The Windup Girl
by Paolo Bacigalupi · first published 2009
63% recommend31% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
Biopunk SF set in a future Bangkok after oil depletion and climate change, with calorie scarcity and corporate control of crop genes. Praised for vivid world-building; suits readers of dark, thoughtful SF.
Common criticism: Some find the energy science implausible and the sexual content harsh
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
What Happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits? And what happens when said bio-terrorism forces humanity to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of "The Calorie Man"( Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and "Yellow Card Man" (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these questions.
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There's a great sci-fi novel, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, set in a post-oil world where tightly wound springs are used to store energy, as we do now with clocks. One of the subplots deals with a character trying to develop a material that…
on “Windmills Overload East Europe’s Grid, Risking Blackout” ↗…explicitly about nuclear war, however. It's also way too hopeless for me. I can't say I enjoyed reading it. A better -- and recent favorite of mine -- sci-fi book about scarce resources and food is "The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi. It's not about nuclear war either, but not only is the actual story very engaging, it focuses on how energy is generated and stored, what people eat, and how food is delivered in…
on “Why a Post-Nuclear World Would Look Nothing Like “Mad Max”” ↗…Japanese influence, yes. - On a completely separate note, re interesting depictions of fantasy-Asia in a Western popculture/punk context: The headlining novel of the biopunk subgenre, Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl", is set in a future Bangkok. I've never been to Thailand and can't comment on how ham-fisted or not this may be, but it was also an interesting step away from the Japanese culture-dominated vibes of…
on “The Influence of Neuromancer on Cyberpunk” ↗> I always find this list tremendously useful when I don't know what to read next. Likewise - This is how I recently found 'The Windup Girl' by Paolo Bacigalupi; thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.
on “The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)” ↗If you're interested in sci-fi where biotech trumps cybertech, The Windup Girl is a great read. Relevant to the article, too. It's set in a post-carbon dystopian Bangkok, where giant agribusiness monopolies dominate the world through control of the food supply, including offensive…
on “Corn Wars” ↗Going to go ahead and recommend Paolo Bacigalupi's The Water Knife. And The Windup Girl is even better, but not on topic.
on “Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question” ↗The post-global-warmjng sci fi novel The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi deals with this scenario: all energy is measured in calories and workers prepare clockwork springs that store energy to power devices. It's a great novel, too.
on “Could We Run Modern Society on Human Power Alone?” ↗I think you would like the book Windup Girl by Bacigalupi. It is exactly this future where biology is technology, but dystopian.
on “AI and Robotics in Agriculture in Japan [video]” ↗…Childhood’s End (read that too if you haven’t, though it’s aged badly). Cloud Atlas is sorta science fiction and amazing. I’ve yet to not enjoy any book by Cory Doctorow - start with Pirate Cinema. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi was excellent. This should be enough to get you started!
on “Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology” ↗…oceans). Kim Stanley Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain feels more down to the ground, but I suppose that there are plenty of other recent science fiction books about climate change. And Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl present a more complex world where there was an important sea rise due to climate change, but a lot of other things happened in different areas, in different ways. Is not as accurate as the previous one,…
on “The Drowned World” ↗BioPunk? Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl" is an interesting take on this. The most concise take I've seen for the core defining aesthetic of cyberpunk is: "high tech, low life." With that in mind, I don't think it _really_ matters what the…
on “Is Cyberpunk Dead? A Conversation with Bruce Bethke” ↗…access to water. It’s set in Los Vegas and Arizona as they are coping with a refugee crisis of Floridians and Texans fleeing the impact of climate change. The author Paola Bacigalupi also wrote “The Windup Girl” set in a post pandemic Bangkok where calories have become the primary currency. Truly excellent hard sci fi set in the near future.
on “The American West is drying out. Things will get ugly” ↗I strongly suggest reading "Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi - I think it pretty accurately describes our near future.
on “5 Million Farmers Sue Monsanto for $7.7 Billion” ↗Didn't get aorund reading it till this year, but I highly recommend _The Windup Girl_ by Paolo Bacigalupi. _Pump 6 and Other Stories_ by him is also quite good. Finally got around to reading the Takahashi Kovec's novels, _Altered Carbon_ by Richard K Morgan and it's sequels.
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012” ↗if anyone feels like indulging the fears this provokes, i recommend reading the windup girl by paolo bacigalupi > The Windup Girl is set in 23rd century Thailand. Global warming has raised the levels of world's oceans, carbon fuel sources have become depleted, and manually wound springs are…
on “Genetic Weapon Against Insects Raises Hope and Fear in Farming” ↗