The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Ministry for the Future

A Novel

Kim Stanley Robinson, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Fajer Al-Kaisi

Orbit · Print & ebook · October 19, 2021

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR “The best science-fiction nonfiction novel I’ve ever read.” —Jonathan Lethem "If I could get policymakers, and citizens, everywhere to read just one book this year, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future." —Ezra Klein (Vox) The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all.

Buy on Amazon

We earn from qualifying purchases.

Who it’s for
A future-facing, idea-rich read that balances systems thinking with narrative momentum.
Genres
Hard Sci-Fi, Nature Fiction, Political Fiction
Published
Orbit, October 19, 2021

Nearest books

Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.

  1. Way StationClifford D. Simak50% match
  2. Brave New WorldsJohn Joseph Adams51% match
  3. AstoundingAlec Nevala-Lee50% match
  4. Snow CrashNeal Stephenson52% match

For younger readers: We Are the Ants, Two Degrees, Oasis

Start with three books, and this one can be the first.

Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.

Start with this book

About this book

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR “The best science-fiction nonfiction novel I’ve ever read.” —Jonathan Lethem "If I could get policymakers, and citizens, everywhere to read just one book this year, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future." —Ezra Klein (Vox) The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all.

Continue reading

Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year, this extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis. "One hopes that this book is read widely—that Robinson’s audience, already large, grows by an order of magnitude. Because the point of his books is to fire the imagination."―New York Review of Books "If there’s any book that hit me hard this year, it was Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future, a sweeping epic about climate change and humanity’s efforts to try and turn the tide before it’s too late." ―Polygon (Best of the Year) "Masterly." —New Yorker "[The Ministry for the Future] struck like a mallet hitting a gong, reverberating through the year ... it’s terrifying, unrelenting, but ultimately hopeful. Robinson is the SF writer of my lifetime, and this stands as some of his best work. It’s my book of the year." —Locus "Science-fiction visionary Kim Stanley Robinson makes the case for quantitative easing our way out of planetary doom." ―Bloomberg Green

Future Systems

A future-facing, idea-rich read that balances systems thinking with narrative momentum.

Come here for

  • hard-sf rigor, policy-minded scale
  • genre-spanning futurism with a civic edge

Expect

  • big-picture speculation
  • serious, discussion-ready stakes

Where it sits

Political Fiction81%
Hard Sci-Fi71%
Nature Fiction67%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Literary Fiction
  • Hard Sci-Fi
  • Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic
  • Climate Change
Authors
Kim Stanley Robinson, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Fajer Al-Kaisi
Publisher
Orbit
Published
October 19, 2021
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Literary Fiction