The Ministry for the Future

A Novel

By: Kim Stanley Robinson

Narrated by: Jennifer Fitzgerald, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Ramon de Ocampo, Gary Bennett, Raphael Corkhill, Barrie Kreinik, Natasha Soudek, Nikki Massoud, Joniece Abbott Pratt, Inés del Castillo, Vikas Adam

From legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson comes a remarkable vision of climate change over the coming decades.

The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us—and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.

It is a novel both immediate and impactful, desperate and hopeful in equal measure, and it is one of the most powerful and original books on climate change ever written.

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020

"If I could get policymakers, and citizens, everywhere to read just one book this year, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future." —Ezra Klein

"The best science fiction-nonfiction novel I’ve ever read." —Jonathan Lethem, Vanity Fair

"A breathtaking look at the challenges that face our planet in all their sprawling magnitude and also in their intimate, individual moments of humanity." —Booklist (starred)

"A sweeping, optimistic portrait of humanity's ability to cooperate in the face of disaster. This heartfelt work of hard science-fiction is a must-read for anyone worried about the future of the planet." —Publishers Weekly (starred)

"The Ministry for the Future ranks among Robinson's best recent works, a collection of actions and observations that adds up to more than the sum of its eclectic and urgent parts." —Sierra


Also by Kim Stanley Robinson:
Red Moon
New York 2140
2312
Aurora
Shaman

Critic reviews

"Score a point for the audacity of hope....Robinson digs deep into how, with institutional support and some off-the-books black ops, revolutionary ideas could still seize our world."—Shelf Awareness on The Ministry for the Future

"[A] gutsy, humane view of a near-future Earth...Robinson masterfully integrates the practical details of environmental crises and geoengineering projects into a sweeping, optimistic portrait of humanity's ability to cooperate in the face of disaster. This heartfelt work of hard science-fiction is a must-read for anyone worried about the future of the planet."—Publishers Weekly (starred) on The Ministry for the Future

"A breathtaking look at the challenges that face our planet in all their sprawling magnitude and also in their intimate, individual moments of humanity."—Booklist on The Ministry for the Future

"Science-fiction visionary Kim Stanley Robinson makes the case for quantitative easing our way out of planetary doom."—Bloomberg Green on The Ministry for the Future

"...fresh and exciting. Another stellar effort from one of the masters of the genre."—Booklist (starred) on Red Moon

"Enjoyable and thought-provoking...[Robinson] is one of contemporary science fiction's great scene-setters."—SF Chronicle on Red Moon

"...as convincingly textured and observant as we've come to expect from one of the finest writers of his generation."—Locus magazine on Red Moon

"New York may be underwater, but it's better than ever."—The New Yorker on New York 2140

"Massively enjoyable."—The Washington Post on New York 2140

"Science fiction is threaded everywhere through culture nowadays, and it would take an act of critical myopia to miss the fact that Robinson is one of the world's finest working novelists, in any genre."—Guardian on New York 2140

"[A] near-perfect marriage of the technical and the psychological."—NPR Books on Aurora

"Intellectually engaged and intensely humane in a way SF rarely is, exuberantly speculative in a way only the best SF can be, this is the work of a writer at or approaching the top of his game."—Iain M. Banks on 2312

Great ideas, uneven narration

I downloaded to this audiobook because Ezra Klein said it was the most important book he had read in 2020—not for the story or literary quality so much as for the realistic and comprehensive way it addresses the coming climate crisis.

This is a novel of ideas in the truest sense. It's really about envisioning the future: what the climate catastrophe will look like, and how the world might change to address it. It is at times tragic and depressing, at other times optimistic. The scope of the novel is impressive. It definitely made me see the climate crisis in a new light, and got me thinking seriously about all kinds of things, and that's what a novel of ideas is supposed to do: make you think. The novel is well worth reading for that reason alone, though be warned at times the story and the characters definitely take a back seat to the ideas.

I found the narration of this audiobook uneven and sometimes quite irritating. This is a huge cast, and it seems like they just mailed out the chapters to a bunch of voice actors with little coordination or direction. So, different characters voices sound radically different at different times. The whole tone can shift radically too. The biggest problem I had though is that some of the voices are just over-wrought, over-done, garish and cartoony. This happens throughout, but I got especially frustrated by the Irish narrator who reads Mary's chapters: her idea of doing a mans voice is make her voice as closed and raspy as possible, her Russian and Indian accents have wild sing-songy intonations, and her American accent is whiney. This is a real shame because Mary becomes the novel's main protagonist and her chapters are long. I got to the point where my heart sank every time she came back on to start a new chapter, and I almost didn't make it through to the end as the result.

All that aside, it's an important book and well worth engaging with one way or the other. If you're picky about your narration, you might want to read it rather than listen to the audiobook.

will listen again

I loved the ideas and the writing though not a plot-driven page-turner. The many narrative performances were top notch.

I recommend this book to everybody.

Some of the most beautiful openings to chapters self-describing an entity.
What really stood out for me in this book about what do we have to do to endure climate change is how impossible it will acutally be do so. But hope springs eternal within the human breast.
This book rapt my attention, except for some of the mushy stuff especially at the end.

Heroic

do you think about humanity's problems? the complex big picture? every aspect of life on earth has been corrupted for the infinitely opulent benefit of the few. this book unwinds the impossible tangles in each aspect: economics, ecology, sociology, politics, psych & many others & presents the possibilities of rehabilitation in a realistic narrative. prepare to be very inspired where before you were hopeless.

Great climate sci fi of what could happen and how to fix it

The details of a possible climate cuter and how it could be fixed were excellent - loved the short chapters to get different perspectives