Forty Signs of Rain (2004) is the first book in the hard science fiction "Science in the Capital" trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. (The following two novels are Fifty Degrees Below, (2005, and Sixty Days and Counting, 2007). Plot introduction The focus of the novel is the effects of global warming in the early decades of the 21st century. Its characters are mostly scientists, either involved in biotech research, assisting government members, or doing paperwork at the National Science Foundation (NSF). There are also several Buddhist monks working for the embassy of the fictional island nation of Khembalung. Characters Anna Quibler – a hard-scientist administrator in charge of the Bioinformatics Division at the NSF; part of her job entails farming out grant proposals from scientists and science students nationwide to program directors under her supervision. She befriends the Khembalis. Charlie Quibler – Anna's husband, a stay-at-home dad taking care of their young sons. He is the science policy advisor to Senator Phil Chase and works tirelessly to introduce bills to Congress for climate change mitigation. Frank Vanderwal – a University of California, San Diego biomathematician with an interest in sociobiology, working for a year at the NSF; he oversees review of biology grant proposals. A rock climbing hobbyist and co-founder of Torrey Pines Generique. Drepung – a Tibetan Buddhist monk, he identifies himself to Anna as the assistant and translator for Rudra Cakrin, but is revealed later in the series to be the spiritual leader of the Khembalese. Rudra Cakrin – ambassador from Khembalung to the United States; a Tibetan in exile, he pretends to be the spiritual leader of the Khembalese but is actually Drepung's assistant. Leo Mulhouse – chief science researcher at Torrey Pines Generique, working on gene therapy. Senator Phil Chase – a Democratic Senator from California, he understands the need for both policy change and Realpolitik; a character in Antarctica. Diane Chang – Head of the National Science Foundation. Plot Frank Vanderwal, having spent a year at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Washington, D.C., is impatient with what he sees as its passivity and its reluctance to demand serious political change in the face of severe climate change. He keeps an eye on environmental triggers such as climate change in the Arctic and thermohaline circulation. Though he likes his colleague, Anna Quibler, and much of her work, he misses his hometown, San Diego. An athletic