Our first travelling bookmark has been found at the Sheffield University Sci-Fi book swap.- Number 21!
In The Dispossessed, we follow the physicist Shevek as he deals with a stagnating anarchist utopia and time on a capitalist planet he doesn't understand. Shevek just wants his work published, and is frustrated by a society where convention and dogma has become as controlling as a government.
Ursula Le Guin creates two very believable societies, but the flawed utopia Anarres is much more vivid and interesting. If a handful of idealists went off and started their own society it would end up like this. The whole book serves as a Cold War analogy.
Having read The Left Hand of Darkness before I read The Dispossessed, this book took me by surprise. Where LHOD was odd and a little dreamy, The Dispossessed moved a lot faster and more clearly- enjoyable for both science fiction fans and people interested in the political philosophy but the way the book jumps back and forth through the story might put some off.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dispossessed-Ursula-Guin/dp/1857988825/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327829696&sr=8-1
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