5 ms·

Wow - I just ordered a copy after reading the first part of the plot summary on Wikipedia. (Those things can be a little spoilery...) It's interesting to see

by 13of40 10y ago

Wow - I just ordered a copy after reading the first part of the plot summary on Wikipedia. (Those things can be a little spoilery...) It's interesting to see someone talking about global warming that early, and I want to try to find out how far back the notice of it goes. I don't recall anyone talking about it before the late 80's.

spc476 10y ago
If you want ecology apocalypse, check out John Brunner's _The Sheep Look Up_ (written in the early 70s). No other book I've read scared me as much as that one. I think what did it was the utter normalcy with which everything was just accepted as is.
- lobster_johnson 10y ago
  It's a great book, unfortunately few of its environmental predictions are very valid today. Brunner missed the greenhouse gas problem and focused on things like air quality, garbage, sonic booms (!), poisoned drinking water and overpopulation. One thing he does get right is the need to develop new agricultural tech -- a core subplot is about a company that uses a new hydroponics system to grow cassava at a large scale, for distribution to impoverished third-world countries. The real impact, for me, was twofold: First, the idea that someone could develop a simulation of modern society to the point where it could make a recommendation about how to make a course correction (which turns out to provide the books its deliciously tragicomic ending), and second, the idea that society's collapse will prevent a technological solution to envionmental disaster. The latter is implied rather than spelled out.
ci5er 10y ago
User spc476's recommendation, Brunner's "The Sheep Look Up", isn't really a sequel, but appears to take place in the world of "Stand on Zanzibar", which I (personally) thought was better written. Having been influenced by Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock", he (Brunner) also wrote a novel called "Shockwave Rider". People of that era appear to have been worried more about "The Population Bomb" scenarios than "Global Ecosystem Collapse" scenarios. That said - the underlying driver of ecosystem collapse is overpopulation, so there is a fair amount of thematic overlap. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson comes to mind, but that might just be my broken brain talking nonsense...
- tgb 10y ago
  2312 is definitely good ecosystem sci Fi (though it serves less well as a murder mystery sci fi). But it was written quite recently (published 2012).
  - DonHopkins 10y ago
    There's also "Zodiac: An Eco-Thriller" written by Neil Stephenson in 1988, who's written a lot of other classic cyberpunk you may have heard of. >The protagonist is inspired by environmental chemist Marco Kaltofen. Taylor is a recreational user of nitrous oxide, justifying his choice of drug by the eponymous Sangamon's principle: "the simpler the molecule, the better the drug". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_(novel)
    - okwhatthe2 10y ago
      An excellent book, featuring the Boston area as a major character.
      - DonHopkins 10y ago
        After reading that book, I was afraid of Legal Sea Foods' All-You-Can-Eat Lobster Buffet.
- samatman 10y ago
  I think of Shockwave Rider as the first nascent foray into what became cyberpunk. Highly recommended if cyberpunk is something you enjoy. John Brunner's work in general, really, but Shockwave Rider in particular

by 13of40 10y ago

spc476 10y ago

If you want ecology apocalypse, check out John Brunner's _The Sheep Look Up_ (written in the early 70s). No other book I've read scared me as much as that one. I think what did it was the utter normalcy with which everything was just accepted as is.

lobster_johnson 10y ago
It's a great book, unfortunately few of its environmental predictions are very valid today. Brunner missed the greenhouse gas problem and focused on things like air quality, garbage, sonic booms (!), poisoned drinking water and overpopulation. One thing he does get right is the need to develop new agricultural tech -- a core subplot is about a company that uses a new hydroponics system to grow cassava at a large scale, for distribution to impoverished third-world countries. The real impact, for me, was twofold: First, the idea that someone could develop a simulation of modern society to the point where it could make a recommendation about how to make a course correction (which turns out to provide the books its deliciously tragicomic ending), and second, the idea that society's collapse will prevent a technological solution to envionmental disaster. The latter is implied rather than spelled out.

ci5er 10y ago

User spc476's recommendation, Brunner's "The Sheep Look Up", isn't really a sequel, but appears to take place in the world of "Stand on Zanzibar", which I (personally) thought was better written. Having been influenced by Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock", he (Brunner) also wrote a novel called "Shockwave Rider". People of that era appear to have been worried more about "The Population Bomb" scenarios than "Global Ecosystem Collapse" scenarios. That said - the underlying driver of ecosystem collapse is overpopulation, so there is a fair amount of thematic overlap. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson comes to mind, but that might just be my broken brain talking nonsense...

tgb 10y ago
2312 is definitely good ecosystem sci Fi (though it serves less well as a murder mystery sci fi). But it was written quite recently (published 2012).
- DonHopkins 10y ago
  There's also "Zodiac: An Eco-Thriller" written by Neil Stephenson in 1988, who's written a lot of other classic cyberpunk you may have heard of. >The protagonist is inspired by environmental chemist Marco Kaltofen. Taylor is a recreational user of nitrous oxide, justifying his choice of drug by the eponymous Sangamon's principle: "the simpler the molecule, the better the drug". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_(novel)
  - okwhatthe2 10y ago
    An excellent book, featuring the Boston area as a major character.
    - DonHopkins 10y ago
      After reading that book, I was afraid of Legal Sea Foods' All-You-Can-Eat Lobster Buffet.
samatman 10y ago
I think of Shockwave Rider as the first nascent foray into what became cyberpunk. Highly recommended if cyberpunk is something you enjoy. John Brunner's work in general, really, but Shockwave Rider in particular