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A review by oleksandr
Erewhon by Samuel Butler
2.0
This is an early SF from 1872, which is more a satire and philosophy than ‘true’ SF. I read is as a part of monthly reading for October 2020 at The Evolution of Science Fiction group.
This is a rather short book, that consists of roughly two parts. In the first part (around 1/3rd of the book) the protagonist travels to a distant land in an expectation of glory and wealth from ‘opening’ new lands. The rest of the story describes a far-away land of Erewhon (Nowhere), where people live and act the way opposite to the Author’s period Europe. Among the themes:
- Anti-technology. The most interesting part, based on Darwin’s evolution theory, which states that in biology the development is gradual and long, in mechanics it is fast, therefore machines will out-develop us. This is the earliest (I’m aware of) fear of machines’ revolution
- Anti-reason. Assuming that more unreason creates more reason, local scientists spend their lives in pursuing unneeded research.
- Souls not leave bodies after death, but enter newborn bodies
Overall, interesting ideas but extremely boringly written.
This is a rather short book, that consists of roughly two parts. In the first part (around 1/3rd of the book) the protagonist travels to a distant land in an expectation of glory and wealth from ‘opening’ new lands. The rest of the story describes a far-away land of Erewhon (Nowhere), where people live and act the way opposite to the Author’s period Europe. Among the themes:
- Anti-technology. The most interesting part, based on Darwin’s evolution theory, which states that in biology the development is gradual and long, in mechanics it is fast, therefore machines will out-develop us. This is the earliest (I’m aware of) fear of machines’ revolution
- Anti-reason. Assuming that more unreason creates more reason, local scientists spend their lives in pursuing unneeded research.
- Souls not leave bodies after death, but enter newborn bodies
Overall, interesting ideas but extremely boringly written.