Frank Herbert (1920–1986)
Author of Dune
About the Author
Frank Herbert was born Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. in Tacoma, Washington on October 8, 1920. He worked originally as a journalist, but then turned to science fiction. His Dune series has had a major impact on that genre. Some critics assert that Herbert is responsible for bringing in a new branch show more of ecological science fiction. He had a personal interest in world ecology, and consulted with the governments of Vietnam and Pakistan about ecological issues. The length of some of Herbert's novels also helped make it acceptable for science fiction authors to write longer books. It is clear that, if the reader is engaged by the story---and Herbert certainly has the ability to engage his readers---length is not important. As is usually the case with popular fiction, it comes down to whether or not the reader is entertained, and Herbert is, above all, an entertaining and often compelling writer. His greatest talent is his ability to create new worlds that are plausible to readers, in spite of their alien nature, such as the planet Arrakis in the Dune series. Frank Herbert died of complications from pancreatic cancer on February, 11, 1986, in Madison, Wisconsin. He was 65. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
Please do not combine with the art historian Herbert Frank (1909-1979) (pseud. Frank Andermann)
Series
Works by Frank Herbert
The Dune Collection: Dune / Dune Messiah / Children of Dune / God Emperor of Dune / Heretics of Dune / Chapterhouse… (2012) 338 copies, 4 reviews
Four Complete Novels: Whipping Star / The Dosadi Experiment / The Santaroga Barrier / Soul Catcher (1984) 119 copies
The Dune Collection Box Set: Dune / Dune Messiah / Children of Dune / God Emperor of Dune (1990) 47 copies
Four Unpublished Novels: High-Opp, Angel's Fall, A Game of Authors, A Thorn in the Bush (2016) 14 copies
The Dosadi Experiment and The Eyes of Heisenberg: Two Classic Works of Science Fiction (2017) 14 copies
Dyyni. Kolmas osa : Profeetta / suomentanut Anja Toivonen ; [suomennoksen tarkistanut: Ari Koskinen] 8 copies
Dyyni. Kolmas osa : Profeetta 7 copies
Dyyni. Kolmas osa : Profeetta 7 copies
Classic Science Fiction Stories by Frank Herbert (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (2009) 6 copies
Die Leute von Santaroga, Das große Abenteuer des Mutanten (Unterwegs in die Welt von morgen) (1991) 6 copies
Ein Cyborg fällt aus / Adam, einer von uns / Das Evangelium nach Lump. Drei Science Fiction Romane in einem Band. (1987) 6 copies
Dyyni. Toinen osa : Muad'Dib 5 copies
Dyyni. Toinen osa : Muad'Dib 5 copies
Dyyni. Toinen osa : Muad'Dib 5 copies
Dune Genesis 5 copies
Worlds Beyond Dune: The Eyes of Heisenberg / The Dosad Experiment / The Godmakers / Whipping Star / Destination Void (1980) 4 copies
Dyyni. Kolmas osa : Profeetta 4 copies
O factor de ascensão - vol. 2 3 copies
Die Leute von Santaroga / Das Orakel der Fremden / Herrscher der Galaxis. Drei Science Fiction-Romane in einem Band. (1986) 3 copies
O efeito Lázaro - vol. 2 3 copies
A Praga branca - vol 2 3 copies
Dune 1 2 copies
Egg And Ashes 2 copies
Mântuitorul Dunei 2 copies
Дюна 1 copy
תחיית המתים 1 copy
Dune: Der Wüstenplanet 1 1 copy
Dune vol 1 1 copy
Împăratul Zeu Al Dunei 1 copy
Children of Dune: Episode 2 — Original author — 1 copy
Copiii Dunei 2 1 copy
DUNE_EDIZIONE TIE IN 1 copy
Dyyni. Toinen osa, Muad'Dib 1 copy
M©Øntuitorul dunei 1 copy
Dune Collector - tome 3 : Les Enfants de Dune: Collector - Dune - tome 3 : Les Enfants de Dune 1 copy
The Prophet of Dune 1 copy
Das Haus unseres Glücks 1 copy
Dűne 05 - A Dűne eretnekei 1 copy
Os Arquitectos do Cosmos 1 copy
ذرَّية كثيب 1 copy
Frogs and Scientists 1 copy
The Daddy Box 1 copy
The Cage 1 copy
Dune Chronicles - Books 1-8 1 copy
A Matter of Traces 1 copy
The Illegitimate Stage 1 copy
Cease Fire 1 copy
Dune / 1 1 copy
Dune 2 1 copy
You Take The High Road 1 copy
All Books by this Author 1 copy
Nightmare Blues 1 copy
The Chronicles of Dune (Dune (1), Dune Messiah (2), Children of Dune (3), Heretics of Dune (5)) 1 copy, 1 review
THE DUNE TRILOGY SOUNDBOOK (CASSETTE 1; BANQUET SCENE 2. SANDWORMS OF DUNE 3, BATTLES OF DUNE 4 , TRUTHES OF DUNE) (1999) 1 copy
The Heat’s On 1 copy
