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A review by herdingcats
Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future by Dougal Dixon
2.0
Interesting, but doesn't compare to other books like it. Man After Man is bleak and feels like it holds a disdain towards humanity and holds a primitivist misanthropic idea that intelligent beings paired with technology could only result in a pathetically weak and overpopulated species that destroy everything around them.
The speculative science behind it doesn't feel very realistic, evolution runs way too fast and I couldn't suspend my disbelief for some of the traits that the species developed seemingly out of nowhere. A random one-off experience in an individual can jumpcut to the entire species rocking a dedicated lifestyle centered around that unlikely experience. Definitely a lot more fiction than science, and not in the way that can be excused by the rule of cool either. I think the issue is it's inconsistent in its realism. If everything was semi-grounded in relative reality or if everything was out-there and goofy then it'd all fit in, but instead there's this mix of both that does not blend together well.
But on a positive note, I did like that it was a series of very short stories from the perspectives of various members of each species. I think there was a good mix of general species-wide statements and the perspectives of random individuals.
Also apparently that "Seasons Greasons" meme is from this book. Was not expecting to see that here.
The speculative science behind it doesn't feel very realistic, evolution runs way too fast and I couldn't suspend my disbelief for some of the traits that the species developed seemingly out of nowhere. A random one-off experience in an individual can jumpcut to the entire species rocking a dedicated lifestyle centered around that unlikely experience. Definitely a lot more fiction than science, and not in the way that can be excused by the rule of cool either. I think the issue is it's inconsistent in its realism. If everything was semi-grounded in relative reality or if everything was out-there and goofy then it'd all fit in, but instead there's this mix of both that does not blend together well.
But on a positive note, I did like that it was a series of very short stories from the perspectives of various members of each species. I think there was a good mix of general species-wide statements and the perspectives of random individuals.
Also apparently that "Seasons Greasons" meme is from this book. Was not expecting to see that here.