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kartooch's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I cannot believe this book was written so many decades ago. It is amazing in its imagination and description of potential futures while being still relevant for today's world. There are some words and expressions that we would frown upon nowadays but this is more a reflection of past misconceptions. Some of the evolution of future mankind's are a bit repetitive but overall this is not affecting the reader
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Colonisation, Death, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, War, Genocide, Slavery, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, and Suicide
oneironaut's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
super amusing to see someone i the 30s predicting the next 100 years so wrong. also upset it took millions of years for space travel to happen at all. wish the first men were less focused on BUT. overall some very cool concepts.
theaurochs's review against another edition
1.0
Yeah, it's one of those books. Written solidly in the nineteen thirties, this 'classic' of the genre is very much rooted in the sensibilities of the time. We're telling the future of the human race; provided that the human race is just men. Because obviously women could never do anything worth mentioning, not even several hundred million years in the future when the species has evolved beyond all recognition. This is also peak eugenics- future man is said to have features such as the "stoicism of the British race" or the "passion for dance of the Negro race" or the "affinity for money of the Jewish race". That's a big old bucket full of yikes from me, thanks. This is just the on the nose stuff too; there are so many comments about "racial awakenings" or "races of submen" that it makes me want to scour me skin with a cheese grater just to feel clean after reading it.
This sweeping look at the future of mankind is less of a sci-fi novel and more an excercise in speculative anthropology- don't expect to care about anything happening on an emotional level; the tone is detached and clinical throughout. In addition to the gross racial tones though, it also suffers from a genuine lack of real scope. Imagine thinking that any culture could survive for multiple thousands of years with essentially no progress or change- I don't think Stapledon really had any way of conceiving what effects his changes would have, and as a result this feels hollow and meaningless.
Besides, any decent author would have used the backdrop of worldbuilding which this book so clearly is as just that- backdrop to some actually interesting storytelling. Not so here, it really is just a taxonomical look at various periods in Man's future evolution.
Best condemned to the dusty shelves of history and swiftly forgotten. Sure he expressed some strong imagination and I'm glad that it has inspired subsequent, better writers, but there is no good reason for a modern reader to pick this one up, even for the context.
oldpapapopnlock's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault, Misogyny, and Racism
hagbard_celine's review against another edition
4.0
A real mind-bender along several axes.
1) A story that very consciously encompasses trillions of other stories.
2) Explicitly touches on several hundred specific and compelling stories, many of them enormously compelling (even in the span of a paragraph or sentence).
3) The fundamental current of racial essentialism that runs through everything, which is shocking in its forthrightness.
4) Eugenics before Nazism. I'm not sure this book could be written anymore, just for this.
5) A fairly sophisticated speculative account of scientific advancement that pre-dates: the atom bomb, DNA's discovery, penicillin, etc
6) The familiarity of many of the small stories, such that you repeatedly find yourself thinking "I've read that book!" after this sentence or that.
I bet the Dougal Dixon read this book. "Man After Man" and "Earth After Man" are very reminiscent of this. Also, incredibly fucked up.
1) A story that very consciously encompasses trillions of other stories.
2) Explicitly touches on several hundred specific and compelling stories, many of them enormously compelling (even in the span of a paragraph or sentence).
3) The fundamental current of racial essentialism that runs through everything, which is shocking in its forthrightness.
4) Eugenics before Nazism. I'm not sure this book could be written anymore, just for this.
5) A fairly sophisticated speculative account of scientific advancement that pre-dates: the atom bomb, DNA's discovery, penicillin, etc
6) The familiarity of many of the small stories, such that you repeatedly find yourself thinking "I've read that book!" after this sentence or that.
I bet the Dougal Dixon read this book. "Man After Man" and "Earth After Man" are very reminiscent of this. Also, incredibly fucked up.
rick_k's review against another edition
2.0
Similar plotless travelogue style to [b:Star Maker|3470223|Star Maker|Olaf Stapledon|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|1631492], but less compelling. In this book Olaf envisions the future of human evolution. I think it offers a valuable lesson when writing speculative fiction; small biases become exaggerated when extrapolated. Stapledon failed to incorporate evolutionary biology, anthropology, and sociology known at the time, then heaped on his own flawed characterization of gender, race and psychology. The result offers little that is compelling to a modern reader, but credit is due for all the great science fiction writers he inspired.
staircasewit_'s review against another edition
5.0
The vision Olaf had back in the 1930s is staggering. A lot of the material was clearly fiction, but the vision into the depths of the future he conceived was very inspiring. Onto StarMaker next
ninj's review against another edition
4.0
Starts off from present day (as of publication, 1930) and extrapolates out some very nice 20th / 21st century history that seems almost prophetic at times. Stretches out for millions upon millions of years of the human race, with a large focus on evolution. Suffers from the sort of things a lot of century old sci-fi does, but raises so many interesting issues that so many other books touch upon, it keeps you reflecting back upon it.
miserable_biscuit's review against another edition
4.0
Last and First Men is a science fiction novel that chronicles human history from the First Men to the Last Men, encompassing 2 billion years. The scope of the book is breathtaking. Spreading its gaze far into the future, it involves speculative fiction, social commentary, and philosophical ideas.
