Parable of the Sower
In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future. Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others. When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.
Stats for nerds
25recommend
58mentions
50people
2014–2026years
48% recommend52% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I just started 1Q84. I’m only on chapter 7. It was recommended to me by a friend who is a big reader, and the last book this person recommended was Parable of the Sower, which absolutely floored me, so I’ll read anything they suggest. That said, 1Q84 is a very different book. I definitely feel an ominous tension growing, but the pacing is very measured and unhurried. I haven’t decided if I’m liking the book or not yet.
One of my favorites, and much as I love Gibson, I think Butler gets far too little attention and he gets too much. And not only does he get too much attention, he gets too much attention for Neuromancer. The Parable of the Sower is a more interesting and intellectually mature book, as is much of Gibson’s later work.All that you touch, you change All that you change, changes you The only lasting truth is change God is change- The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer. The amazing courage shown by the US Navy sailors as their tiny 2,000 ton Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts faced a Japanese fleet of Battleships, Cruisers, and Destroyers at The Battle Off Samar. Inspiring and horrifying, the DDs and DEs of the US navy were protecting "Escort Carriers" which were smaller aircraft carriers made from cargo ship hulls. Warning, may inspire you to learn a whole bunch more about world war 2.
And 2 books that sort of go together:
Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway by Walter Lord, and Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. Read Incredible Victory first, learn about the luck, good and bad, that led to a much-needed victory in the Pacific. Then read Shattered Sword and get a fuller picture of events, especially from the Japanese side. Learn about how hubris and dogma led to the Japanese Navy's defeat. Then learn about how saving face led to history not being accurately told by the witnesses on the Japanese side.
All 3 are great books that are well worth your time.
Others that I've enjoyed:
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (near future post-apocalyptic sci-fi).
The non-fiction Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson (more WW2 non-fiction, nice details about North Africa through Italy, then France to Germany).
Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham.
Most Secret War by RV Jones (nerdy, funny history of one scientist's world war 2 experience).
The Discworld City Guard books, starting with Guards! Guards!, by Terry Pratchett. Fantasy fiction satire, hilarious and comforting. Highly, highly recommended!!
Peter F Hamilton sci-fi adventure books: Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained are a duo of great space opera stretching across multiple planets and people. Don't spoil yourself by reading any descriptions of Judas Unchained before you read Pandora's Star. Also by the same author, The Night's Dawn Trilogy: The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, and The Naked God. Fantastic big canvas space opera with lots of threads, great world-building, and amazing situations. Both sets of books are highly recommended escapes from reality.
- > Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (near future post-apocalyptic sci-fi).
If you haven't read it, Parable of the Talents, the sequel, is also worth a read.
- Parable of the Sower is set in dark times but has a hopeful note. We may not live in a better future, but we can fight for one.
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"The Sparrow"
"Lord of Light"
"The Immortal"
"Hyperion"
"The Last Question"
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
"Stranger in a Strange Land"
"The City and the Stars"
"Childhood's End"
"Anathem"
"Eifelheim"
"A Case of Conscience"
"VALIS" trilogy
"The Book of Strange New Things"
"Behold The Man"
"The God Engines"
"Book of the New Sun"
"The Parable of the Sower"
"The Dosadi Experiment"
"Grass"
"Project Pope"
"Calculating God"
"Factoring Humanity"
"Jesus on Mars"
"Surface Detail
