The Machine Stops - A dystopian short story that feels almost too real! (analysis episode)

Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

It is truly unbelievable that this story was written in 1909 - E. M. Forster's dystopian world feels all too real in our increasingly digitally connected and physically isolated real world.

The story is about ritual & superstition, resistance to change, the dangers of reliance on an all-powerful authority, the origins of knowledge and creativity, and a tumultuous relationship between a mother and son who see the world in very different ways.

We're joined to talk about the story by actor and writer Kiran Subramaniam, who also joined us to record our full cast, unabridged audiobook of this story! No spoilers here as usual, but we do highly recommend listening to the story as well, whether before or after the analysis & review. It's an incredible story and isn't too long - the audiobook episode is just over an hour. You should see that free audiobook available as our episode 19.

As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut, and Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Or you can watch the show on YouTube here if you prefer video.

Happy reading y'all!