The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin

[King Bob]

Hadn't read this since high school and it's pretty short so I gave it a go. I found it a little slow at first, but it got better as it went along. The story is about a guy who changes the world when he dreams, and an unscrupulous psychiatrist who decides to use him to remake the world as he thinks it should be. I had forgotten completely about the aliens, which is strange since they are crucial to the plot. Apparently I didn't read it very carefully the first time. And I think they left that out of the mini-series. (As I recall it was a BBC production, shown on PBS.)

Entertaining but not a masterpiece. So far I think her only great book is A Wizard of Earthsea (the rest of the trilogy is weak), but I haven't read The Dispossessed.

[Drunk Monk]

I remember that PBS adaptation.  It was kind of a big deal back then.  I remember there was that scene where he obliterates race so everyone is grey, but you can totally tell the different ethnicities just by their general facial features, which I thought was kinda dumb at the time.  

I was a fan of Earthsea but lost track of LeGuin when she started getting all Daoist.

[King Bob]

I think this books is kind of a riff on Daoism, that trying to improve the world ruins it. (Forgot which chapter of Tao Te Ching that is.) She opens at least one chapter with a Chuang Tzu (Is that the outdated spelling?) quote, which made me think I should read him.

[Drunk Monk]

Yeah, the title is a quote from Chuang Tzu, right?  

And yeah, it's Zhuangzi in pinyin but no one gives a rat's ass about pinyin except the PRC.

[King Bob]

Title from the Upanishads I think. If not that, then another source from India