The Culture novels are incredibly diverse and thought provoking, well worth the investment of time! Good advice, what ever order you read them - take your time and enjoy!
I pretty much read them sequentially, because I'm justified and ancient. I'd pretty much recommend doing that, apart from missing out Phlebas initially. The Culture evolves as the series progresses and Banksey pretty much riffs, plays and pontificates with the ideas as the series progresses. Phlebas, although the first published has a view point outside the Culture and I'd recommend reading the short story State of the Art and Player of Games before going to it. This way you get much more of a feel for the Culture, before seeing it from outside. If you are unsure whether the Culture is for you then start with State of the Art; it's short, gives a good deal of explanation of the Culture and is set in 1970s Earth. There is also a BBC play of it on UA-cam here: ua-cam.com/video/IRl9D_agLbU/v-deo.html. Need less to say I have re read them all a number of times. Feersum Endjinn and The Algebraist are not strictly Culture books, but could be seen within the Culture Universe.
@@NeostormXLMAX "The Hydrogen Sonata" and "Against a Dark Background" are consistently in my top 5 Sci Fi books of all time., I love all the books with Zakalwe as a character, but his story makes me sad.
A fantastic writer ,both the culture series and his mainstream novels....his early death was a sad loss...the world he creates is so layered and nuanced and morally ambiguous,yet incredible...
This video is a great idea on the options to help a new Banks reader on how to approach the Culture series. I wanted to introduce a friend to the Culture series and just suggested the first book published, "Consider Phlebas". My highly intelligent and well read friend just could not get into it. I was devastated. Out of desperation I then bought him "The Player of Games". And he loved it. I wish this video guide would have been around at the time. I will certainly use it when proselytizing the Culture series in the future.
Got my Culture shirt. Just finished Consider Phlebas. Very much enjoyed it and the culture is very interesting. The book's ending was realistic and satisfying. Looking forward to the next one!
Great video. Anything labelled with the Culture or Iain M Banks is must watch. I read them mostly in order though I did start with The Player of Games. I glad I did as it’s one of my favourites. That said Surface Detail and it’s virtual hells was both exciting and terrifying. I also really liked Consider Phelbas . Often regarded as a weak book by others though not sure why. There is so much packed into the book it’s breath taking. The tropical beach chapter with its unusual inhabitants is something I will not forget about for a very long time! 😮
Just started to dive in the series with "Consider Phlebas" this year. I thought i start in the order of publishing as i generally do with series i don't know much about. Didn't finish yet but i definitely will be reading more of these books that much i can say.
Thank you for your many videos about Iain M. Banks and his Culture series! SF books have been in my life for over 60 years. If I was told that I could only take one book of fiction to a desert island, it would be Consider Phlebas. I purchased it based on an early review in a fanzine. I vividly remember seeing it on the 'new' books rack, picking it up to read the first page. I have always been able to visualize and become immersed in worlds that have been created by gifted authors. I ended up reading the entire Prologue right there and then. The best description of the experience is a cinematic tour-de-force. It was a runaway express train and a synopsis of Culture technology and set the stage for the rest of the novel. Banks was a master at character development and getting his readers to invest in the characters, both living and AI. I found myself wanting more as each chapter was finished. Banks did not disappoint. His writing is so dense with ideas, but never overwhelming, that when I finished the book, I felt, and still feel, that I had read a series. Like all great SF, he instills a sense of wonder and momentum that he managed to carry through all his Culture universe stories. I read them in order because I purchased each one within days, if not on the day it was released. Note: Hachette Audio has published Consider Phlebas as well as some of Banks' other books a audiobooks. The narrator, Peter Kenny, does justice to the book.
I love the Culture. I tend to be a completionist, so read them in publication order. I recommend that a new reader start with Player of Games because I think it's more approachable than Consider Phlebas. As a military veteran, Use of Weapons is the most important one to me. The structure was a bit odd on first reading, but it's very well done. The story concerns a mercenary soldier and the fighting depicted is exciting but the story is ultimately quite sad. Surface Detail might be my favorite, not least because the ship Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints is hilarious. Well... I don't know if I really have a favorite. They're all my favorite. The Culture series is my favorite.
@@jimmyraybob I dunno...the _Mistake Not..._ is pretty cool. And the _Caconym_ is the ultimate spaceborne "surfer dude," with stellar magnetospheres as "tasty waves." And the stunt pulled by the _Sleeper Service_ to evade its "watcher" made me LMAO!
