Rating: 
Summary: A jewel in your belly button
Review: One of the best books I have read, especially in the Sci-Fi category. The contrasting worlds of capitalism and anarchy are philosophically expressed in this book, and are very eye opening. It is easy to fall prey to the societal view and images of what life would be like if we all lived in an anarchistic world, but this book helps to paint a clearer picture of what that reality might actually be like. The author, essentially gives us a ladder to climb over the wall of our own ingnorance, and see through the eyes of the characters a very different world and way of life.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed, but makes you think
Review: It is easy for an anti-materialistic, anti-government utopia to exist when you set it up as darn near impossible to be materialistic due to the ecological scarcity of the planet. This makes it imperative for society to create ethics of no extraneous possessions, of hard work and sharing. And the attendent problem of coersion through peer pressure. As I said, it gives you lots of food for thought, totally fulfilling its mission.
Rating: 
Summary: The book I love to hate.
Review: This book is a five hundred page social commentary, decribing a utopian communist commune. The main character is a physist who is out to resolve conflicts withing the communes planet and it's sister plant. A Earthlike planet with a political situation, not unlike the one we have now. The reason I "disliked" the book is the political and social commentary that is at the center of this book just did not sit with me at all. Le Guin just didn't convince me that this society had fixed the issues within communism and anarcy that make them unstable, and have led to some of the most promising nations in the last hundrend years and driven them into the ground. It would be nice if people could live the way she suggests, but the book does not give any real answers. A famous econimist recently stated in his book that all econimic systems are inherantly unstable, and that strong regalotory systems are needed to stop periodic crashes and times of econimic chaos. This hurts this book because this is a political book that is about the politics of a perfect world, and validity of the political system is the center of the story. That being said, this is a brilliant piece of writting. As much as I disliked the politics of this book, the story is very well told, with engaging characters, and a well depicted world. I find it nice to sometimes read books about ideas I disagree with, it makes me re-evaluate my point of view, either changing my ideas or making my beliefs stronger. This book did not change my political ideas at all, but it at least gave a good account of itself. And that makes it well worth reading, no matter how distastefull the book feels.
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Summary: One of Le Guin's best and a must-read sci-fi classic
Review: A group of revolutionaries settles the dry desert moon of a rich, Earthlike planet. Their founding philosophy is based on the writings of Odo, a woman who never sees the moon colony created on her ideas, which are based loosely on pure Communism. Odonianism tries to change human nature, by inculcating the principle of sharing and non-possesiveness, with the interesting twist of removing the possessive word "mine, ours" from language and substituting "the one I use." The Odonians create a somewhat impoverished but vigorous society on the moon Anarres and for two centuries have been isolated from their Urras roots except for trade contact at the spaceport. In fact, Anarres is a mining colony for Urras and is left alone as long as valuable minerals are shipped back to the mother planet. The Anarresti use a language created by a computer and using their philosophical beliefs. People when born are given a two syllable name from the computer. The society is free, all sexual activity is allowed as long as the partners agree. Marriage is not uncommon, but not the norm either. Children are raised communally, a bit like the first kibbutzim in Israel. Work is assigned from a labor pool with a computerized system of allocating assignments wherever they are needed. But anyone can choose any occupation that suits them, and is free to refuse a posting, or even work at all. Once in every ten days, an Anarresti participates in volunteer labor that's needed by the community. Only a sense of responsibility, taught from birth, a conscience, keeps everyone working for everyone else and free from "propertarianism" or the desire to accumulate possessions and wealth. People are free to move around, choose their work, choose partners and do what they want as long as it doesn't hurt others. This Utopia has seeds of destruction, however. Individuals are quashed by "syndicates" or groups controlling various occupations. New ideas are "egoistic" and suppressed. The main character in The Dispossessed, a brilliant physicist named Shevek, has suffered this isolation and discouragement from childhood on. His brilliance is fostered however, by two special teachers, one of whom is another such isolated and unappreciated brilliant mind. When he goes to Abbenay, the capital, to work at the central institute, he becomes aware of the jealousy, conservatism and backbiting that are undermining their utopia. He also embarks on a major discovery in physics, that is rejected by the institute, but greatly coveted by the physicists and industrialists on Urras. He's invited to finish his work on Urras and to accept a prize equivalent to a Nobel. No one from Anarres has gone to Urras in two centuries and a conflict of huge proportions erupts, against the backdrop of a heartbreaking drought and famine on Anarres. How the conflict is ultimately solved, and how the Utopia is forever changed makes for some exciting reading. The book is a good examination of the question whether it is possible to set up a completely unselfish society and what the eventual outcome might be based on human nature. This is one of Le Guin's best books, and written in spare, beautiful language that describes the people, the landscape and the drama in a most memorable way.
