Listening to sci-fi can help you make sense of our own confusing world
Listening to science fiction isn’t just about escaping to another place and time. It’s about learning how to live with a renewed sense of wonder and curiosity in our own times. Great science fiction tempts you to the edge of what’s possible, encouraging you to explore the unknown. It gives you a roadmap for how to question your relationships with technology, governments and society.
Writers like Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Heinlein, Octavia E. Butler and Frank Herbert, who’ve written gripping series like and , use science fiction to explore topical themes, including technological advancements, oppression, justice and the capacity for love in uncertain times.
If you are looking for to explore, including titles that are edifying, entertaining and thought provoking, here are five titles you can’t afford to miss.
Travel Back to the Dystopian Future With Margaret Atwood
Thirty-four years ago, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale introduced us to a chilling, dystopian future in which America has devolved into a theocratic state where women are forced into sexual slavery.
Now, on the heels of the novel’s immensely popular award-winning television adaptation, Canada’s premier literary fiction author has finally given her fans the closure they’ve been waiting for. Her latest audiobook, The Testaments, offers a new take on the science fiction story.
Picking up fifteen years after the famously ambiguous ending of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments reunites listeners with Offred, Nick and the Mayday Resistance, answering questions that have been on our minds for over three decades.
An astronaut stranded on Mars must rely on his own skills and ingenuity to survive. That’s the elevator pitch for The Martian, a modern sci-fi classic about stepping out into the unknown and triumphing over great adversity.
When the crew of NASA’s Ares 3 mission encounter a dust storm on the Acidalia Planitia plain of Mars, they are forced to evacuate. The only problem is, in the immediate danger and commotion, they leave a man behind – engineer and botanist Mark Watney.
Watney’s struggle not only to survive, but also to make it back home, is a powerful meditation on our reliance on society and technology, and how we cope in their absence. Check out The Martian, narrated by Wil Wheaton, along with many more at Audible.
Dive Deeper into the Star Wars Universe With Rebecca Roanhorse
If you’re a Star Wars fan who wants to dive deeper into its fascinating science fiction world, is a great place to start.
