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It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and show more how. They're going to need to ask it a lot. Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter? show lessTags
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I want to live in Becky Chamber's world. I'm not dragging on them, really, I'm not. But the world in Psalm is genial, and comforting and almost--may the six gods forgive me--like a cup of tea.
Oh, yes, I said it. Tea. What is it with our modern sci-fi writers and tea? Do they not drink anything else? Has the nitro-infused craze escaped them? Are they unaware of the pleasant way melting ice shifts the composition of a drink? I appreciate, perhaps, that they wish to steer us away from both inhalants and alcohol (so responsible!), but have they considered the health benefits of kombucha? Are they immune to the smooth flavors of cold brew coffee? Or the variety of shrubs that are concocted?
But I digress. A Psalm for the Wild-Built (which my show more brain consistantly read as 'well-built,' a rather different take) is a warm mug of herbal tea (definitely not caffienated) served with some organic honey. It is Star Trek Next Generation. It is a cognitive therapy session with the best possible therapist. It's a hike and camping adventure in the best possible world, where mosquitos are merely annoying and don't carry malaria or Zika or dengue or Chikungunya viruses.
Man, I am such a downer. You know who isn't? Becky Chambers. I want to hang with her more. But only when I'm in the mood for some fantasy sci-fi. Or need some therapy.
"You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live." show less
Oh, yes, I said it. Tea. What is it with our modern sci-fi writers and tea? Do they not drink anything else? Has the nitro-infused craze escaped them? Are they unaware of the pleasant way melting ice shifts the composition of a drink? I appreciate, perhaps, that they wish to steer us away from both inhalants and alcohol (so responsible!), but have they considered the health benefits of kombucha? Are they immune to the smooth flavors of cold brew coffee? Or the variety of shrubs that are concocted?
But I digress. A Psalm for the Wild-Built (which my show more brain consistantly read as 'well-built,' a rather different take) is a warm mug of herbal tea (definitely not caffienated) served with some organic honey. It is Star Trek Next Generation. It is a cognitive therapy session with the best possible therapist. It's a hike and camping adventure in the best possible world, where mosquitos are merely annoying and don't carry malaria or Zika or dengue or Chikungunya viruses.
Man, I am such a downer. You know who isn't? Becky Chambers. I want to hang with her more. But only when I'm in the mood for some fantasy sci-fi. Or need some therapy.
"You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live." show less
Um. I didn't know Chambers could move on from Wayfarers and still write exactly what I need. So I was holding off on this. Finally the GR group Beyond Reality chose it for BotM June 2023 and I am enchanted. I am going to read it again before returning it to the library, and I am wishlisting a copy of my own, and also moving on to the sequel asap.
"Well, can't you... I don't know, run programs in the background, or something?"
"You understand how resource-heavy consciousness is, yes? No, I can't do that anymore than you can."
"... if you don't want to infringe upon my agency, let me have agency."
" so, we're smarter than our remnants...."
"If we choose to be."
"You're an animal, Sibling Dex. You are not separate or other. You're an animal. show more And animals have no purpose. Nothing has a purpose. The world simply is. If you want to do things that are meaningful to others fine! Good! So do I! But if I wanted to crawl into a cave and watch stalagmites... that would also be both fine and good... it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it."
4.5 stars rounded down because I try to reserve 5 stars for works I recommend widely and I know lots of people who, unfortunately, would not appreciate this.
If you do like this, consider [a:Michael Perry|2772479|Michael Perry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1231631186p2/2772479.jpg], [a:Matt Haig|76360|Matt Haig|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:George MacDonald|2413|George MacDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1201019294p2/2413.jpg]. show less
"Well, can't you... I don't know, run programs in the background, or something?"
"You understand how resource-heavy consciousness is, yes? No, I can't do that anymore than you can."
"... if you don't want to infringe upon my agency, let me have agency."
" so, we're smarter than our remnants...."
"If we choose to be."
"You're an animal, Sibling Dex. You are not separate or other. You're an animal. show more And animals have no purpose. Nothing has a purpose. The world simply is. If you want to do things that are meaningful to others fine! Good! So do I! But if I wanted to crawl into a cave and watch stalagmites... that would also be both fine and good... it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it."
4.5 stars rounded down because I try to reserve 5 stars for works I recommend widely and I know lots of people who, unfortunately, would not appreciate this.
