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Frank Herbert: Dune (1978, New English Library)

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, …

"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."

— Dune by  (Dune #1) (Page 17)

This quote from the Reverend Mother in the very first scene is... prescient.

And it's interesting as a re-read because I didn't remember the general backstory to the oddly low-tech elements of Dune being explicit. I guess when I read it the first time they weren't the parts that made an impression. Not sure how much that reflects how young I was or how long ago it was in terms of tech progression.

replied to Soh Kam Yung's status

@sohkamyung Yeah, it really does make sense, and re-reading it with adult eyes the hints about why certain tech was abandoned are there and intriguing. I hadn't remembered them, so when a friend referenced the "Butlerian Jihad" a few years ago I thought he was referring to stuff that's deep into sequels I hadn't read or something. And in hindsight it just seems odd that this part of the worldbuilding didn't make more of an impression on me back then - it's actually well done, and without it the backstory would be a bit random.