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The Ministry for the Future

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
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Publisher's summary

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, post-apocalyptic 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)

Also by Kim Stanley Robinson:

  • Red Moon
  • New York 2140
  • 2312
  • Aurora
  • Shaman
©2020 Kim Stanley Robinson (P)2020 Orbit
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Critic reviews

"Science-fiction visionary Kim Stanley Robinson makes the case for quantitative easing our way out of planetary doom." (Bloomberg Green)

"[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)

"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)

What listeners say about The Ministry for the Future

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This Book Birthed Me as a Staunch Gaia Advocate

Relished most every page, every well-turned phrase supporting a new idea or alternative perspective. Great audio rendition using multiple, well-honed, well acted voices. I'll probably read this at least one more time. strongly

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Preaching to the Choir

The Good: Robinson doesn't shirk from the horror at the beginning, and ends on a hopeful note. I enjoy a dystopian future that we can recover from, and he's delivered that here. Lots of neat geoengineering stuff too.

The Bad: You'll really have to be on the far left economically to enjoy many of his tirades. If your utopian vision of the future relies on everyone having a quasi-religious or explicitly-religious conversion experience to join your side, you're writing a fairy tale. If he spends any more time on dubious political speeches and then showing how it's all great if you just follow his advice, he'll be the exact political mirror image to Ayn Rand. He doesn't even consider the idea that environmentalist terrorism would cause blowback. People who get attacked that way in his novel just roll over and show their bellies, like no powerful person ever. He's about as thoroughly wrong about the response to terrorism as Osama bin Laden, who seemed to think that terrorism would make Americans be *less* in the Middle East.

The best bit intellectually is when he discusses the concept of ideology. If you ask me, though, he's read too many Hegelians who think they're prophets and not enough pragmatists. If ideology is like a religion, he has not adequately appreciated the agnostic option. He needs a healthy dose of humility with his ideology if he wants to speak to audiences that aren't already far-left.

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An Optimistic Future

a fictional account of a potential future based in equity and sustainable living for everyone on the planet, and the way we might get there. The characters feel real, each one is unique and engaging in their own way. A long book, but definitely worth the time, it left me feeling warm and fuzzy and motivated and optimistic.

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Inventive! Now, let's go!

Tbis is our future.. Some chapters were absolutely terrifying. Some were so hopeful they left me giddy.

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omg wow what a book!!!!

in this day and age everyone should read this book. it should be required learning in school. because everything faced in this book is going to be the things faced by the human race in the years to come I only hope we tackle the challenges as they do

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Difficult but important story

We are already living parts of this story and the author paints a potential future with a message of hope if we can all join together and do the right things to protect our planet.

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What it will take

Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future is tale about addressing climate change. While the main plot revolves around the head of a UN agency charged with addressing global warming and an individual suffering from PTSD due to a catastrophic heat wave, various discussions concerning the economic, legal, political, sociological, financial, and philosophical aspects of climate change are interspersed. Also mixed in are various scientific and technological approaches including atmospheric seeding, polar painting, improving ocean carbon capture, and slowing glaciers from raising sea levels.

Robinson keeps the science fiction well ground but pushes the limits. At the same time, all the other ruminations and impediments along the way demonstrate that the issues are bigger than merely a scientific fix. While the suggestion of fomenting destruction and murder of carbon producers may be a bit too far, he is certainly suggesting that aggressive approaches will be needed to ensure timely implementation.

The narration is handled by an ensemble cast that is well suited to rapidly shifting perspectives and points of view. Pacing is brisk but be prepared to back up and listen again to some of the dense and meaty topics under discussion.

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Brilliant Fantasy. Would that it were that easy.

Terrific performances. Sorry we finished it.
Good for a second or third listen. Prolific ideas described generously.

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This book is the very definition of science fiction...

Kim Stanley Robinson is one of my favorite science fiction writers and this book is a perfect example of the genre. True science fiction takes the science of today and imagines continuing and changed into the future based on whatever story the writer chooses to use as a lens; this story was ‘climate change’ and what happens when we don’t and when we do account for it in our human lives.

It was told in 106 chapters, most of them vignettes, but a handful of them followed a continuous story line. It was read by a lot of narrators with very authentic accents that lent to the authentic representation of the dozens of different countries that were represented.

Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the story but I think it should become part of regular reading for high school students!

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Listen as if it was a pod cast.

This isn't a story, its a series of short stories and podcasts. I'm not complaining I enjoyed it very much for what it is. I would suggest that you listen to it with that in mind.

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