'No Other Planet synthesises astute theoretical analysis, bold imagination and an acute consciousness of the stakes for scholars writing about the climate crisis to engage readers in the transformative possibilities of utopian thought, art and action. Dispelling both tired dismissals of utopia as wishful thinking, and their counterpart in resigned fatalism, Mathias Thaler demonstrates how different utopian imaginations, in theory, in fiction and in the prefiguration of activism, can estrange, galvanise and caution those for whom the future seemed fixed by the past and present. In this sense, while never overstating the difference that theory can make in the face of our planet in peril, Thaler has written a book that allows his readers to recognise this one, only planet as one whose future our care, attention and imagination might make a difference.' Danielle Celermajer, The University of Sydney
'Thaler offers a challenging vision for our times in applying varying traditions of utopian enquiry to the prospect of imminent environmental catastrophe in the coming decades. Commencing from the premise that utopianism involves the 'education of a desire for being and living otherwise', he contends that this process demands re-imagining who we are and where we are going. No mere wishful thinkers or builders of castles in the sky, utopians vindicate the imagination in offering us visions of prospective alternative worlds which lift us beyond the constricting horizons of the everyday and suggest solutions to the deadly scenario looming before us. This is a provocative, refreshing, and welcome addition to the literature on utopianism, to current proposals about solving global warming, and to the revival of utopian thinking itself.' Gregory Claeys, University of London
'Our ecological predicament can seem overwhelmingly grim. Mathias Thaler's deeply thoughtful book shows what speculative fiction can bring to understanding present-day crises, and the desire and impetus for ecological hope. Thaler resists clean-cut, easy solutions. Instead, utopian studies, environmental humanities, and political theory meet in this brilliant exploration of the social and theoretical tensions that arise when there is nowhere else to go, and where the flourishing of the radical imagination, in all its diversity, depends on supporting rather than papering over the faultlines.' Davina Cooper, Kings College London
'an original piece of work that should be of considerable interest to scholars within and beyond political theory ... Thaler offers us some essential insights into how we might think the daunting future.' Duncan Bell, Centre for the Study of Governance & Society