A review of "Fifty Degrees Below" — 4 years ago
Kim Stanley Robinson does it again with his sequel to the critically acclaimed Forty Signs of Rain. The climate worsens as Washington DC dips into Antarctic temperatures. The animals freed from the National Zoo during the summer’s storm have now gone feral. Homeless people struggle to survive. And secret wings of the government are implanting people they deem worth watching with tiny pieces of nanotechnology so they can track them at every step of the way. And Frank Vanderwal of the National Science Foundation has found himself homeless, living in a tree in Rock Creek Park, and relating to released primates. It gets cold in a big hurry!
Like all of Kim Stanley Robinson’s work, I found Fifty Degrees Below hugely plausible, yet the inside-the-beltway intrigues seem quite believable, including an insinuation that a senator from a southern state was defeated with assistance from secret algorithms written into the ballot machines.
Recommended reading for anyone with an interest in Tibetan Buddhism, global warming, and right-wing led conspiracies.
