Name: Omar Fernandez's review of The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
Item: The Ministry for the Future
Rating: 4
Author: Omar Fernandez

Kim Stanley Robinson

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

The Ministry for the Future

Established in 2025, the purpose of the new organisation was simple: To advocate for the world's future generations and to protect all living creatures, present and future. It soon became known as the Ministry for the Future, and this is its story. From legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson comes a vision of climate change unlike any ever imagined. Told entirely through fictional eye-witness accounts, The Ministry For The Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, the story of how climate change will affect us all over the decades to come. 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. Also by Kim Stanley Robinson: Red Moon New York 2140 2312 Aurora Shaman

Edward Steel

"From legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson comes a vision of climate change unlike any ever imagined. Kim Stanley Robinson is one of contemporary science fiction's most acclaimed writers, and with this new novel, he once again turns his eye to themes of climate change, technology, politics, and the human behaviors that drive these forces. But his setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world--rather, he imagines a more hopeful future, one where humanity has managed to overcome our challenges and thrive. It is a novel both immediate and impactful, perfect for his many fans and for readers who crave powerful and thought-provoking sci-fi stories"--

Gregor Gross

Omar Fernandez

The Ministry for the Future is grounded while also being sci-fi. Its ideas on addressing climate change feel tangible and I felt like the book could be a window into our future.

I had favorite characters like Mary and Frank, Mary being the head of the Ministry for the Future and Frank whose arc in the book is wide-ranging and also deeply emotional.

Patty Pforte

The Ministry for the Future is grounded while also being sci-fi. Its ideas on addressing climate change feel tangible and I felt like the book could be a window into our future.

I had favorite characters like Mary and Frank, Mary being the head of the Ministry for the Future and Frank whose arc in the book is wide-ranging and also deeply emotional.

Cody Degen

** spoiler alert **
           Reads more like a speculation of a possible path forward to defeating climate change than a novel, but I enjoyed it more for that. 

I find it both pessimistic and optimistic in that a ton of human suffering occurs within this book, but ultimately things end up stabilizing. But on the other hand I dont really have faith in us to do the things that need to be done to get where this book ultimately lands.

This was just so long. I love the idea of this book, but I didn't find it had enough interesting things going on in it to justify it's length. It doesn't skirt around the issues of climate damage or shy away from pointing a finger at the biggest culprits which is great, it suggests some solutions, and it is all very grounded and real in those solutions. There just wasn't enough to engage me as a reader (listener in this case actually), and I felt like the more interesting and captivating parts of the story did not get as much attention.

Liam Richardson

logan chung

A UN sponsored NGO with an off-the-books paramilitary wing conspires with the G12's central banks to save the world using a combination of neoliberal "nudges" and black helicopter violence.   This is an eco-fascist fantasy novel for people with a Financial Times subscription.  

en nuibz

Really good, though I wish they would had stayed with the oral history more than with the main characters, that was the weakest part. Very thought provoking. A little hard to start because the scenario is so realistic and bleak. Ending is a bit anticlimactic.

Nicholas Speer

         I was sitting in one of my favorite restaurants in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with my family-dad, stepmom, two brothers, my daughter and son-in-law.  We were all in town to bury my paternal grandmother, and we always make a pilgrimage to Monroe’s while we’re in town.  In the long-standing tradition of my family, we eventually started talking about books.  My dad couldn’t stop talking about this book, so I decided to go ahead and put it on my TBR list.  I figured if my dad and Barak Obama loved it, I should probably go ahead and read it. 

            It’s actually been pretty difficult for me to articulate how I felt about this book.  The hard truth was, for most of this book, I was bored senseless.  It felt like a jumbled, unorganized mess of words, ideas, pieces of a story, opinion bursts, strange riddles…it made the entire thing hard to follow.  I found myself relieved when I stumbled back into the book that involved Mary and Frank, because that was a genuine story.  The rest of it was unnecessary and excessive.  After about 150 pages, it was tedious.  As far as being a good NOVEL, it’s only valued as a single-starred book.

            However, and this is where this book finds its way onto so many favorite lists, it is an absolutely necessary story.  If you were to filter through all the information and pull out just the climate change narrative, you would find a wealth of information that needs to be known.  Climate change IS a thing, and it WILL eventually be the downfall of humanity.  While I believe humans will survive the catastrophe looming upon us, we certainly won’t remain as dominant on this planet as we have been.  We will be reduced to survivors only, hopefully ones that have the well-being of planet Earth in mind moving forward.  This book also incudes pretty serious warnings about economics and government systems that would benefit everybody to know.  Everything in this book is absolutely necessary information, which brings me to the reason why I didn’t love this book. 

