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A review by vonnegutian
Evolution by Stephen Baxter
4.0
Bearing in mind I have recently finished ‘The Silk Roads’ by Peter Frankopan, juxtaposing that against ‘Evolution’ by Stephen Baxter is both interesting and apt – two histories of humanity, one real, one fictional, both incredibly plausible (if plausibility is indeed an applicable consideration) and both great, great books in different ways.
What Baxter has done here is incredibly impressive: using thoroughly researched scientific theory, he has crafted a narrative of humanity’s development through the far reaches of time until Baxter’s imagined end in the distant future.
Initially, the writing jars a little as the early protagonists are invariably ‘early humans/animals’, but once you become accustomed, the qualities of the story simmer to the surface and you realise both the mammoth task he has undertaken and how well he does it.
‘Evolution’ is a series of short stories from chronological points upon humanity’s timeline (till the very end no less) spanning an ample 565 million years. Each cleverly illustrates a momentous part of our development whilst all coming together to illustrate our mark on Earth. Be it rodent-like mammals seeing the end of the dinosaurs, ape ancestors floating across continents on raft-like mangrove forests or a Homo Saipan killing the last Neanderthal, at each juncture Baxter leads us to reflect on where we’ve come from and appreciate the immensity and incomprehensibility of the journey. And despite its fictional stature, this work is a exemplary exponent of Science and evolutionary theory to which I wholeheartedly prescribe.
On this evidence, Baxter is a fitting heir to his occasional co-collaborator Arthur C Clarke. Not Science Fiction as we know it but very much a true nonetheless. It is an awe-inspiring work and well worth a read if you are of a scientific persuasion.
What Baxter has done here is incredibly impressive: using thoroughly researched scientific theory, he has crafted a narrative of humanity’s development through the far reaches of time until Baxter’s imagined end in the distant future.
Initially, the writing jars a little as the early protagonists are invariably ‘early humans/animals’, but once you become accustomed, the qualities of the story simmer to the surface and you realise both the mammoth task he has undertaken and how well he does it.
‘Evolution’ is a series of short stories from chronological points upon humanity’s timeline (till the very end no less) spanning an ample 565 million years. Each cleverly illustrates a momentous part of our development whilst all coming together to illustrate our mark on Earth. Be it rodent-like mammals seeing the end of the dinosaurs, ape ancestors floating across continents on raft-like mangrove forests or a Homo Saipan killing the last Neanderthal, at each juncture Baxter leads us to reflect on where we’ve come from and appreciate the immensity and incomprehensibility of the journey. And despite its fictional stature, this work is a exemplary exponent of Science and evolutionary theory to which I wholeheartedly prescribe.
On this evidence, Baxter is a fitting heir to his occasional co-collaborator Arthur C Clarke. Not Science Fiction as we know it but very much a true nonetheless. It is an awe-inspiring work and well worth a read if you are of a scientific persuasion.