Reading Order of The Culture

I’ve generated a reading order dependency graph for books in Iain M. Banks’ unsurpassable Sci-Fi classic, the Culture series. The idea is that if there’s an arrow from book A to book B, then to get the most possible enjoyment from either A or B, A should be read before B.

Above is the graph, and right here is the vizgraph description file that lists my rationale for each dependency.

• Consider Phlebas before Look to Windward— both are about the Idiran War. The events of Consider Phlebas happen first and are important both for familiarity and for putting LtW into some emotional context.
• Use of Weapons before The State of the Art— these share a main character in Diziet Sma. SotA was actually released before UoW but in my opinion is more satisfying if read after it.
• Use of Weapons before Inversions— UoW gives the best idea of any book about what Special Circumstances is, which must be understood to fully appreciate Inversions in all its subtlety.
• Excession before The Hydrogen Sonata— Hydrogen Sonata is dual to Excession in many ways that can’t be explained here without abject spoilage. This one is not a hard rule, but HS is better if you know Excession.
• Excession before Matter— GSV Sleeper Service is mentioned in Matter as “The granddaddy, the exemplary hero figure, the very God…”, referencing events in Excession.
• Use of Weapons before Surface Detail— you must know who Zakalwe is, the main character of UoW, to fully appreciate the ending of Surface Detail.
• Look to Windward before Surface Detail— These books deal with common themes and subjects. Some will disagree with me here, but LtW is more impactful without certain knowledge revealed in Surface Detail.

Assuming one agrees with the graph, the set of ideal reading orders (that is, the set such that for all orders it contains, no order exists which is strictly better) is the set of topological sorts of the graph.

This gives the number of possible ideal orders as 63840. That’s a lot of good ways to do it!