I had only vaguely heard of Dune before I decided to add it to my reading list. Well, I had heard of it as this classic science fiction novel, but I did not know anything about it, nor the whole culture around it. For the first time in a while a classic has really lived up to it's billing, this is a really great book.

Dune is long in terms of page count and complex in terms of invented culture and logos, but ultimately it was not long or detailed enough to satisfy me. Don't get me wrong, I was satisfied with the book, but there is so much more that could have been added just to fill in more details. I am definitely going to add the next couple books in the series to my list.

Here is a science fiction book that does not rely too heavily on just the novelty of the future or technology to carry the story. Sure, most of the story revolves around things that do not exist today, at least to a first approximation. However, the majority of the book is metaphorically the same as all of human history including today. There are struggles over power, there are resources that some have and some do not, there are flawed and complex people, there exists ignorance and bigotry, love and war. These are all themes you can relate to even if they happen to be personified in sandpeople 8000 years in the future on a planet that is not earth.