ScoLgo
10/6/2015
Additional explorations of Le Guin's Hainish universe along with a few other short story jewels. The Hainish tales contained in this collection revolve around development of 'Churten Theory', a new physics discovery that allows instantaneous travel between the stars, (in previous Hainish stories, Le Guin had come up with the 'ansible'; a device that allowed instant communications).
The effects on the individuals using this means of travel - and not the mechanics of the theory itself - is where Le Guin focuses. At the end of the day, these three stories explore how people perceive their own realities. This is most strikingly brought to your attention in Dancing to Ganam.
The title story, Another Story or, A Fisherman of the Inland Sea was my favorite in the entire book. All of the non-Hainish stories were very, very strange. This is not a typical sci-fi collection. While the stories are populated by aliens and alien concepts, they are, at their core, about humanity - and about trying to shine a light on what that really means.
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