The Years of Rice and Salt in On Paths Unknown

May 26, 2012 Ted rated it it was amazing

Shelves: have, lit-american, sci-fi, beach-fun-fiction, reviews-most-liked

4 1/2 stars. Now rounded up to 5

Alternative history, a very believable tale of how the world's civilizations would have (could have) developed if, in the fourteenth century, the plague that killed 30-60% of the people in Europe had instead killed virtually 100% (including almost all Christians and Jews), while being less virulent in the middle east and Asia. The subsequent six plus centuries (up to roughly the present day) are dominated by an Old World population predominantly Taoist or Muslim, ...more

91 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2008 Mosca rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

.....................................

What if the White European Christians had almost all died out in in the fourteenth century?

Kim Stanley Robinson has written an Alternative History that isn't steam punk, nor Nazis winning WW2.

This is a smart, well constructed, work of historical inquiry that spans seven centuries without the assumed Caucasian and "Christian" historical domination. There are a small cast of well constructed thoroughly "human" characters who live through those seven centuries i .....................................

What if the White European Christians had almost all died out in in the fourteenth century?

Kim Stanley Robinson has written an Alternative History that isn't steam punk, nor Nazis winning WW2.

This is a smart, well constructed, work of historical inquiry that spans seven centuries without the assumed Caucasian and "Christian" historical domination. There are a small cast of well constructed thoroughly "human" characters who live through those seven centuries in a very different Eurasia, Africa, and eventually the two Americas than the ones with which we, today, are familiar.

These seven centuries are seen in the context of a traditional Buddhist cosmology. This means that a handful of characters live, die, and are reborn through many lifetimes in different cultures, religions, genders, races, and even species. They are almost always unaware of their past lives or their souls' recurrent intentions. And, most times, the reader is also left unaware of these links. These individual karmic paths are not essential to the main intent of this book. They are, however, fascinatingly traceable for the attentive reader. And these paths very frequently and subtly reassemble groups, friendships, and love attachments through the centuries according to Buddhist karmic law. If you read to love characters, you will be well rewarded following the labyrinths of karmic paths that separate souls and reunite them in new cultures and contexts.

These seven centuries of Earth's history rewritten are presented to us in a manner that loves us as humans (and "souls") while walking us through our seemingly eternal karmic traps of wars, domination, disappointments, betrayals, and redemptions.

Of course, those historic scientific discoveries "we all know" are now reworked in new cultural contexts with different results. This is the beauty of Alternative Histories. But with this handful of sleepwalking "souls" reborn repeatedly in their own karmic cycles, this vast history of civilizations reconfigured takes on an unexpected intimacy.

Enjoy this one.
...more

23 likes · Like · see review

Apr 30, 2024 Jonfaith rated it it was amazing

Shelves: speculativelyspeaking

History as a story worth telling will only begin when the whole lives outnumber the wasted ones. That means we have many generations to go before history begins.

My best friend has a good friend teaching on the East Coast, he recommended this to me over 15 years ago, I found entry inconvenient at the time, adhering to ridiculous notions of literary propriety. I decided to return to such a few weeks ago and was delightfully surprised.

Mr Robinson gives us an exercise in alternate history: in the 14 ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

Dec 17, 2013 Kaśyap rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, historical, speculative

A sprawling historical narrative spanning centuries. The major theme dealt with in this book is the speculative philosophy of history.
Does history as whole have a structure? A direction? Is there a teleological sense to history? Is history a progress? The author’s opinion here seems to be in the affirmative and so he leaves us with a lot of optimism at the end of the story.

This book is set during the period of Christian domination. In this alternate history, a plague kills almost all the Christi ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Jun 10, 2010 Kamakana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aa-unitedstateslit, aaa-favoriteficxl, pomo, speculative-fiction, american-precontact, all-five-star, xlong-over-400, zz2002, althistory, locus-awards

.??? 2000s guilty pleasure: while i think his extrapolations are often too utopian to be probable, i really like this completely different world, a world without influence of europeans, a world where the major players are islamic and chinese with some interweaving of japan and india. it covers about 700 years in 700 pages, so the device of constantly reincarnated characters is helpful, if you need characters to follow. this is truly an ideas book. that the world would progress technologically ac ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 26, 2012 Tracy rated it liked it

Shelves: alternate-history, abandoned-books, speculative-fiction, reincarnation, library-books

I took this book out in April. I've been trying to finish it ever since. I finally admitted to myself that I'm not going to be finishing this one. I remember having the same problem with Red Mars, the only one of Robinson's Martian trilogy that I read. I feel badly, there were parts of this book that I loved, especially the story of the Widow Lang and Ibrahim. I could have read a novel about them. I also loved Bold and the story of him riding through lands emptied by the plague. I thought the ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 16, 2008 pearl rated it liked it

Shelves: china, historical-fiction, philosophy

Not as good as I'd hoped, but still decent. The best part of the book of course was in the idea itself: What would the world be like if 99% of the European population was killed during the years of the Black Plague? It's fascinating to think about, and I really do appreciate Robinson's vision. But as other reviewers have said--it is a bit too long, about 150 pages too much, although I realize that the author wanted to bring the storyline into the 21st century (the story covers roughly 2000 years ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 03, 2010 Arun Divakar rated it liked it

A huge world map is spread out in front of you, one that dates back to the time of Timur the Lame when the Mongolian hordes were out to conquer the known world like many before them. Nothing exciting you might say, but then on the other half of the world the author shows you that the entirety of Europe is wiped out in the shroud of the Black Death. In one swipe he takes away history as you know it : no renaissance, no Britain to rule the world, no America to take over from Britain, no Christiani A huge world map is spread out in front of you, one that dates back to the time of Timur the Lame when the Mongolian hordes were out to conquer the known world like many before them. Nothing exciting you might say, but then on the other half of the world the author shows you that the entirety of Europe is wiped out in the shroud of the Black Death. In one swipe he takes away history as you know it : no renaissance, no Britain to rule the world, no America to take over from Britain, no Christianity...the possibilities are endless. It is against this wildly imaginative landscape that our tale begins.

The outline of the plot was too interesting to begin with, a world where China grows to be a behemoth too large to be controlled, where Islam grows powerful enough to command large masses of humanity and where all learning and inventions come from geographic locales which have been on lower pedestals in World History as we know it. The book is divided into chapters that take on the various aspects of history as : The discovery and coming-of-age of religion,The first steps in maritime exploration, scientific discoveries, the struggle for freedom against oppressors, social reformation, visionary governance of nations with the bigger picture in mind, the brutality and futility of war, rebirth from the ashes and finally to a process of settling in.I was mightily impressed with this alternative perspective of the world and this kept me late into the night for a couple of days as well.

Although written in a poetic prose, there are some areas where imagination really went over the fence. Especially in the parts detailing scientific progress it is outrageous to think four people from the same social,political & geographical location living under the same roof could discover the principles of optics,ballistics, gravitation,pressure, metallurgy,kinetic energy & so forth. They should have been eating microprocessors for breakfast if this was to be true. Also towards the end I did notice that the author weaved on & off trying to explain how the concepts of Islam branched off from its central core and also as to how history is to be treated maybe as a collective consciousness. Very valid points to look at but somehow the explanations offered here did not satisfy my mind.

I do recommend this for those interested in history...it's a fun read and one which makes you wonder how it would have been !!! ...more

1 like · Like · see review