If you do like this, consider [a:Michael Perry|2772479|Michael Perry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1231631186p2/2772479.jpg], [a:Matt Haig|76360|Matt Haig|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:George MacDonald|2413|George MacDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1201019294p2/2413.jpg]. show less
I love this book and can't wait for sequels! In three words, it is honest, thoughtful, egalitarian. I love the new human culture that is socially and environmentally responsible and compassionate. Fifty percent of the world is for humans and fifty percent for all other life and the robots. So much of the factories and industry have been overrun with plants. And no oil-based vehicles are allowed. People ride bikes, horses or walk. The Awakened robots have an equally fascinating culture. They choose their names from the first thing they see when they Awaken. Thus, Splendid Speckled Mosscap saw mushrooms first. And they all do their own thing, though a few will travel together occasionally. Black Marbled Frostfrog has been watching show more stalagmites growing in a cave for 35 years and is completely happy. Robots use caches (somewhat like geocaches) in the wilderness that they can electronically sense to communicate with each other by notes. Most wonderful is to see the growing relationship between the tea monk, Sibling Dex, and the robot, Mosscap. I think I would like to live in Panga. I definitely want to learn more about this enticing country. Highly recommended! show less
A utopian novel. It may sound like something both childish and antithetical to literature. Does not utopian mean the setting is a dull idealized world free from conflict? The novella "A Psalm for the Wild Built," by Becky Chambers, demonstrates that setting is not the same as ethos or philosophy. Chambers draws on our presuppositions about an external-looking utopia as the turf from which conflicted, compelling characters encounter problems both external and internal. Utopia-themed novels are not novel: there are recent works like The Seep, Arcadia, and Another Now; the word Utopia was coined in 1516 by Sir Thomas More as his book title and name for a society on an island of perfect "felicity;" and Plato proposed an ideal and just show more city-state he called Kallipolis. "A Psalm for the Wild Built" proposes an ecotopian society on a moon called Panga, where the human population long ago transitioned from an environmentally disastrous factory age to living a sustainable, cooperative, spiritual existence half the moon away from the natural restorations of the wilderness. Sibling Dex, a non-binary tea monk, someone whose occupation is listening to other humans who feel tired, sad, or a little lost, finds themselves in a mindset of inescapable and inexplicable longing. Dex believes in the work they do, the sacred words they quote; they acknowledge their world to have become beautiful and their life to be absurdly good, yet they still come to ask without speaking, "What's wrong with me?" Dex, seeking an uncertain change, packs up everything and travels into the human-vacated frontier. Along the slowly disintegrating road, they befriend Mosscap an ancient robot who is on its own mission to find out what humans still need. Traveling together to a mountain hermitage, where ancestral humans sought sanctuary from the stresses of urban life, the robot presses Dex to explain their existential crisis. Did something drive you away from home? Did someone in your friends or family hurt you? Won't they miss you? Dex can only say, "Something's off... something's missing. I don't know... Why isn't it enough." Diagnosing Dex's undefined internal-desire problem in psychoanalytic theory terms, we might go to Jacques Lacan's concept of object-a: the little other that stands in for an unattainable object of desire. Object-a represents Dex's constant drive and constant loss. Or philosophically speaking, we could return to Plato and his idea of the Form of Good, the ultimate knowledge and perfection desired for and existing in a separate realm beyond the grasp of Dex's imperfect utopia. Mosscap tries to offer perspective that Dex's religion places a lot of import on purpose, which only comes from ourselves. Mosscap says the Gods can show us resources toward purpose, but the work and the choices are our own. Speaking machine to human, Mosscap has to admit, "You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know... because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it... You are allowed to just live. That is all most animals do." Here, the robot sounds like it is exploring religious views of Taoism, suggesting that Dex's human inclination to seek a set purpose might be the source of life's dissatisfactions and disappointments. Mosscap propounds that true purpose can emerge from being simple and simply in the world. "A Psalm for the Wild Built" may be utopic, optimistic, and naive but, even in uncomplicated prose, it is neither childish nor simplistic. In this utopia, the beings never stop asking complicated and unanswerable questions. show less
I think this is my new favorite book. Everything about reading it was just comfortable. This is a revolutionary world seemingly post-conflict and post-want, where a person's greatest struggle might be with themselves. Also, I now have a new favorite robot.
This is a fabulous, gentle story about finding one's place in the world. It focuses on Sibling Dex (and how I loved that there were three designations for the monks -- Sibling, Sister, Brother) and their progress towards understanding their purpose. The conversations between Dex and their robot companion Mosscap are possible some of the best presentations of philosophical thought in fiction (so much better than any I've read before), probably because the story isn't about the philosophy, but the philosophy supports the story.
Chambers' world-building is superb -- from the religious beliefs and arguments, the way that the robot 'uprising' happened (and how the details have been lost to history), what it means to be wild-built, how a show more somewhat utopian world might look and still not be enough for everyone. The writing flows beautifully, developing both the characters with deft descriptions that often interweave the characters in such a way that both are being shown to the reader from a new perspective.
And, as I often say, when the science that is most strongly presented in an SF story is psychology -- so nice to see psychology recognised as a science.
