- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins (5 Jan 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007148879
- ISBN-13: 978-0007148875
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.4 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,650,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'The Brave New World of global warming … A narrative that is rich in closely observed characters and a wonderfully vivid sense of place … depicts a society sleep-walking towards the abyss … His great achievement here is to bring the practice of science alive and to place this in an all-too familiar world of greedy capitalists and unprincipled politicians. Robinson's critique of science is heartfelt … humans have gone from being the smartest animal on the savannah to being "experts at denial".' P.D. Smith Guardian
'Kim Stanley Robinson is freed by his medium – fiction – to deliver [a] message with passion and restraint … A great book' New Scientist
Praise for the Mars Trilogy:
'The excitement of the science is thrillingly rendered … a very impressive work of the imagination … The Mars trilogy is one of the landmarks of sf in the 1990s. The time may well come when it is regarded as one of the landmarks of American literature' TLS
Product Description
It's hot in Washington. No sign of rain. The world's climates are changing, catastrophe beckons, but no one in power is noticing. Yet. Tom Wolfe meets Michael Crichton in this highly topical, taut, witty and entertaining science thriller.
When the Arctic ice pack was first measured in the 1950s, it averaged thirty feet thick in midwinter. By the end of the century it was down to fifteen. One August the ice broke. The next year the break-up started in July. The third year, it began in May.
That was last year.
It's an increasingly steamy summer in America's capital as environmental policy advisor Charlie Quibler cares for his young son, and deals with the frustrating politics of global warming. According to the President and his science advisor Dr S, the weather isn’t important! But Charlie must find a way to get a sceptical administration to act before it's too late – and his progeny find themselves living in Swamp World.
Just arrived in Washington to lobby the Senate for aid is an embassy from Khembalung, a sinking island nation in the Bay of Bengal. Charlie's wife Anna, director of bioinformatics at the National Science Foundation and well known for her hyperrational intensity, is entranced by the Khembalis. By contrast, her colleague, Frank Vanderwal, is equally cynical about the Buddhists and the NSF.
The profound effect the Khembali ambassador has on both Charlie and Frank could never have been predicted – unlike the abrupt, catastrophic climate change which is about to transform everything.
Forty Signs of Rain is an unforgettable tale of survival which captures a world where even the innocent pattern of rainfall resounds with the destiny of the biosphere.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When you buy Robinson you expect beautiful description, genuine motivation and left wing ideology. Forty Signs of Rain does not disappoint - a story of big science and big politics in the face of ecological disaster; spiced up with cleverly observed moments of individual lives: dinner parties, childcare, meetings, coffee breaks. Robinson can really create those "yes, that's what it's like!" moments and then move on to surrealistic images of tigers roaming the backgardens of Washington.
Robinson continues to mature as a writer - he is more free with his brand of gentle humour, more relaxed and realistic with the romantic scenes. Above all, he disciplines his descriptions of nature and landscape - focusing on the telling detail rather than the pages and pages of description which occaisionally marred the Mars trilogy.
It's not packed with action. There are no laser guns, spaceships or aliens. It is thoughtful, intellectual, witty, moving, vivid, defiantly high brow and engagingly 'new age'.
Robinson continues to mature as a writer - he is more free with his brand of gentle humour, more relaxed and realistic with the romantic scenes. Above all, he disciplines his descriptions of nature and landscape - focusing on the telling detail rather than the pages and pages of description which occaisionally marred the Mars trilogy.
It's not packed with action. There are no laser guns, spaceships or aliens. It is thoughtful, intellectual, witty, moving, vivid, defiantly high brow and engagingly 'new age'.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have read most of Kim Stanley Robinson's books since coming upon the Orange County books and enjoyed them greatly. I'm sorry to say that this was a disappointment. The quality of writing remains excellent, but as the characters and plot develop, you realise that you are 200 odd pages into the book, with ~100 remaining, and little has happened. I presume that this is the first in a series of books and the story will develop in "50 Degrees Below" out later this year. However, this would be like publishing the masterpiece "Red Mars" in thirds rather than one volume. Has this been a Publisher's decision rather than author?
A good first book in a series but standing alone is a little disappointing.
Format:Paperback
Speaking of the trilogy, not as good as some of his other work but a rewardable read nonetheless. Maintains his bang-on socio-economic analysis throughout and provides a bit of hope in today's dire state of cimactic affairs.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Disapointing
Like all of his books, the science and the policy background for 'Forty Signs of Rain' are well researched and engaging. Read more
Published 20 months ago by MR GARY THOMPSON
I hoped they'd drown
I liked his Mars tilogy I didn't like this. I won't be reading the next two in the trilogy. Maybe if you live in Washington DC this book speaks to you in some way. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mr. N. J. Keighley
Simply boring
After painstakingly looking through my local library for a science fiction/fantasy/thriller to read on mundane journeys to and from work, I came across this book. Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2010 by patrick
An ambitious work and a convincing vision of climate change
"Forty Signs of Rain" is the first novel in Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Science in the Capital' trilogy, exploring the potential impact of global warming as well as science's role in... Read more
Published on 22 April 2008 by The Wanderer
Slow Slow Slow
I'm quite ticked off with this book. I've read the Mars trilogy and one of the reviews lead me to believe that this book would not be so heavy on description. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2008 by A. Hallett
important storytelling
i enjoyed this book. ksr's trademark descriptions of nature and the landscape serve to root this novel into our greater world. in fact that is something very special about him. Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2007 by S. Egan
Very disappointing after the 'Mars' trilogy
No, this is not as billed - most of the story is lost in the minutia of venture capital funding and the mechanics of scientific research. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2004
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