Et cetera : What we're reading: Wool

It's an odd fact that most of what we know about our world comes from secondhand sources. So many people are contained within their small-town bubbles and rely on their faith in the news outlets and history books to tell them what the rest of the world is like. Of course, this isn't really a problem; these are secondhand sources, but they are for the most part reliable descriptions of the way things are.

What if that wasn't the case?

"Wool" by Hugh Howey is a dystopian science fiction book set in a massive underground silo after the outside world has been deemed uninhabitable by the government. The citizens spend their entire life in this claustrophobic metal tube. Many of the inhabitants are always watching a live camera feed of the plains outside, hoping to see some chance to return to a way of life they've never experienced. The main plot of the story revolves around the small society's growing distrust of the flow of information. It's a very dark and oppressive read, but the growing mystery kept me intrigued throughout the entire book.

The story has several themes, of course mostly revolving around the practicality of blind faith, but also talking about instinct and whether it's right to live a life so different from our ancestral roots. The end of the book wraps up the novel's mystery quite well but leaves ethical questions for you to interpret.

~Loren H., VPL Volunteer