Another of his space opera epics (and one of my favorites) not part of the Culture universe is The Algebraist! I was never interested in the Culture per se, but much more fascinated and entertained with his world/galaxy/universe building and the SensaWonder (yes, I'm an Old School scifi fan from the '60's) of it all! The AI Ships, the Orbitals, the Habitats etc! ❤ And just his style of writing I find so compelling!!
I'm reading the books in order of publication. I'm nearing the end of "Matter" right now. Before I started reading the books, I saw lots of recommendations to NOT start with "Consider Phlebas". I went ahead and read the books in order anyway and I'm here to recommend that you *do not* start with "Consider Phlebas". The only reason I made it all the way through that book was because I had been warned that I should have saved it for later. I recommend starting with "Player of Games" and then "Use of Weapons" followed by any of the other books I've read so far, but leave the first one on the shelf until you've read at least one other - You'll enjoy it a lot more. I'm looking forward to re-reading it after I finish "Hydrogen Sonata" so I can actually enjoy it for the first time. :) Also - I'm reading the series with the rule that I don't read any two Culture books in a row. There's a finite number of these books and I want to stretch the experience out a bit. One day I'll be a guy who doesn't have any more Culture books to read for the first time.
My first Culture novel was _Surface Detail,_ which I found in a second-hand store for only $3 ( hardback!). I fell in love with the Culture immediately. I've been slowly collecting the novels ever since. I do think my favorite so far is _Excession_ - the ITG proves that even Minds don't always get it right! _The Hydrogen Sonata_ shows how humorous the ship Minds can be in their interactions. One thing, though - _The State of the Art_ contains only two Culture stories. The other stories are unrelievedly dark, containing only black humor at best. And even the Culture stories are very sober in tone. Be ready to read something light and funny when you finish _TSotA,_ or you might find yourself feeling depressed. (Discworld works for me!)
Thanks for the video! I reread Matter last year and gave it to friends. One friend enjoyed it but considered it needed two volumes to cover its scope. I think it's my favourite for the reasons you gave, and because there can be so much in one planet. It's a positive outlook in that way. Even if humanity never got to the stars, we could do a lot within the solar system!
I've been giggling for the last minute after writing a comment about the traumatic horrific nature of the Shrike (but I misspelled it Shreik) and this silly auto-complete changed it for Shrek. Now I'm wondering how different of a story would Hyperion be if the monster was the latter. 🤣
I agree that _The Player of Games_ is the best novel to start. _The State of the Art,_ the only novella in the series, is also a good entry point. I read them all, of course (along with other Banks' works, SciFi or not, including _Raw Spirit,_ the only non-fiction he wrote); my favourites are _Use of Weapons_ among Culture novels, and _The Bridge_ among the rest, but only by slight margin. Generally, while "non-M" works are, IMO, slightly weaker overall, about half of them are as brilliant as the Culture ones. However, i noticed that readers' opinions on them vary much more widely than on the Culture series. Read them all, people.
Great summaries. I've read 5 books so far, first starting with 1, 2, & 3, then Matter, and latest, Surface Detail. You did sorta just spoil Veppers' involvement in hosting the hells, which is not revealed until later on in the book, but oh well! I'm looking forward to reading the others that i haven't yet!
What, no _Inversions_ ?!? (Aha, it _is_ mentioned in the notes. Certainly not the one to begin with.) (Also, I would recommend that Culture fans read _The Bridge_ - not a Culture novel (except for some hints near the end), but the spirit will appeal to the same kind of reader.) Come on, people, read _everything_ by The Master, with or without "M.". There _are_ several merely good books there, but Banks' "mainstream" novels are anything but. Take "Scottish mystical realism" _The Crow Road_ (also the template for a brilliant TV mini-series by Gavin Millar).
IMO Player of Games is probably the best to start with to get someone excited about the universe and the potential of it. It’s a short, tight narrative that never drags and gives a solid sense of what you can except from the culture and the way they interact with less advanced, more violent societies. Consider Phlebas is also good though as you get to see the Culture from the perspective of their enemies and it has a more sci-fi action type narrative with a unique protagonist. I read Use of Weapons first and while the ending left me with questions the writing and universe had me hooked.
I embarked on a re-read last month, I did give the reading order some thought but in the end just went with publication order. Keeps things simple. Player of Games up next....
I’ve heard that a swarm a civilization that consumes other planets other civilizations is in one of these books but I’ve never heard of and I’ve read most culture books. Which book is it ?
One reccomendation I'd add is NOT to start with excession (My personal favourite). You really benefit from having a good background understanding of the culture to appreciate all the subtle references.
