As Margaret Atwood says, "In Other Worlds is not a catalogue of science fiction, grand theory about it, or a literary history of it. It is not a treatise, it is not definite, it is not exhaustive, it is not canonical. It is not the work of a practising academic or an official guardian of a body of knowledge. Rather it is an exploration of my own lifelong relationship with a literary form, or forms, or subforms, both as reader and as writer."

And that about sums it up. It's basically her personal experiences with the science fiction & speculative fiction genre - her experiences as a reader, a writer, and as a reviewer. A collection of lectures she's done it starts with her youth and her introduction to science fiction (before it was even called that) and her interactions with it as she started school. It goes on to discuss works in the genre done by other authors (my favorite being Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go). I have to say that though I really am not a fan of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, I liked her thoughts on it and maybe I was a bit impatient with it, but I doubt I'll read it again. There were some works discussed that I wasn't familiar with but will perhaps add to my to-read pile now. I didn't really care for the short shorts at the end, but do see how they fit in.

Overall, if you like the genre or are a fan of Margaret Atwood, I'd recommend this. Though they are lectures, there's a decidedly personal feel to it, as if you'd sat down to coffee with this amazing writer. There are some wonderful insights in this book, but it isn't for everyone.

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