The Word for World is Forest
by Ursula K. Le Guin · first published 1972
47% recommend33% neutral20% critical
Why HN recommends it
Short, politically pointed science fiction about colonialism and forced labor on a forest world, focused on human nature and the conflict between natives and colonizers. A good starting point in Le Guin's Hainish Cycle.
Common criticism: Several critics call it heavy-handed and didactic, and one of her weaker books.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Centuries in the future, Terrans have established a logging colony & military base named “New Tahiti” on a tree-covered planet whose small, green-furred, big-eyed inhabitants have a culture centered on lucid dreaming. Terran greed spirals around native innocence & wisdom, overturning the ancient society. Humans have learned interstellar travel from the Hainish (the origin-planet of all humanoid races, including Athsheans). Various planets have been expanding independently, but during the novel it’s learned that the League of All Worlds has been formed. News arrives via an ansible, a new dis
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Agree with both, but in the case of Le Guin I clearly prefer the Hainish Cycle, with classics as The Left Hand of Darkness, The Disposesed or The Word for World is Forest
on “Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)” ↗…wish to further his research, which requires more resources than the anarchist society can provide. It is one of my favourite books. I also don't remember distant communication being relevant for The Word for World is Forest. That's far more about the conflict between the natives and the colonizers, and passive vs. aggressive societies.
on “The size of an empire cannot be larger than 1 month of travel from capital” ↗"The Word for World is Forest" and "The Left Hand of Darkness" are probably my two favorites "sci-fi" Le Guin books, highly recommend them.
on “To 'Reclaim Future-Making', Amazon Workers Published Collection of SciFi Stories” ↗Fundamentally changed are so big words but these were pretty cool: - Douglas Hofstadter's GEB: An Eternal Golden Braid - Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber - Ursula K. LeGuin's The Word for World is Forest - Propaganda by Edward Bernays - Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond - Empires: The Logic of World Domination from Ancient Rome to the United States by Herfried Münkler…
on “Ask HN: What books fundamentally changed the way you think about the world?” ↗…historical and contemporary empires and hegemonies, why they did what they did, and why they failed early or managed to stay for centuries. Very non-political and matter-of-factly) * Ursula K. LeGuin - The Word for World is Forest, The Earthsea Saga (Science Fiction/Fantasy, LeGuin is pretty different from most sci-fi-writers. Earthsea is pretty standard magicians/dragons-fantasy, though) * Ryszard Kapuściński - Travels with Herodotus…
on “Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?” ↗I also found her hit-or-miss. But in case you wanted another reccomendation, we read The Word For World Is Forest in my science fiction literature course in college, and it was excellent.
on “Hopping Through Time with Ursula K. Le Guin” ↗Earthsea is great. Ursula also wrote a lot of amazing science fiction: left hand of darkness, the dispossessed, the lathe of heaven, the word for world is forest etc. All are worth reading.
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗I read this book myself a few weeks ago. Ursula's work is great, it's strange that I never heard about her before. I also finished another of her works, "The Word for World is Forest", just last week. This one is more about human nature. It is again brilliant, I could not put it down, and I highly recommend it especially to those already familiar with her writing. I'll probably be…
on “Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?” ↗…who is Octavia Butler? Guess what Xenogenesis was about. Next I recalled Cherryh's Foreigner series and then searched my mind palace for the works of Le Guin and found The Left Hand of Darkness and The Word for World Is Forest.
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin (Avatar definitely was inspired by this one)
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗I think that distinction belongs to The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin. It's a short read, a bit polemic and not as strong as some of her other work IMO, but it clearly had some impact on the writers of Avatar.
on “Gonzalo Guerrero” ↗Replying for anyone reading this comment: Le Guin was a Daoist, but also, and concurrently, an anarchist. So much of her writing, especially The Word for World is Forest, parts of Earthsea, The Dispossessed, is informed by her anarchism. Very often you find Le Guin exploring ideas of an anarchist response to colonialism, or just enjoying setting out an anarchist society…
on “Curating a Show on My Ineffable Mother, Ursula K. Le Guin” ↗How timely. I just finished reading The Word for World is Forest last night. Nobody likes a poo-pooer, but, holy moly, I thought it was unbelievable trash. Are her other books better? This one was "noble savages: the book". The Creechies can't even conceive of inter-species…
on “Reading more Ursula Le Guin (2019)” ↗Tiptree was one of the greats. Those commenting on LeGuin's heavy-handed The Word for World is Forest might like Brightness Falls From the Air, when they get to the end. (Tiptree herself did have at least one Forest-grade cringy polemic short story, Morality Meat, paired against Phillip K Dick's The Pre-Persons.…
on “Reading more Ursula Le Guin (2019)” ↗…for the book and I was able to enjoy it for what it was. It probably also helped that I knew that writing style wasn't typical for her given that I'd read at least seven other books by her before The Word for World is Forest.
on “Reading more Ursula Le Guin (2019)” ↗