.
at the end of the book, everything just hurts
"His hands were empty, as they had always been." - Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Just commented about the Dispossessed. Truly a very impressive work. Not like anything else I've read.
I love le guin and octavia e butler. I find that in a lot of modern scifi the focus is technology/exploration and the plot can sometimes be pretty flat with nothing to read into, but I find works by those two to be rich with commentary and are always fun to read into
Very helpful. Thank you. I started and run a philosophy discussion group in English, in China. Many of the members have asked for some novels for us to read. This is very helpful and well timed on my end. Thank you. Loving the channel by the way.
Enjoyable post. When you got near the end and started talking up one author I was thinking “he better mean Ursula LeGuin.” And you did! I was delighted. My introduction to her was the 1980 PBS film of The Lathe of Heaven. I recently rewatched it and still think it’s terrific. The author, her son and husband have a cameo.
Sir you convinced me to read Neal Stephensons anathem, and I am almost done, and now you hit me with this. I see how it is.
Love these suggestions, really like your colouring for your videos, and the thumbnail was top notch. Keep it up, thanks for the great content!
A Canticle for Leibowitz could have also made the list, highly recommend it, it is just as topically relevant today as it was fifty years ago.
That book is never mentioned but is so good
Too bad it's the only book Walter Miller Jr ever wrote. If he had done more, it probably would have got more attention. That book is epic.
Canticle was one of my top reads of last year! Highly recommended! So much moral depth and confusion, so much loss... It was a masterpiece in the 60s and it's a masterpiece today.
This is the first of your videos that I’ve seen and I really like it. I find most sci-fi book channels pretty superficial in their analysis, but yours is a cut above. Thank you! And thank you for the recommendations.
Fantastic video. Remembrance of earths past left a huge impact on me and my approach to thinking through certain concepts. I would be interested in an Octavia Butler video.
Blindsight by Peter Watts is a very heavy and very technical book, filled to the brim with ideas. It will force some incredibly strange concepts on you. Philosophy doesn't disturb as much as this does, and it's worth it!
And his follow-up prequel Echopraxia! Not quite at the same level, but still interesting!
Very excited that you think so highly of Le Guincas well. Her books you mentioned were so thought-provoking they truly left me flabbergasted for weeks.
I really enjoyed your video. I think you would love Stanislaw Lem. I think Solaris is a masterpiece...but His Master's Voice and Fiasco are also extraordinary. No other author gets inside my mind like Lem.
I truly appreciate your voice and how you present. It's calm, thoughtful, deep and not tacky; it stands in wonderful contrast to a lot of the other CZcamsrs that are inflicted on us. Thank you for sharing, and really appreciate your content.
Excellent! I'm loving the Sci-Fi recommendations. Sci Fi has the perfect mix of fictional devices and settings that it makes for excellent philosophical experiments.
In some ways I feel like Le Guin is the inverse of Heinlein. Le Guin makes “small” changes and challenges you to think through the implications, while never saying, “now here’s the answer in the back of the book”. Heinlein rearranges the entire world order to make a point and spends a great deal of time showing you the “right answer”, and how clever he is.
So was Heinlein a fanatic fascist or just being clever?
@@marklampo8164 Heinlein was most definitely not a Fascist.
Robert Heinlein has been described as "the Norman Mailer of sci-fi."
@@ColonelFredPuntridge 🤣
He was imaginative about tech but his characters are incredibly shallow, are rah rah American individualists and he’s horribly sexist.
I really appreciate your thoughts/suggestions. As a certain kind of reader (like, kid of the 80s), Gibson's Neuromancer leaps to mind. Thanks so much for focusing on the serious and weighty dimensions of sci fi.
No Stanislaw Lem? You can't get more philosophical than Lem.
Awesome video! The main reason why I started reading science fiction was become of it’s juxtapositions with philosophy starting when I was 14
Thank you for posting this. I too, was searching here and there for scifi books with deep philosophical meaning. Thank you for introducing me to Le guin.