I have owned three books by Banks (two Culture and one other) for years and have only just now gotten into reading them. Already invested and while I think I am going to stick with publication order, for now, I had to ask you if there was a good source for fan art for characters and concepts in this world? I am a big visual reader and love to have fan art or art that is close enough to the source to use as I read along. Any direction would be greatly appreciated!
Chronological Order This is the approximate recommended chronological order, since I don't think Banks was paying enormous attention to this when writing the books…For example, Excession (which is set 400 years after Consider Phlebas) has a clear reference to the events of The Player of Games, but the latter novel is set well over 700 years after Consider Phlebas, which is a clear discrepancy. Still, for the curious, the order the books apparently takes place in is as follows: Consider Phlebas (1331 AD) Excession (c. 1867) Matter (c. 1890) The State of the Art (1977) The Player of Games (c. 2085) Use of Weapons (2092) Look to Windward (c. 2170) The Hydrogen Sonata (c. 2375) Surface Detail (c. 2767) Note that The State of the Art refers to the titular novella of the collection, not the other two Culture stories in the book. I could be wrong (not having read them yet), but I believe the other two stories and Inversions lack any information that can be used to reliably date them at all. Note on the Dates Above The appendix to Consider Phlebas gives the date for the beginning of the Idiran War as 1327 AD and the book takes place four years later… The war ends in 1375. Excession takes place 500 years after the war ends. Matter takes place over twenty years after the Sleeper Service vanishes (which happens at the end of Excession). The State of the Art features a Contact group surveying Earth in 1977. One of the same characters turns up in Use of Weapons 115 years after the mission to Earth. One of the ships in The Player of Games is 716 years old and was built at the end of the Idiran War (so near the end it never engaged in combat with the enemy). Look to Windward takes place 803 years after the Twin Novae Battle, one of the final space battles of the Idiran War. The Hydrogen Sonata takes place 1,000 years after the end of the Idiran War in Consider Phlebas. Surface Detail takes place 600 years after the events of Look to Windward but about 1,500 years after the end of the Idiran War; this may be a simple rounding error. According to Consider Phlebas' appendix, the Culture contacts Earth some time around 2100 AD. Earth joins the Culture but never really amounts to much as a member.
Huh. Thought there were only two Culture stories in _TSotA,_ but you're right - "Descendant" also takes place in the Culture. Still a pretty dark story, though.
How to read ? I usually borrow books from the local library so I usually read them as they are available some series by some authors make that a difficult read , but Banks is an exception, all well written and memorable, always important with long series of books is the memorable part !!! I own a paperback copy of consider phlebas which is well read ,torn and tatty but still has a place in my own personal library , which has unfortunately shrunk due to space limitations and having children , maybe it might grow again in the future , here’s hoping anyways ! It’s about the journey, not the destination !!!
Another choice for me is language. Am going to start with Consider Phlebas in English and then if I'll handle it well enough, Matter. If not I'll switch to Czech, fortunately it's being published for the first time these years. Well, not counting abysmal translation of Consider Phlebas published in the 90s.
Normally I am extremely strict about reading a series in publication order with as little knowledge/spoilers as possible. However, this philosophy worked against me in my first reading of this series. Specifically, I found "Consider Phlebas" to be a misleading (and not too rewarding) first entry/introduction to the series. By presenting the Culture as the *enemy* of our primary character, and incorrectly assuming that this series abides by a clear morality (or at least a moral quandary in which the primary character acts as a compass) it leads to many misconceptions that obscure or outright contradict the nuanced themes that make the series as a whole uniquely excellent. Lol that sounded like a word-salad I know. It is almost impossible to express why any series is particularly awesome without spoiling any details at all. And to be clear I still think that "going in blind" works for this series too: just start with Player of Games or Use of Weapons. It is true that these books truly can be read in any order as each are self-contained stories. Consider Phlebas should only be, well, considered (heh 😊) after having a solid feel for the series from The Culture's POV, rather than from an antagonist of the Culture. (Or to clearly understand that the series goes far beyond clear "good guys/evil devils" ...even Consider Phlebas eventually attains this kind of omniscience, but it isn't apparent until the end (unless the reader is already familiar with The Culture and its universe from subsequent books.) Finally, although "The Hydrogen Sonata" is a fitting final book, written while Ian M Banks was aware of having a terminal disease, do not make the mistake of reading it last. It might be my favorite entry and I almost missed it completely because I did not make it through all the other volumes first.
@@bryanbadonde9484 There are tools that read embedded accessibility info programs when available and provide an audible interface. But they're insanely slow. AI has been very helpful but it's barely there right now.
