Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler · first published 1993
50% recommend50% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Near-future post-apocalyptic novel with a dystopia that feels plausible and relevant today, paired with a deep hopefulness. Quick to read and a good entry point to Butler for sci-fi fans and newcomers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future. Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinaril
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Happy to see some great books recommended there. Specifically, let me call out: The Three Body problem. The Lathe of Heaven. And while I haven't read Parable of the Sower yet, everything I've read of Octavia Butler has ranged from really good to some of my favorite books ever, so I'm sure it's a good one. One anti-recommendation (kind of): I recently read Finite and Infinite…
on “YC’s 2018 Summer Reading List” ↗Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash were great. Others you might: - The Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang (superb short story that Arrival was based on) - The Three Body-Problem (Cixin Liu) - Dune (Frank Herbert) - The Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler) - Lucifer's Hammer (Larry Niven) - The Kundalini Equation (Steven Barnes)
on “Ask HN: What are the best Sci-Fi books you've ever read?” ↗…5 books by non-whitemen I read in 2014 are: FICTION 1. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah 2. Terezia Mora - Der einzige Mann auf dem Kontinent (not translated yet I think) 3. Octavia E. Butler - Parable of the Sower 4. Jose Saramago - Blindness 5. James Baldwin - If Beale Street Could Talk NONFICTION 1. Melba Patillo Beals - Warriors Don't Cry: The Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central…
on “The Best Books I Read in 2014” ↗…was very late coming to Octavia Butler's writing, despite being a huge scifi nerd from a very young age. I wish I'd discovered her sooner...she's easily in my top five favorite scifi authors, today. Parable of the Sower (and its sequel) is beautiful and thought-provoking; the Lilith's Brood series (starting with Dawn) was way ahead of its time, tackling gender, race, sexuality, and xenophobia, in a really thoughtful…
on “When Science Fiction Becomes Real: Octavia E. Butler's Legacy” ↗…his books. I would rather that we aspire not to be villains. But again..that pesky thing called free will. So there’s that.. Octavia Butler's viewpoint in her books generally, but especially in the Parable of the Sower series, is valuable for its observation that much of human conflict is determined below the level of consciousness. Society can't ignore those forces, precisely because they can override conscious rationality…
on “California Has the Jobs but Not Enough Homes” ↗I was going to recommend Octavia E. Butler, but I see she is already on the list. The whole Xenogenesis trilogy is good, not just Dawn (first in the series). Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents likewise. And Connie Willis' To say nothing of the dog is hilarious! It will brighten anyone's day. I'll just have to starting working through that list, now.
on “One of the greatest science fiction magazines is now available online (2017)” ↗…totally life-changing IMHO, but many are life-altering… life-shifting? But for a good shift in perspective, I would maybe try the following: For fiction, best no reasons given, go into these blind: - Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler - The City and the City, China Mieville - Exhalation, Ted Chiang - Never Let me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro For non-fiction: - Any book that tells some of the history of the field you have…
on “Ask HN: Life Changing Books?” ↗…the United States. This article is a great analysis of how the film creates this uncanny sense of familiarity. I'm overdue to watch it again. (On a side note, I just finished reading Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, which resonantes with today's world in a similar way.)
on ““Children of Men”'s vision of the future is now disturbingly familiar” ↗Octavia Butler - The Parable Series (Parable of The Sower & Parable Of The Talents)
on “Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?” ↗…OC, I do have hope and optimism. That said, I keep chewing on two ideas. Of all the dystopian novels I've read, too many to list, I most believe the social arrangements imagined in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. A cautionary tale. Basically how corporations pivot to become the new feudal lords, no different than the robber baron's company towns. How taking a job is choosing serfdom. What it may be like to opt…
on “Bound to Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Liberal International Order (2019)” ↗The Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler [0], because it helped change and focus my values around extending the story of life on earth in an unbroken way thousands of years into the future, so that people can look back…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗My deep reading won’t be your deep reading, but the two standout books i’ve read recently and have changed my understanding of the world: Parable of the sower by octavia butler All about love by bell hooks Neither of those were written in the last decade - but that’s a product of me not being very aware of the literary scene - it takes a long time for works…
on “Candidate Insists Google Blocking His Website; He Requested It Not Be Indexed” ↗…City and the Stars" "Childhood's End" "Anathem" "Eifelheim" "A Case of Conscience" "VALIS" trilogy "The Book of Strange New Things" "Behold The Man" "The God Engines" "Book of the New Sun" "The Parable of the Sower" "The Dosadi Experiment" "Grass" "Project Pope" "Calculating God" "Factoring Humanity" "Jesus on Mars" "Surface Detail
on “Ask HN: Books that gave you different perspective on religion” ↗…defeat. Then learn about how saving face led to history not being accurately told by the witnesses on the Japanese side. All 3 are great books that are well worth your time. Others that I've enjoyed: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (near future post-apocalyptic sci-fi). The non-fiction Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson (more WW2 non-fiction, nice details about North Africa through Italy, then France to Germany).…
on “Ask HN: What books have been worth your time?” ↗> Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (near future post-apocalyptic sci-fi). If you haven't read it, Parable of the Talents, the sequel, is also worth a read.
on “Ask HN: What books have been worth your time?” ↗