DUNE (SF MASTERWORKS HB)

Frank Herbert's "Dune" is a fascinating, layered, and deep book. I read the book continuously until I reached the last page. Even though I knew that this book was the first of a series of six books (more, if you include the 'Dune' books his son wrote), from the ending, it was clear that the story was incomplete. The tale follows the fortunes of the young Paul Atreides's transformation from a young adolescent to a powerful man. Frank Herbert set the story in the distant future, where ruling houses control entire planets. The planetary fiefdoms are a far cry from the world we live in and will make a discerning reader wonder if we are heading in that direction. Kingdoms rise and fall, and when Paul's father is assassinated, he and his mother, the witch, Lady Jessica, find themselves lost on the desert planet, Arrakis, which is also the only source of mélange, or 'spice,' the valuable drug that enhances mental abilities and is the required for space travel. The book explores numerous themes – the rise and fall of empires, the coming of age, the exploitation and struggle for resources, love and politics, and the intersection of religion and politics – which demand careful consideration. Through the tale, he keeps you engrossed, but the book demands patient reading. He divided the story into three sections, each corresponding to a different phase in Paul's life. A few themes fascinated me. One is the value of water on a desert planet, where people regard even a teardrop as a precious source of water. The way they treat the dead before burying them should make us shiver and ask if this is our future. The second theme that intrigued me is the importance of mental power and magic. Even in the distant future, he envisioned, mental prowess is critical for survival. However, would he believe the same in these days of computer super-intelligence? Last, there is a strong connection between religion, mysticism, and political power. Love is always sacrificed at the altar of political power, even in the distant future Frank Herbert envisioned. The book is fascinating, and when you finish the story, you will want to read the next installment.

The edition is just ok but the story is a master piece and is definitely worth a read

Great read, average paper quality, but on time delivery plus, it's DUNE!

Author: Frank Herbert Genre: Science Fiction Year of Publication: 1965 Set in the far distant future, DUNE is the story of a young boy named Paul Atreides and his journey into the desert planet of Arrakis. A barren wasteland but the only planet in the Universe with the most precious commodity known to existence, the Spice "Melange" (an addictive drug with life-enhancing properties and used for Interstellar travel). DUNE is not just a Science-fiction book. It has immensely profound and mature themes embedded under the riveting epic that it is. Themes along the likes of institutionalized Religion, Politics, Environmentalism, human greed and Spiritualism. Over the years, readers of the book have been able to discern the parallels drawn to various real-world belief systems including Buddhism, Sufi Mysticism, Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism. Frank Herbert, the author of the book noted in an interview that his Arab friends liked to call DUNE a religious commentary rather than science-fiction. Also, the story is heavily influenced by middle-eastern culture with Spice being a metaphor for Oil and Water for water itself. And the exploitations of regional societies and resources by Western Civilizations. DUNE is more than a coming of age tale. It teaches you about loyalty and courage and most importantly, how to conquer your fears. It's about the dark side of fanatic leadership and how unbounded power can corrupt even the most faithful of leaders. Moreover, It teaches people to think for themselves and the fallacy of following messianic figures blindly. The language of DUNE is complex, taking inspiration from multiple tongues including Arabic, Persian, East Indian and Old English which could make it a hard read for some people. However, The world-building in DUNE is vivid and immaculate making the reader to get lost in that world and if a fiction book is able to pull that off, it's no less than a masterpiece to me. DUNE is an immensely rich work written by a prolific writer who went on to write multiple other Dune books creating an unparalleled saga of Science-fiction Epic. This is the work that changed the perception of people toward Sci-fi. It is a genre-defining gem that has way more to offer than one can possibly imagine. The deluxe edition looks super cool. The Cover art is really iconic. However, Amazon's packing service sucks.

The book is well written and Amazon has given me a book which is in a good condition.Thanks Amazon

Amazing book and universe building

Book was great but quality of itcwas decent

I did not like the quality of this one was expecting a much better quality over all value for money but disspointed with quality not at all detailed for me that's why 3 stars quality can be improved you can go for the actual product if you are ok with the price as it is fairly priced

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A very good hardcase version of dune. Together with Dune: Messiah of the same publisher really good. Just fair warning there is no children of dune in this version

Una obra maestra que se disfruta mas tras ver las nuevas películas. No es apto para todos los públicos dado que no es fácil de seguir, pero no deja de ser una joya.

This book is often considered to be the best science fiction novel ever written and for good reason. _Dune_ is a 1960s-era science fiction novel, published on the cusp of the Golden Age and the New Wave. Science Fiction of the time was in a transitional period influenced by the periodical _Galaxy_. SF at the time emphasized what some would call soft science fiction, a genre dealing with psychology, sociology, and sociopolitical commentary, with the bonus of one or more unique original ideas and a Sense of Wonder. Within these domains, _Dune_ hits every note a book of its genre could possibly hit and does so brilliantly. This is not anything like what passes for science fiction today, as the genre has been heavily-influenced by the Modernist movement and is now characterized by meandering fiction with long atmospheric narrative descriptions and no idea content other than politically-correct gender diversity, as is often found in a Gardner Dozois Year's Best anthology. This novel seems more nuanced and cogent to me today as an adult than it did when I first read it as a teen. The explorations of preternatural consciousness, mind control, economics, religion, and political intrigue are fascinating. But _Dune_ was also revolutionary in its use of what was then called Ecology (now called Environmental Science) as a hard science. This book is a high mark in the achievement of hard-science worldbuilding. After all these years it is still the most well-thought out and well-fleshed out worldview in the entire SF canon. Its complex, logical worldbuilding is presented in what was the then-prominent Science Fiction protocol of revealing the world little by little through contextual clues rather than inserting infodumps of description. As such it takes more work to read than a more modern book with infodumps. Readers who find the book boring aren't reading it with Science Fiction reading protocols and apparently most of them are too callow to resonate with some the book's political, economic, and sociocultural commentary. The genre was about ideas, not literary modernism, so you will not find the book filled with metaphors and literary allusions such as one might find in a Creative Writing MFA's workshopped short story, although Paul's story is clearly the Hero's Journey and he is obviously a Messiah figure as well as a military/political leader. The characters may not be as well-rounded as in a Dostoevsky novel but in case you missed it, the main character isn't really Paul. The main character is the planet Arrakis. Read this book with that in mind and you'll be amazed. For those expecting a Hollywood superhero comic-book style movie with action scenes and high-definition special effects, there is some of that in here too, but that is not the main point. This is a Frank Herbert novel of ideas, not a David Lynch film of striking visuals.

This is also a pretty decent book to read and fairly slim to put into a backpack