This channel grew so fast! it's obvious why! it's just really good content.
My favorites philosophical sci fis are
●Solaris by Stanislaw Lem,
●Novellas by Ted Chiang.❤️
( I hope you talk about Ted Chiang's novellas on your channel someday.
Like, 'The story of your life' and
'Exhalation' . To me, his novellas were eye-opening for scifi genre which I wasn't so passionate about. His works are most thought provoking and experiments of philosophical contemplation, connecting Science, humanity and even theology. It may sound more than any short story can bite, but if you once read Chiang's work, you can't get out of rabbit hole.😁)
●When we cease to understand the world by Benjamin Labatut.
I heard Ashton Edward's Micky 17 fits for this category, which I'm very curious to find out about.
Thank you for your video, love your channel.
I just started solaris a bunch of days ago
My favorites philosophical sci fis are
LEM - Almost everything he wrote
FIASCO is another great novel by Stanislaw Lem.
Oh goodness, all my attempts in life at staying away from confirmatory biases are broken at this comment-so wholly and strongly do I agree with everything here! Jennifer, you good good human, this listing is THE one!! I just came commenting the same stuff in the replies for the top comment.
You might additionally wish to try out Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
"Flatland"...
More "Math-fiction" than "Science-fiction"
i just read solaris dont know if that categorizes as philosophical scie-fi but that left me amazed and speechless really great book
Great book
Always quality content and subjects, thank you!
Wow, just found your character and I love how you talk about this. Very fresh
Man your audio is phenomenal, so soothing. Loved the video and recommendations, subbed!
So glad you included Klara and the Sun, which would be one of my top three books!
The Dispossessed is the kind of book that after you finish it, you wonder how its not talked about more. I think if it wasn't tagged with the label sci-fi, itd be considered one of the greats next to 1984 and Brave New World.
I can't imagine any American high-school making their students read a pro-anarchy book, lol. I'm not super surprised it's been given the short straw.
Absolutely. It's an intellectual, moral, political, philosophical masterpiece. Will have to read it again some day.
The left hand of darkness had the same effect on me.
@@CarrotConsumer It doesn't surprise me either, however its less controversial than 1984 is by a long shot and that's still being read in American high schools today. Also the book isn't necessarily "Pro-anarchy". Although the MC hails from an anarchist planet, he starts to see the issues with that way of life in itself through his friends and family. He sees the corruption still. Le Guin does a good job of weighing the pros and cons in a subtle way. You can't say she writes it as a bias in the novel in the same way you would for something like, Atlas Shrugged.
We have a lot to learn from Odo. “The Creation of Pseudo-Species”, “Excess is excrement” Odo wrote in the Analogy. Isn’t that also in a way what we should be talking about in all this debate about anti-gay, gender inequality and the ecological damage of consumerism? If you know an author looking for a good project (someone who studied political science for example) give them all the Odo quotes from The Dispossessed and ask him/her to try and reproduce Odo’s works. I’m sure they would sell well. One thing Tolkien and LeGuin had in common is written on Odo’s grave “True voyage is return”.
i would add We by Yvgeny Zemyatin! known as the forefather & inspiration for Orwell
This is a great video, thank you. For once, I have read (and reread) everything on your list. Ken Liu, translator of the Three Body Problem, has also written some speculative fiction, which I really liked. I think it's more fantasy than SF, tho. Love your channel! 😍
I love Ursula K Le Guin and Octavia E Butler's writing. Might have to retry the Three Body Problem book, it didn't work so well for me the first time.
Great video.
1) Love my flexispot chair I got for my office and 2) appreciate the recommendations! Adding these to my list!
Now I wanna read all of them👀. Thank you so much for the video!
Hi, I'm thrilled to have found this video! It encapsulates why I love science fiction when it is considered a lesser genre by many people who enjoy reading. I have been avoiding Klara and the Sun because I didn't like Never Let Me Go that much, but I might give it a try now as the topic seems more to my liking.
