A review by davesag
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon

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.