Frankenstein

Michael Arrington Founder/TechCrunchShelley wrote this book as a teenager, and most of us read it in high school. Often credited as the first science fiction novel. You can read just about any political viewpoint you want into the book, and there are strong undertones that technology isn’t all good. But what I get out of it is the creativeness that can come with solitude, and how new technology can be misunderstood, even perhaps by the creator (see Twitter). Key thing to remember: Frankenstein is the name of the scientist/creator, not the Monster. Everybody forgets that. (Source)

Adam Roberts Brian Aldiss has famously argued that science fiction starts with Mary Shelley’s novel, and many people have agreed with him. (Source)

Adam Roberts Brian Aldiss has famously argued that science fiction starts with Mary Shelley’s novel, and many people have agreed with him. (Source)

Mark O'Connell Does it speak directly to transhumanism? I think so. (Source)

Sarah Perry Shelley had no truck with modesty and restraint, or doing what was expected of her. She let her imagination go as far as it could. (Source)

Stella Tillyard At the beginning of the novel, Doctor Frankenstein creates a monster who lives like a human being and has the heart of a human being too. But the monster is unloved and unlovable and he becomes what we would call nowadays a sociopath. (Source)

Erica Jong We never give credit to the fact that women have started whole genres of fiction. (Source)

Nick Groom Frankenstein can be seen as an experiment—or almost a laboratory—that brings together science and literature…Frankenstein is very much a novel for the twenty-first century. Mary Shelley was trying to push the boundaries of science and technology. The details of the science have changed, but the big questions remain as important for us today as they were for her. (Source)