See the Future, Visit the Past
Time Travel Improves Thinking
Summer is here, and our readers are asking for book recommendations. Not surprisingly, Instigators have a particular interest in CliFi, i.e., novels that help us envision the reality of a climate-stressed world, or—even better—inspire action to address the challenge. I just finished a great novel that fits the bill: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. It’s a fun book written in a hip style and raises very provocative questions.
Time Travel, Romance, and a World in Crisis
The novel spins a clever, genre-bending tale. Set in near-future London, a top-secret government agency recruits our narrator, protagonist, and hero—an unnamed civil servant—for a special mission. Her job is to integrate a time-traveling Victorian-era explorer into modern society. And he’s not the only time traveler. The Ministry is collecting “expats” from across history, plucking them out of their distinct eras and plopping them into today’s world as citizens grapple with climate change, political unease, intense surveillance, and more.
As our hero navigates her assignment (and growing romantic feelings for her charge), she discovers she faces the additional challenge of engaging with visitors from the future too. I won’t spoil the plot, but you can imagine that talking to our future descendants makes for a great learning opportunity. She confronts the difficult ethical dilemmas of time travel as well as the harsh realities of our current times.
Where the Book Soars: A Provocative, Witty, and Profound Narrative
This book has a lot going for it.
A New Take on Time. The novel is full of rousing and uncomfortable insights both about the future and the distant past. Time travel turns out to be quite effective for helping us think hard about salient issues like freedom, inequalities, and climate anxieties. And yet the book is not a downbeat read.
Wry Humor. Sly wit drives the book. Bradley mocks bureaucrats, dating apps, and lots of what I find annoying about contemporary life—all while also reminding us of the existential dread that comes with a dangerously warmer planet.
First of a Kind (at least for me) Romance. If you think your love life is complicated, wait until you read about how historical baggage gets in the way when you fall for someone from another era.
Climate Warnings, Subtly Delivered. Like many of you, I bet, I sometimes get weary with the CliFi genre. Some of these novels just hit you over the head too insistently. Non-stop doom and suffering can make for a tough read. In this instance, however, the author’s vision of the climate future is smoothly and succinctly woven into the larger story in a way that I think makes it more attention-grabbing and ultimately more chilling.
Where It Stumbles (Somewhat)
Not everything in this book lands exactly right. Some of the plot twists—especially in the final acts—were hard for me to follow. I thought it was just me until my fellow book club members (who are savvy readers) said the same. But it doesn’t ruin the book, not even close. It just gave our club even more to discuss and debate.
Why It Matters
As we all know, despite our best efforts, it’s difficult to get people to pay close attention and fully appreciate the dark climate outlook we’re facing. Novels like this one can help us envision—and maybe even avoid—worst-case scenarios.
Especially now, in this divisive, information-flooded, highly charged world where people everywhere are always ready to debate, art may have a better chance than anything else to grab attention.
Consider this: Who played the biggest role in shaping your thinking and world view?
In my case, there are definitely some intellectuals, leaders, and thinkers who’ve had a major impact on me. I have in mind a diverse group of people like Ed Wilson, Lester Brown, Gretchen Daily, Jerry Brown, Alan Weisman, David Quammen, Margaret Atwood, Norman Fischer, and Thich Nhat Hanh. But I’ll note that a range of artists like Neil Young, Ken Kesey, John Lennon, Jack Nicholson, Haruki Murakami, and David Hockney also did a lot to shape how I think, especially as a younger person.
Who had the most impact on how you see the world? What works of art changed your way of thinking? What motivated you to engage ambitiously on environmental challenges? Please let us know.
And if you have other book recommendations, or artists our readers should check out, please share that too!
Onward,
