That’s all. He’s been on my tbr list for years but I’ve never read any of his work. I enjoy simple, easy reads for fun and relaxation. But I’m also not scared to delve into something challenging that requires effort and rewards with learning. I’m a teacher so I’m about to have a bit of free time and cognitive space.
Thanks!
Seconding this one.
Not me, I suffered through all three and hated it.
The Years of Rice and Salt is KSR at his most literary, and my personal favorite. I also really enjoyed The Ministry for the Future, which I picked up because it was on Obama's summer reading picks one year.
To be contrary to the other replies, I think his more recent work is better in some ways and more relevant to where we are now. And Red Mars has some characters that some find annoying and may not be the ideal place to start.
2312 is KSR at his most optimistic, fantastic, and romantic. If you’re interested in a lot of possibilities and seeing humanity succeed and excel, this is the one for start with.
Aurora is much less optimistic, as a generation ship nears the end of its journey to Tau Ceti. He asks huge questions, but comes up with much less buoyant answers than you see in much of his other works. If you like your sci-fi a little less saccharine, start here.
And for something set in a much more contemporary setting, Ministry for the Future is maybe his most real-word setting while still contemplating the kinds of topics he’s known for. It’s also the one that most directly deals with Earth’s environment, and not the larger realms of space. If you’re interested in seeing the big questions we’re asking today, extrapolated into the future, start here.
Arora is my pick as well. Solid stand alone story with a bleaker ending. I read it twice. I love the farming device of the ships AI telling the story.
Loved Aurora. Couldn’t stand 2132. DNF. Kept thinking: “Woke Mars”
A comment I made for another post, it gives a little on all of his books. I'd be happy to elaborate more if you're interested:
That’s very helpful. Thank you.
I was the OP of that thread, and I started with Red Mars. 100 page in, and I'm really enjoying it.
Why not start at the start with The Wild Shore?
Mars Trilogy.
Anywhere. He's fantastic.
I'd suggest of his earlier works, Icehenge. It addresses many of the themes Stan explores in his later books. And it's also a damn fine story.
KSR is my favourite author and Red Mars is one of my favourite books (one of the few I've reread). However where to start depends on you.
Red Mars is great, however it is also over 30 years old and it shows. It's got some dated sexual politics, and odd orialentalism going on (both with the Russian characters and very much so with the one Asian character a Japanese woman). The science of Mars is also 30 years out of date (we know think there's more water there for example). There's also some End of History American triumphaism going on that just screams this was written in the early 90s. As I say it is a great book, one of my favourites but perhaps not the best starting point in 2024 depending on your tolerance for the quirks of classic sci fi.
Depending on what you're interested in I would recommend starting with either Aurora, 2312, New York 2140 or Ministry for the Future.
Ministry for the Future is the one that made him a name beyond sci fi circles. Its excellent although I did think it could be a 1/3 shorter (a common KSR problem). This is an excellent piece if climate fiction that deals with the messy complexity of climate change and its politics. It was written in the middle of crypto hype and that's the one element KSR has said he'd change (was keynote at an academic conference on international studies I attended two years ago).
New York 2140 is similarly an interesting climate novel (basically all his stuff is about climate change) but focused on New York specific. This might be the best one to start with as it's focused on a small cast and is a big more novelly. I found the politics of this one some of the more interesting discussions, perhaps because its near future and focused on an Earth city! And new york as new Venice is an interesting concept!
2312 is basically the Mars trilogy but on the scale of the Solar System and shrunk to one book. Kind of get why others found it dull because if you've read the Mars trilogy you've seen most of the ideas in this book. Which could make it a great first entry if your sci fi = space.
Aurora is probably one of his best, its set on a generation ship headed for a colony. It is an excellent work on AI and space colonisation. Probably one of the best on the ethics of space colonisation ive ever read. If you're interested on thoughtful space sci fi at its best then this is the book to star with.
My favourite works by KSR are his first books - the Three California series. They're stand alone novels, so you could read them in any order, but the order they were written in makes the most sense to me - Wild Shore - Gold Coast - Pacific Edge. The Gold Coast is probably my favourite KSR book of all time, and one of my favourite books of all time. These books are also a bit faster to read with more narrative and less descriptions, and less contrived plots to bring about scientific solutions. That said, I do love all his works, and I guess if you jump into the deep end with Red Mars, you might get a better idea of whether you want to keep reading other books by him, or stop after that one.