The Iron Maiden 1 copy
O Factor de Ascensão 1 1 copy
Dune, 2e partie 1 copy
Ciuma alb♯: un abominabil act terorist ¿i teribilele lui consecin¿Đe pentru specia uman♯: roman (1994) 1 copy
A Praga Branca I Livro 1 1 copy
デューン 砂の惑星 (4) 1 copy
A Lesson in History 1 copy
Herbert Frank 1 copy
The Yellow Coat 1 copy
The Wrong Cat 1 copy
Wilfred 1 copy
The Waters of Kan-E 1 copy
Public Hearing 1 copy
Paul’s Friend 1 copy
The Little Window 1 copy
Dune vol 2 1 copy
Associated Works
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune [2003 TV mini series] (2003) — Screenwriter — 162 copies, 4 reviews
The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2000) — Contributor — 94 copies, 2 reviews
Science Fiction Today and Tomorrow: A Discursive Symposium (1974) — Contributor — 93 copies, 2 reviews
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact: Vol. XCVI, No. 1 (January 1976) (1976) — Contributor — 37 copies
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 38: Anthology of Award-Winning Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Stories (2022) — Contributor — 35 copies, 8 reviews
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact: Vol. XCVI, No. 2 (February 1976) (1976) — Contributor — 32 copies, 1 review
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact: Vol. XCIX, No. 2 (February 1979) (1979) — Contributor — 26 copies
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact: Vol. XCVI, No. 3 (March 1976) (1976) — Contributor — 25 copies, 1 review
Maailma mielen mukaan : yksitoista tieteisnovellia kolmeltatoista sci-fi -sarjan kirjailijalta (1986) — Contributor — 22 copies, 1 review
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact: Vol. XCVIII, No. 12 (December 1978) (1978) — Author — 20 copies
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact: Vol. LXXVII, No. 6 (August 1966) (1966) — Contributor — 18 copies
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact: Vol. LXXXV, No. 2 (April 1970) (1970) — Contributor — 15 copies
Analog Science Fact/Science Fiction: Vol. LXXII, No. 5 (January 1964) (1964) — Contributor — 11 copies
Analog Science Fact/Science Fiction: Vol. LXXII, No. 6 (February 1964) (1964) — Contributor — 11 copies
Analog Science Fact/Science Fiction: Vol. LXXIV, No. 5 (January 1965) (1965) — Contributor — 10 copies
ULLSTEIN 2000 SF STORIES 10 — Contributor — 2 copies
ANALOG - Science Fiction Science Fact - Volume 96, number 1, 2, 3, 4 - January Jan February Feb March April 1976:… — Contributor — 2 copies
Children of Dune: Episode 1: Messiah — Original author — 1 copy
Thrilling Science Fiction, December 1973 — Contributor — 1 copy
Children of Dune: Episode 3 — Original author — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Herbert, Franklin Patrick, Jr.
- Birthdate
- 1920-10-08
- Date of death
- 1986-02-11
- Burial location
- cremated
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Tacoma, Washington, USA
- Place of death
- Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Cause of death
- Pulmonary embolism
- Places of residence
- Tacoma, Washington, USA (birth)
Hawaii, USA
Washington, USA
Madison, Wisconsin, USA (death) - Education
- University of Washington (no degree)
- Occupations
- journalist
editor
writer
author
novelist
photographer - Relationships
- Herbert, Brian (son)
- Organizations
- United States Navy
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
University of Washington (lecturer) - Awards and honors
- SF Hall Of Fame (Posthumous Inductee, 2006)
- Short biography
- Né le 8 octobre 1920 au Etats-Unis à Tacoma dans l’état de Washington et mort le 11 février 1986 . Franck Patrick Herbert commence à publier de la science fiction en 1952 dans Starling stories. Le succès arrive en 1955 avec la publication de son premier roman « UNDER PRESSURE » dans Astounding magazine.Homme de science, il a effectué des recherches dans divers domaines tel que la géologie sous-marine, la botanique des régions tropicales , la psychologie , l’ethnologie…
En tant qu’expert , il a participé à l’instruction de pilotes de la NASA. Il a aussi enseigné a l’université de Seattle.Avant son décès , il vivait à Port Townsend ou il menait un projet de culture écologique ( le Projet Biosphère -à vérifier).
