Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game
The Glass Bead Game, from the back cover: “[...] the most imaginative and prophetic of all his novels. Setting the story in the distant postapocalyptic future, Hesse tells of an elite cult of intellectuals who play an elaborate game that uses all the cultural and scientific knowledge of the ages. [This book] is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life”. (Thanks Cliff!)