LOVE FOR LIVRES

0610

More than 21,000 years in the future, humanity has settled on countless habitable planets, which are ruled by aristocratic Great Houses that owe allegiance to the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. Though many forms of science and technology have evolved greatly since the twentieth century, artificial intelligence and advanced computers are prohibited. Due to the absence of these technologies, humans have adapted their minds to become capable of extremely complex tasks, including mental computing, a task undertaken by trained Mentats. The powerful, matriarchal Bene Gesserit, who hope to further the human race through controlled breeding, and the Spacing Guild, which holds a legal monopoly on interstellar travel, both rely on the spice melange to facilitate their advanced mental abilities. The use of melange also improves general health, extends life and can bestow limited prescience....As melange can be found only on the desert planet Arrakis, it is extremely valuable and is often used as currency. The CHOAM corporation, whichdetermines the income and financial leverage of each Great House, controls allocation of melange. The Spacing Guild's Navigators depend on the prescience melange provides to safely plot the travels of their ships, called heighliners, enormous freighters capable of transporting people, goods, and non-interstellar spacecraft at faster than light speeds...