Religious fervor, inner monologues, the Guild, concubines in history. For someone with limited visual imagination, I might recommend watching the movie prior, actually, despite all impulses to the contrary.

Wish there was more "St. Alia of the Knife"

Some serendipitous or synchronistic stuff happened with this book. My friend Jordan mentioned it in a passing conversation to me back in 2018 and I put it on my to-read list. Then my uncle was clearing out books from his house during COVID-19 and this happened to be one of them, so I asked to have it since I'd have time to do some extra reading. Then an acquaintance of mine mentioned that he started reading it and I said that I also happened to just get a copy of it and we could do a sort of book club together about it. He said he actually was in a book club about it through his company and I asked if I could be allowed to join. I was allowed. And it was my first experience of this type of book club. I enjoyed the discussions and people's perspectives and questions about the book. I got to know new people through this type of interaction--people I likely wouldn't have met otherwise. I'm now joining book club for the next book (White Fragility) and looking forward to it!

In parts of this book, I wanted more description of the items being talked about so I could visualize them better. There was sort of a dryness to some of the description, but maybe that's so people could make things up in their own minds. I guess I'm comparing this to descriptiveness found in Harry Potter books. Also, some of the dialogue seemed disjointed to me. Like we were supposed to get to here and then three steps further between each comment. Maybe that was just me not following well enough?

"'Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.'
'Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind,' Paul quoted." pg. 17

"Even as she spoke, Jessica laughed inwardly at the pride behind her words. What was it St. Augustine said? she asked herself. 'The mind commands the body and it obeys. The mind orders itself and meets resistance.' Yes--I am meeting more resistance lately. I could use a quiet retreat by myself." pg. 85

"'Can you remember your first taste of spice?'
'It tasted like cinnamon.'
'But never twice the same,' he said. 'It's like life--it presents a different face each time you take it. Some hold that the spice produces a learned-flavor reaction. The body, learning a thing is good for it, interprets the flavor as pleasurable--slightly euphoric. And, like life, never to be truly synthesized.'" pg. 103

"Seeing all the chattering faces, Paul was suddenly repelled by them. They were cheap masks locked on festering thoughts--voices gabbling to drown out the loud silence in every breast." pg. 209

"Remembering the letter, Paul re-experienced the distress of that moment--a thing sharp and strange that seemed to happen outside his new mental alertness. He had read that his father was dead, known the truth of the words, but had felt them as no more than another datum to be entered in his mind and used. 
I loved my father, Paul thought, and knew this for truth. I should mourn him. I should feel something.
But he felt nothing except: Here's an important fact.
It was one with all the other facts.
All the while his mind was adding sense impressions, extrapolating, computing." pg. 306

"'You and the spice,' Paul said. 'The spice changes anyone who gets this much of it, but thanks to you, I could bring the change to consciousness. I don't get to leave it in the unconscious where its disturbance can be blanked out. I can see it.'" pg. 318

"Paul remained standing for another eyeblink. A faint anomaly in the room's air currents told him there was a secret exit to their right behind the filing cabinets." pg. 357

"Paul remained standing for another eyeblink. A faint anomaly in the room's air currents told him there was a secret exit to their right behind the filing cabinets." pg. 357

"Paul nodded, fighting an abrupt reluctance to move. He knew its cause, but found no help in the knowledge. Somewhere this night he had passed a decision-nexus into the deep unknown. He knew the time-area surrounding them, but the here-and-now existed as a place of mystery. It was a though he had seen himself from a distance go out of sight down into a valley. Of the countless paths up out of that valley, some might carry a Paul Atreides back into sight, but many would not." pg. 366

"'Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear's path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.'" pg. 370

"Words from the Orange Catholic Bible rang through his memory: 'What senses do we lack that we cannot see or hear another world all around us?'" pg. 391

"'Whether a thought is spoken or not it is a real thing and it has power,' Tuek said. 'You might find the line between life and death among the Fremen to be too sharp and quick.'" pg. 414

"Paul knew with his memory of the future in the past that some chance-lines could produce a meeting with Halleck, but the reunions were few and shadowed. They puzzled him. The uncertainty factor touched him with wonder. Does it mean that something I  will do . . . that I may do, could destroy Gurney . . . or bring him back to life . . . or. . .." pg. 507

"With the admiration came the realization that here was truly a thing to fear.
That which makes a man superhuman is terrifying." pg. 544 [Feyd-Rautha's gladiator battle]

"The thought hung in her mind, an enclosing awareness. 
And I say: 'Look! I have no hands!' But the people all around me say: 'What are hands?'" pg. 582 [Jessica's Water Changing]

