Crazy Guy on the Veldt

This is one book I have hunted for in bargain bins for almost 6 years

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. I 1st heard of this book from a short story ( The Day Before the Revolution) by Le Guin, it was about Odo during the days before the Great Strike which would eventually lead to the Revolution, sort of a prelude to the novel. I always wanted to know what happened to Laia Asieo Odo and her ideas.

Marvelous book. The point of view is totaly alien not because of some fundamental difference such as divergent chemistry or biology. The people of Annares are pretty much human. The "alien" feeling comes from their ideology. Which is ultimately depressing when you get to analysing it. Even now, having had time to think about it, I find it hard to actually grasp what Odonianism is although I know it's a form of anarcho-syndicalism, my capitalist grounded mindset refuses to accept even the possibility of such a society existing. People working for the common good of all, without any possession (even in their language any possessive case is absent or discouraged), no laws, no religion .... I'm stopping here before I burst into song.

How would you measure a man's worth and where would my place be in such a society?

Contrast also how Shevek felt and his feelings when he was among the Urrasti. He was the outsider looking in. And what he was looking into is a society obviously patterned on the West / U.S. i.e. our society (or what our society aspires to be) And here is where the ultimately depressing part comes in. His opinion on Urrastian ( our) society makes so much sense. I defy anyone to claim that they don't see the evils and injustices that Shevek describes in our very real world today.