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Loading... Last and First Men (1930)by Olaf Stapledon, Olaf Stapledon (Foreword)
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Apparently this is a fairly rare book which my husband happened to find a copy of at some point. Despite the fact that I failed to listen to the very good advice of skipping the first few chapters (advice given, no less, in the introduction of the book), I greatly enjoyed it. The book is a history of 18 different species of man, starting with us, the first men, and ending with the last men who see the end of human kind. Given that this book explored 18 different species of man, it was interesting to observe Stapledon's ideas of what, other than ancestry, made all of these species human. Overall, a good read, but if you do get a hold of it, take the advice of the introduction, and skip over all the parts that are supposed to take place in the present. I endured Stapledon for two hours before giving up. Last and First Men reads like a history textbook: country A attacked country B, which retaliated, then they became allies and attacked country C, etc, all in a boring prose that miserably fails to engage the reader. Stapledon manages to be boring even when narrating the complete destruction of Europe by America in a big war. There is no real plot, no character development, no attempt to convince the reader that the story matters. To make things worse, the book is riddled with juvenile national stereotypes: "the Germans are harsh but romantic", "the Russians are not attached to material possessions", "the Americans are materialistic", and the like. Hard pass. If you're looking for an ambitious "future history" of mankind you're much better off with Asimov's Robot, Empire, and Foundation series (15 books in total, spanning 20 thousand years). I bought this book in November 2013 at Waterstones in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, while on a short holiday. Going through it briefly in the shop, I found the idea of the story quite interesting. So I decided to go for it. I also bought "Star Maker", but I haven't read it yet. And since it comes after "Last And First Men"... Full of excitement and interest I started reading the book shortly after the purchase, but barely a few weeks later I couldn't move on, and thus had to put the book aside. In short, one has to be concentrated to read this book, for it may be only about 310 pages long, the story itself isn't your everyday mainstream Sci-Fi. It reads more like a history book, as it describes the history of mankind (the evolutionary rise and fall of 18 distinct races of men, of which Homo Sapiens is the first and most primitive) over a period of 2 billion years. So you can imagine the scope of it all. Or maybe you can't, but once you've read the book, you'll see more clearly. In addition, there are no dialogues, there's no action - well, there is, but it's described. There is no cast of characters that determines the events and what not. Also, and that's both good and bad, the writing style - as the book came out originally in 1930 - is so wonderful, tasty, fantastically advanced, lush, and literary, that it's also the reason why you must keep your mind to it when reading. Last, there's a good touch of philosophy inside, too. In a world where everything has to be or go fast, this book asks that you flip the switch in your mind, slow down, and focus. It is a heavy, but worthwhile, read, and you may want to ditch the book aside or stop before halfway or maybe after, but if you take the time and let mr. Stapledon tell you his story, then you'll be amazed... or perhaps confused. In any case, it might change the way you look at the world, at life. no reviews | add a review
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One of the most extraordinary, imaginative and ambitious novels of the century: a history of the evolution of humankind over the next 2 billion years. Among all science fiction writers Olaf Stapledon stands alone for the sheer scope and ambition of his work. First published in 1930, Last and First Men is full of pioneering speculations about evolution, terraforming, genetic engineering and many other subjects. No library descriptions found. |
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However the other reason is that it seems like the first half has taken large elements of various H.G.Wells novels, including the Time Machine, War of the Worlds, maybe a bit of First Men in the Moon, but most prominently the first 20% is very much a rewrite of the Shape of Things to Come.. which i just found out was published 3 years after this...
hmmm... i'm going to deduct a star from Shape and give it to this one then, seems fair :) . ( )