There are audiobooks of them here on youtube! I just found a channel called 'Killing Time' and it's got a few of them but not all. It has Player of Games which many people say should be read first. There must be other channels with the other audiobooks too. Enjoy :)
@@bryanbadonde9484 On windows: ctrl-windows-enter, On Mac: Command-f5. On Android: put 2 fingers on the screen and wait. on iOS: ask Siri to "turn on VoiceOver".. If you have a Chromebook.. good luck. All four of those options will give you at least limited ability to turntext into speech and use whatever device you have with your eyes closed... An since the accessibility police won't arrest you for using them(since there is no accessibility police) You could look around in accessibility settings on either an IOS device or Android and probably find something that would be useful at least some of the time. like speak screen on iOS or Android and there are some good options in Edge in windows to read a page while in a pleasant reading mode(to avoid seeing a million adverts)
My only suggstion would be don't start with the short story collection "State of the Art". It's far from his best work and doesn't really give a good representation of the rest of the series. I think Excession might be my current favorite.
It's not really like that. As Darrel's intimated it's more a sublime exercise of imagination of what a galaxy spanning culture might be - with coherence between its sophistication, technology and approach to existence. The series is absolutely first class - Banks was truly genius. There are no weak links. And Darrel has done an excellent job in succinctly outlining the many ways in can be enjoyed and interpreted.
Each book has an arc and a definite ending. It is up to the reader to decide if it is satisfying or not. For me, 'satisfying' is a sense of closure, which each book has. The only way you'll be disappointed is if you approach the books as a traditional series.
wow, you just made me realize Amazon Kindle mislabeled most of the order in the Culture series. They omitted The State of the Art so Excession appears as the fourth book, Inversions as the fifth and so on. 🤔
I missed having any more culture novels to read I asked GPT4 to write me a new book in the style of Ian M Banks - it was interesting, but still not the same 😞
Thanks for leaving Inversions out of this. It's definitely not a starting point and does not do well in representing aspects of The Culture. Good book though, can be read after 2-4 others, what ever your order.
I noticed it was missing. I guess it’s not a culture book so kept out of the discussion. I found Feersum Endjinn a tough read partly because of the way some of the narrative is presented. I enjoyed elements of it but missed putting the story together.
I started with Consider Phlebas, and man it was a slog. The last third of the book was way too long and could have done with some better editing. I don't recommend anyone starting the Culture series to start with Consider or it may taint your view of the series as a whole. Awful book.
Not sure why a book series about a bland liberal utopia is getting so much play on UA-cam recently. It's like if accountancy suddenly started trending. Let's not forget, liberalism brought us the Nazis in the 1930s, its failure to take a stand against George W. Bush led to a million people dead in the Middle-east, and its advocates chose Trump because they thought he'd be so easy to beat that even a woefully unpopular candidate could beat him. The idea that a political philosophy that has, through inaction, done untold damage to millions of lives by denying them universal healthcare and increasing inequality will somehow become the guiding force to install a far-future tech utopia free from want is complete and utter nonsense.
The Culture novels are incredibly diverse and thought provoking, well worth the investment of time! Good advice, what ever order you read them - take your time and enjoy!
I finished “consider phlebas” a few days ago, and I was considering which book to read next-it’s not an obvious choice. So thank you for this!
I pretty much read them sequentially, because I'm justified and ancient. I'd pretty much recommend doing that, apart from missing out Phlebas initially. The Culture evolves as the series progresses and Banksey pretty much riffs, plays and pontificates with the ideas as the series progresses. Phlebas, although the first published has a view point outside the Culture and I'd recommend reading the short story State of the Art and Player of Games before going to it. This way you get much more of a feel for the Culture, before seeing it from outside. If you are unsure whether the Culture is for you then start with State of the Art; it's short, gives a good deal of explanation of the Culture and is set in 1970s Earth. There is also a BBC play of it on UA-cam here: ua-cam.com/video/IRl9D_agLbU/v-deo.html. Need less to say I have re read them all a number of times. Feersum Endjinn and The Algebraist are not strictly Culture books, but could be seen within the Culture Universe.
Thanks
Wow. Cant express enough how much I love the link you shared. ❤❤❤
@@bubaks2 BBC Radio 4 at it's best.
People suspected that against the dark background was the origin of the culture series
@@NeostormXLMAX "The Hydrogen Sonata" and "Against a Dark Background" are consistently in my top 5 Sci Fi books of all time., I love all the books with Zakalwe as a character, but his story makes me sad.
