Can anybody recommend a good book about a futuristic Utopia?

Well, I guess the subject line pretty much sums it up.

I would like to get myself a book that is based in a futuristic Utopia. I haven't heard good things about the book entitled Utopia, so I thought I'd ask members here if they know of a good one I can get.

Thanks for the help.

Logan's Run?

Brave New World?

Try what's known as The California Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Published in 1984. The Wild Shore. This is about a future California after a nuclear holocaust.

Published in 1988. The Gold Coast. This is about California as distopian society.

Published in 1990. Pacific Edge. This is about a future California as an ecologically balanced utopian society.

It sounds like the third one is what you're looking for, but all three are very good. It's interesting how Robinson envisions three separate futures for the same place.

Well Brave New World and Pacific Edge both sound interesting.

Maybe I'll check them out.

Does anyone else have any more suggestions I can use to compare?

Something even further into the future?

Thanks

The novel Ecotopia was written about a group of Pacific Coast states which secede from the USA in order to form an ideal society. Written around 1970, Ecotopia discusses a culture only decades in the future.

The best story I've read about the Earth culture of the far future is A World Out of Time, written by Larry Niven in 1986. Here is the link to the Amazon reviews of that book:


www.amazon.com...=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203134081&sr=1-1


That novel discusses various future Earths during different time periods... the farthest out is around 2 million years in the future. It's worth a read.

There's always the classic utopian novel, Erewhon, written around 1905 by Samuel Butler. I just got a used copy of Erewhon, but I haven't read it yet. -- Hope these suggestions help.

reply to post by Uphill


A World Out of Time sounds like a winner.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely check it out.

While it is a "teen-lit" book, I found The Goodness Gene by Sonia Levitin an excellent reworking of the Utopia concept, with an original twist to the plot that I very much enjoyed. I'd also like to add that while the first 'book' of Utopia itself is dull and hard to follow, the second book is positively entrancing -- although, since I seem to recall it was originally written in Latin, that may be due to the translation.

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, I believe, is a great work of fiction about a man from about 1900 who travels to the year 2000. It's a slim little volume, but very much worth the read.

And last, while it's only a brief section of the book, H. G. Wells' The Time Machine discusses a very far-future society that seems to be a Utopia, but turns out to be far worse than it seems.

I suppose it's more of a book about dystopia than utopia, but The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner is notable, for a number of reasons. It appeared before the first real wave of cyberpunk novels, and is responsible for the use of the term "worm" to describe a computer program that self-propagates across networks.

/tn.

I recommend reading utopia anyway. I read a well translated version a while ago. it had a very explanatory introduction which helps put the book in context.

although not a (gripping) novel, it presents the idea(l) of a utopian society and also the flaws in the very concept. (utopia means no place, the main character's name is translated as nonsensia). From an objective point of view it makes good food for thought, especially if you're an idealist / amateur philosopher. I hope one day to start a commune, and i intend it not to be just a hippy pipedream.

Funnily enough, just now i randomly decided that i wanted to read a futuristic utopian novel, thats how i found this forum. i look forward to reading the recomended books.

I cant recomend any books yet. but i reckon you will definately enjoy this documentary i saw recently. its called 'the coconut revolution' and its about the islanders of bougainville in the pacific, who revolt against a multinational mining corporation who came onto their island uninvited, mining minerals, and in the process #ing up their ecosystem and island and #. its basically quality.

thepiratebay.org...(1998)

peace, B-ri

reply to post by Uphill

The best story I've read about the Earth culture of the far future is A World Out of Time, written by Larry Niven in 1986.

Thanks Uphill!
I love Larry Niven. I haven't heard of this one. I can't wait to read it.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. I read it a couple years back and absolutely LOVED it.

Of course there's always the old standby 1984.

Read HG Wells "the shape of things to come"....

reply to post by bigbert81


YES!!!! The Giver, it's a series too!!!!
I loved it, but that's jmo.

My first thought was to mention the closing chapters of the Revelation by the Apostle John.

You heathens might prefer Olaf Stapleton's Last and First Men and Starmaker. Both are good reads.

I love The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk. I have recommended it here on ATS before. It is about a future that embraces religious, sexual, and political differences and describes a utopian future where those differences are celebrated and necessary for proper functioning.

A mini-review on Amazon by the Library Journal

From Library Journal

Known for her works in women's spirituality and ecofeminism, Starhawk has conjured a visionary tale of a multicultural community of witches where poverty, prejudice, hunger, and thirst do not prevail. The surrounding world, set in present-day San Francisco, manifests every 20th-century nightmare: ozone depletion, deadly pollution, a fundamentalist religion-based government, and food and water shortages. The central question haunting a community of well-cast characters is how to resist invading Southern forces without resorting to violence.

This strong debut fits well among feminist futuristic, utopic, and dystopic works by the likes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ursula LeGuin, and Margaret Atwood.

Starhawk is the author of The Spiral Dance ( LJ 11/1/79), Dreaming the Dark ( LJ 9/15/82), and Truth or Dare (HarperSanFrancisco, 1989). Recomended for literary collections. - Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia

Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The book on Amazon.com is here.

Probably one that most people won't mention but still about a utopia The Disposessed by Ursula K Le Guin. It's about a scientists that comes from a desert planet where everyone is equal and there is no money. If you need clothes you get some from the store for free. If you need food you get food for free. But everyone works and no one is unproductive, because if you are you are ostracized from society. There's also no need for police or government, a computer assigns everyone a job and what to do.

The scientist is taken to another planet that is much richer and has giant sky scrapers and metropolitan cities. It's filled with art and beauty, and the women on this planet are revered, and for some reason, all women shave their heads, but it looks very becoming on them. But it turns out that despite all the positives of this planet, the poor have nothing. Not even freedom. So the Scientist tries to help them, and it's a very inspiring novel.

Check it out. It's really incredible, despite some of its flaws. It's no where near a perfect novel. But Ursula K Le Guin is also very known for creating fantastic fictional worlds, and she is very worth reading.

I agree that Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy would make for a good read.

There'd always have to be something wrong with the Utopia...otherwise, there's no conflict for the story...

reply to post by Gazrok


Yes. Exactly. An author who has written many books named J.G. Ballard wrote a decent easy read called "HighRise". Mega city high-rises in the future where the top 50 floors were for the rich...utopia doesn't last forever though...good author this guy.

CJ

Originally posted by bigbert81
Well, I guess the subject line pretty much sums it up.

I would like to get myself a book that is based in a futuristic Utopia. I haven't heard good things about the book entitled Utopia, so I thought I'd ask members here if they know of a good one I can get.

Thanks for the help.

I am going to break stride and recommend a sci-fi that could be considered a Utopia (and works towards it in later books). Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is the place to start.

His series has had a major impact on sci-fi as we know it, and even today it is still an amazing read. Please give it a try and let me know. You will not be thrown into a crazy story to begin with. It is a complete story. It builds and builds on itself (that is to say it is a climb and a jump versus just the jump).