Fifty Degrees Below

infobox Book |
name = Fifty Degrees Below
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Kim Stanley Robinson
illustrator =
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country = United States
language = English
series = Science in the Capital
genre = Hard science fiction novel
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release_date = 2005
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media_type = Print (Paperback)
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isbn = ISBN 0-553-80312-3
preceded_by = Forty Signs of Rain
followed_by = Sixty Days and Counting

"Fifty Degrees Below" (2005) is the second book in the hard science fiction "Science in the Capital" trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. It directly follows the events of "Forty Signs of Rain", with a greater focus on character Frank Vanderwal, and his decision to remain at the National Science Foundation, following the earlier novel’s superstorm and devastating flood of Washington DC.

Major Themes

In the novel (p. 99), Robinson discusses paleolithic activities that human beings should return to in order to give us happiness, as our brains are hard-wired to enjoy such things:

* walking
* throwing things at things
* having sex
* dealing with the opposite sex
* looking at fire
* talking
* running
* dancing
* singing
* stalking animals
* gathering plants to eat
* cooking and eating
* killing animals for food
* experiencing terror

At a lecture on the Chicago Humanities Festival (Nov 5, 2007) Robinson added a few more:
* making your bed
* looking at the moon

Other major theme looks at possible mitigation efforts that could be undertaken to restore the climate mainly focusing on an international effort to restart the stalled Gulf Stream.