A fantastic writer ,both the culture series and his mainstream novels....his early death was a sad loss...the world he creates is so layered and nuanced and morally ambiguous,yet incredible...
This video is a great idea on the options to help a new Banks reader on how to approach the Culture series.
I wanted to introduce a friend to the Culture series and just suggested the first book published, "Consider Phlebas". My highly intelligent and well read friend just could not get into it. I was devastated. Out of desperation I then bought him "The Player of Games". And he loved it.
I wish this video guide would have been around at the time. I will certainly use it when proselytizing the Culture series in the future.
I read "Player of Games" last year and quite enjoyed it. Going to jump back in to the Culture Series as soon as I finish Dan Simmons "Illium".
Great synopsis Darrel. Love the entire series, personal favourites being Excession, Look to Windward and the often overlooked Inversions.
Got my Culture shirt. Just finished Consider Phlebas. Very much enjoyed it and the culture is very interesting. The book's ending was realistic and satisfying. Looking forward to the next one!
Great video. Anything labelled with the Culture or Iain M Banks is must watch. I read them mostly in order though I did start with The Player of Games. I glad I did as it’s one of my favourites. That said Surface Detail and it’s virtual hells was both exciting and terrifying. I also really liked Consider Phelbas . Often regarded as a weak book by others though not sure why. There is so much packed into the book it’s breath taking. The tropical beach chapter with its unusual inhabitants is something I will not forget about for a very long time! 😮
Just started to dive in the series with "Consider Phlebas" this year. I thought i start in the order of publishing as i generally do with series i don't know much about. Didn't finish yet but i definitely will be reading more of these books that much i can say.
Thank you for your many videos about Iain M. Banks and his Culture series! SF books have been in my life for over 60 years. If I was told that I could only take one book of fiction to a desert island, it would be Consider Phlebas. I purchased it based on an early review in a fanzine. I vividly remember seeing it on the 'new' books rack, picking it up to read the first page. I have always been able to visualize and become immersed in worlds that have been created by gifted authors. I ended up reading the entire Prologue right there and then. The best description of the experience is a cinematic tour-de-force. It was a runaway express train and a synopsis of Culture technology and set the stage for the rest of the novel. Banks was a master at character development and getting his readers to invest in the characters, both living and AI. I found myself wanting more as each chapter was finished. Banks did not disappoint. His writing is so dense with ideas, but never overwhelming, that when I finished the book, I felt, and still feel, that I had read a series. Like all great SF, he instills a sense of wonder and momentum that he managed to carry through all his Culture universe stories. I read them in order because I purchased each one within days, if not on the day it was released.
Note: Hachette Audio has published Consider Phlebas as well as some of Banks' other books a audiobooks. The narrator, Peter Kenny, does justice to the book.
You're really passionate about The Culture. I'm sold 😊
I love the Culture. I tend to be a completionist, so read them in publication order. I recommend that a new reader start with Player of Games because I think it's more approachable than Consider Phlebas.
As a military veteran, Use of Weapons is the most important one to me. The structure was a bit odd on first reading, but it's very well done. The story concerns a mercenary soldier and the fighting depicted is exciting but the story is ultimately quite sad.
Surface Detail might be my favorite, not least because the ship Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints is hilarious. Well... I don't know if I really have a favorite. They're all my favorite. The Culture series is my favorite.
Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints may be my favorite character in the entire series.
@@jimmyraybob I dunno...the _Mistake Not..._ is pretty cool. And the _Caconym_ is the ultimate spaceborne "surfer dude," with stellar magnetospheres as "tasty waves." And the stunt pulled by the _Sleeper Service_ to evade its "watcher" made me LMAO!
@@lisagulick4144 Plenty of cool throughout the series.
@@jimmyraybob 💯
Another of his space opera epics (and one of my favorites) not part of the Culture universe is The Algebraist!
I was never interested in the Culture per se, but much more fascinated and entertained with his world/galaxy/universe building and the SensaWonder (yes, I'm an Old School scifi fan from the '60's) of it all! The AI Ships, the Orbitals, the Habitats etc! ❤ And just his style of writing I find so compelling!!