This was a relatively quick read -- I think it was under 3 hours, even allowing for interruptions. show less
Chambers' world-building is superb -- from the religious beliefs and arguments, the way that the robot 'uprising' happened (and how the details have been lost to history), what it means to be wild-built, how a show more somewhat utopian world might look and still not be enough for everyone. The writing flows beautifully, developing both the characters with deft descriptions that often interweave the characters in such a way that both are being shown to the reader from a new perspective.
And, as I often say, when the science that is most strongly presented in an SF story is psychology -- so nice to see psychology recognised as a science.
This was a relatively quick read -- I think it was under 3 hours, even allowing for interruptions. show less
Another Becky Chambers book … I know I said I would be done with this author, but the cover was just so lovely and the summary so enticing (and the book itself so short) that I had to give it a try. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Cozy fantasy is just not my thing.
Honestly, the very concept of this disgusts me. The book is a blatant pastoral fantasy, emphasizing and romanticizing the "pure and untamed/untouched wilderness," that our protagonist so longs for. I know that this book takes place on a different world, but here on Earth, there is very little "untamed wilderness" that hadn't been first cleared of its indigenous population by colonizers—so that this pastoral fantasy could take shape. Plus, Mosscap could honestly fall show more easily into the trope of "noble savage."
Obviously, this isn't what Becky Chambers had in mind when writing this novella. But it doesn't really matter.
The writing is also pretty overdramatic, making potentially emotional scenes a little bit ridiculous, and the utopian idea completely unbelievable. The characters interacting with Dex, constantly smiling and happy to help them, no matter how impolite Dex was, just came across as creepy—I kept waiting for some other element regarding Panga's citizens to come into play.
This time, hopefully for the last time, I'll be done with Becky Chambers's books. show less
Honestly, the very concept of this disgusts me. The book is a blatant pastoral fantasy, emphasizing and romanticizing the "pure and untamed/untouched wilderness," that our protagonist so longs for. I know that this book takes place on a different world, but here on Earth, there is very little "untamed wilderness" that hadn't been first cleared of its indigenous population by colonizers—so that this pastoral fantasy could take shape. Plus, Mosscap could honestly fall show more easily into the trope of "noble savage."
Obviously, this isn't what Becky Chambers had in mind when writing this novella. But it doesn't really matter.
The writing is also pretty overdramatic, making potentially emotional scenes a little bit ridiculous, and the utopian idea completely unbelievable. The characters interacting with Dex, constantly smiling and happy to help them, no matter how impolite Dex was, just came across as creepy—I kept waiting for some other element regarding Panga's citizens to come into play.
This time, hopefully for the last time, I'll be done with Becky Chambers's books. show less
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A Psalm for the Wild-Built begins a series that looks optimistic and hopeful, pursuing stories that arise from abundance instead of scarcity, kindness instead of cruelty.
added by koreybroderick
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- Canonical title
- A Psalm for the Wild-Built
- Original title
- A Psalm for the Wild-Built
- Original publication date
- 2021-07
- People/Characters
- Sibling Dex; Splendid Speckled Mosscap; Floor-AB #921; Sister Mara; Sister Fern; Ms. Jules (show all 9); Mr. Cody; Mx. Weaver; Oggie
- Important places
- Panga (Imaginary place : a moon orbiting the planet Motan); Meadow Den Monastery, The City, Panga; Half-Moon Hive Monastery, The City, Panga; The City, Panga; Little Creek, Panga; Inkthorn, Panga (show all 7); Hart's Brow Hermitage, Panga
- Dedication
- For anybody who could use a break.
- First words
- Preface: If you ask six different monks the question of which godly domain robot consciousness belongs to, you'll get seven different answers.
Sometimes, a person reaches a point in their life when it become absolutely essential to get the fuck out of the city. - Quotations
- "Many small creatures have wonderful intelligences. Very different from yours or mine, of course, but just wonderful. Sophisticated, in their own way." (p. 74)
Despite these blessings, sometimes Dex could not sleep. In those hours, they frequently asked themself what it was they were doing. They never truly felt like they got a handle on that. They kept doing it all the same. (p. 24... (show all))
And yet, if they were completely honest, the thing they had come to look forward to most was not the smiles nor the gifts nor the sense of work done well, but the part that came after all of that. The part when they returned ... (show all)to their wagon, shut themself inside, and spent a few precious, shapeless hours entirely alone. (p. 39)
What is wrong with me that I can have everything I could ever want and have ever asked for and still wake up in the morning feeling like every day is a slog? (Dex, p. 120)
Dex offered an open palm, and Mosscap took it. The robot's hand was so much bigger, but the two fit together all the same. (p. 122) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)In the wilds outside, the sun set, and crickets began to sing.
- Publisher's editor
- Harris, Lee
- Blurbers
- Wells, Martha; Gailey, Sarah; Rowland, Alexandra; Pinkser, Sarah
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 813.6
- Canonical LCC
- PS3603.H347
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