Ursula K Le Guin
5 Complete Novels
51% recommend47% neutral3% critical
This is a compilation of five of Ursula Le Guin's "Hainish cycle" stories, including: Rocannon's World Planet of Exile City of Illusions The Left Hand of Darkness The Word for World is Forest
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2008–2026The Dispossessed
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Recommended by 58 · mentioned by 8758 recommend · 87 mention58 recommend · 8758 recommend
2008–2026The Left Hand of Darkness
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Recommended by 118 · mentioned by 184118 recommend · 184 mention118 recommend · 184118 recommend
2008–2026A Wizard of Earthsea
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Recommended by 30 · mentioned by 6030 recommend · 60 mention30 recommend · 6030 recommend
2011–2026The ones who walk away from Omelas
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2018–2026Always Coming Home
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Recommended by 6 · mentioned by 146 recommend · 14 mention6 recommend · 146 recommend
2010–2026The Word for World is Forest
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Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 157 recommend · 15 mention7 recommend · 157 recommend
2019–2026Rocannon's World
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Recommended by 5 · mentioned by 105 recommend · 10 mention5 recommend · 105 recommend
2018–2024The Birthday of the World
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Philip K. Dick (Ubik, Man in the high castle, Flow my tears the police man said) Frederik Pohl (Gateway, the Space Merchants) Ursula K. Le Guin (The Dispossessed, Left Hand of Darkness) Iain M. Banks (Culture novels) You will find many Sci-Fi treasures by just going through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SF_Masterworks
on “What are your favourite sci-fi books?” ↗…Becky Chambers: A Psalm for the Wild-Built Octavia E Butler: Parable of the Talents John Scalzi: Kaiju Preservation Society David Brin: Kiln People Emma Straub: This Time Tomorrow Ursula K Le Guin: Left Hand of Darkness Dennis E Taylor: We are Legion Emily St John Mandel: Sea of Tranquility William Gibson: The Peripheral Dan Simmons: Hyperion Elisabet Moon: The Speed of Dark…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗…trying to sound snobby by the way, I just don't praise books like these lightly or without good reason) So I love Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, Martian Chronicles (and other Ray Bradbury books), Ursula K Le Guin(Earthsea), Kurt Vonnegut (Cat's Cradle, Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five etc), Dune, Game of Thrones series, Neuromancer, Asimov (basically everything but especially Foundation series), Terry Pratchett,…
on “Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)” ↗…Epcot center [1]. If we aren't striving for a better future, then what are we living for? For the idea that "Inside Every Utopia is a Dystopia," the 1973 story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin [2] has always most starkly impressed this concept into my mind. In it, Omelas is a perfect utopian city where life is perfect, except this perfection is dependent on the incredible suffering of a single…
on “Inside Every Utopia Is a Dystopia” ↗The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin. It identified so many of the "edges" of society and how I think about and interact with the world, on a daily basis. Without a doubt one of the best books I've ever read. Maybe even the best. The…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗It's interesting seeing how many of my touchstone books turn up in other people's lists. Here are some I didn't see yet: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness. My favorite Le Guin (the Dispossessed is pretty good too). Shockingly original when it was published in 1969; the portrait of the society and culture on Gethen still feels…
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗I recently read The Dispossessed and The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin, and will continue reading her stuff over the summer for sure. It's really great. (HN discussion about her obituary: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16218439) The other day I started Pictures of…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗…of Cerberus collection, and many of his short stories (well-collected in The Best of Gene Wolfe). The other two are the first half of the "Book of the Long Sun" series that I'm still reading through. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed. Superb political SF about an imagined anarchist [anti-]utopia. A serious attempt to describe a human society with no central power structures and no ownership. The hero is a physicist…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗Well said, but your word choice ("potent") reminded me of this great essay of hers: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ursula-k-le-guin-the... tl;dr she's making a feminist argument that a lot of our stories (Joseph Campbell, monomyth, etc) involve this phallic potency of going out into the world with our pointy sticks and poking wooly…
on “Ursula Le Guin Books” ↗I read all of Ursula K. Le Guin earlier works and really liked it, not so much the post mid-1970s work. Much of science fiction has a curious political-social bent, it must be said - people often imagine the kinds of worlds they'd…
on “Ursula Le Guin on Star Trek: TNG (1994)” ↗…anarchist fiction writers: http://www.birdsbeforethestorm.net/2009/02/mythmakers-lawbre... The book: http://www.birdsbeforethestorm.net/mmlb/ Some of the interviews are better than others, but the Ursula K. Le Guin and Alan Moore ones really stood out for me.
on “V for Vendetta and the Rise of Anonymous - by Alan Moore” ↗In what way do they miss the mark? I have immense respect for both Ursula K. Le Guin's work and her ideology. Her comments seem pretty sensible to me.
on “Ursula K. Le Guin at the National Book Awards” ↗…Very well-written thrillers, typically stories about spying or political corruption. I'm usually bored by this genre, couldn't put these down. Will read more by this (hitherto unknown to me) author. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wizard of Earthsea. (reread) Still as good as I remembered it to be. P.K.Dick, The Man in the High Castle. (reread) Very inventive and weird in a good way, but I wish the characters would be a little…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin “A child free from the guilt of ownership and the burden of economic competition will grow up with the will to do what needs doing and the capacity for joy in doing it. It is useless work that darkens…
on “Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?” ↗…see more series that don't use the Star[...] IP that we are used to, but instead focuses on incredible books like Ringworld (or, to a lesser extent, Snow Crash). I'd also love to see more Heinlein and Ursula K Le Guin, but I understand that not everything that makes a great book also makes a great movie / series.
on “Amazon developing three new sci-fi series: Lazarus, Snow Crash and Ringworld” ↗