Established in 2025, the purpose of the new organization 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 …
Established in 2025, the purpose of the new organization 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.
Actually, the book has no real plot. On the basis of two persons, the book presents psychological trauma caused by climate change and how a high bureaucrat tries to convince other executives to act. Interspersed are short essays. Admittedly, I skipped about a third of the book due to repetition. I would have liked more plot. In the end, there is hope that somehow it will work out, but many sacrifices must be made along the way.
What is problematic about the book is that while societies or masses are subjects, they are somehow very manipulated, reactive, history is written by the elite, which takes away a lot agency.
Some fantastic ideas, but a dragged out execution!
4 stars
I really did love this book. The first is so incredibly well written and has left a mark on me that will likely still be felt for years to come. I thoroughly loved the level of detail that Robinson gave to explaining some of the key concepts in the book, although unfortunately there was a heavy emphasis on economics that seemed to really drag on. It became a lot of "here's the thing that needs to happen, here is someone saying it needs to happen, here is the thing happening, here is the thing being finished, and here is life afterwards". Which wouldn't be so bad, if it wasn't as repetitive.
Overall though, it was wonderful to see a realistic look at the fight against climate change that still ended hopefully and optimistic. It shows the world as it one day could be, and inspires you to want to fight …
I really did love this book. The first is so incredibly well written and has left a mark on me that will likely still be felt for years to come. I thoroughly loved the level of detail that Robinson gave to explaining some of the key concepts in the book, although unfortunately there was a heavy emphasis on economics that seemed to really drag on. It became a lot of "here's the thing that needs to happen, here is someone saying it needs to happen, here is the thing happening, here is the thing being finished, and here is life afterwards". Which wouldn't be so bad, if it wasn't as repetitive.
Overall though, it was wonderful to see a realistic look at the fight against climate change that still ended hopefully and optimistic. It shows the world as it one day could be, and inspires you to want to fight for it.
There are a lot of ideas in this novel that do bear thinking about but the narrative, heavily reliant on a series of vignettes from the future, feels disjointed to the point that it keeps stumbling over itself. I do like the eventual optimism of the novel, but did find it a bit too reliant on hand-waving and buzzwords for me to really buy into it.
As a novel, The Ministry for the Future felt a lot like an exercise in wasted potential.
Terrifyingly, largely nonfiction. After a very strong, almost shocking opening, it lacks a strong story arc that pulls you through the book, the kaleidoscopic storytelling feeling a bit artificial. But full of interesting, sometimes essential ideas and insights about climate breakdown, the wider socio-economic system and possible solutions. After only two years already somewhat dated, which makes it even more terrifying.
Le changement climatique devient une évidence… alors qu’est-ce que le monde peut faire ?
Cela m’a semblé plutôt réaliste, avec la prise en compte qu’il ne faut pas que de la technologie mais des changements sociaux profonds pour s’en sortir.
Un livre peut-être trop optimiste, mais parfois cela fait du bien.
C’est une sorte de guide sur ce que nous pourrions faire pour nous en sortir.
Repackaged state power as a solution to the climate crisis.
4 stars
What would a worldwide, lasting revolution look like? What would be the obstacles and what tactics would be needed to overcome them? How are we going to survive climate change? These are the themes Kim Stanley Robinson tackles in his 570-page cli-fi novel THE MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE.
The narrative is disjointed, with epistolary chapters placed throughout. If you roll with it, it works well. You get a well-researched, fairly well-rounded picture across class, power, and geography. The format makes for a clever way to introduce details that otherwise might not fit into a traditional narrative. I also appreciate the global perspective of this book. The U.S. is not at the center at all, and is critiqued heavily and fairly.
THE MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE envisions a world that includes the Half-Earth concept as one of its solutions to combat climate change. Half of the planet would be reserved exclusively …
What would a worldwide, lasting revolution look like? What would be the obstacles and what tactics would be needed to overcome them? How are we going to survive climate change? These are the themes Kim Stanley Robinson tackles in his 570-page cli-fi novel THE MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE.
The narrative is disjointed, with epistolary chapters placed throughout. If you roll with it, it works well. You get a well-researched, fairly well-rounded picture across class, power, and geography. The format makes for a clever way to introduce details that otherwise might not fit into a traditional narrative. I also appreciate the global perspective of this book. The U.S. is not at the center at all, and is critiqued heavily and fairly.
THE MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE envisions a world that includes the Half-Earth concept as one of its solutions to combat climate change. Half of the planet would be reserved exclusively for nature; the other half for humans, centered in sustainable cities. It sounds plausible in the novel, but I had this nagging, bad feeling about it. I kept thinking, you're never going to get 100% compliance on that, no matter how many incentives you offer. And we have a terrible history of forcing Indigenous peoples off their land. Nowhere in the book is that addressed and, so far, what I'm reading about Half-Earth doesn't assuage my concerns.
