"Take an asteroid at least thirty kilometers on its long axis," Kim Stanley Robinson suggests early on in 2312. "Any type will do--solid rock, rock and ice, metallic, even ice balls, although each presents different problems." If you can overcome those problems, though, Robinson's step-by-step guide will show you how to hollow that asteroid out, give it an atmosphere, gravity, and Earth-like environment, then put an engine at one end of your new terrarium and use it to tour the planets.

300 years in the future, mankind has set up homes across the solar system, from a city that rolls across the surface of Mercury, always ahead of the rising sun, to research outposts on the moon on Saturn. (It's a lot easier when that journey takes less than two weeks!) There are still 11 billion people on Earth, even though much of the land we know was lost to global warming--Manhattan is the new Venice--and many of the animals are now extinct. But some folks have a plan to turn things around... and others are plotting to game the solar system to their own benefit.

For nearly 30 years, Robinson has been one of our most provocative science fiction writers, using near-future scenarios to talk about the environmental and cultural issues that affect our world deeply. The interplanetary cast of 2312 isn't just racing to uncover a plot to destabilize political and economic relations between the planets; they're also grappling with what it means to be human when you can modify everything about your body type (including your gender) and quantum computers have become smart enough not just to carry on conversations, but treat us with sarcasm. 2312 is a Character Approved blockbuster where the science is as exciting as the fiction--together, they make for a fascinating glimpse into a world of possibility.

[Photo: SFXFuture Publishing Ltd ]