Apocalyptic fiction has always been a favourite of mine—books like The Road, Earth Abides, On the Beach and The Stand. This book, however, is in a league entirely of its own. A while back, I read an articled called The Comforts of the Apocalypse that hailed Last and First Men as the most realistic in the genre of apocalyptic fiction. (It was this article, incidentally, that led me to Last and First Men in the first place.) The author contended that most apocalypse writers have created their works on the idea that people of this current age believe, which is that our problems are the most serious of all time and will probably end in our destruction. Stapledon, the author wrote, was the only one besides George Orwell in 1984 to realise that even the most all-encompassing dystopia or apocalypse need not be the end of humanity. Devastating catastrophes on the scale of nuclear armageddon happen numerous times in the book. It is this refusal to believe that the worries of our time are the worries that will end all humanity that lends a huge amount of credibility to Stapledon’s book.
There was a poetic beauty to the book that I’ve yet to see in other books of science fiction. It is also full of philosophical thoughts on the nature of existence, and the acceptance of reality.
Last and First Men is an incredible imaginative achievement. No other book of speculative fiction has affected me so deeply. Stapledon broached the subject of humanity’s future with both the dispassionate aloofness of a scientist and the skill of an artist. It is his excellent blend of the two that makes this a masterpiece.
There were, however, things about the book that irked me. Stapledon seemed to get very bogged down in minute examinations of the subsequent human cultures in the middle of the book. The book wouldn’t have suffered if a large portion of this was extracted.
Also, Stapledon’s attitude regarding gender and sexuality seemed dated. There is no mention of any sexual orientation other than heterosexual in any of his numerous digressions on the sexuality of subsequent human species, and women seem to take a background role to men. The only time that a woman was important to the story was as a sexual or maternal symbol.
Despite this, I loved reading Last and First Men. It has had a great influence on me, and I’m glad I read it. The subject matter, the beauty of its prose, and its incredible scope all come together to make this one of my favourite books.
Apocalyptic fiction has always been a favourite of mine—books like The Road, Earth Abides, On the Beach and The Stand. This book, however, is in a league entirely of its own. A while back, I read an articled called The Comforts of the Apocalypse that hailed Last and First Men as the most realistic in the genre of apocalyptic fiction. (It was this article, incidentally, that led me to Last and First Men in the first place.) The author contended that most apocalypse writers have created their works on the idea that people of this current age believe, which is that our problems are the most serious of all time and will probably end in our destruction. Stapledon, the author wrote, was the only one besides George Orwell in 1984 to realise that even the most all-encompassing dystopia or apocalypse need not be the end of humanity. Devastating catastrophes on the scale of nuclear armageddon happen numerous times in the book. It is this refusal to believe that the worries of our time are the worries that will end all humanity that lends a huge amount of credibility to Stapledon’s book.
There was a poetic beauty to the book that I’ve yet to see in other books of science fiction. It is also full of philosophical thoughts on the nature of existence, and the acceptance of reality.
Last and First Men is an incredible imaginative achievement. No other book of speculative fiction has affected me so deeply. Stapledon broached the subject of humanity’s future with both the dispassionate aloofness of a scientist and the skill of an artist. It is his excellent blend of the two that makes this a masterpiece.
There were, however, things about the book that irked me. Stapledon seemed to get very bogged down in minute examinations of the subsequent human cultures in the middle of the book. The book wouldn’t have suffered if a large portion of this was extracted.
Also, Stapledon’s attitude regarding gender and sexuality seemed dated. There is no mention of any sexual orientation other than heterosexual in any of his numerous digressions on the sexuality of subsequent human species, and women seem to take a background role to men. The only time that a woman was important to the story was as a sexual or maternal symbol.
Despite this, I loved reading Last and First Men. It has had a great influence on me, and I’m glad I read it. The subject matter, the beauty of its prose, and its incredible scope all come together to make this one of my favourite books.