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A review by lapingveno
Last And First Men by Olaf Stapledon
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
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