So, I'm feeling meh about this novel. When I was able to believe it, its hopefulness felt inspiring and relieved some of my fears. When cynicism (reality?) got the best of me, I had to set it aside for a bit, which is why it took me so long to finish it. Plus, I have major problems with a top-down approach that is just repackaged state power claiming to be a solution. (Obama loving this book should have been a red flag for me.) But this is science fiction. It doesn't have to actually solve anything. There were plenty of moments where the book imagines creative ways to forge ahead, and for that, I'm glad I read it, even if I'm probably not going to pick up another Kim Stanley Robinson book in the future.
Kim Stanley Robinson beschreibt in The Ministry for the Future, wie die Menschheit mit dem Klimawandel umgeht. Das Buch ist eine Art fiktionale Dokumentation, die zwischen den sporadischen romanhaften Erzählungen der beiden Protagonisten aus Sitzungsprotokollen, Augenzeugenberichten namensloser Ich-Erzähler und Infodumps zu ökonomischen Konzepten und Glaziologie besteht.
Ehe es besser wird, wird es schlimmer. Und besser nur, wenn dafür harte politische Entscheidungen auf globaler Ebene getroffen werden. Schilderungen, wie die zustande kommen, nehmen großen Raum in dem Buch ein. Das trägt zu seinem immensen Realismus bei, was mir gefallen hat.
Dann allerdings gab es einen wirklich großartigen Schlusspunkt in der Erzählung, bei dem ich überzeugt war, dass nach dem Umblättern ein langer Anhang oder ähnliches beginnen würde. Allerdings geht die Geschichte danach noch sehr sehr lange weiter und wurde eher ermüdend und zäh.
So I am rating this 4 stars because I totally got into it by the midpoint and had characters I was rooting for and was following the climate currency thing with fascination, etc. But I can also totally see the flip side, which is people complaining that this is a bunch of tediously and tenuously connected at best. I think it's all down to if you buy into his characters enough to find it enjoyable or not. And that's anyone's guess.
(I will say that regardless the ideas in it are fascinating!)
Auf der einen Seite beschreibt das Buch die beginnende Klimakatastrophe und Möglichkeiten dagegen entwas zu tun ganz gut, auf der anderen Seite sind die Lösungsvorschläge, die in dem Roman präsentiert werden fast alle technokratisch und auf eine andere Art und Weise auch wieder nicht akzeptabel. Z.B. wird die Kryptowährung "Carbon Coin" weltweit eingeführt und ständig die Vorteile einer Währung mit totaler Transparenz in der Blockchain betont. Antikapitalistische Perspektiven kommen kaum vor, außer das Beispiel Mondragón. Wirkliche antikapitalistische und antistaatliche Alternativen, wie Rojava oder die Zapitistas fehlen. Schlimmer noch: An einer Stelle wird sogar ein kurdischer Nationalstaat ausgerufen, was zeigt, dass der Autor keine Ahnung von der kurdischen Freiheitsbewegung hat. Ebenfalls schade ist, dass die "Children of Kali", die "grüne Terrororganisation", immer nur am Rande vorkommt und nicht weiter ausgeführt wird. Da hätte ich mir mehr von erhofft.
I thought I would enjoy this book a lot more, and it ended up being a bit of a slog towards the end. A lot of the writing is very "stream of consciousness", and there's not much of a plot to speak of.
In terms of finding ideas for addressing climate change, there's too much focus on blockchain and geoengineering. Not really solarpunk.
Review of 'Ministry for the Future' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
To me this felt a bit like a left-wing Ayn Rand book: it purports to take place in the real world, but people and the world in the book work just differently enough that it's practically impossible to gain insights about it about the real world - supposedly one of the book's goals.
Review of 'Ministry for the Future' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Loved it. It is desperate and bleak at first, but it offers some hope. Sometimes it is vague, yes, and perhaps a bit overly optimistic, but I enjoyed a reasonable vision of a livable (maybe even desirable) future adapting and minimising the worst effects of climate change. A world where humanity finds a balance and respect for our biosphere. I do wish it featured indigenous voices and characters more than it does, but otherwise, it does raise some interesting ideas and possible paths for our immediate future.
The first 1/3 landed really well, but it started falling apart quickly after that. First KSR I've read, and I had "hard scifi" expectations for characterization, but there was still some corny stuff.
But despite the awkward anonymous first person chapters and uncomfortable Switzerland fetishization I think it succeeds at its primary goal: envisioning a collaborative utopian approach to realistic climate change impacts.
