Ahira's Hangar

The Green Brain by Frank Herbert

This is a science fiction novella first published in 1966, one year after the classic Dune. One of the big themes of Dune is, of course, ecology. In The Green Brain, Herbert explores ecology in another setting - the jungles of a future Brazil, on Earth. In this future Brazil, the humans are trying to eliminate all insects in an effort to decrease disease and increase food production (they will keep some bees around to pollinate the crops). Needless to say, this is an ecological disaster in the making. And the bugs find a rather unique way to fight back - they develop a group brain that is every bit as bright (or brighter) than the humans. But the Green Brain does not want to fight a war with humans - it wants to find a way to communicate with them, and get them to stop the destruction of the ecosystem that all life depends upon.

Herbert has some really interesting ideas here, but the short length of the work prevents him from fully developing them. He also does not fully develop the three main characters (a Brazilian who fights the bugs on the front line, a beautiful Irish entomologist who also acts as a seductive spy, and a Chinese scientist who helped eliminate insects in China with very bad results). I was particularly puzzled on what the Chinese man's motivations were, as he knew what happened in China was a disaster, yet still pushing for the destruction of insects in Brazil.

It was really interesting. But like I said, it seemed undeveloped. Given its close proximity in time to Dune, my guess would be that he was concentrating more on Dune and Dune Messiah in that time period.