Will I love Cat's Cradle?

I read this book decades ago and although I never forgot how it startled me, I had forgotten the basic plot and premise. It made me recognize that the power of a compelling book is the feelings you remember, not necessarily the plot.

I love the fact that this book intertwines humor and satire around subjects of religion, weapons of mass destruction, and human indifference and indolence. I love that it, sadly, also has parallels to the world we currently live in.

Good satire never grows irrelevant, and Cat’s Cradle is as relevant (and funny) today as it was when it was written.

I love Vonnegut’s style of blending an intensely serious topic (doomsday, brought on by human invention) with his trademark wit. He is my favorite author because he takes an outlandish premise and imbues it with humanity–people caring for one another, banding together, unleashing something outside of their control, etc. 

I love Vonnegut because he always brings the big beating heart. His trademark wit and critique are also in full swing as we travel to a recently exploited Caribbean island nation and witness the aftermath of the bizarre religion imposed there.

The book’s infamous MacGuffin of Ice-nine is outrageous and terrifying. Switching endlessly back and forth between emotionally vibrant and darkly amusing, this book is always a favorite re-read.

This book was my introduction to Kurt Vonnegut. I marvel at the author’s genius in bringing together science and religion, two of the most profound subjects known to mankind, in such a playful way.

The unsentimental objectivity of science (and scientists) and a ‘perfect’ religion, whose greatest act of faith is to look at itself with a rather jaundiced eye, join hands to expertly manoeuvre, explain and let chaos be. It is the kind of hilariousness that makes you gaze into space rather than fall out of your chair.

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I re-read this book about the end of the world so that Joe and I could talk about it on our podcast, Re-Creative. It’s my favorite Kurt Vonnegut novel, filled with savage observations about the stupidity of human nature, all the while being so compassionate towards the characters – even the ones making bad decisions.

It’s the kind of satire and science fiction I aim to create myself. And if you’re only going to read one Vonnegut book, this should be it! 

The technology that features in this book is more of a single-edged sword and a sharply-edged one at that, but it is one of my favorite fictional science tales of all time. Hilarious and devastating, it showcases the very worst of carelessness.

In Cat’s Cradle, a brilliant scientist has created a catastrophic substance simply because he could. Upon his death, he left a sample of it to each of his three children and as our narrator tries to keep track of these deadly samples, he becomes entangled in their absurd lives along the way.

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I could include any of Vonnegut’s smart and darkly funny books on this list. This one satirizes science, technology, and the arms race. Vonnegut also presciently touches on an allegory for climate change. My very favorite facet of this novel is the commentary on the purpose of religion. “Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either” remains one of my favorite quotes ever.

Kurt Vonnegut is my favorite writer of political fiction because he makes me laugh, even as he describes a totally screwed-up world. He grounds the reader in an absurd reality and then has his characters either ignore this reality or overcome it through bizarre means. Vonnegut is intolerant of greed and selfishness and violence, making all of these seem absurd in the extreme, then he takes us back through his sublimely creative fiction to simple truths. He gives his readers a wonderful gift: hope based ultimately on our humanness, humility, and sense of humor. 

Ice-nine is a substance that freezes any liquid water into more ice-nine, created for military use, and so obviously overpowered and out of control that any actual use of it would mean the end of the world as we know it. But humans, being the stupid, greedy beings that we are, will find a way...

Vonnegut wrote this novel in 1963 yet it remains as grimly relevant to the world of today. A true classic.