The Ministry for the Future cover art

The Ministry for the Future

A Novel

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The Ministry for the Future

Written 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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About this listen

 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 Environment Genre Fiction Hard Science Fiction Literary Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Science Fiction Climate Science Fiction

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
All stars
Most relevant
The literary merit of the novel made the political commentary bearable. Gets slow toward the end.

Meh

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This is a great book for sleep therapy. Extremely boring and lackluster. It sounds more like an imaginary academic paper than a novel.

Such a disappointment

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I listened to the book on audible. Was very promising when it started but then very soon became extremely boring and I struggled to finish it. giving it 2 stars, here is what I didn't like (3 things i hated, taking away one star for each)

1. This book is neither a sci-fi, not a handbook with ideas for climate change, not a non fiction on international diplomacy around Paris climate agreement, not an action story. It is a mush of all of this. That is also the reason it is such a long/fat book.

2. For audiobook they have tried to hire 20 odd artists to represent voices of people from US, Germany, Russia, china, Switzerland, Senegalese, South African, Indian, British and many more. The vision probably was to give it an international feel, but the accents are laughable and make the audiobook hard to understand

3. Climax was not really a climax. It pretty much ended without any conclusion and the pacing is inconsistent.

What I did like though is that this was a bold treatment for a book on climate change. The ideas in the book are really good. No wonder presidents like this book, but common mango people dragged through it 🙂

Such a pathetic drag!

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I started this book after colleague's suggestion. It started decently, tries establish the plot and then comes the parts where writer forces his agenda into the story. If it would have been a natural inclusion even if it doesn't fit, I wouldn't mind. For example, author tries to push the idea of income equality, out of nowhere. I want to believe writers understand people more than politicians. Even if all the wealth in the world is redistributed so that everyone gets equal wealth, the situation is not going to be the same after few years. Some people are greedy, some people are entrepreneurs, some people are lazy, some people are frugal.

And what's with continuous abuse of BJP and RSS? I get it man that you hate them for some reason but doesn't mean purposefully bad mouth them just because you're a writer. I would have even accepted if it even remotely related to any action they did. If there are goons they're from BJP. If somebody sold India, they're from BJP. Does author read Washington Post or NY times? Even any stupid person would understand that in India goons are not owned by any single party. And there are other parties who are famous for their goons.

It's like somebody hating, Tom Hanks portraying him as Demon. If anybody kills any other person in America, it was Tom Hanks people. Tom Hanks sold the America. I know how stupid this sounds. The book narrative sounds similarly stupid to me.

Again I could understand if this one or two incidents such things keep on coming to the point where I don't understand whether this is a fictional book, a personal rant, a frustration or anything else?

It's like this author wanted to rant about his frustration about environment and BJP so he read bunch of things online and tried to come up with a book. Maybe he got some funding like Rihanna's tweet. This way he got the money and published the book as well.

Is this fiction, is this reality, or is this rant?

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