Algebraist is the best sf book ever written by anyone
I'm reading the books in order of publication. I'm nearing the end of "Matter" right now. Before I started reading the books, I saw lots of recommendations to NOT start with "Consider Phlebas". I went ahead and read the books in order anyway and I'm here to recommend that you *do not* start with "Consider Phlebas". The only reason I made it all the way through that book was because I had been warned that I should have saved it for later. I recommend starting with "Player of Games" and then "Use of Weapons" followed by any of the other books I've read so far, but leave the first one on the shelf until you've read at least one other - You'll enjoy it a lot more. I'm looking forward to re-reading it after I finish "Hydrogen Sonata" so I can actually enjoy it for the first time. :)
Also - I'm reading the series with the rule that I don't read any two Culture books in a row. There's a finite number of these books and I want to stretch the experience out a bit. One day I'll be a guy who doesn't have any more Culture books to read for the first time.
Great info! I started with The Player of Games and Use of Weapons and plan to read Consider Phlebas and Excession next.
My first Culture novel was _Surface Detail,_ which I found in a second-hand store for only $3 ( hardback!). I fell in love with the Culture immediately. I've been slowly collecting the novels ever since. I do think my favorite so far is _Excession_ - the ITG proves that even Minds don't always get it right! _The Hydrogen Sonata_ shows how humorous the ship Minds can be in their interactions.
One thing, though - _The State of the Art_ contains only two Culture stories. The other stories are unrelievedly dark, containing only black humor at best. And even the Culture stories are very sober in tone. Be ready to read something light and funny when you finish _TSotA,_ or you might find yourself feeling depressed. (Discworld works for me!)
Thanks for the video! I reread Matter last year and gave it to friends. One friend enjoyed it but considered it needed two volumes to cover its scope. I think it's my favourite for the reasons you gave, and because there can be so much in one planet. It's a positive outlook in that way. Even if humanity never got to the stars, we could do a lot within the solar system!
best content! Do one about Dan Simmons' Hyperion cantos
I've been giggling for the last minute after writing a comment about the traumatic horrific nature of the Shrike (but I misspelled it Shreik) and this silly auto-complete changed it for Shrek. Now I'm wondering how different of a story would Hyperion be if the monster was the latter. 🤣
@@IRosamelia "Da Shroik" as some uk accents would say 😋
@@bojovic78 LOL 😂
Great guide! I have The Culture on my TBR but have been unsure about where to start.
I agree that _The Player of Games_ is the best novel to start. _The State of the Art,_ the only novella in the series, is also a good entry point.
I read them all, of course (along with other Banks' works, SciFi or not, including _Raw Spirit,_ the only non-fiction he wrote); my favourites are _Use of Weapons_ among Culture novels, and _The Bridge_ among the rest, but only by slight margin. Generally, while "non-M" works are, IMO, slightly weaker overall, about half of them are as brilliant as the Culture ones. However, i noticed that readers' opinions on them vary much more widely than on the Culture series. Read them all, people.
That was really useful, haven't read them yet as my library has, what I thought of as gaps.
Great summaries. I've read 5 books so far, first starting with 1, 2, & 3, then Matter, and latest, Surface Detail. You did sorta just spoil Veppers' involvement in hosting the hells, which is not revealed until later on in the book, but oh well! I'm looking forward to reading the others that i haven't yet!
gonna start this weekend
Excellent video. 😮 honestly I'd like to hear your thoughts on Neal Asher. The Maker series or Polity.
What, no _Inversions_ ?!? (Aha, it _is_ mentioned in the notes. Certainly not the one to begin with.) (Also, I would recommend that Culture fans read _The Bridge_ - not a Culture novel (except for some hints near the end), but the spirit will appeal to the same kind of reader.)
Come on, people, read _everything_ by The Master, with or without "M.". There _are_ several merely good books there, but Banks' "mainstream" novels are anything but. Take "Scottish mystical realism" _The Crow Road_ (also the template for a brilliant TV mini-series by Gavin Millar).
IMO Player of Games is probably the best to start with to get someone excited about the universe and the potential of it. It’s a short, tight narrative that never drags and gives a solid sense of what you can except from the culture and the way they interact with less advanced, more violent societies. Consider Phlebas is also good though as you get to see the Culture from the perspective of their enemies and it has a more sci-fi action type narrative with a unique protagonist. I read Use of Weapons first and while the ending left me with questions the writing and universe had me hooked.
For those who love the Culture Novels, I recommend the Iain Banks novel The Bridge. Contains some precursors to the SF novels.
How can you read in order of, say, themes or characters, before you've read the series and know the themes or characters?
Thank you so much! This guide really helped me!
I embarked on a re-read last month, I did give the reading order some thought but in the end just went with publication order. Keeps things simple. Player of Games up next....
I’ve heard that a swarm a civilization that consumes other planets other civilizations is in one of these books but I’ve never heard of and I’ve read most culture books. Which book is it ?
