Thursday, August 3, 2023

Book Review: The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin

When one of my friends left town, she left me a lot of varied books. This was one of them and I finally picked it up to read while waiting for Baldur's Gate 3 to release. It's an older title, from 1971, and has that classic sci-fi feel to it. Here's the Goodreads blurb for it:

A classic science fiction novel by one of the greatest writers of the genre, set in a future world where one man's dreams control the fate of humanity.

In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately grasps the power George wields. Soon George must preserve reality itself as Dr. Haber becomes adept at manipulating George's dreams for his own purposes.

The Lathe of Heaven is an eerily prescient novel from award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin that masterfully addresses the dangers of power and humanity's self-destructiveness, questioning the nature of reality itself. It is a classic of the science fiction genre.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.