What you said about the Three Body Problem and killing or dying really reminds me of Ender's Game, though it might be a bit more simplified in that book. I read the Three Body Problem for the first time in November and I'm taking a bit of time before I go onto the sequels, but I must say I hadn't felt so excited by a book in a few months.
Interesting and excellent recommendations!! I read some of those, especially the old ones. I totally agree with your opinion about Le Guin. However, one author was, in my opinion, deeper as far as philosophical investigations are concerned: Olaf Stapledon. If you haven't read it yet, he's great (a philosopher by profession like you) and considered by many to be one of the great writers of the golden age of sci. fi. In particular, the impressive cosmogony of the novel "Star Maker" contains many philosophical ideas.
Thanks for sharing this list!! I'm a speculative writer and I hope one day my writing can also be classified as philosophical sci-fi. I''m so glad to see that I've read at least 3 books in this list hahaha. I've read the Dispossessed and The Word for World is Forest, but never in any particular order. Brave New World is also fantastic, a must-read for everyone I think. I have added the rest of the books to my ever-growing TBR :)
Thank you, love this topic in particular.
hi, if its too personal pls ignore it, but how is your cat?
In and out of the vet, still, but there are signs of recovery. Thanks for asking!
@@_jared glad to hear that, hope it keeps getting better! :)
The audacity you have in showing concern for his cat. How dare you? Being this nice is so 12th century peasantry
Asking the important question ❤️
You sick bastard.
I've never read any of these, so thanks!
My biggest sugestion would be A Canticle for Leibowitz. Its a 3 part book on the regrowth of human civilization after a nuclear apocalipse and I consider it one of the most thought provoking books for their simplicity. They have a very pessimistic view on humanity, but the book manages to be filled with so many beautiful moments that I can't help but love it, I ended the book with a smile on my face.
If I had been able to track down my physical copy of that book, it would’ve been on here. I love that book.
@@_jared Nice, but if you really want to turn up this game, I'd recommend Permutation City by Greg Egan
Harder than the duel between Russell and the bishop :D
I absolutely concur with your comparison of Huxley and Orwell. The fact that Brave New World is first on this list alone earns you my subscription to your channel because it is one of my favorite stories of all time - not so much for the beauty of its prose (which is certainly brilliant enough), but for the profundity of its ideas and thoroughness of its projections. You're definitely a heavyweight!
Thank you for these videos! 💓
Nice video. I haven't read yet the main works of Cixin Liu, but I'm reading his book of short stories called "To Hold Up the Sky", and is truly amazing, Cixin Liu is unique in his way of writing, it's simple but also deep. You know that you are reading someone with a technical background but also connoseiur in literature and philosophy. Ursula Le Guin is amazing, with no doubt is my favorite female writer. For the people who loves the works of Ursula I would recommend reading Iain M Banks, he also wrote in his novels about similar topics in the "Culture Series".
This is so interesting! Half of those were already in my tbr but I had some doubts, now I can't wait to read them! Btw, you would love Barjavel's books! He was a sci-fi french writer, and if you have the chance, I recommend you read The immortals.
I definitely still think about Parable of the Sower/Talents. There has also been a musical adaptation of it that I really want to see, if it ever gets revived
The graphic novel of the first one is excellent, and I'm excited for the second.
Just in time. I been looking for some new books to read, so I’m going to have lots of options to choose from. Thanks 🙏
Thank You for sharing. I have few books that keep me thinking … few of the biggest is Georges Orwells 1984 as well Frank Herbert Dune. Also among my favourites i can list “Road Side Picking” by brothers Strugatskij and Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Last two i read because of Tarkovskij movies Solaris and Stalker. And now i can add something more to my reading list.
