Reaction to "The Ministry for the Future" Novel

I finished the novel: The Ministry for the Future. I might still feel like I would recommend the book to other climate-minded people, but probably only the first 2/3 of the book. Here is why.

As a technically oriented climate person, the chapters that I'm mostly interested about the book are (1) climate change and its impacts, and (2) mitigations and adaptations strategies described. To the extent that the fictional characters and their interactions further the plots to describe those two areas, I am very interested in those too.

But toward the last 1/3 of the book, there are less portions of the book that covers either of the two topics I'm interested in; and there are a lot of chapters focused on one-off events or characters that, to me, feel like fillers and does not advance the plots in those topics.

I also learned that the author is, paradoxically, both more pessimistic and more optimistic than I'm. He is more pessimistic in describing the worst effect of climate change in a much more visceral manner (the first chapter is a great example), and more optimistic in believing human beings able to "come together" and implement the ambitious solutions that he described, despite the geopolitical obstacles for such solutions. If anything, the COVID is making me more pessimistic (than I otherwise would be two years ago) about humans being able to come together to combat climate change.

I think my review of the book would be a lot more positive if I only read the first 2/3 of the book...

(Originally posted on twitter)

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