I agree that Inversions is definitely a Culture book. I saw a comment somewhere that Banks said that Against a Dark Background was a Culture book also–that there is a single sentence in there which reveals it. I haven’t been able to find that sentence, though, so I don’t know if it’s true.

etbe: I would argue that In The Player of Games the Empire of Azad is an exaggerated version of our society: the discrimination, the violence, the hidden poverty, the system which pretends to be a meritocracy but is actually controlled by the elite.

I think our society is actually fairly capable of reacting to things, we just do it slowly and with a lot of struggling. The religious nutters, to the extent that there really are nutters, are a fairly small part of our society.

I like Excession also, it’s a fun book.

Our society seems mostly incapable of reacting in a sane manner to every challenge that it faces. If nothing else the religious nutters would all flip out if we were to have close contact with aliens (as opposed to radio signals which can be ignored by people who like to ignore things).

My favourite IMB book is Excession.

FWIW I also consider Inversions to be a Culture book, even though it is never explicitly stated.

I didn’t read Matter yet. Somehow I forgot.