"'What do you see?' he demanded.
'I see us giving love to each other in a time of quiet between storms. It's what we were meant to do.'
The drug had him again and he thought: So many times you've given me comfort and forgetfulness. He felt anew the hyperillumination with its high-relief imagery of time, sensed his future becoming memories--the tender indignities of physical love, the sharing and communion of selves, the softness and the violence.
'You're the strong one, Chani,' he muttered. 'Stay with me.'
'Always,' she said, and kissed his cheek." pg. 587

"Somewhere, in a world not-of-the-dream, there was a hint of motion, the cry of a nightbird.
I dream, Paul reassured himself. It's the spice meal.
Still, there was about him a feeling of abandonment. He wondered if it might be possible that his ruh-spirit had slipped over somehow into the world where the Fremen believed he had his true existence--into the alam al-mitha, the world of similitudes, that metaphysical realm where all physical limitations were removed. And he knew fear at the thought of such a place, because removal of all limitations meant removal of all points of reference. In the landscape of a myth he could not orient himself and say: 'I am I because I am here.'" pg. 619

"Another element of the incident forced itself into her awareness: she had thought of coffee and it had appeared. There was nothing of telepathy here, she knew. It was the tau, the oneness of the sietch community, a compensation from the subtle poison of the spice diet they shared. The great mass of the people could never hope to attain the enlightenment the spice seed brought to her; they had not been trained and prepared for it. Their minds rejected what they could not understand or encompass. Still they felt and reacted sometimes like a single organism.
And the thought of coincidence never entered their minds." pg. 637

"Paul said: 'There is in each of us an ancient force that takes and an ancient force that gives. A man finds little difficulty facing that place within himself where the taking force dwells, but it's almost impossible for him to see into the giving force without changing into something other than man. For a woman, the situation is reversed.' . . .
'These things are so ancient within us,' Paul said, 'that they're ground into each separate cell of our bodies. We're shaped by such forces. You can say to yourself, 'Yes, I see how such a thing may be.' But when you look inward and confront the raw force of your own life unshielded, you see your peril. You see that this could overwhelm you. The greatest peril to the Giver is the force that takes. The greatest peril to the Taker is the force that gives. It's as easy to be overwhelmed by giving as by taking.'" pg. 722

"He seemed too submissive to Paul, but then the Sardaukar had never been prepared for such happenings as this day. They'd never known anything but victory which, Paul realized, could be a weakness in itself. He put that thought aside for later consideration in his own training program." pg. 761

"'Water from the sky,' Stilgar whispered.
In that instant, Paul saw how Stilgar had been transformed from the Fremen naib to a creature of the Lisan al-Gaib, a receptacle for awe and obedience. It was a lessening of the man, and Paul felt the ghost-wind of the jihad in it.
I have seen a friend become a worshiper, he thought." pg. 762

"'How would you like to live billions upon billions of lives?' Paul asked. 'There's a fabric of legends for you! Think of all those experiences, the wisdom they'd bring. But wisdom tempers love, doesn't it? And it puts a new shape on hate. How can you tell what's ruthless unless you've plumbed the depths of both cruelty and kindness? You should fear me, Mother. I am the Kwisatz Haderach.'" pg. 764

"'Much that was called religion has carried an unconscious attitude of hostility toward life. True religion must teach that life is filled with joys pleasing to the eye of God, that knowledge without action is empty. All men must see that the teaching of religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax. The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you've always known.'" pg. 818 

"With such a tradition, suffering is accepted--perhaps as unconscious punishment, but accepted. And it's well to note that Fremen ritual gives almost complete freedom from guilt feelings. This isn't necessarily because their law and religion were identical, making disobedience a sin. It's likely closer to the mark to say they cleansed themselves of guilt easily because their everyday existence required brutal judgments (often deadly) which in a softer land would burden men with unbearable guilt." pg. 822-823

"Mentats were the precursors of Star Trek's Spock, First Officer of the starship Enterprise . . . and Frank Herbert described the dangers of thinking machines back in the 1960s, years before Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator movies." pg. 879

"Among the most unusual humans to spring from Frank Herbert's imagination, the women of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood have a collective memory--a concept based largely upon the writings and teaching of Carl Gustav Jung, who spoke of a 'collective unconscious,' that supposedly inborn set of 'contents and modes of behavior' possessed by all human beings." pg. 879

"In the massive piles of books he read to research Dune, he recalled reading somewhere that ecology was the science of understanding consequences. This was not his original concept, but as he learned from Ezra Pound, he 'made it new' and put it in a form that was palatable to millions of people. With a worldview similar to that of an American Indian, Dad saw western man inflicting himself on the environment, not living in harmony with it." pg. 880

Book: from the Fungs' collection.

Shelved as to-read (a different edition): May 6, 2018 and Sept 25, 2019.

