Dune

In one sentence: Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction classic follows Paul Atreides as the Fremen crown him their prophesied messiah, "Lisan-al-Gaib" — and even once he can see straight through past, present, and future, he still can't stop the holy war he sets in motion.

Overview

Twenty thousand years in the future, humanity is ruled by noble houses under an emperor, and the whole interstellar order runs on "the spice," a substance found only on the desert planet Arrakis — home to the sandworm-riding Fremen, who've long awaited a prophesied savior called the Lisan-al-Gaib. The Emperor grants Arrakis's spice-mining rights to Duke Leto of House Atreides, while secretly conspiring with House Atreides's old rivals, House Harkonnen, to destroy them through a traitor, the Duke's own physician, Dr. Yueh. The Duke's son Paul and his mother Jessica, a member of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, escape and take refuge with the Fremen. Years later, Paul — through fighting skill and spice-amplified abilities — is seen by the Fremen as their prophet, and after drinking the Water of Life he gains full prescience, seeing past, present, and future at once. He leads the Fremen on sandworm-back against the combined Harkonnen and Imperial forces, wins, and takes the throne — only to realize that the bloody holy war he's just set in motion is one even he can't stop.

Why It's Recommended

This book earns its place by taking the psychology of messiah-worship and laying it out plainly. Paul himself knows he's "not all that," but that doesn't stop the Fremen from putting him on a pedestal anyway — the less a person wants to be deified, it turns out, the more likely they are to be. Paul eventually realizes the universe isn't just unknown, it's infinitely unknown: nobody can tame the infinite, and betting the fate of a whole people on an "infallible savior" is a fool's errand — even Paul, who can see straight through time, can't stop the disaster he sees coming. What makes the book land is that it doesn't stop at "the Fremen got fooled" — it asks why people keep reaching for someone they believe can fix everything, and why even Paul's closest allies hand over their free will the moment they get the chance, kneeling before him. The answer it offers isn't comforting: don't wait around for a savior to fix your life — take the extraordinary as inspiration, and go make the change yourself.

Source

Wisecrack's Thug Notes segment covers Dune in its 2014-07-15 episode, retelling the plot before landing its analysis on the trap of messiah narratives — in the video's words: "Paul pity the fool who think he, or anyone else, can control errything... Cuz they ain't nobody that can tame the infinite." (First published in 1965, winner of the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel and co-winner, with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal, of the Hugo Award for Best Novel the following year.)