# There Is No Antimemetics Division ![Book cover of There Is No Antimemetics Division](/books/covers/there_is_no_antimemetics_division.jpg) by [qntm](/books/authors/qntm/) Awards: [2025 Favorites](/blog/favorite-books-of-2025/) ★★★★★ ## Review _There Is No Antimemetics Division_, by qntm, is a book about researchers trying to control dangerous antimemes---ideas that can't be thought---and how you might combat a foe you can't even remember exists. _There Is No Antimemetics Division_ is qntm's rewrite of his [_original edition_](/books/there_is_no_antimemetics_division_original/). I thought the strongest part of the [_original edition_](/books/there_is_no_antimemetics_division_original/) was the first half, written as disjointed short stories with tight plotting. The weakest part was the second half, where the author tried to stitch them into a larger narrative. The execution felt shallow, and the world it described felt like a stage just wide enough to contain the action, with nothing beyond the edges. This rewrite fixes all of that. The short stories keep their pacing, and some are even trimmed to be tighter and fit more cleanly into the overall story. qntm adds just a few more hints and signposts, which help make the connections clearer. A couple of Unknown Objects that were mentioned in the first book and then sort of vanished from the plot are expanded here and tied directly into the main storyline. Everything builds toward the same conclusion instead of pulling in different directions. The added signposts also make the cyclical nature of the conflict clearer---how people keep trying the same thing, keep losing, and how multiple Antimemetics Divisions have already been wiped out by UO-3125. _There Is No Antimemetics Division_ is a book you read for the ideas and concepts, and they're fantastic: that there are antimemes, ideas which cannot be remembered. How do you study an idea you can't keep in your head? How do you fight something you forget every time you leave the room? How do you win a war against an idea that will kill you as soon as you think it? The world and its complexities are introduced naturally through the short-story chapters, so by the time the narrative really kicks off, you have a solid grounding without lore dumps. I liked this book a lot. I love stories built around "boring bureaucrats trying to control cosmic horrors" like Stross's _A Colder War_ and _The Laundry Files_.[^stross] The short story format keeps the momentum up; the tension builds but gives you enough slack to breathe, and despite the horrors, there's hope. That was something missing from the first book, which felt like things were only going to get worse and the characters would only fail. [^stross]: qntm thanks Charles Stross in the acknowledgments for "help[ing] me out at several critical early points in this journey". qntm revisits ideas he explored in [_Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories_](/books/valuable_humans_in_transit_and_other_stories/). Researcher Hix has a "do not upload" directive filed to prevent the Organization from uploading his consciousness if he dies or is near death. qntm explored the horrifying consequences of creating uploaded minds---and how easy it is to ignore their humanity---in [_Lena_](/books/valuable_humans_in_transit_and_other_stories/#lena) and [_Driver_](/books/valuable_humans_in_transit_and_other_stories/#driver).[^lena] One of the researchers references the quote _"Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture."_, the warning Sandia National Laboratories wanted to convey about nuclear waste disposal. That same message shows up in [_A Powerful Culture_](/books/valuable_humans_in_transit_and_other_stories/#a-powerful-culture), about disposing of dangerous waste to other dimensions. [^lena]: [_Lena_](/books/valuable_humans_in_transit_and_other_stories/#lena) is my favorite short story of the last decade. [nuke]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_nuclear_waste_warning_messages _There Is No Antimemetics Division_ reminded me of a few other works as well. The cosmic horrors echo [Lovecraft](/books/authors/h_p_lovecraft/)'s [_Cthulhu Mythos_](/books/series/cthulhu_mythos/). Struggling with things beyond understanding is a core theme of [Arkady](/books/authors/arkady_strugatsky/) and [Boris Strugatsky](/books/authors/boris_strugatsky/)'s [_Roadside Picnic_](/books/roadside_picnic/), and a key influence of the [SCP Foundation][scp], which this book is based on. Adam walking through an abandoned English city devastated by UO-3125 parallels _28 Days Later_. UO-3125 itself felt like the Blight in [Vinge](/books/authors/vernor_vinge/)'s [_A Fire Upon The Deep_](/books/a_fire_upon_the_deep/) in how it spreads via hazardous information. Hix and Adam talking in lawn chairs in the memory of a barbecue they both attended reminded me of how the Bobs meet in virtual reality in [_Bobiverse_](/books/series/bobiverse/). Not being able to see a threat right in front of you recalls the Scramblers in [Watts](/books/authors/peter_watts/)'s [_Blindsight_](/books/blindsight/), which move only when our eyes saccade. There's even a nod to Launch Arcologies from _SimCity 2000_. [scp]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCP_Foundation I loved this rewrite, and I'm excited at the possibility of getting more Antimemetics stories, which qntm has hinted at. Up next is [_The Darfsteller_](/books/the_darfsteller/) and then probably [_Monday Begins on Saturday_](/books/monday_begins_on_saturday/) while I'm in the mood for bureaucracy and the supernatural, before I really must start [_This Is How You Lose the Time War_](/books/this_is_how_you_lose_the_time_war/) for my book club. ## Reviews that mention _There Is No Antimemetics Division_ - [_A Canticle for Leibowitz_](/books/a_canticle_for_leibowitz/) - [_Field of Dishonor_](/books/field_of_dishonor/) - [_Monday Begins on Saturday_](/books/monday_begins_on_saturday/) - [_Roadside Picnic_](/books/roadside_picnic/) - [_This Is How You Lose the Time War_](/books/this_is_how_you_lose_the_time_war/) ## Related Books - [_Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories_](/books/valuable_humans_in_transit_and_other_stories/) by [qntm](/books/authors/qntm/) --- ★★★☆☆: Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by qntm. - [_There Is No Antimemetics Division (Original Edition)_](/books/there_is_no_antimemetics_division_original/) by [qntm](/books/authors/qntm/) --- ★★☆☆☆: There Is No Antimemetics Division is a book based in the SCP universe. It explores the idea of anti-memes—ideas that either can’t be thought, quickly drop out of your memory when you stop focusing on them, or are dangerous to think—and how you might contain a force you literally can’t remember. - [_Field of Dishonor_](/books/field_of_dishonor/) by [David Weber](/books/authors/david_weber/) --- ★★★☆☆: Field of Dishonor, by David Weber, is the fourth book in the Honor Harrington series. It reduces the scale of the narrative, trading fleet battles for political maneuvering and personal grudges.