The Ministry for the Future

 Many of my friends may not know, because I don't often post or talk about it, that I am an avid reader of science fiction. Not the "little green men" genre, but man's exploration of the planet, the solar system and the galaxy. Isaac Asimov has been a favourite for many years but around ten years ago I discovered Kim Stanley Robinson. I first read "Red Mars" rapidly followed by "Blue Mars" and "Green Mars", which describe man's colonisation of that planet, driven partly by the fact that we were making our own planet uninhabitable.

Red Mars was published in 1992 and, as is often the case with quality science fiction, it was shown to be rigorously researched and impressively prescient of our actual exploration of Mars.

What interests me about Robinson's books is that each successive book brings us closer and closer to the present. "The Ministry for the Future", published in 2020, is set in 2024 - next year! It describes how an environmental catastrophe drives mankind to take our environment much more seriously than we have to date. I am not going to spoil it for you by saying any more except that I listened to it first on Audible and decided that I would acquire a hard bound copy and read it more slowly and more thoughtfully.

This is not an easy book. As another reviewer has said, the first few chapters are brutal, but they forced me to think. A New York Times reviewer said "If I had to choose one writer whose work will set the standard for science fiction in the future, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson".

It is my view that this book should be compulsory reading for all politicians of every party and for board members and senior managers of all large companies. And for everyone who wants to leave this planet to their grandchildren in a habitable condition.

You, Andrew Horder, Tom Evans and 2 others

All reactions:

5