I think brothers Strugatsky books also would be a great addition to your list. "Roadside Picnic" is classic because it got film adaptation by one of the greatest film director of USSR - Andrei Tarkovsky. "The Doomed City" was very hard to understand from philosophical view but plot was very intriguing and i don't recommend to read it as first of your experience of brothers Strugatsky books. I think that every book that i read from Strugatsky collection questioned position and belief of a man facing the unknown, eerie or almost godlike force
With regard to the prescience of Brave New World, 'The Machine Stops' by E. M. Forster is worth a read - it's a short novella so doesn't take long
If you like Huxley, you need to pair him with C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength. Lewis has accurately shown how the shift to Huxley's world will take place through academia, which is what we have seen progressively in the last thirty years. Both writers were responding to Technocracy, whose modern incarnation can be found in Klaus Schwab and the WEF. Rule by management.
Your take on Butler was wonderful and simply put. Thank you. I wish more people included Butler in their sci-fi lists. She gets overlooked by "lit fic" readers because she's sci-fi, and overlooked by sci-fi readers because she's not "sci-fi enough".. such a shame. Her character writing is incredible and I strongly suggest people delve briefly into just how incredible it is by reading "Bloodchild".
I tried reading the Earthsea series but found her exposition to be tedious and overly detailed about non-relevant plot points. I loved the girl's philosophy but I just couldn't get past the overly wordy exposition to continue. I might try some other reads of hers, just because I hear only great things about her as an author.
This is nice. Please make more of these.
I’m rereading a Wizard of Earthsea right now, and I’m tempted to reread the Disspossessed. Her prose is beautiful.
The Earthsea trilogy is exceptionally good. CITY OF ILLUSIONS also.
The Dispossessed is a masterpiece.
Read them all. Sadly, some are harder to find than others.
If you haven't already, consider checking out:
* Glasshouse - Charles Stross
* Permutation City - Greg Egan
* Daemon, and Freedom, both by Daniel Suarez
Wolfe, especially Fifth Head of Cerberus and Book of the New Sun
Great idea for a video. Well done.
A book that tends to fly under the radar, that actually changed my life and which I cannot recommend highly enough, is Too Like the Lightening by Ada Palmer. It's the single most important book in developing my love for philosophy. I don't think the back cover blurb does it justice, but every piece of the plot is built around a philosophical question. Rather than a dystopia, it explores a utopia and asks big questions like would you destroy this world for a better one. I would be putting the book down every few pages just to stew over what I just read. It's really beautiful stuff. I just want people to read it lol and for reference I have read Butler and Le Guin and Orwell and a number of others mentioned in the comments.
Definitely want to read Le Guin’s works! Definitely check out Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, an absolute philosophical sci-fi masterpiece
"Solaris"! Amazing, one of my favorite books of all time... Stanislaw Lem is a legend!
Agree about Solaris! No answers provided, just exploring what an unknowable alien intelligence might be like for humans to experience.
An interesting list. Yet, no such list is complete without anything by Philip K. Dick. Easily the most philosophical minded SF writer of all time.
Three body trilogy was 🔥🔥 and the dispossessed is a book I think about to this day. Need to read left hand of darkness asap
I love this video so much, and all of these books and authors! Thank you so much. I don't love the term "low" or "soft" science fiction when applied to female authors. I understand how the term soft science fiction is used, from a marketing point of view. But those two novels, Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, are so far from "soft!" Lol! Sometimes I get caught up on the marketing terms that have become common place. Thanks again for sharing!
Octavia E. Butler is my top favorite author so far. I am slowly diving into SF. With Le Guin I plan to start with her Fantasy works and then go to her SF.
Thank you for the great recommendations! I would also recommend Roadside Picnic by Strugatsky brothers
Hard to Be a God czcams.com/video/hRL4cXXX9Po/video.html
The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard has always been one of my philo-scifi go-to's
Finally an original CZcamsr who acknowledges cixin liu! Watched your other videos also
Thanks for your videos man.
I loved Klara and the Sun. Never Let Me Go was a bit more difficult for me, but I may re-read it in the future. Right now my two favorite philosophical series are the Murderbot Diaries books by Martha Wells (the audiobooks are amazing!) and the Ancillary Justice books by Ann Leckie.
