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Update: Sci-fi about the social ramifications of overpopulation, a call for suggestions

/ Joachim Boaz / 9 Comments

    

I need reading suggestions.

After reading John Brunner’s Hugo winning masterpiece Stand on Zanzibar (1968) a few years back I became entranced by science fiction exploring social themes (intelligently) extrapolated from a future Earth condition of extreme overpopulation.  In the recent months I’ve read and reviewed a glut of similarly themed works of uneven quality.  Many of these works were inspired by Paul and Anne Ehrlich’s non-fiction The Population Bomb (1968) which warned of the mass starvation of humans in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of overpopulation. Continue reading →

Update: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. III

/ Joachim Boaz / 2 Comments

1. The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard, J. G. Ballard (2009)

My girlfriend gave me this MASSIVE (1196 pages) newly released volume of all of Ballard’s short stories  (arranged in chronological order) for my birthday.  I’m extremely excited because I enjoyed my first Ballard work, High-Rise (1975).  Does anyone have a particular story which I should start with? Continue reading →

Update: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. I

/ Joachim Boaz / 10 Comments

Oh the joys of amazon gift cards… And perusing dusty corners of local bookstores.

Here are my latest acquisitions.

1. Robert Silverberg’s World Inside (1971) (MY REVIEW HERE)

I’ve always enjoyed semi-dystopic works about the social ramifications of overpopulation (John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar is my all time favorite sci-fi novel).  I wonder if Silverberg was inspired by Brunner’s work.  I’ve yet to read a Silverberg novel and I’ve read that this is a pretty good effort.  So, those factors contributed to my purchase.

2. Doris Piserchia’s Continue reading →