            Enter some personal commentary.  Way back when I decided I wanted to go into teaching, one of the reasons why was because I wanted to help kids find the joy in reading.  I had visited my dad during spring break when I was in college, and I sat and talked to my little brother (he was in elementary school at the time) about a series of books he absolutely loved.  I was impressed with his enthusiasm, and I wanted to figure out how to help every kid feel the same way.  As readers, my family will seek out all types of literature, especially those that help us grown and learn.  Non and reluctant readers won’t, they won’t seek out knowledge…they don’t want to be lectured by a book.  They want to dive in and lose themselves in a compelling story. This is the type of book that makes a reluctant reader turn into a non-reader.  The information put forth in this book is formatted for an intellectual obstacle course, not for a leisurely stroll.  Those of us that read this book, and others like it, are already aware of the warnings found within its pages.  The people who don’t know this information aren’t going to read this book, and THAT is why this isn’t going to get more stars from me.  This type of informational narrative needs to be formatted for everybody. 

            It is an intriguing story, once you’ve managed to sort out what is story and what is extraneous text.  The extraneous text is insanely well-researched, and it’s clear the author feels passionately about climate change (and politics…and economics).  The effort put into this book is awe-inspiring, and for that he got the third star.  However, creating a book with such an important message but making it intellectually pretentious is, from my point of view, a failure. 

Kristen Claiborn

         I was sitting in one of my favorite restaurants in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with my family-dad, stepmom, two brothers, my daughter and son-in-law.  We were all in town to bury my paternal grandmother, and we always make a pilgrimage to Monroe’s while we’re in town.  In the long-standing tradition of my family, we eventually started talking about books.  My dad couldn’t stop talking about this book, so I decided to go ahead and put it on my TBR list.  I figured if my dad and Barak Obama loved it, I should probably go ahead and read it. 

            It’s actually been pretty difficult for me to articulate how I felt about this book.  The hard truth was, for most of this book, I was bored senseless.  It felt like a jumbled, unorganized mess of words, ideas, pieces of a story, opinion bursts, strange riddles…it made the entire thing hard to follow.  I found myself relieved when I stumbled back into the book that involved Mary and Frank, because that was a genuine story.  The rest of it was unnecessary and excessive.  After about 150 pages, it was tedious.  As far as being a good NOVEL, it’s only valued as a single-starred book.

            However, and this is where this book finds its way onto so many favorite lists, it is an absolutely necessary story.  If you were to filter through all the information and pull out just the climate change narrative, you would find a wealth of information that needs to be known.  Climate change IS a thing, and it WILL eventually be the downfall of humanity.  While I believe humans will survive the catastrophe looming upon us, we certainly won’t remain as dominant on this planet as we have been.  We will be reduced to survivors only, hopefully ones that have the well-being of planet Earth in mind moving forward.  This book also incudes pretty serious warnings about economics and government systems that would benefit everybody to know.  Everything in this book is absolutely necessary information, which brings me to the reason why I didn’t love this book. 

            Enter some personal commentary.  Way back when I decided I wanted to go into teaching, one of the reasons why was because I wanted to help kids find the joy in reading.  I had visited my dad during spring break when I was in college, and I sat and talked to my little brother (he was in elementary school at the time) about a series of books he absolutely loved.  I was impressed with his enthusiasm, and I wanted to figure out how to help every kid feel the same way.  As readers, my family will seek out all types of literature, especially those that help us grown and learn.  Non and reluctant readers won’t, they won’t seek out knowledge…they don’t want to be lectured by a book.  They want to dive in and lose themselves in a compelling story. This is the type of book that makes a reluctant reader turn into a non-reader.  The information put forth in this book is formatted for an intellectual obstacle course, not for a leisurely stroll.  Those of us that read this book, and others like it, are already aware of the warnings found within its pages.  The people who don’t know this information aren’t going to read this book, and THAT is why this isn’t going to get more stars from me.  This type of informational narrative needs to be formatted for everybody. 

            It is an intriguing story, once you’ve managed to sort out what is story and what is extraneous text.  The extraneous text is insanely well-researched, and it’s clear the author feels passionately about climate change (and politics…and economics).  The effort put into this book is awe-inspiring, and for that he got the third star.  However, creating a book with such an important message but making it intellectually pretentious is, from my point of view, a failure. 

