The Memory of Whiteness - by Kim Stanley Robinson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An early novel from Science Fiction legend Kim Stanley Robinson, The Memory of Whiteness is now available for the first time in decades.

In 3229 A.D., human civilization is scattered among the planets, moons, and asteroids of the solar system. Billions of lives depend on the technology derived from the breakthroughs of the greatest physicist of the age, Arthur Holywelkin. But in the last years of his life, Holywelkin devoted himself to building a strange, beautiful, and complex musical instrument that he called The Orchestra.

Johannes Wright has earned the honor of becoming the Ninth Master of Holywelkin's Orchestra. Follow him on his Grand Tour of the Solar System, as he journeys down the gravity well toward the sun, impelled by a destiny he can scarcely understand, and is pursued by mysterious foes who will tell him anything except the reason for their enmity.

Review Quotes

"The Memory of Whiteness is ambitiously, intricately, and deliberately orchestrated, and philosophical to boot....If you are a fan of music, of Jack Vance, of intricately recomplicated tales, you will love Robinson's novel!" --Analog

"Robinson creates an intellectual dessert, The Memory of Whiteness: physics, music and intrigue; an outré and improbably delicious world; wit and philosophy. A symphony of ideas!" --Greg Bear

"Robinson's narrative technique is impressive and the richness of his concepts and language is extraordinary." --Booklist

"Robinson is one of science fiction's most emotionally evocative writers. [But] this novel is a cerebral tour de force. Carefully structured and full of futuristic notions, The Memory of Whiteness becomes a fable about art and scientific determinism." --Philadelphia Inquirer

"The Memory of Whiteness is about music. It is also about the structure of the universe and the meaning of life....A rich mix of cultures, based on divergent notions of political order, but unified by an appreciation of music as a language that speaks, without the need of translation, to something deep in human nature." --The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author KIM STANLEY ROBINSON was born in 1952. A native Californian, he is the author of the Nebula and Hugo Award-winning Mars trilogy, as well as the 2016 winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award bestowed for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space. This award is in recognition of Mr. Robinson's body of work including more than fifteen novels, including his groundbreaking Mars novels, and over 40 short stories.