The Ministry for the Future: A Novel

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

"The best science-fiction nonfiction novel I've ever read." --Jonathan Lethem

"If I could get policymakers, and citizens, everywhere to read just one book this year, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future." --Ezra Klein (Vox)

The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year, this extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis.

"One hopes that this book is read widely--that Robinson's audience, already large, grows by an order of magnitude. Because the point of his books is to fire the imagination."―New York Review of Books

"If there's any book that hit me hard this year, it was Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future, a sweeping epic about climate change and humanity's efforts to try and turn the tide before it's too late." ―Polygon (Best of the Year)

"Masterly." --New Yorker

"[The Ministry for the Future] struck like a mallet hitting a gong, reverberating through the year ... it's terrifying, unrelenting, but ultimately hopeful. Robinson is the SF writer of my lifetime, and this stands as some of his best work. It's my book of the year." --Locus

"Science-fiction visionary Kim Stanley Robinson makes the case for quantitative easing our way out of planetary doom." ―Bloomberg Green

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Published Oct 19, 2021

576 pages

Average rating: 6.75

75 RATINGS

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Ottawa Science Fiction and Fantasy Readers

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Toronto Science Fiction Book Club

We meet in person on the second Sunday of each month from 5-7 pm, or if that's a holiday weekend, on the third Sunday.

The Vancouver Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club

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Community Reviews

jhwarren
Dec 14, 2025
6/10 stars
Torn on how to feel about this book. It’s well written and researched, but it is heavy and long. I think it would be more compelling at like half the length, trimming out all the non-plot chapters. Felt like a slog to read, but still emotionally compelling.
Sara2025
Apr 24, 2025
2/10 stars
Some of the chapters were absolutely riveting. But it was too long overall, and way too much technical info was squeezed in for no apparent plot related reason.
PackSunshine
Jan 05, 2025
10/10 stars
Fiction as a vehicle to deliver facts and hope for the future if we all learn somehow to work together.
Binary
Jun 22, 2024
8/10 stars
I didn't find it boring at all but did want to talk with others about the potential policy mitigation suggestions. Note this week's Washington Post: https://wapo.st/4cyweLk Reality mirroring fiction...."Dozens of bodies were discovered in Delhi during a two-day stretch this week when even sundown brought no relief from sweltering heat and humidity."
kelatta
Jan 13, 2024
2/10 stars
I tried, twice, but can’t get past the first third. It’s just boring. I guess I’m not a sophisticated enough reader to go without a story and characters. Or maybe those come along in the second or final third? This one just let me cranky for having tried.

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