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I love science fiction; it& #39;s a heavily underappreciated genre. It& #39;s often considered "nerd literature", but it can actually be an extension of social science. A short thread with examples/recommendations
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Good SF is not just space travel and fancy tech; rather, it& #39;s using a vision of the future as background for thought experiments about human nature and society; in that sense, many literary classics are SF:
Orwell& #39;s 1984, Huxley& #39;s Brave New World, Bradbury& #39;s Fahrenheit 451, Zamyatin& #39;s We, even Atwood& #39;s A Handmaid& #39;s Tale; but here are some less well-known (at least to non-SF-afficionados) books really worth a read:
Orson Scott Card: Ender& #39;s Game and (particularly) Speaker for the Dead
A deep study of human psychology, understanding "the other", guilt, love and challenges of anthropological research
A deep study of human psychology, understanding "the other", guilt, love and challenges of anthropological research
Ursula K Le Guin: The Dispossessed (and other books of the Hainish cycle)
An extremely thought-provoking vision of an anarchist society contrasting itself with its "capitalist" mother planet; some reflections upon science as "bonus"
An extremely thought-provoking vision of an anarchist society contrasting itself with its "capitalist" mother planet; some reflections upon science as "bonus"
Nancy Kress: Beggars in Spain cycle
First, a story of tolerance of the other (a world in near future where some genetically modified people do not need sleep), later a story of a society divided in those who work and the majority who just enjoy life off state& #39;s support
First, a story of tolerance of the other (a world in near future where some genetically modified people do not need sleep), later a story of a society divided in those who work and the majority who just enjoy life off state& #39;s support
Philip K Dick: The Man in the High Castle
Alternative world in which Germany won WWII plus the typical Dickian dystopian twist: is what we are experiencing the reality?
Alternative world in which Germany won WWII plus the typical Dickian dystopian twist: is what we are experiencing the reality?
Virtually the whole oevre of Stanisław Lem& #39;s; very diverse, highly philosophical and extremely interesting. My personal favourites: His Master& #39;s Voice, Return from the Stars, The Invincible and Eden
It& #39;s difficult to do justice to Lem; I recently tried to "categorize" his oeuvre for two friends of mine - here it is (with original, German and English titles)
Last but not least, even though fantasy, not SF: Andrzej Sapkowski: The Witcher pentalogy
Recently (rather badly) put to screen by Netflix, an extremely multifacetted, thought-provoking, thrilling, complex and (sometimes) funny story, with a strong focus on "being different"
Recently (rather badly) put to screen by Netflix, an extremely multifacetted, thought-provoking, thrilling, complex and (sometimes) funny story, with a strong focus on "being different"
