An edition of The Left Hand of Darkness (1900)

Left Hand of Darkness

  • 4.3 (38 ratings) ·
  • 424 Want to read
  • 18 Currently reading
  • 72 Have read
Left Hand of Darkness
Ursula K. Le Guin, Ursula K. L ...
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  • 4.3 (38 ratings) ·
  • 424 Want to read
  • 18 Currently reading
  • 72 Have read

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Last edited by ImportBot
November 18, 2022 | History
An edition of The Left Hand of Darkness (1900)

Left Hand of Darkness

  • 4.3 (38 ratings) ·
  • 424 Want to read
  • 18 Currently reading
  • 72 Have read

Comment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website:
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1969)

One of my favorite novels is The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin. For more than 40 years I've been recommending this book to people who want to try science fiction for the first time, and it still serves very well for that. One of the things I like about it is how clearly it demonstrates that science fiction can have not only the usual virtues and pleasures of the novel, but also the startling and transformative power of the thought experiment.

In this case, the thought experiment is quickly revealed: "The king was pregnant," the book tells us early on, and after that we learn more and more about this planet named Winter, stuck in an ice age, where the humans are most of the time neither male nor female, but with the potential to become either. The man from Earth investigating this situation has a lot to learn, and so do we; and we learn it in the course of a thrilling adventure story, including a great "crossing of the ice". Le Guin's language is clear and clean, and has within it both the anthropological mindset of her father Alfred Kroeber, and the poetry of stories as magical things that her mother Theodora Kroeber found in native American tales. This worldly wisdom applied to the romance of other planets, and to human nature at its deepest, is Le Guin's particular gift to us, and something science fiction will always be proud of. Try it and see – you will never think about people in quite the same way again.

Publish Date
Publisher
Panther
Pages
208

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The  left hand of darkness
The left hand of darkness
2003, Ace Books
in English - Ace mass-market ed., [50th anniversary ed.].
Cover of: The  left hand of darkness
The left hand of darkness
1994, Walker
in English - 25th Anniversary ed.
Cover of: The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness
March 15, 1987, Ace
Paperback in English
Cover of: The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness
November 1983, Ace Books
in English
Cover of: Left Hand of Darkness
Left Hand of Darkness
January 1973, Panther
Paperback
Cover of: The  left hand of darkness
The left hand of darkness
1969, Walker
in English

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Book Details


The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
208

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7882694M
ISBN 10
0586036415
ISBN 13
9780586036419
Library Thing
23117
Goodreads
224279

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
November 18, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 6, 2021 Edited by Jenner Merge works
August 6, 2021 Edited by Jenner Merge works
August 6, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 29, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from amazon.com record