A review by theaurochs
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon

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.