Sixty Days and Counting (Science in the Capital Book 3)

This book is going to going to rub some people the wrong way. More than the others in the series, it attacks current political dogma and demands a change. It does, in fact, ask why when the US government is doing so much to stabilize the economy, the world, and help people in general, why we still think that government help is bad. New Orleans needed more help, and Texas couldn't wait for the federal government. So this level of the book is going to be liked or disliked based on personal political beliefs. I think we have seen that from past reviews.However, this book like the others is only tangentially about politics. Like mant works of science fiction it is a way for to think of how out technology will effect the world and how we might preemptively prevent negative consequences. When it thought we would have robots wandering around the street, the three laws of robotics were proposed. Star Trek proposed the Prime Directive for dealing with new cultures. The list goes on. This series presupposes a traumatized world that has not happened yet, and may not happen, and proposes some alternatives. It may not be the best idea to expend government funds to pump and mine every bit of fossil fuel and burn it for energy. It may be better to spend money on Solar. The same goes for accounting methods that do include ancillary costs of acquiring that oil, such as the $1 trillion for the war in iraq. Who knows if any of this will transpire, or if any of this work? This is science fiction.Even this technological consequence thing is secondary to the real crux of the story, which is what Robinson, like so many other science fiction writers, excel in. That is people and relationships. Each character in the story is certain archtype, and each represents a specific manner of interacting with the world. Charlie is the domestic political, feeding ideas to those in charge in hopes of making a change, while at the same time knowing that family is what makes a country. Ann is the dedicated scientist, looking for a silver bullet to solve the problem. Diane is the scientist administrator who believes that world can be saved through science, a constant theme through most science fiction, and in the real world, politics is who one saves the world. Ergo, the thrust of all three books.This is why I like this book the best. In the previous books it appeared that Robinson was going to take the traditional trajectory and claim that science would allow to live at our current standard of living, or even better, and still save the world. While it is a nice fantasy, I did not think it fit in with overall tone of the book, which was more reality based. However, in this last book with the increasing focus on the refugees from Khembalung and Frank, and the freegans, it is clear that he does realize, and is trying to promote, a change in relationship to our planet. This is another reason why some may find it to be their most hated book. Even Ann, the absolute scientist, has moments where she realizes that science alone cannot help us.Which we see in the allegory of Frank dropping off the grid, people leading decent lives by eating what others waste, and an entire village raising Joe to become not what his father desperately wants, a son he can call his own, as Nick is definitely his Mother's son, but whatever Joe is. And this may be the lesson of book. We cannot, science cannot, religion cannot, make something that which it is not. The world happens. We can change it for a while, but at some point we just have to adapt.

These are very wonderful in almost all ways.The presentation of science and scientists, their points of view, passion, ... is the best I have ever seen.The characters are strong, consistent. The very many social settings he puts them into are amazing in their detail, and all seem very real to me.The systems aspects of ecology and the weather are explained very well, the inter-relatedness of everything is a central feature of the novels. The 'failure modes' of the systems are part of the dynamic that pushes the novel forward.The interactions of the political system with the external events are also very well done. If you want to understand the political world of Washington DC and its interaction with the scientific establishment, this is the book. All of the descriptions of the National Science Foundation and the funding are real, at least as I saw them (from the outside), some years ago.However, Robinson fails to continue his systems analysis into the political arena, so his political response to the "Global warming" crisis is the standard progressive fantasy : elect the right people and give them more power. This despite all of the detail he presents on how FDR's progressive reforms are now part of the problem, how all of the regulatory agencies are taken over by the regulatees. He doesn't even mention how all of the farming practices that contribute to global warming are driven by the federal subsidies, ditto forest management, ... Nor how all nations with progressive policies have stagnant economies, 20% unemployment, and don't produce enough jobs for the young people.

I admit that I believe in science. I believe that statements and even projections based on fact deserve more press than 'projections' based on belief. Heck, if belief were worth anything, we'd still be living on a flat earth with the sun, stars, and other planets orbiting around us at the center of the universe. This book, and this series, speak to that part of me that wants to see science getting her due. The out-of-control spiral of climate change is coming to a head in this third book of the trilogy. The scientists and politicians in this one are having to scramble to try and keep the earth from slipping off a cliff into a shift radical enough to threaten our continued existence. I love KSR's use of hard science in conjunction with good plots and great characters to bring a story to life that really spotlights issues we need to start facing up to in real life. Art should speak to life, and this series is a work of art.

Neatly wraps up the three-book series, but perhaps a bit too neatly. While the major issue -- the effects of global warming and efforts to mitigate it -- continues to be the most fascinating "what if" of the third book, and is convincingly dealt with (saying more would be a spoiler), the resolution of the human relationships in the book is a bit pat in some cases and some plot twists are of the "I wonder when he was going to throw that in" variety. Still, Kim Stanley Robinson is a fine writer with an eye for realistic detail, and the odd turn on that detail, and this book is worth reading for the thought-provoking aspects alone.

This series is stunning in its scope and intelligence. There are numerous threads in the book and the series, some of which are simply powerful vignettes about an historical event and its impact on people, some which advance the narrative, but always fascinating and well delivered. Of course the main thrust is about global warming and efforts to mitigate its impact, but this book touches on many many topics of importance, not the least of which is the political environment in which we find ourselves mired. Truly an amazing and thought provoking trilogy.