Reviews

Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon

eclecticotter's review

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

keefbaker's review

2.0

The scope of this is impressive, but unfortunately it's a bad book. The prose is dull, and it suffers from a 1930s perspective on both science and the nature of humanity. I'm glad all the people who gave this good reviews enjoyed it, but for me, aside from the scope there wasn't really anything for me here.

leganto's review against another edition

3.0

I'm not sure what exactly to say about this book.

The premise was remarkable and utterly unique: tracing of the long-term 'evolution' of humanity from post-World War I to something like 4 billion years into the future.

The delivery was so dry that Arizona looks like the rainforest by comparison; it read like a rambling history book (and this is coming from a guy who loves history books and who rambles as a second language).

In tone, it reminded me of the 'classic sci-fi humanism' of the works of Clarke, every Star Trek series, etc., but the final note was almost a bizarrely woeful optimism, blended, at points, with a quasi-pantheistic view of the universe.

In short, this was one of those books that is a really cool idea on paper until it's typed up on paper....wait....yeah, we're going with that.

5/5 premise
2/5 execution
3.5/5 final score

burntnorth's review

challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

lewkir's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.75

Humerously poor prediction of the future

oscarlozada's review against another edition

4.0

This book is bonkers. 2 billion years of future human evolution and civilisations rising and falling. I've never encountered anything of such scope and ambition - made all the more profound by the fact that this was written in the 1930s.

It's true that some sections got quite repetitive, and much (if not most) of both the science and modern history does not hold up today, but I personally didn't find this an issue in the face of the rapidly accelerating time frame and successive human species flashing in and out of existence boggling my mind.

nubesmoreno24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

theodarling's review

challenging dark inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

wickedmitch's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

davesag's review

4.0

An astounding book on many levels, the tale of the Last and First Men is as interesting for the seemingly obvious predictions it never makes, as for the astounding predictions is does make, given when it was written. (Eg fibre-optics, solar panels, the Internet never get a mention, nor anything like them, but terraforming, genetic engineering etc all are well predicted.) Amusingly for us living now under the shadow of a fossil-fuel powered climate emergency, Stapeldon predicates much of the success of early man (i.e. us) on coal fired power. Still, like all good science fiction, this is a book to be read of its own time, and what it has to say about humanity in the larger setting is profound. It's not an easy read but utterly worth pushing through to the ultimate conclusion.