We're reading climate fiction together
What's on the menu: 'The Ministry for the Future'
Hello, fellow voyagers🖖. In today’s edition you’ll find our slow reading schedule for the celebrated climate fiction book ‘The Ministry for the Future’.
Last fall, we read Dune together and exchanged our thoughts via a series of four Letters from Arrakis. It was a great experience!
I invite you to read The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson together this year.
This is one of the most celebrated—and controversial—climate fiction books you’ll find. From extreme heat to extreme climate activism, the book takes you on the rollercoaster ride of a changing world, giving you a glimpse of a better tomorrow. While you might disagree with the proposed solutions, and the climate change info dump might be a bit tedious at times, the sheer scope and intensity of this cli-fi novel will give you food for thought for a long time.
Reading schedule
We start slow reading the Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson today, October 16, 2024 and we finish on February 12, 2025.
Checkpoints
November 6, 2024 → Chapters 1-28 (pp. 1-118)
December 4, 2024 → Chapters 29- 55 (pp. 119-248)
January 8, 2024 → Chapters 56-75 (pp. 249-380)
February 12, 2024 → Chapters 76-106 (pp. 381-564)
I used the Kindle edition for the page numbers.
Future thinking & Worldbuilding
The Ministry for the Future is fiction for the future and during our slow reading we will focus on Kim Stanley Robinson’s worldbuilding, such as climate policy and activism.
Here’s how we’ll discuss the book together:
Weekly Wednesday chat thread → You can access the chat either on your Desktop or on the Substack App
Monthly essays → One week after we reach a reading milestone
Future thinking salon → A live video call when we finish reading the book in February to discuss Kim Stanley Robinson’s worldbuilding
I look forward to reading together with you!
Daily action matters
As we read The Ministry for the Future, we’ll also be taking real-world action by committing to daily life climate projects. These are small but impactful ways to make a difference in your own life while reflecting on the themes of the book.
If you’d like to join this extra curricular activity, find more details here👇!
You’re not too small to make the world a better place.
Yes, you’re too small to save the world
Hello my fellow voyagers 🖖! Last week, we kicked off our climate fiction book club with a cli-fi classic, The Ministry for the Future. This slow read will take place over the course of four months, and a small but cozy group has already gathered. If you’d like to join us,
Climate change is the most critical issue of our times and I believe that information and education play a vital role in moving forward as a society. I also believe that they should be offered free of charge for everyone’s benefit. We need to spread the word and take action at a planetary level to see life-changing transformation taking place. And this cannot happen behind a paywall.
Our climate fiction book club is free of charge for everyone. However, if you are in a financial position to do so, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support this project. Paid subscribers have access to a growing catalog of original climate fiction series and short stories.
Looking forward to this book reading, Claudia. Thank you for taking the initiative!
I'm a member of my local community's Sustainability Group. The most recent discussion we had was how to avoid this 'greenwashing problem' in the UK: https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/tesco-sainsbury-recycling-bags-burned-b2621769.html
It gets worse when you discover that, even though the UK has no more coal fired power stations, the rubbish we burn (including all the above plastic), is just as bad as coal: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3wxgje5pwo
Its not just getting but definitely being hotter.
That's what was forefront of his mind as Rob Edwards got up, with not unsurprising difficulty given the wholesale assault of ague, creaks and decrepitude on his day by day advancing age.
He managed to pad, without falling, over the window...
Okay Claudia. Thank you. I sampled the opening chapter a little while back - was duly emotionally pulverised by realising the reality posited by its considered wording - but then, ranging forward was off put off reading much further on by the dull-fuck offered by its dull choice of taking readers into that dullest of all settings, aka Committee Land!
And here's my best, hopeful, projection: I'm about to download and will be aiming to read, in slow bites. the full text. I can't commit to contributing comments but don't be surprised, Claudia, if I manage to here and there.
Brilliant reading, airing and sharing project.
Bon chance Claudia.