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Comment by demondemidi | Hacker News Reader

It's really hard to overstate the impact of PKD's later works and JG Ballard. Having read about 50% of this list, I think all of our modern dystopia, paranoia, and existential SciFi sprouted from their insane seeds. And the depth of LeGuin's exploration of social, sexual, and economic identity in alien worlds sticks out like a sore thumb compared to her peers.

Damn, tho, the book cover for The Three Stigmata... is fascinating. I always pictured him as just a cyborg octogenarian but now I can't unsee this. I miss that artwork.

Aaaaand, it would be nice of the page author would put these in a CSV at the bottom so that I can make a checklist!

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And to think Ursula le Guin, and Philip K. Dick went to the same high school.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36748277

I don't know enough to know if your ascription of those "ills" to those authors is accurate, but I certainly find it refreshing to see someone asserting that no, it's not "just fiction" and the art we create and consume changes us, and changes society, not always in a good way.

I've often thought that if the American libertarian party renamed themselves "The LeGuin Party" they might get a lot more members.

Such members would be unlikely to support their "I've got mine, fuck you" ideology.

You're thinking of communists, establishment conservatists and wealthy progressives. Libertarians are the opposite of that.

"Libertarians are like house cats. They are convinced of their fierce independence while utterly dependent on a system they don’t appreciate or understand."

The converse of this actually exists. There's a fan award called the Prometheus Award given by the "Libertarian Futurists" which is often jokingly called the "Scottish Socialist Award", given how many times they've awarded it to works that are perhaps equally anti-extant-state but with virtually all other politics at odds. (And in some cases, IMO, strong misreadings of the awarded work.)

I just read Concrete Island by JG Ballard and surely it was something. I do want to check out The Crystal World.

The cover art on these books is just the bomb.

Ironically, the hardcover version of "Concrete Island" that I had was ... solid grey! :| It was probably a book-club edition because it was a very small-format hardcover.

I have a print on demand (or whatever that’s called) and its cover art is generic and unremarkable. The first printing had a cool cover though.

And as we all know, the cover is the best way to judge books...

Also there are multiple cover arts! Which editions are you referring to?

I particularly like The Fifth Head of Cerberus and Dangerous Visions covers.

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