Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld · first published 2005
4mentions
2recommended by
4HN commenters
2015–2020first – last mentioned
50% recommend50% neutral
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer
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Scott Westerfeld's Uglies is set in a post-apocalyptic future in which civilization collapsed due to a bacteria that consumed oil very fast. Good read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uglies_series
on “Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution” ↗This reminds me of a fun bit of soft sci-fi that I liked in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld: the “Rusties” (pre-apocalyptic) society was taken down in part by a bacterium that digested gasoline and other petroleum products into some unspecified volatile substance that…
on “An enzyme that digests plastic could boost recycling” ↗…corporate life about a man who finds a room in his office building that shouldn't be there. Welcome To Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor - For fans of the podcast. I highly recommend both. Uglies/Pretties/Specials by Scott Westerfeld - YA trilogy about a future in which everybody is made pretty once they reach a certain age. Not great literature, but a fun read. Although the second one is a little…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗The post-apocalyptic, young adult series "The Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld is based on a similar idea. A Fungus is created that causes petroleum products to explode when exposed to air (thus further spreading the spores).
on “Mushrooms Can Eat Plastic, Petroleum and CO2 (2018)” ↗