I reread Speaker for the Dead

One reason that I wanted to read Speaker for the Dead again was because I heard people say that the author was a massive racist, which is interesting because the same people would say that his racism conflicts heavily with the themes of the book. (sidenote: If you want to read this book, I encourage you to do so in a way that doesn’t support him financially, such as borrowing it from a library, a friend or from the seven seas. ) The second reason was that most people seem to like this book the most out of the Ender’s quartet, whereas when I read them last time I liked the last two books more. I think this is because I had a hard time enjoying books where the relationships between people are central. Instead I would get the most enjoyment when new science was introduced and explained, similar to how I would enjoy pop science magazines. Today I like to think that I enjoy a wider range of books, even fluffy nonsense ones about compassion and understanding one another. Reading Speaker of the Dead could confirm this hypothesis and also see what it was that others saw and I missed when I first read it.(sidenote: Then there was the third reason which was that I already had the book and didn’t have anything else to read, but let’s not talk about that. )

Now that I’ve read the book I can confirm that it’s not surprising that that I didn’t enjoy Speaker for the Dead as much. The central mystery and what is driving the plot isn’t something related to science or technology. Instead it’s about people and their relationships, and how they treat those relationships. It’s about better understanding those that are so close to you, and those that are so foreign, that further understanding impossible. A theme that is so incompatible with racism, which thrives on not understanding people, that it becomes even more fascinating that the author could write this book. I guess it serves as a reminder that everybody can act bigoted, even if they don’t intend to or how nebulous their ideals are.

The speculative science part of the story isn’t bad either. The intelligent alien species in this story aren’t really a threat to humanity, which is refreshing. On the contrary, humanity is a threat to the aliens and are trying its outmost to not repeat the tragedy that happened three millennia ago when humanity extinguished another intelligent species.

Another interesting technological aspect is the computers, they feel pretty different from personal computers as we know them. Most, if not all computers are controlled by a central authority called Starway Congress. It’s more like terminals into a mainframe computer than separate systems. Even though that is pretty different from what we have now, it feels like we move in that direction when more and more computing is moved to some central authority through software as a service models. Drawing that analogy feels pretty worrying considering that the Starway Congress maintains its authority throughout human settlement across hundreds of worlds by controlling the means of communication.

The main character Andrew Wiggins was born before the Starway Congress was formed even though it is about 3000 years old because he has done so much light speed travel and thus skipped many years. What was a historical event for others is a memory for him. In this story it’s basically only him and his sister that has travelled so much, making them quite an anachronistic phenomenon. What I would like to see explored more in other stories is how cultures and the concept of history changes when forward time travel is commonplace. What happens to history when for each part of history there are at least some individuals alive who experienced it?

All in all I heavily recommend Speaker for the Dead. It really is one of those classic sci-fi books that have hold up over the years. I don’t think I will reread the rest of the books though since those are still fond memories for me and I’m afraid that those won’t be as good on a reread. (sidenote: The real reason is of course that I don’t want to lose my place as one of the seven. Man who puts a footnote at the end of the last sentence? )