The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Le Guin's language is clear and clean, and has within it both the anthropological mindset of her father Alfred Kroeber, and the poetry of stories as magical things that her mother Theodora Kroeber found in native American tales. The man from Earth investigating this situation has a lot to learn, and so do we and we learn it in the course of a thrilling adventure story, including a great 'crossing of the ice'. In this case, the thought experiment is quickly revealed: 'The king was pregnant,' the book tells us early on, and after that we learn more and more about this planet named Winter, stuck in an ice age, where the humans are most of the time neither male nor female, but with the potential to become either. One of the things I like about it is how clearly it demonstrates that science fiction can have not only the usual virtues and pleasures of the novel, but also the startling and transformative power of the thought experiment. For more than 40 years I've been recommending this book to people who want to try science fiction for the first time, and it still serves very well for that. One of my favorite novels is The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1969) Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Comment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website:.

100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.

COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.

Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.

This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.

#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.

Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.

Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.

Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin