Matter (Culture, #8)

I read the entire ten book series over the course of 2016. The Culture series is set in the distant future where enlightened AIs run society and humans, freed from a life of labor, have to deal with the rest of the galaxy. What is life like when material want is eradicated? What about encounters with less enlightened aliens? Or perhaps backward planets lagging in development? All this and more is thoughtfully and philosophically dealt with in this amazing series. My favorite out of the ten books was the brilliant Matter, but I’d recommend starting with Player of Games.