The State of the Art
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
The State of the Art
| Author | Iain M. Banks |
|---|---|
| Published | 1989 |
| Pages | 206 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Iain M. Banks’s 1989 novella in which a Culture ship visits Earth in 1977 and its crew argue over whether to make contact or leave the planet alone as a control group — the only place in the series where the Culture is measured directly against the actual Earth. Useful as a sampler, not a substitute for the novels. |
The State of the Art
Where I heard about it
- The a16z infrastructure team — on the a16z Infra Reading List, S tier (“Must reads”), the one short-form entry in its ten-volume Culture listing.
About this edition
The title later went to a 1991 Orbit collection that gathers the novella with other short fiction — Culture and non-Culture, science fiction and not. The book on sale is the collection.
Connections
- a16z Infra Reading List — the list this came from.
- a16z — the firm whose infrastructure team curates it.
- Iain M. Banks — the author.
- Consider Phlebas — the first Culture book.
- Historical Futurism — the research lens.
- Science Fiction — the genre page.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.