I haven’t yet seen it mentioned, so I’ll suggest Antarctica, which was the first KSR novel I read.
Red Mars, then Blue Mars, then Green Mars.
Isn't Green the second book of the trilogy?
Yeah, it's RGB.
Yes. Hopefully they're not proposing a 'machete order'
Yes it is
Yes.
Also the oft forgotten short story collection spin off "The Martians"
Mars trilogy is a big investment in time if you are not sure. He has a few short novellas and short story collections so you could dip you toe in with one of those to see if you like his style and pacing. I would suggest a "The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson" to get a feel and some of the stories are set in his other universes.
The Years of Rice and Salt is one of his most underrated books, IMO.
I've tried to read his books multiple times but the only one I ever made it through was Aurora, and that was a slog.
I wanted to say this about the Mars Trilogy. If he had written the book with about half as many pages it would have been great. I gave up after book two.
I have the same feeling with his work. I dnf the Mars trilogy. Dnf 2312. It feels like I'm reading a series of essays loosely bound by a narrative.
The Mars trilogy is is best work by far.
Red Mars.
The beauty of Mars exists in the human mind. without the human presence it is just a concatenation of atoms, no different than any other random speck of matter in the universe. It's we who understand it, and we who give it meaning. All our centuries of looking up at the night sky and watching it wander through the stars. All those nights of watching it through the telescopes, looking at a tiny disk trying to see canals in the albedo changes. All those dumb sci-fi novels with their monsters and maidens and dying civilizations. And all the scientists who studied the data, or got us here. That's what makes Mars Beautiful. Not the basalt and the oxides.
Now that we are here, it isn't enough to just hide under ten meters of soil and study the rock. That's science, yes, and needed science too. But science is more than that. Science is part of a larger human enterprise, and that enterprise includes going to the stars, adapting to other planets, adapting them to us. Science is creation. The lack of life here, and the lack of any finding in fifty years of the SETI program, indicates that life is rare, and intelligent life even rarer. And yet the whole meaning of the universe, its beauty, is contained in the consciousness of intelligent life. We are the consciousness of the universe, and our job is to spread that around, to go look at things, to live everywhere we can. It's too dangerous to keep the consciousness of the universe on only one planet, it could be wiped out. And so now we're on two, three if you count the moon. And we can change this one to make it safer to live on. Changing it won't destroy it. Reading its past might get harder, but the beauty of it won't go away. If there are lakes, or forests, or glaciers, how does that diminish Mars beauty? I don't think it does. I think it only enhances it. It adds life, the most beautiful system of all. But nothing life can do will bring Tharsis down, or fill Marineris. Mars will always remain Mars, different from Earth, colder and wilder. But it can be Mars and ours at the same time. And it will be. There is this about the human mind; if it can be done, it will be done. We can transform Mars and build it like you would build a cathedral, as a monument to humanity and the universe both. We can do it, so we will do it. So, we might as well start.
Icehenge
Red Mars
Three California Triptych because you're not tied to a trilogy if you don't like it.
My first KSR was Ministry for the Future.
Man, if you're looking for simple and easy reads, I'm not so sure KSR is the way to go. He's one of my favorite authors and his writing is known for very hard science... maybe start with Galileo's Dream, it's a fun romp.
Wild Shore. Delightful book
I am glad you asked!
Red Mars. Duh.
P.S. You have good taste. You're going places.
Another vote for The Years of Rice and Salt. I never really enjoyed the Mars trilogy but The Years of Rice and Salt is breathtaking. Beautiful prose, really intriguing premise, excellent pacing and characters.
I started the Ministry for the Future and I couldn't keep going because I was having panic attacks over it's relevance to our times.
I liked 2312 good with a little bit of everything sci-fi But hated New York 2140 trash
New York 2140 is awesome (though the characters weren't the best) but I found it was the kind of thing that if you have nyc knowledge made it a lot better
Mars trilogy.