The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin

[james_davis_nicoll]

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin

Comments

[voidampersand]

Le Guin was winning awards for Hainish stories well into the 1990s.

The Anthropology building at the University of California is named after Ursula's father. I would expect her to know better than most. However, her science fiction is not about explaining where people came from. It is about diversity in cultures and interactions between cultures. It is more powerful and interesting precisely because so many of the different cultures are biologically human.

[voidampersand]

Not that Larry Niven was trying to explain where humans came from either. It was never a plausible theory — just a cool story idea.

[ba_munronoe]

Well, it's not like anyone was claiming _LeGuin_ as a hard SF writer... :)

[voidampersand]

Which is really funny because if the definition of a hard science fiction writer is someone who gets the science better than Le Guin, there aren't very many of them.

[roseembolism]

Hard science fiction in physics from the 1970s, biology from the 1950s, and social science from the 1920s- or 1820s if its milfic.

[roseembolism]

Hard science fiction is physics from the 1970s, biology from the 1950s, and social science from the 1920s- or 1820s if its milfic.