I’m going to call this as “read/complete” even though I’m still on chapter 90 (!!!). 

However, the cons/difficult bits shouldn’t discourage anyone from reading the book. It is a great and ambitious work and I’m glad that I’ve read ~80%+ of it, though I wished I had taken notes while reading and not try to rush through it for book club. :) 

I’m going to call this as “read/complete” even though I’m still on chapter 90 (!!!). 

The good about this book: 

An effective call to action around climate change

Makes a lot of concepts very accessible for those of us not deeply involved in climate change improvements

Fiction plot helps reinforce and make real and vivid the potential impact of climate change. 

The difficult bit: 

There’s a LOT to digest. 

It’s easy to lose momentum as the fiction part, the plot, gets dull over time. Could be more exciting. 

However, the cons/difficult bits shouldn’t discourage anyone from reading the book. It is a great and ambitious work and I’m glad that I’ve read ~80%+ of it, though I wished I had taken notes while reading and not try to rush through it for book club. :) 

Maddie

I had such high hopes for this book, but it was such a slog to get through. The premise of significant positive change regarding the environment is fascinating, and this book is obviously incredibly well researched. However, it’s overly dense with policy ideas which don’t fit nicely in the narrative, rather seem to drown the storyline.

Interesting way of putting together a fictional story with the possibilities and dangers caused by the climate change.

Sometimes it takes a little getting used to the change if narrator, when for example TIME is starting speaking. 

Kevin Heinrich

Interesting way of putting together a fictional story with the possibilities and dangers caused by the climate change.

Sometimes it takes a little getting used to the change if narrator, when for example TIME is starting speaking. 

Great writing style in this, where the story arc of the main characters is interwoven with snippets from one-off characters portraying a stark and hard hitting narrative on the impacts of climate change to life as we know it. 

Wayne Gibbons

Elle Geoghegan 

Bastian Allgeier

This book has some incredible parts and some really weak ones. It's hard to rate it. Some parts are a 5, some parts are a 3 at best.

You have to read this: KSR shows our immediate future with respect to climate change and how it will play out. The book describes the fight before us. Maybe most important SciFi book right now. 

Mark Wadley

This one’s a chunker so it took me a while to get through it, but I finished it this morning. I’m not usually in the right zone for hard sci-fi or climate fiction like this but when it hits it hits. Robinson uses multiple points of view and a couple of complex, interesting central characters to tell a massive — literally global — story without it feeling like a world building notebook. But the research is totally there, too — and it’s astounding.

Coming out of a serious bout with anxiety and immediately reading a long novel about climate change was maybe not a great choice, but this is by far the most hopeful, near-utopian work of climate fiction I’ve ever read. Even though I’ve enjoyed (and added to) the recent wave of apocalyptic speculative fiction, this book’s eco-futurist voice is positively energizing, and I hope we see a lot more fiction with this kind of measured optimism and wild imagination in its wake.

Brian Alderman

KIM STANLEY. ROBINSON

Chris

Engaging, thoughtful, not too preachy. Viewing the climate crisis through a narrative lens is much more effective for me than scary statistics.

Word of caution for those who prefer a straight story. There is a consistent arc with a main character or two woven through the book, but it has many small interludes that jump between characters (and objects!). Not quite the same as World War Z, but a similar, almost collage feeling. Occasionally disruptive but generally it worked for me.

All said, it's planted seeds that I'll probably be thinking about for some time. In that sense, it was definitely a worthwhile read.

Ben Nathan

It was ok on the story front, 3 stars. However, on the importance/idea front it's an easy 5 stars. This is not the best book I've read this year, but easily the most important. What the mars trilogy did for the idea of terraforming mars, this book does for the idea of saving Earth. I can't suggest this book highly enough for those that want the most realistic view of what the world would be like if people that gave a damn had the ability to pull all the right strings. I would love to live in this world that gets created. It's one where the earth and the future have a say. Where greed is as outdated a concept as those that worship it (boomers). I wish we could make this happen....so much.

Bryan Alexander

Ministry for the Future is a powerful vision of how humanity might respond to the unfolding climate crisis over the next generation.

I picked this novel for our online book club, and reviewed it carefully there. Check it out, parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Omar Fernandez &
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

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Omar Fernandez &The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

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Join the club

Omar Fernandez &
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson