Changing Planes

Lighter than most Le Guin I’ve read, Changing Planes is a Gulliver’s Travels for the present era, the social satire made possible through interdimensional travel. (When you’re stuck in a dismal airport between planes, well, you’re already between planes, right?)

Some chapters are told first person as the narrator explores a new reality (sometimes sticking to the tourist spots, sometimes going off the beaten path). Others read more like magazine articles or encyclopedia entries. Still others mix first- and second-hand accounts with the narrator’s reactions to them.

There’s a lot of whimsy, humor and sarcasm. It’s not particularly deep (especially compared to her major works), but it does give you a lot to think about.

(Cross-posted from my website.)

A series of sci-fi anthropological vignettes into a bunch of hypothetical universes., mostly humorous and/or satirical.

A bit like Vonnegut's Kilgore Trout novel ideas. Interesting premises he didn't actually flesh out.

A set of short stories with a very charming framing story that feels almost Terry Pratchett esque. The stories are sometimes feel a little less nuanced than what I expect from LeGuin. Despite that it's a fascinating box of thought experiments, with gripping imagery that will keep bouncing around in my head a while yet.

My favorite track off this album: The Building.

This was a fun book. The premise really was just "How far can I run with a pun on changing airplanes vs astral planes?", but that served as a nice springboard for a series of vignettes of alternate worlds. Some were clearly commentary on this plane, others just seemed like an exploration of a little idea, and the whole book is breezily written - light reading that's worth taking time over.

This was a fun book. The premise really was just "How far can I run with a pun on changing airplanes vs astral planes?", but that served as a nice springboard for a series of vignettes of alternate worlds. Some were clearly commentary on this plane, others just seemed like an exploration of a little idea, and the whole book is breezily written - light reading that's worth taking time over.