Hothouse

I don't usually read science fiction but this book caught my eye, Hothouse by Brian Aldiss it's possibly the strangest thing I have ever read. Despite it's title and theme it's not actually related to the global warming predicament, it was written in the 1960's and is set several million years in the future as the sun is expanding into a supernova before it eventually burns out. Naturally down on earth it's very hot but the plants love it, they love it so much infact that colossal banyan trees grow to the size of continents.

Very little animal or insect life has survived and the plants have become very nasty and aggressive in their fierce competition for nutrients. Humans have survived but only just, and have evolved to be much smaller with green skin and live amongst the branches of the giant trees in a very primitive existence. But a series of events including a giant spongy spider like vegetable that can float to the moon and back and some killer seaweed, eventually lead to one of the humans ending up with a all knowing mind controlling fungus growing on his head. Eventually with the help of a creepy talking land fish they come to know their fate.

My favourite line is "After all you are the first fungus to solve the riddle of the universe" after a few chapters of this book a comment like that doesn't even seem slightly absurd.