The Ministry for the Future - Kim Stanley Robinson

The Ministry for the Future

By Kim Stanley Robinson

  • Release Date: 2020-10-06
  • Genre: Science Fiction
Score: 4
4
From 648 Ratings

Description

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

An unsettling masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will impact us all.

“The best science-fiction nonfiction novel I’ve ever read.” —Jonathan Lethem, New York Times bestselling author of The Fortress of Solitude

The Ministry for the Future's setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. This extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis.

"If there’s any book that hit me hard this year, it was Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future, a sweeping epic about climate change and humanity’s efforts to try and turn the tide before it’s too late." -Polygon (Best of the Year)

"Masterly." —New Yorker

Reviews

  • Little bit disappointing

    3
    By jHa2412
    This is too optimistic to enjoy entirely. You know, the US stance for the climate change is not supporting the common sense. So, it seems too far away from our hope and reality, leading us a dystopia instead of utopia which was described in the novel.
  • Can’t believe I made it through…..

    2
    By astro-dj
    A great basic concept turned into a shockingly bad book by an author certainly capable of so much more! After a truly gripping bit of writing in the first chapter, it quickly descends into an interminably repetitive and turgid recitation of every conceivable solution to climate change (including systematic murder of one’s opponents, but pointedly excluding nuclear energy). I really can’t believe the author of the Martian trilogy could also produce this trash.
  • Real changes to save our planet

    5
    By Conlippert
    If you read one book this year read this one. Many ideas, from different angles are described and many are already happening. This book really changed my complacency about our planet especially when I started looking up some of solutions taking place. Now I’m interested in getting more involved.
  • LIFE AFFIRMING

    5
    By SDWill
    You can read the plethora of reviews this book well deserves so I won’t bore you here with a lesser attempt. Suffice it to say, The Ministry of the Future is one of the most fascinating, challenging, disturbing yet life-affirming books I’ve ever encountered in my seventy-plus years of life. A true masterpiece that should not be missed.
  • Smart and timely book.

    5
    By dsmccoy
    There’s a great story in here, told well. A smart well-researched book about a timely subject. I learned so much, this book should come with college credit.
  • Fascinating

    5
    By JJJ66
    This book is both inspiring and frightening. While I found some of the proposed "solutions" to be a bit extreme, it does make you contemplate whether this is the necessary path to fixing things. It is a must-read that will definitely leave you deep in thought.
  • Dull and Depressing

    1
    By SkiBearNC
    After 35 pages - just could not read any further.
  • Maybe I didn’t get it all?

    4
    By PeteG in NY
    I love the theme and the experiment of the idea… but I found myself not caring by the end and just trying to finish.
  • Barely a narrative.

    1
    By JSDeLon
    A massive waste of time. There is no way this book is published if the author weren’t already well known.
  • Hire a real editor

    1
    By jscann
    Lots of great ideas. What a mess of a novel. The editor assigned to this project should be imprisoned.