Trying to Read Frank Herbert’s Dune

I think I’ve tried reading Frank Herbert’s Dune about a dozen times. I’m not sure why but for some reason, though, I’ve never made it all the way through. I keep trying though because it’s one of the classics of science fiction and the story is pretty interesting. I just don’t know why I have such trouble getting through it. I mean I’ve read plenty of books that weren’t very good and I didn’t really like but I pushed my way through and read to the end of those – so I’m not sure what the deal is.
In any case, I am determined to read the book in it’s entirety. And actually I don’t need to read it I can listen to it in audio form…so easy…

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The first minute of reading or listening though provides a hint as to why I might have had a difficult time getting through it in the past…

The prelude to the first chapter sets the stage for the vast events that are going on in the book but so much of it is confusing in those 6 sentences. There’s talk of Bene Gesserit sisters studying the life of Muad’Dib and an admonition to ensure we attend to the fact that his place is the planet Arrakis rather than where he was born, Caladan.

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These six sentences contain quite a bit of information that seems important but means only a little to someone who hasn’t read any further. Now, I’ve tried many times to read the book as I mentioned and I’ve seen the movie many times, but I’m not even sure I understand everything mentioned in those few sentences. So I’m thinking, if I can get a better understanding of things I might enjoy and understand the book more and be able to read all the way through.

Fortunately, not only have I seen the movie, so I have a good idea of what goes on in the book, but there is also a bunch of appendixes at the back that try to explain some of this stuff.

So starting with those six sentences I will try to make some sense of the beginning of the book.

The Bene Geserrit are an ancient school, of mostly women, who train in certain mental and physical disciplines. From the fact that they are studying this “Manual of Muad’Dib”, it seems they are also interested in history, whoever Muad’Dib is and his relation to Arrakis more than his ‘home’ planet of Caladan where he was born.

Arrakis is the primary setting of the book. It is also called Dune but I’m not sure at this point who calls it that, and to place it in space, it is the 3rd planet of the Canopus system. So based on this, I know that Muad’Dib, at least, can travel between the stars and go from Caladan, which is in the Delta Pavonis system to Arrakis. He’s also at least 15 years old since he lived on Caladan that long.

I figure we’ll learn a bunch about this Muad’Dib person as the story progresses, but looking in the glossary, it says muad’dib is a kangaroo mouse on Arrakis that is admired by the Fremen locals for being able to survive in the desert. I can only assume that Muad’Dib (capital M, capital D) is a person who can survive in the desert and is revered by the Fremen like this mouse.

The Fremen are the residents of Arrakis. They are remnants of the Zensaunni Wanderers who were a religious sect that broke from the teachings of Maometh, the “3rd Muhammad”. Oh, and since I forgot earlier, the Bene Geserrit were founded after the Butlerian Jihad which was a crusade against computers and robots. Apparently this war was faught with the goal of ensuring that no machine would be made in the likeness of the human mind.

So trying to tie these six sentences all together, it looks like Muad’Dib may be some kind of prophet for the Fremen who are 3rd iteration Muslims and the Bene Geserrit are studying this with particular attention to his role in Arrakis history and that of Shaddam IV, the emperor (of what, I’m not sure yet).

With so much information condensed into the first six sentences, it’s clear that this overload might be what has prevented me getting through the book in the past. Knowing this, and trying to document some of the details, will help me keep reading, I think.

In any case, I’m pumped continue reading and I’m motivated to get to the end and claim that achievement.