The more things change …

Davis author Kim Stanley Robinson takes us three centuries into the future to find we’re still facing the big question: Can humanity survive itself? In the well-explored and terraformed solar system of 2312 (Orbit, $25.99), wealth is still concentrated in the hands of a few, and we’re still running out of room, plus Earth is a mess. Swan Er Hong, an odd resident of Mercury who’s fond of weird performance art and exists in near-autistic social isolation, finds herself in the middle of a mystery that involves eco-terrorism (on Mercury, Venus and Earth) and that forces her to develop some new relationship skills as she moves from inner system to outer. Best of all, Robinson makes the science readily understandable while keeping the human issues up front.