Il est l’auteur d’une des œuvres majeurs de la science fiction : Le Cycle de Dune(quasi 20 millions d’exemplaires, des ventes digne de la Bible). Le livre de Dune a été rédigé en 1964/65 et valut a Franck Herbert le prix Hugo et le prix Nebula .Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920 – February 11, 1986) was an American science-fiction author best known for the 1965 novel Dune and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked as a newspaper journalist, photographer, book reviewer, ecological consultant, and lecturer.
The Dune saga, set in the distant future, and taking place over millennia, explores complex themes, such as the long-term survival of the human species, human evolution, planetary science and ecology, and the intersection of religion, politics, economics and power in a future where humanity has long since developed interstellar travel and settled many thousands of worlds. Dune is the best-selling science fiction novel of all time, and the whole series is widely considered to be among the classics of the genre.
Frank Herbert was born on October 8, 1920, in Tacoma, Washington, to Frank Patrick Herbert Sr. and Eileen (McCarthy) Herbert. Because of a poor home environment, he ran away from home in 1938 to live with an aunt and uncle in Salem, Oregon. He enrolled in high school at Salem High School (now North Salem High School), where he graduated the next year. In 1939 he lied about his age to get his first newspaper job at the Glendale Star. Herbert then returned to Salem in 1940 where he worked for the Oregon Statesman newspaper (now Statesman Journal) in a variety of positions, including photographer.
He served in the U.S. Navy's Seabees for six months as a photographer during World War II, then he was given a medical discharge. He married Flora Parkinson in San Pedro, California, in 1940. - Disambiguation notice
- Please do not combine with the art historian Herbert Frank (1909-1979) (pseud. Frank Andermann)
Members
Discussions
Frank Herbert: Soul Catcher in Good Show Sir! — bad science fiction and fantasy covers (August 1)
Dune Limited Edition in Folio Society Devotees (May 28)
Centipede Press Dune in Fine Press Forum (April 2023)
What's your vote for the worst movie made of a good book? in Jo's Book Group (September 2022)
Looking for Dune Signed in Centipede Press (October 2021)
Dune Chronicles in Centipede Press (October 2021)
Question about the Dune universe..... in Science Fiction Fans (August 2012)
Another Dune question. in Science Fiction Fans (August 2012)
Frank Herbert's Hellstrom's Hive reviewed by jseger9000 in Reviews reviewed (May 2011)
Reviews
3.5
Epic space drama with a lot of political melodrama and long winded writing.
Space royalty take over a drought-stricken planet and get brutally wrecked. The son survives and becomes the chosen one.
Like Star Wars and game of thrones.
An important keystone scifi book with extensive world building and themes of power, religion and human beings relationship to the environment but it was too dense and long for me, I felt weighed down by it.
Epic space drama with a lot of political melodrama and long winded writing.
Space royalty take over a drought-stricken planet and get brutally wrecked. The son survives and becomes the chosen one.
Like Star Wars and game of thrones.
An important keystone scifi book with extensive world building and themes of power, religion and human beings relationship to the environment but it was too dense and long for me, I felt weighed down by it.
As I’m not a fan of [b:Dune|234225|Dune (Dune, #1)|Frank Herbert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1434908555l/234225._SY75_.jpg|3634639], this is my favourite book by Frank Herbert. I have reservations about it, but I reread it now and then and always seem to enjoy it.
All fiction, especially science fiction, is akin to stage magic: the author tries to persuade you that his powers (of imagination, understanding, and intelligence) are greater than they can possibly be. In reading this book, I’m more than usually conscious that what I’m seeing is trickery. Some of the main characters are presented as abnormally intelligent (presumably more intelligent than the author), and all of the characters have grown up in societies alien to us, making them more than usually incomprehensible. In bringing them to life and telling their story, Herbert is perpetrating a fraud, because he can’t possibly understand what he pretends to understand.