One reccomendation I'd add is NOT to start with excession (My personal favourite). You really benefit from having a good background understanding of the culture to appreciate all the subtle references.
Player of Games should be first I think. Then Consider Phlebas. The rest in order I suppose. They're all great books if you tune in on the dynamics.
Excellent video.
I have owned three books by Banks (two Culture and one other) for years and have only just now gotten into reading them. Already invested and while I think I am going to stick with publication order, for now, I had to ask you if there was a good source for fan art for characters and concepts in this world? I am a big visual reader and love to have fan art or art that is close enough to the source to use as I read along. Any direction would be greatly appreciated!
my top of mind word association for your channel, and this video in particular is: NOBLE
Chronological Order
This is the approximate recommended chronological order, since I don't think Banks was paying enormous attention to this when writing the books…For example, Excession (which is set 400 years after Consider Phlebas) has a clear reference to the events of The Player of Games, but the latter novel is set well over 700 years after Consider Phlebas, which is a clear discrepancy.
Still, for the curious, the order the books apparently takes place in is as follows:
Consider Phlebas (1331 AD)
Excession (c. 1867)
Matter (c. 1890)
The State of the Art (1977)
The Player of Games (c. 2085)
Use of Weapons (2092)
Look to Windward (c. 2170)
The Hydrogen Sonata (c. 2375)
Surface Detail (c. 2767)
Note that The State of the Art refers to the titular novella of the collection, not the other two Culture stories in the book. I could be wrong (not having read them yet), but I believe the other two stories and Inversions lack any information that can be used to reliably date them at all.
Note on the Dates Above
The appendix to Consider Phlebas gives the date for the beginning of the Idiran War as 1327 AD and the book takes place four years later…
The war ends in 1375. Excession takes place 500 years after the war ends. Matter takes place over twenty years after the Sleeper Service vanishes (which happens at the end of Excession). The State of the Art features a Contact group surveying Earth in 1977. One of the same characters turns up in Use of Weapons 115 years after the mission to Earth. One of the ships in The Player of Games is 716 years old and was built at the end of the Idiran War (so near the end it never engaged in combat with the enemy). Look to Windward takes place 803 years after the Twin Novae Battle, one of the final space battles of the Idiran War. The Hydrogen Sonata takes place 1,000 years after the end of the Idiran War in Consider Phlebas. Surface Detail takes place 600 years after the events of Look to Windward but about 1,500 years after the end of the Idiran War; this may be a simple rounding error.
According to Consider Phlebas' appendix, the Culture contacts Earth some time around 2100 AD. Earth joins the Culture but never really amounts to much as a member.
Huh. Thought there were only two Culture stories in _TSotA,_ but you're right - "Descendant" also takes place in the Culture. Still a pretty dark story, though.
How to read ? I usually borrow books from the local library so I usually read them as they are available some series by some authors make that a difficult read , but Banks is an exception, all well written and memorable, always important with long series of books is the memorable part !!!
I own a paperback copy of consider phlebas which is well read ,torn and tatty but still has a place in my own personal library , which has unfortunately shrunk due to space limitations and having children , maybe it might grow again in the future , here’s hoping anyways !
It’s about the journey, not the destination !!!
Space opera?
Another choice for me is language. Am going to start with Consider Phlebas in English and then if I'll handle it well enough, Matter. If not I'll switch to Czech, fortunately it's being published for the first time these years. Well, not counting abysmal translation of Consider Phlebas published in the 90s.
Normally I am extremely strict about reading a series in publication order with as little knowledge/spoilers as possible. However, this philosophy worked against me in my first reading of this series. Specifically, I found "Consider Phlebas" to be a misleading (and not too rewarding) first entry/introduction to the series. By presenting the Culture as the *enemy* of our primary character, and incorrectly assuming that this series abides by a clear morality (or at least a moral quandary in which the primary character acts as a compass) it leads to many misconceptions that obscure or outright contradict the nuanced themes that make the series as a whole uniquely excellent.
Lol that sounded like a word-salad I know. It is almost impossible to express why any series is particularly awesome without spoiling any details at all. And to be clear I still think that "going in blind" works for this series too: just start with Player of Games or Use of Weapons. It is true that these books truly can be read in any order as each are self-contained stories. Consider Phlebas should only be, well, considered (heh 😊) after having a solid feel for the series from The Culture's POV, rather than from an antagonist of the Culture. (Or to clearly understand that the series goes far beyond clear "good guys/evil devils" ...even Consider Phlebas eventually attains this kind of omniscience, but it isn't apparent until the end (unless the reader is already familiar with The Culture and its universe from subsequent books.)
