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Forty Signs of Rain
 
 

Forty Signs of Rain (Hardcover)

by Kim Stanley Robinson (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

In this cerebral near-future novel, the first in a trilogy, Robinson (The Years of Rice and Salt) explores the events leading up to a worldwide catastrophe brought on by global warming. Each of his various viewpoint characters holds a small piece of the puzzle and can see calamity coming, but is helpless before the indifference of the politicians and capitalists who run America. Anna Quibler, a National Science Foundation official in Washington, D.C., sifts through dozens of funding proposals each day, while her husband, Charlie, handles life as a stay-at-home dad and telecommutes to his job as an environmental adviser to a liberal senator. Another scientist, Frank Vanderwal, finds his sterile worldview turned upside down after attending a lecture on Buddhist attitudes toward science given by the ambassador from Khembalung, a nation virtually inundated by the rising Indian Ocean. Robinson's tale lacks the drama and excitement of such other novels dealing with global climate change as Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather and John Barnes's Mother of Storms, but his portrayal of how actual scientists would deal with this disaster-in-the-making is utterly convincing. Robinson clearly cares deeply about our planet's future, and he makes the reader care as well. FYI:Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red Mars, etc.) received one Nebula and two Hugo awards.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–An elegantly crafted and beguiling novel set in the very near future. Anna Quibler is a technocrat at the National Science Foundation while her husband, Charlie, takes care of their toddler and telecommutes as a legislative consultant to a senator. Their family life is a delight to observe, as are the interactions of the scientists at the NSF and related organizations. When a Buddhist delegation, whose country is being flooded because of climate change, opens an embassy near the NSF, the Quiblers befriend them and teach them to work the system of politics and grants. The Buddhists, in turn, affect the scientists in delightful and unexpectedly significant ways. The characters all share information and theories, appreciating the threat that global warming poses, but they just can't seem to awaken a sense of urgency in the politicians who could do something about it. (Robinson's characterizations of politicians are barbed, and often hilarious.) As the scientists focus on the minutiae of their lives, the specter of global warming looms over all, inexorably causing a change here, a change there, until all the imbalances combine to bring about a brilliantly visualized catastrophe that readers will not soon forget. Even as he outlines frighteningly plausible scenarios backed up by undeniable facts, the author charms with domesticity and humor. This beautifully paced novel stands on its own, but it is the first of a trilogy. As readers wait impatiently for the next volume, they will probably find themselves paying closer attention to science, to politics, and to the weather.–Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Forty Signs of Rain
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Forty Signs of Rain 3.2 out of 5 stars (8)
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
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1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Forty Kinds of Good, Jul 9 2004
By Wayne J. Smith "wjsmith419" (Lawrenceville, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Kim Stanley Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain has all the makings of a masterpiece. Characters are so well drawn that one sentence into a new chapter is all that's needed for identification. The story is well-crafted and seemingly simple, starting with a basic education in Arctic ice levels, moving through U.S. politics with scathing brilliance, following the plight of Tibetan Buddhist refugees whose emerging nation is on a submerging island in the Indian Ocean, and dissecting the lives of scientists caught between searching for a viable medical truth and making millions off patents...and this is just book one in a trilogy. I couldn't put this book down and I can't wait for the next two books!
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1.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly bad, Jul 16 2007
This book consists of nothing but filler, any content could easily fit into a 50 page short story.
I reread the reviews a number of times and had to seriously ask myself "did these folks even read the book?".
During the read I finally starting browsing the "Leave it to Beaver" content in search of substance.
I come away with the view Robinson is trying to write a trilogy using content which might barely satisfy one book.
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2.0 out of 5 stars Polemical novels don't have to be this bad, but this one is, Jul 20 2004
This is a poor excuse for a novel but there's enough that appeals that I read it through to the inconclusive end (which was irritating). Stay-at-home dad and environmental lobbyist in D.C. and his cohorts expose the contradictory functioning of the National Science Foundation and the worse functioning, or lack thereof, of the U.S. political machine on Global Warming. Highly polemical but that's not its problem; writer didn't have a plot or story in mind so much as an expose. Best bits in the book are the visiting buddhists (who just might be poaching a new Pachen Lama) and the dad's relationship with his almost two-year old son.

Polemical novels don't have to be this weak. You can have a point without ... being ineffective.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars a promising trilogy, but the first entry leaves you hanging
This first book in the trilogy serves to introduce the characters (all quite tantalizing) and the plot device (how will mankind deal with climage change given his existing... Read more
Published on Jun 30 2004 by Fredm

3.0 out of 5 stars Very slow beginning. And middle.
I wouldn't really call this a thriller. The only things that kept me reading were the facts that this is the first part of a trilogy, that the subject matter (global warming) is... Read more
Published on Jun 21 2004 by Joel Bass

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't wait for the others!
This is the best new book I've read this year. I don't know what the book reviewers are on about - maybe they object to the many references to breastfeeding and breast milk. Read more
Published on Jun 21 2004 by Sonja Harken

4.0 out of 5 stars A thriller thanks to thrilling ideas and a future we share
For KSR fans:

* This is old school KSR, and it's awesome. I think this book is best compared to The Gold Coast. Fun and meandering, lots of conversations and reflection. Read more

Published on Jun 20 2004 by Christopher

3.0 out of 5 stars A Storm Just About to Break
The Mars trilogy established Kim Stanley Robinson as one of the more thoughtful writers on the politics of the near future. Read more
Published on Jun 17 2004

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