Personally not a book I would pick up myself, but my partner insisted I try it. It can be hard to follow at times with the world-building and tons of characters, google was really helpful with that. Overall it's a good story, bringing you with Paul and his family to this new world and having to deal with the new culture and trying not to die. There is betrayal and new loyalties that need to be formed. I know that it is the first in a series but the ending was super satisfying, Herbert seems to be the type of writer that makes you infer a lot from what he has said, and what he hasn't. There was also some needed time jumps that you don't understand happen until way late; it would be nice if they were more plainly written.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I think it's actually worthy of being one of the founder's of modern sci fi. The concepts were and are still fresh, the world is different, and the Fremen culture and how well it's developed is actually pretty good. It did a pretty good job of pacing, introducing the world and its concepts, and keeping me interested in what was going on with Paul.

However, as you can probably already tell from my rating, there is a big "BUT" coming.

It did a good job introducing concepts, BUT the fact that the appendix gave me insights that were not made available in the main text was frustrating. I shouldn't have to flip to the back to find out exactly what a baliset is (especially in a third person omniscient POV). Similarly, an ornithopter. I figured it was just like a helicopter until I get to the appendix and found out it was basically a helicopter that moved in the fashion of a bird (rather than a rotating blade). An appendix should be to refer back to only, in case you forget something (not uncommon in books with a lot of heavy world building), and not as a sole source of information.

I love how deep and interesting the new societies and cultures are, BUT it never ceases to amaze me that male writers can envision entirely new worlds, new societies, new environments, new histories, new everything, but literally cannot fathom a world that doesn't treat women like property or treat the women who have broken away from men (ie: Bene Gesserit) like evil witches. And there seems to be a large paradox in this story that it doesn't realize. The Bene Gesserit are sagely and wise enough to use as truthsayers/trusted advisors, but literally every man everywhere who talks about them are like: EVIL WITCHES! SORCERESSES HISSSSSSS!

Um, what? How can they achieve titles like "Reverend Mother" that people outside of the Bene Gesserit respect/acknowledge, but then simultaneously be called evil witches? That's like respecting Nuns and seeking their advice/guidance on spiritual manners, but then turning around and calling them satanic whores. It's like Herbert couldn't keep his own misogyny from seeping into the pages/dialogue. Or perhaps it's reflective of the fact that the men realize they can't control the Bene Gesserit, so chose instead to try to exploit them and get mad when they can't, which might fit the narrative better, but generally speaking, it's not handled well. Plus, even though Dune passes the Bechdel test (barely), the women don't have any agency. Chani and Jessica just bob along doing whatever the men around them tell them to do.

I think the world is deep, but some things are not well explained. It seems very obvious the Emperor decided to help the Harkonnens get rid of Duke Leto. But then Princess Irulan says that the Emperor was very upset to hear the duke had died? But why? I also don't understand the feud between Harkonnens and Atreides or how the baron was able to "legally" get rid of the Atreides without facing any backlash? I know these things are touched on and hinted at, but I wish it would have been spelled out better.

Speaking of spelling out, I really don't need to hear the inner thoughts of all the characters in a scene, especially when it starts to become very back and forth. Having Paul go "OH NO, what is she doing?" And having Jessica being like "Come on, Paul, I'm spelling it out for you. Don't you get that I'm hinting at XYZ?" And Paul being like "Ohh, I get it now. She's being subtle and hinting at XYZ. Ah-h-h-h, so clever!"

I thought the baron was a relatively good villain, but Herbert didn't need to harp on his fatness all the time and point out how "disgusting" he was. Not to mention, making him gay. Instead of adding to his character, these things just seemed to be used to "add" to his villainy. Oh NO! He's FAT and GAY. That makes him even MORE evil.

While I think Herbert did a good job of constructing a story, he didn't do a good job at getting me invested in his characters. Yes, I kept reading because I wanted to see what happened, but I didn't care much if Paul or anyone else died. Except maybe Gurney/Hawat. I felt more attached to them than any of the other characters. I started to become attached to Paul, but as he became less and less of a normal person and more of the Kwisatz Haderach person (I don't even care if I spelled it wrong, lol), I could relate to him less and less. Not to mention, as the story progressed, Herbert focused a lot less on character building and more on just world/plot building. So when Leto II died, I just shrugged and moved on.

Overall, I wish goodreads had a fractional rating system. Because I don't feel like this is a 3, but it's not a four either. More like a 3.5 - 3.7. I think it's a good read, but its age definitely shows.

I’ll be honest, the first time I tried to read Dune I did not finish. However, I picked it up again before part one of the adaptation came out and it clicked. I love the world building and political intrigue. While Paul is not the most interesting protagonist by today’s standards I really like that he isn’t just the typical chosen one savior MC. It feels more like he is fighting a losing battle against an inevitable future and it added a lot of drama for me at least.

I recently reread with an audiobook and it made me want to read further on in the series. I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants to give the book a shot but is intimidated by its reputation for being dense and hard to read. The audiobook is produced very well with multiple readers to do voices and some music between chapters and during important moments.