What I read in 2024
This year, I stayed within my comfort zone, focusing primarily on sci-fi. I'm also in the middle of some technical programming books, which I'm using mainly as reference and that I feel like don't fit the theme.
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine stands out as one of the earliest sci-fi works. It follows the Time Traveller’s journey to a distant, dystopian future where humanity has evolved into two very different species: the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi, descendants of the wealthy, are passive and intellectually stunted, while the Morlocks, descended from the working class, are brutal and predatory. Together, they form a grim metaphor for class division and its potential long-term effects. The Eloi depend on the Morlocks to maintain their machinery, while the Morlocks rely on the Eloi as a food source.
I was also very interested in the Time Traveller character and the interpretation of a time machine but this was not the focus of the story at all. I was not disappointed to realise the main focus was on this disturbing symbiosis. It has stuck with me and was brilliantly revealed and put together by Wells. I'm interested in societal progress, and this dark perspective gave me much to ponder.
Exhalation, Ted Chiang
This is yet another collection of sci-fi short stories I am so fond of. Ted Chiang's Exhalation includes several mind-boggling stories on consciousness, free will, and our relationship with technology. I will focus on the two stories that impacted me the most: In the Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom, a technology named "prism" allows people to interact with alternate versions of themselves from parallel universes. The ability to learn about alternate timelines causes existential crises for many people:
Many worried that their choices were rendered meaningless because every action they took was counterbalanced by a branch in which they had made the opposite choice.
The narrative is around Nat, a recovering drug addict that is associated with a scammer, and Dana, a therapist that runs a prism user support group. To carry out a scam, Nat joins Dana's therapy group, as their target also attends the sessions. This target has a very valuable prism of an alternate universe where a celebrity's loved one is still alive. The idea of prism and the impact it would have on everyone's lives was very interesting, I couldn't help but want more similar stories that used the same plot device. In The Alchemist's Gate, a fabric merchant who discovers a shop owned by the alchemist Basharaat. The alchemist owns a time-travelling portal named Gate of Years and to explain how it works and its possible impact on the merchant's life, Basharaat tells him three stories. All three stories boil down to the effects of knowing the future and (the inability) to change the past. Ted Chiang’s own comment on this story offers further insight into its theme:
I wanted to try writing a time-travel story where the inability to [change the past] wasn't necessarily a cause for sadness
Hyperion, Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons’ Hyperion is an epic sci-fi space opera release in 1989, that follows seven travelers on a pilgrimage to the mysterious Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion, home to the enigmatic and deadly Shrike. Each traveler recounts their story, revealing their motivations for this dangerous journey. These include a scholar whose daughter ages in reverse, a colonel haunted by a woman who appears only in VR combat simulations and on Hyperion, a poet determined to complete a prophetic masterpiece, and a few more. By the end of the book, we don't really face off the Shrike, but we get the several perspectives and stories that makes it more compelling and enigmatic. I'm eager to continue the series, explore more of Hyperion's mysteries, and discover the characters' resolutions in The Fall of Hyperion.
Leviathan Awakes, James S. A. Corey
Leviathan Wakes is the first book in The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey. The story is set in a future where humanity has colonized the solar system, and tensions exist between Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt. Having watched the full TV Series, I went into this looking for more depth and for a uncovered material. Ultimately, "Leviathan Wakes" sets the stage for a larger conflict, it introduces a strongly developed universe with political and moral dilemmas. I was happy to see that the TV show is quite loyal to the original works. This was a great read as it combines several elements I enjoy a lot: science fiction, mystery, political intrigue, moral dilemmas. I will definitely come back to this series with Caliban's War.
Conclusion
As I said earlier, this year I didn't stray away from my sci-fi bias. I checked off some classics I’ve been meaning to read for a while and enjoyed another short story anthology. I hope to use these yearly reviews to concisely highlight interesting stories and twists I encountered.
I also want to mention "Tokyo form my balcony" and "Children of Dune" which I also enjoyed a lot! I'm looking forward for some of the picks I already have lined up for 2025!