Read Never Let Me Go not long ago. Found it tiring to read, but fascinating to think about afterwards. Would you recommend reading Klara and the Sun (i.e. did you find it a slog to read like N.L.M.G)?
@@leovlogslife It’s much better/ easier to follow. But there is a bit of slowness to it, in the author’s signature style. You should be able to tell if you’ll like it or not within the first few pages. It’s another one to make you think. I love it.
@@phoebebaker1575 Thanks for taking the time to reply, Phoebe. I may get around to reading it later in the year... once I finish reading the list of books I'm currently going through 😆
Frankenstein is one of the og’s sci-fi and yeah is a big mirror on what make us humans and how we treat each other
'Frankenstein' has got to be the single most seminal science fiction work ever written. So many subsequent efforts have been variations of Shelley's remarkable vision.
I also love the combination of Sci-fi and philosophy🔥 it’s great for worldbuilding and advanced character development
One that should definitely be on your list is "Neverness", by David Zindell. Lots of good philosophy, world building, and excellent writing style. There are several sequels which are also good.
I’m so glad Children of Time got a mention. I love that book. I think about it often
This list in incomplete without any Stanislaw Lem book. Solaris, Eden and Fiasco are masterpieces and it doesn't go any more philosophical than that.
I found 'His master's voice' the most thought provoking and philosophical of his novels. 'Solaris' is of course a classic and if you survive the weak beginning of 'Futurological congress' you'll be amazed how good it gets in the end. Didn't care about 'Eden' at all and as 'Fiasco' has not been translated into my first language, so I guess I need to get it somewhere as English translation. I believe I have two or three novels that I haven't yet read from Lem, including 'Fiasco'.
@@marklar9156 I can understand not being amazed by Eden. I was completely unsatisfied with Futurological Congress. I didn't enjoy Return from the Stars as well. However, another great book from Lem was The Invincible. I still have many Lem's satirical books to read like "Cyberiad" or "Star Diaries".
@@kacpercichosz465 Stanislaw Lem rules in both serious and comical sci-fi: 'Cyberiad' has at least two stories that a extremely funny, I have read those at least 4 times and still ROFL while reading them. I read 'Star diaries' many, many years ago and quite liked that too. It was not as funny as 'Cyberiad' and quite chaotic if I remember correctly but there were some excellent short stories in that as well.
Wonderful list! I have read 2 of these, but you have sold me on Le Guin.
then search for; Ursula K Le Guin, and you'll find the books easier.
@@timbushell8640 Lol, thanks Tim
Really nice vid. Love Ishiguro - one of my favorites. I didn’t like Brave New World when I read it. Maybe need to reread it. Love Butler. 3-Body - read that too. Wow. I might have read all that you mention - that’s kinda rare. Let’s see what you mention next. Oops - only read Left Hand but not the other two. Need to though. Great video! Thank you.
Last and First Men/Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon
City - Clifford D. Simak
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Out of the Silent Planet/Perelandra/That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis
Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein
I definitely recommend Brave New World & Fahrenheit 451.
Anything by Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke & Dick.. Heinlein is great as well.
I've only just gotten into science fiction 3 years ago, always been more interested in horror, mystery, and the 18-19th century classics by Dickens, Wells, Doyle.
100K subs party draws near.
Subscribed btw. after watching this video, which is also the first of this channel.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell is another that I personally love!
I read The Sparrow last month and I’m still thinking about it….
I apologize if someone already mentioned these, but "Odd John" and "Sirius" by Olaf Stapledon are two of my favorites. He was a philosopher who also wrote SF - rather than an alternate setting or world, these stories explored the experiences of the superhuman being born into current society.
Odd John! I read it soooo long ago, but never forgot it.
