The Lathe of Heaven

My second Ursua K Le Guin book ever. And it left me with an even better impression than what I came in with. Such a simple concept! You don't have to love sci-fi to love Le Guin's work. You can also not like sci-fi and yet like Le Guin's work, and start liking sci-fi as a bonus. Things get set up real fast. Just imagine if you could effectively dream and create a different reality. And when someone discovers this, they try to take advantage of your ability even though you don't want to have it anymore. If you want to start the book, I'm guessing you would not realize until a few seconds later that you are right there in the middle of the story. From then on, you are simply to hold on to the railings so that you don't fall from the thrilling ride. I'm drowning in shame, wanting someone to dream-create a better reality, having confessed to this being my second Le Guin, for neither one nor me should remedy this state as soon as one/I can.

Hadn't expected the book to be this good! My favourite LeGuin work has to be "The Left Hand of Darkness" but this one easily takes the second spot. Such constrained, effective storytelling!

The lady spins a fabulous yarn, the plot and story is only the facade for some mind altering concepts, reality, dreams, time, love can be rethought. Compelling.

Reading these type of books will increase your creativity and thinking. Great book not only sci fi but also great novel.

One of Le Guin's best and certainly my personal favourite. The masteeful story arc is as well balanced as the protagonist Orr; under the impossible pressures of writing about alternative realities no less.

Dreams and reality, what comes first and which influences the other…. A few main characters is all we have as witnesses. I wonder what it would all mean if there were no observers or testimonies. Aliens!

Even before her recent passing, I've known that my lack of experience with the works of Ursula K. Le Guin was a shortcoming I needed to rectify. The only book of hers I've read was The Dispossessed, a book I admired a lot while ultimately finding a bit dry and didactic. (It's also a book I plan on revisiting soon, ideally after reading some more Le Guin and now that I know what to expect, to see if I feel differently about it.) And, as authors paid tribute to the legendary author in the wake of her passing, one novel that I saw mentioned again and again was The Lathe of Heaven, which I knew nothing about. And, man, am I glad I checked it out. Often viewed as Le Guin's tribute to the works of Philip K. Dick, The Lathe of Heaven undeniably feels a lot like a Dick novel, with a surreal hook used to explore philosophical questions about reality and who we really are. But as you'd expect from Le Guin, there's no shortage of more social questions raised here, from the nature of peace to the dangers of global warming, all done within a great narrative that twists and turns underneath you. The hook is simple enough: there's a man named George Orr (yes, the half allusion is probably intentional) who is scared to dream, because his dreams become real. But what makes this hard to prove is that his dreams don't just create reality; they rewrite it, making whatever he dreams not only true, but making it always have been true, so that no one remembers the change but him. That's true until George goes to court-mandated therapy, where his therapist seems to be aware of the change - and his ability to possibly control George's ability. Like she did in The Dispossessed, Le Guin explores any number of ideas about utopias, the role of the individual in society, the question of the greater good, and her concerns about utilitarianism. At what point should the individual give way for society? Where is the cutoff between acceptable sacrifice for the greater good and too much? And what is the responsibility of one person to give it all for the world? But whereas The Dispossessed engaged with these ideas in the forms of detailed discussions, The Lathe of Heaven lets them remain more subtextual, unfolding as a battle of wills between George, his therapist, and a lawyer George brings in to help him. More than that, The Lathe of Heaven unfolds as a bizarre thriller of sorts, with reality constantly bending and shifting underneath us, and Le Guin able to explore the ramifications of so many changes, and what it would take to fix some of the problems in our world. It all adds up to a great book, one that I really enjoyed. And if it's a bit derivative of PKD, well, that's okay, because Le Guin makes it her own, following the political and social ramifications of her conceit, not just the philosophical ones. It's a book I really enjoyed and absolutely couldn't put down, and has me eager to dive into more of an author I don't feel like I ever properly appreciated in her lifetime.

This is a fascinating and relentlessly brilliant SF novel which is completely different from Ursula K. LeGuin's other works. Set in the near future on earth, it's the story of a man whose dreams change reality. The 'if' world scenarios are a favourite of Science Fiction writiers. Some other classics are Philip K. Dick's 'The Man in the High Castle' and 'the Zap Gun', the Asimov and Arthur C Clarke short stories of people going back to the past and changing the future, and more recently Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. In film there's 'Twelve Monkeys' and for TV there's the much underrated early Dr Who classic 'Inferno'. The Lathe of Heaven, however, is a completely different take and a very original and compelling solution. In this story, the man's dreams are bizarrely transmitted into new realities. This is just a disturbing personal experience, until he falls into the hands of an unscrupulous psychotherapist. The ensuing catalogue of disastrous choices — similar to genie-wish stories — opens the door for LeGuin to explore philosophical themes with much greater depth and precision than her Ekumen scenarios do. For example, a dream aspiring to end race hatred results in everyone having the same grey skin colour. I enjoyed this book immensely. Even if you aren't a fan of LeGuin, the Lathe of Heaven should be a cracking good read.

This gripping science fiction novel from Ursula K. LeGuin tells the story of George Orr, a man cursed with the unwanted ability to make some of his dreams become reality. Because George is terrified by the massive changes his dreams can produce in the world, he is afraid to sleep. He contacts Dr. Hader, a psychiatrist specializing in dreams who, instead of helping him, tries to direct George's dreams for his own purposes. The beginning of the story is confusing, reflecting George's own uncertainty about what is happening to himself. After a few chapters things become more clear and the book turns into a real page-turner.

It is rare to come across such startling science fiction in a seemingly plain setting. The plot is deceptively simple but manages to pull on the heart strings and give serious thought to the philosophical thought experiments of multiple possible worlds and a version of the brain-in-a-vat scenario. Well written and subtle.