Finally, although "The Hydrogen Sonata" is a fitting final book, written while Ian M Banks was aware of having a terminal disease, do not make the mistake of reading it last. It might be my favorite entry and I almost missed it completely because I did not make it through all the other volumes first.
Thanks !
I'm blind. Is there an audiobook of this series? Can't find it on Audible.
If you are an American, they are on BARD.
How do you read and write youtube comments? Is there a text to speak and voice to text extension for your internetting in general?
@@bryanbadonde9484 There are tools that read embedded accessibility info programs when available and provide an audible interface. But they're insanely slow. AI has been very helpful but it's barely there right now.
There are audiobooks of them here on youtube! I just found a channel called 'Killing Time' and it's got a few of them but not all. It has Player of Games which many people say should be read first. There must be other channels with the other audiobooks too. Enjoy :)
@@bryanbadonde9484 On windows: ctrl-windows-enter, On Mac: Command-f5. On Android: put 2 fingers on the screen and wait. on iOS: ask Siri to "turn on VoiceOver".. If you have a Chromebook.. good luck. All four of those options will give you at least limited ability to turntext into speech and use whatever device you have with your eyes closed... An since the accessibility police won't arrest you for using them(since there is no accessibility police) You could look around in accessibility settings on either an IOS device or Android and probably find something that would be useful at least some of the time. like speak screen on iOS or Android and there are some good options in Edge in windows to read a page while in a pleasant reading mode(to avoid seeing a million adverts)
Would like to get my hands on them
My only suggstion would be don't start with the short story collection "State of the Art". It's far from his best work and doesn't really give a good representation of the rest of the series.
I think Excession might be my current favorite.
In publication order IMO
The Player of Games is the perfect introduction. I read Consider Phlebas afterwards and it's a bit of a slog.
Just tell me, does the series have a complete and satisfactory ending? I hate starting a series just to be disappointed
The series is sort of episodic. It chronicles different events at different times of Culture's existence.
It's not really like that. As Darrel's intimated it's more a sublime exercise of imagination of what a galaxy spanning culture might be - with coherence between its sophistication, technology and approach to existence. The series is absolutely first class - Banks was truly genius. There are no weak links. And Darrel has done an excellent job in succinctly outlining the many ways in can be enjoyed and interpreted.
It's not a series as such, it's stories from a common Universe. Only a couple of characters appear in more than once.
It's not a series so much as several contained stories that occur in the same universe.
Each book has an arc and a definite ending. It is up to the reader to decide if it is satisfying or not. For me, 'satisfying' is a sense of closure, which each book has. The only way you'll be disappointed is if you approach the books as a traditional series.
Did you miss out Inversions?
wow, you just made me realize Amazon Kindle mislabeled most of the order in the Culture series. They omitted The State of the Art so Excession appears as the fourth book, Inversions as the fifth and so on. 🤔
I missed having any more culture novels to read I asked GPT4 to write me a new book in the style of Ian M Banks - it was interesting, but still not the same 😞
You asked a AI to write you a book in the style of Ian m Banks…….. bro just write your own?
Great stuff, bring your dictionary.
Amen. You will have your vocabulary expanded!
Thanks for leaving Inversions out of this. It's definitely not a starting point and does not do well in representing aspects of The Culture. Good book though, can be read after 2-4 others, what ever your order.
NO NO NO. Start with Consider Phlebus!
Ha. What about FEERSUM ENDJINN.
Wass thi fukin problim heer?
I noticed it was missing. I guess it’s not a culture book so kept out of the discussion. I found Feersum Endjinn a tough read partly because of the way some of the narrative is presented. I enjoyed elements of it but missed putting the story together.
how to read . . .😮
Eyes.
I started with Consider Phlebas, and man it was a slog. The last third of the book was way too long and could have done with some better editing. I don't recommend anyone starting the Culture series to start with Consider or it may taint your view of the series as a whole. Awful book.
Not sure why a book series about a bland liberal utopia is getting so much play on UA-cam recently. It's like if accountancy suddenly started trending. Let's not forget, liberalism brought us the Nazis in the 1930s, its failure to take a stand against George W. Bush led to a million people dead in the Middle-east, and its advocates chose Trump because they thought he'd be so easy to beat that even a woefully unpopular candidate could beat him. The idea that a political philosophy that has, through inaction, done untold damage to millions of lives by denying them universal healthcare and increasing inequality will somehow become the guiding force to install a far-future tech utopia free from want is complete and utter nonsense.