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If you loved
Books like The State of the Art
A wry, expansive look at humanity's messy reality through the lens of a highly advanced, slightly condescending utopian society. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with The State of the Art.
- expansive
- unsettling
- contemplative
- cynical
- 01
Excession
Iain M. Banks
A dizzying, witty plunge into the hyper-speed group chats of god-like AIs facing something they cannot comprehend.
- 02
Surface Detail
Iain M. Banks
A sprawling, darkly funny, and brutally philosophical space opera that asks what happens when a utopian society goes to war against the concept of Hell.
- 03
Accelerando
Charles Stross · 2005
A relentless, jargon-fueled rollercoaster ride through the technological singularity that will leave your brain feeling overclocked.
- 04
Look to windward
Iain Banks
A sweeping, melancholic meditation on the long, inescapable shadows that ancient wars cast across a post-scarcity utopia.
- 05
Wireless
Charles Stross · 2009
A dizzying, high-velocity plunge into alternate histories, post-human futures, and bureaucratic cosmic horror.
- 06
Consider Phlebas
Iain Banks
A sprawling, violent, and darkly philosophical joyride across a galaxy torn apart by an unwinnable ideological war.
- 07
Galactic North
Alastair Reynolds
A chilling plunge into deep time and post-human evolution, where the universe is vast, cold, and indifferent to our survival.
- 08
Star Fraction
Ken MacLeod · 2002
A frenetic, politically charged cyberpunk thrill ride through a balkanized future where ideologies and smart weapons collide.
- 09
Marooned in Realtime
Vernor Vinge · 1986
A high-stakes locked-room mystery played out across millions of years of empty, post-human Earth.
- 10
The Songs of Distant Earth
Arthur Charles Clarke · 1986
A quiet, sun-drenched meditation on the vastness of space, the loss of a homeworld, and the bittersweet beauty of fleeting human connection.
- 11
Schismatrix Plus
Bruce Sterling · 1996
A dizzying, idea-dense plunge into a post-human future where biology and machinery wage a relentless war for the next stage of evolution.
- 12
The Freeze-Frame Revolution
Peter Watts
A claustrophobic, deep-time heist where the greatest enemy is an ever-watchful, terrifyingly benevolent AI.
