A huge underlying part of the lore undergirding Dune is the Butlerian Jihad, where human society smashed overly powerful computers and technology because it had become too invasive and controlling, and, well, dehumanizing. Hence the need for the hallucinogenic Spice for interstellar navigation.
Thank you for the list. I need to fill in some of my proto-scifi and pre-Golden Age reading. Head over to Internet Archive for the public domain stuff ...
Honorable mention: Dune
A huge underlying part of the lore undergirding Dune is the Butlerian Jihad, where human society smashed overly powerful computers and technology because it had become too invasive and controlling, and, well, dehumanizing. Hence the need for the hallucinogenic Spice for interstellar navigation.
Thank you for the list. I need to fill in some of my proto-scifi and pre-Golden Age reading. Head over to Internet Archive for the public domain stuff ...
The Machine Stops was brilliant. As important a work of that period as Lord of the World.
Agree. I’ve read both. “Scientific romance” (as it was called) is a particular joy of mine, though these two books transcend that category.