Dune, by Frank Herbert

Reviewed by: The Goose

In writing the first draft of this review I came to a realization and it was this: My interpretation of Dune is colored by the fact that I have read almost the entire body of Herbert’s work. I’ve read just about everything he ever wrote. Books and stories that most haven’t even heard of. So, the ideas and themes that are mere seeds in Dune appear to me as full-grown. At first I tried to dissociate those insights from the review and tried to look at it from the view of the first reading. Quite predictably that was impossible. So as you read this and say to yourself ‘Where the heck does The Goose get THAT from,’ remember that I am forced to draw my ideas from ALL that Herbert wrote.

Besides being concerned with society, culture, environment and science Herbert is most interested in Sentience. Where it derives from how it develops, how it is handicapped and finally what it is. At first glance (read) you might say ‘where is this dialectic or discussion?’ Dune is a story on a grand scale. An empire millennia in the future. An oppressed people. A commodity of vast value and importance. A noble family. The most nefarious villain we can imagine. A jihad on a galactic scale. Fantastic creatures of the desert called Sand Worms. But nowhere is there a theme, a concern with sentience!

And I ask you: “Are you sure?”

For all its concern with politics and revolution and culture, who are the people that drive this story? There are the Mentat. Humans trained, from infancy, to be smarter and faster than an XMP. Guild Navigators who, with their minds, drive the great highliners safely through the galaxy. Bene Gesserit, women who strive, study, and meditate to bring mind, body and soul into harmony. Finally, the mythical Kwizatz Haderach a man of such mental strength, such total consciousness that he can see the past in his mind’s eye and so doing glimpse the varied paths of the future.

And this universe created on the premise of the Butlerian Jihad. A jihad in which the old technocracy is overthrown and outlawed. A species’ epiphany when it discovers that machines (computers) are a crutch. ‘Thou shalt not build a machine in the likeness of the human mind.’

So I ask again, “are you sure Herbert isn’t concerned with intelligence, with the mind, with human sentience?” It isn’t overt and it isn’t the major strand of this work, but it is the major concern of his entire body of work, and it started here.

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Dune is a great adventure. Follow family Atreides from Caladan, to Arrakis-Dune, Desert Planet. A planet on the edge of civilization yet more important than the Emperor’s own.

Meet the Fremen, a wild, untamed people who have great integrity and courage. Discover the Harkonnens – a most despicable and treacherous enemy.

Let’s not forget the Bene Gesserit. Working behind the scenes on their own agenda for generations. Or the Guild Navigators, dependent on Melange not only to guide the ships through space but for their lives.

In the middle of all this, a young man named Paul.

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Dune was first published as three novellas: “Dune”, “Muad’Dib”, and “The Prophet” in 1965. Shortly thereafter it was bound into a single volume and promptly won both the Nebula and the Hugo; Science Fiction’s most prestigious awards.

If you want to read more about this world read the rest of the series: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapter House Dune.

For those of you feeling brave enough to challenge Goose on his ideas, check out these titles: Destination Void, and The Jesus Incident. These are not easy reads and more than likely you won’t like or understand them very well the first time. These are the books where Herbert tried to tackle sentience head-on. Not an easy task.

If you took Blind Monkey’s suggestion and read The Dosadi Experiment then follow Xorj X. McKie in Whipping Star and “The Careful Saboteur” a short story in the collection The Worlds of Frank Herbert.

Hardcover (December 1965) Tor Books; ISBN: 0312850581; Dimensions (in inches): 1.15 x 9.48 x 6.43