I don’t believe either that he has a genuine understanding of the Gowachin legal system, although he delights in presenting it as spectacle. In fact, I doubt that the system as presented would work in any society, although perhaps I should give it the benefit of the doubt because the Gowachin are not human.
Despite all this, Herbert does his magic competently enough that the illusion is not shattered. Readers can imagine that there’s a planet called Dosadi populated by dangerously super-competent people who’ve lived their whole lives under constant stress, and that our hero Jorj McKie is so adaptable that he can both master the bizarre Gowachin legal system and rapidly learn how to live on Dosadi without having grown up there.
Incidentally, we’re told that McKie is dark-skinned and of Polynesian ancestry, although the story is set in a far future in which various non-human intelligent species are known; human skin colour and ancestry seem minor cosmetic details by comparison.
What is it about this book that attracts? I suppose the people of Dosadi are appalling but fascinating—and vaguely plausible—while Jorj McKie and the Gowachin legal system are implausible but quite entertaining.
The ending of the story is not too bad, but there’s something not wholly satisfying about it. Herbert wanted it to end with a firework display, and it does, but I’m left with a vague feeling that it could have been better somehow.… (more)
All fiction, especially science fiction, is akin to stage magic: the author tries to persuade you that his powers (of imagination, understanding, and intelligence) are greater than they can possibly be. In reading this book, I’m more than usually conscious that what I’m seeing is trickery. Some of the main characters are presented as abnormally intelligent (presumably more intelligent than the author), and all of the characters have grown up in societies alien to us, making them more than usually incomprehensible. In bringing them to life and telling their story, Herbert is perpetrating a fraud, because he can’t possibly understand what he pretends to understand.
I don’t believe either that he has a genuine understanding of the Gowachin legal system, although he delights in presenting it as spectacle. In fact, I doubt that the system as presented would work in any society, although perhaps I should give it the benefit of the doubt because the Gowachin are not human.
Despite all this, Herbert does his magic competently enough that the illusion is not shattered. Readers can imagine that there’s a planet called Dosadi populated by dangerously super-competent people who’ve lived their whole lives under constant stress, and that our hero Jorj McKie is so adaptable that he can both master the bizarre Gowachin legal system and rapidly learn how to live on Dosadi without having grown up there.
Incidentally, we’re told that McKie is dark-skinned and of Polynesian ancestry, although the story is set in a far future in which various non-human intelligent species are known; human skin colour and ancestry seem minor cosmetic details by comparison.
What is it about this book that attracts? I suppose the people of Dosadi are appalling but fascinating—and vaguely plausible—while Jorj McKie and the Gowachin legal system are implausible but quite entertaining.
The ending of the story is not too bad, but there’s something not wholly satisfying about it. Herbert wanted it to end with a firework display, and it does, but I’m left with a vague feeling that it could have been better somehow.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 222
- Also by
- 90
- Members
- 131,478
- Popularity
- #53
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 1,457
- ISBNs
- 1,644
- Languages
- 28
- Favorited
- 464
Representation: It’s complicated.
Trigger warnings: Military violence and war themes, death and murder of a parent, grief and loss depiction
Score: Nine out of ten.
Dune by Frank Herbert was enjoyable and almost perfect.
It starts with Paul, part of the noble House Atreides. There is a powerful substance called spice, or melange, but it is only on Arrakis, which is the planet where Paul lives. Later, he is alone after he fled until he meets the Fremen, but Paul sets out to reclaim Arrakis for House Atreides.
Dune resembles a slab of pages as there are 520 pages of story followed by 50 pages of appendices and 570 pages in all. The pacing is lengthy to focus on Paul's character and how he developed.
The worldbuilding was enjoyable as Herbert thought it out well. Additionally, the writing style, which included descriptions of Arrakis, was intriguing and descriptive but not overwhelming. The appendices explain everything, such as the history behind the world of Dune, the novel, leaving behind no unanswered questions. Herbert covers aspects such as specific words used or why there is no AI in the far future.
Thus, Dune is a unique take on the sci-fi genre, as it is not overloaded with AI or spaceships, but feels medieval given the feudal systems. The only advanced technologies were spice mining machines and handheld weapons, and there were galactic empires but not in the form of massive corporations.
Some characters are memorable, such as Paul, because of his journey to recapture Arrakis. Others were likable such as Chani, but some characters were a blur, such as Paul's parents, as they were side characters that had little page time.
There is action at the beginning, whereas the middle is slower, and the conclusion is engaging.