This is a fantastic list. Have you ready anything by Samuel R. Delaney? He is by and far one of my favorite philosophical scifi authors. Babel-17 is my personal favorite, but his most famous book I believe is The Einstein Intersection
out of topic/ have you read omniscient reader viewpoint yet this novel truly change the trajectory of my life and i rlly wanna hear you thought on it , love your video btw❤️❤️
Glad I came across your channel! Can't believe I've never read any Ursula Le Guin books.....is there one in particular that would be good to start out with?
Just finished Ursula K. Le Guin intro in the left hand of darkness on audible after watching your video.
I think I met my new best friend lol, ty for the recommendation
The Narrator George Guidall also narrates all of Kafka's work, "The Trial" is his best preference in my opinion with Kafka
Several good books. A few I did not know about. I will add them to my list. Thanks. One book that always come to my mind when thinking about science fiction and philosophy is A. E. Van Vogt "World of null-A" and the sequel "Players of null-A". It is a old book from the pulp fiction era but it is such a classic. You can debate whether General Semantic has anything to do with philosophy but the "non-axiom" in "Players" with get you thinking about cognitive bias and several important concepts. The revised edition that we can buy these days is actually a good read I think even though it is from the pulp fiction era.
I absolutely adore the Three Body series , it’s mind blowing in scope
A great interesting look at some books I had not yet been introduced to, thank-you! Why have a milkshake in mild winds when you could have a salami in the rain is what I say. Looking forward to reading Klara and the Sun. Word.
I think you might enjoy the Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer 🤔 I'm terrible with words and resuming books, so here's the short of it from the author's website.
"Science fiction often has asked contemporary questions of an imagined future. In the four-volume Terra Ignota novel series, author Ada Palmer has reflected this tradition back upon itself, exploring the questions the brilliant world of 2454 might ask when faced with its own unknowable future. After citizenship and religion, family and language, law and freedom have been utterly reformed over half a century of war and three centuries of peace, where do the denizens of a near-Utopia turn for answers when their world order faces upheaval? A notorious criminal genius is the historian of the world’s remaking; a mysterious spiritual counselor seeks truth in a world that has atomized religion; carnality and high politics join to preserve the old order as a rumored god, an omnipotent child, a celebrity assassin and a living myth struggle to shape the future as a rediscovered orator calls for inevitable war."
Hope your cat is doing better 💛
This is great, but I love the irony of you doing a plug for your sponsor right after you talk about Brave New World 😅
Klara and the Sun is absolutely amazing and I can't wait for a film adaptation. I consider it like Never let me go to be a soft dystopian novel.
I've read Klara and the Sun, and I loved it. My second read for Ishiguro after Never Let Me Go, which was also great.
I am glad to hear that Ms. LeGuin's didactic novels are still energizing younger readers. She energized my youth, and changed how I saw the world. I will check out Octavia Butler's work based on your recommendation. Regarding anarchism: LeGuin's insight is that anarchism can work if every member of society believes her life is dependent upon her virtue. Can you think of any current world organizations where that is the case?
"Left Hand of the Darkness" literally changed the course of my life once I have discovered it at the age of 15. It was a showcase of how you can blow up each and every pattern in both sci-fi and fantasy that looked like te dogma. That you can basically create a rich world - or at least an impression of it - from scratch.
Nicely done.
I suggested some books in your subsequent video about philosophical sf books. But talking about Klara and the clones harvested for body parts reminded me a short-lived comic book called OMAC that Jack Kirby created and wrote back in the 1970s. Kirby was intensely interested in different, unusual ideas, and in OMAC he was able to really come up with some wild stuff: molecular rearrangement to "improve" humans, robots (androids, really) as companions to humans or to assassinate people, and transferring the minds of old people into young bodies so they can live longer. The individual comics may be hard to find (unless you pirate them), but DC did publish a collection of the Kirby OMAC issues.
Man that boxset for the Butler books looks beautiful.
I was about to comment the same thing
Cordwainer Smith (aka Paul Linebarger)! The Rediscovery of Man and Norstrilia. 😊