Vagabonds

While I have read many science fiction books about travel and exploration, few capture the thrill and confusion of being caught between cultures quite like Vagabonds. Part of what makes this book so special is how Hao, an economist, imagines far-future economies. In the novel, a hypercapitalist Earth is entirely based around the constant production, packaging, and selling of new ideas, while Mars is built around an archive freely accessible to all in society. Given the importance of archives to art and art history, the book truly captured my imagination in terms of what a truly comprehensive archive can look like and how access to information shapes culture and society.