Rating:
Summary: Still Good After All These Years
Review: This is a rare book of science ficiton that transcends the often masculine, ultra-high tech prose that dominates the genre. Le Guin's father (Kroeber) was one the founders of Anthropology as a discpline and this fasicination with the possibilities of human culture is what drives this book. It is not, as some people say, a rant against capitalism or cannonizing anarchy as the tonic for human ill rather this book opens up the possibilites of human organization, of human culture. If you enjoy the themes of alientation and the idea cultural evolution then you will likely enjoy this book. If your'e more into fast paced, kill the aliens, type prose then you'll be better off dismissing this book as a cold war relic.
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Summary: Please Read This Novel!
Review: The Dispossessed is my favorite work by le Guin-- this is the book I give a copy of to everyone I know. It covers so much ground; you have the whole anarchy vs archism, of course, but gender roles are well explored, theories of time, all sides of the human mental/emotional/social experience that you can fit into a story; there are no one-dimensional characters in this book. Of all the friends i've given this to, there isn't one who hasn't enjoyed it, and there isn't one who hasn't told me how much it made them think.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing Spectacular
Review: This book is a good read and has some insights worthwhile, but nothing spectacular. Basically the best thing I received from the book is "excess is excrement", too bad the author could not have followed her own advice when writing this book, which is largely a discourse on Anarchism. Don't wast your time, unless you're looking for a description of how a "Utopic" Anarchy itself could work. Looking at the genre of science fiction itself, I recommend: "Flowers For Algernon," by Daniel Keyes, "2001: A Space Odyssey," by Arthur C. Clarke, "Dune" by Frank Herbert, or "Ender's Game," by Orson Scott Card.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you
Review: Thank you, Mrs. Le Guin, this book is a great gift for the reader.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Best?
Review: A case can be made for Mrs Le Guin being seen to be the most important woman writer in English in the second half of the Twentieth Century. A review I read here which compared her to Ayn Rand is not only to insult her intelligence and wit, but to demean her style. I admit to a personal interest in Mrs le Guin's Speculative Fantasist (SF) vision, since I am myself an Anarchist. Indeed, I had never seen the sub-title "An Ambiguous Utopia" until I read this page. I do not think that the book fits into the "Utopia/Dystopia" tradition, but then, le Guin may be taking the Mickey out of us as she so often does. There is no other book, fictional or otherwise of which I am aware (with the possible exception of Orwell's "Homage to Catelonia") that so clearly demonstrates the practicality of Anarchism as a political philosophy. Indeed, I have lost count of the number of copies of the book that I have given away for this reason alone.
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Summary: Paper on Karl Marx philosophy 101
Review: How can you write a philosophy and get it published in science fiction. Simple! You just put the society free of institution, where everyone works as much as the other, where people free of material possessions, living behind the huge wall that separates them from other civilizations on one planet. And put the society where top 5 percent just party all days long, while other 95% work for them on another planet. The main character, who lives on the first planet is the major scientist, who has breakthrough ideas nobody on his planet listens to. So he decides to go to another world, where his ideas might be put to life, because all the major scientists live on that 5- 95 % planet. However, he learns there a few important things about human societies on two worlds. P. S. The only accomplishment by Le Guin in this book is the scientific idea she intoduces through the main character : instantenious communication ansibles.
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