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“Excess is excrement,” Odo wrote in the Analogy. “Excrement retained in the body is a poison.”
That quote is from "The Dispossessed" by Ursula LeGuin.
I couldn't help but think of my friend Ultralite Angler. 😄
This novel is about two worlds that revolve around each other in another star system. The one world is sort of like earth. The other is very decentralized, frugal, and without a concept of personal property. They don't even have words for "my arm" ... They talk about "the arm" instead.
That quote above is their view on excess.
Miss Cellane
7-7-16, 1:28am
Love that book. The people who live on the moon don't even have a possessive pronoun. "You can share the pen/book/tool that I use." Not my pen, my book, my tool.
Taught this book to college freshmen. The Earth-like planet, well, women aren't liberated there. Little education, little is expected of them, expect to be pretty and charming. On the moon, women contribute equally with men, holding the same types of jobs, getting the same type of education. One of the assignments was to write about which world you would like to live on. The majority of the women in the class chose the Earth-type planet. When I asked why, they responded that you could go shopping there, while the other planet didn't have nearly as many things, and no jewelry or fashion, etc, none of the "excess" that Tammy mentions.
The young men in the class were shocked, and took over the discussion to explain to the women why they shouldn't want to live there, based on how women were treated in that society.
Loooooooooooove that book! It made me yearn for my fictional home...
Taught this book to college freshmen. The Earth-like planet, well, women aren't liberated there. Little education, little is expected of them, expect to be pretty and charming. On the moon, women contribute equally with men, holding the same types of jobs, getting the same type of education. One of the assignments was to write about which world you would like to live on. The majority of the women in the class chose the Earth-type planet. When I asked why, they responded that you could go shopping there, while the other planet didn't have nearly as many things, and no jewelry or fashion, etc, none of the "excess" that Tammy mentions.
The young men in the class were shocked, and took over the discussion to explain to the women why they shouldn't want to live there, based on how women were treated in that society.
This is fascinating!!!
“Excess is excrement,” Odo wrote in the Analogy. “Excrement retained in the body is a poison.”
That quote is from "The Dispossessed" by Ursula LeGuin.
I couldn't help but think of my friend Ultralite Angler. ��
This novel is about two worlds that revolve around each other in another star system. The one world is sort of like earth. The other is very decentralized, frugal, and without a concept of personal property. They don't even have words for "my arm" ... They talk about "the arm" instead.
That quote above is their view on excess.
Places like that where people simply live without "owning" exists today in certain tribes. Native Americans lived that way. The Trobriand tribe, the Koni tribe--there are many. The book sounds great, but set up like interplanetary science fiction with aliens as protagonists it takes it too far from the realm of possibility among humans on *this* planet. The gift economy would provide just this type of society. Could we live that way tomorrow? No way--we are too steeped in the notion that our current economic system is non-negotiable. We'd have to have some type of armageddon in order to hit our "reset" button.
One of our members wrote a book with that theme--it was about just such an armageddon on the West Coast, and an urban executive finds herself in a group of people (regular people like you and me) who have managed to survive and thrive up in the Pacific NW--by sharing and caring for each other. Happy Hiker is the author. I'm sorry I don't remember the title, but it was an entertaining read. ETA: Falling Through Time is the name of the book--just noticed that the book jacket is HH's avatar!
If you like non-fiction, read Charles Eisenstein's The a More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible or Sacred Economics.
Edited again: Actually, The Dispossessed looks really good.. I'll put it on my list.
Oh, Anarres!
Reading The Dispossessed made me so homesick, which only one other book has done -- Ecotopia.
These other book suggestions sound really good. Thanks!
Do you need to have read the previous books in the cycle in order to understand and follow this one?
You can read The Dispossessed as a stand alone book and it works totally fine. I did not even know it was part of a theme or cycle or whatever when I read it. The book appears totally self-contained, though it references other planets and such. But not in a way that would confuse you.
It is just such a damn good book.
This is my first one in the series. I read that it was written later, but is chronologically first and can stand on its own.
If you like non-fiction, read Charles Eisenstein's The a More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible or Sacred Economics.
I have just recently heard of this guy. Apparently he calls this era we are in The Era of Separation.
I have just recently heard of this guy. Apparently he calls this era we are in The Era of Separation.
That's exactly right.
Another good book is Ascent of Humanity.
If you're on FB there's a closed group called The More Beautiful World which is administered by his assistant. Let me know if you're interested--I could add you as a member.
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