Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men was written in 1930 before the term science fiction had come into common usage. Stapledon was often amazed that his work had been categorized in this new genre, but such was the uniqueness of his vision combined with the sudden acceptance of this new literary scene when it had achieved enough mass that Last and First Men quickly became a SF classic.
Last and First Men is a science fiction novel that tells the epic story of Humans from the early 1900s to billions of years in the future and everything in between.The book was written in the 1930s, so be prepared for some 'Oh, come on!
Prior to the publication of "Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future" in 1930, Olaf Stapledon had already published a couple of short stories, poems, including a book of poetry, a non-fiction book "A Modern Theory of Ethics: A Study of the Relations of Ethics and Psychology", and numerous essays. However, this was his first book of fiction, and remains, if not his most famous work, than one of his two most famous works.
>This is a book for people who like to read books about history, who like accounts over long timeframes, who like Truley [sic] Epic stories. The kind of people who buy computer games with thick plots, or who want to know more about the background history and politics of a fantasy world.
Last and First Men is not so much a story as a history of mankind from 1914 to about a billion years in the future, a board overview of about 17 species of Humans over that time period. It doesn't have indiviual characters as mankind itself as the protagonist.
>If your idea of a novel is a book about people's relationships, it may not be for you.My idea of a novel is a book for and about individual human beings.
Olaf Stapleton has made a novel, not just of science fiction, but of philosophy and the future of mankind. From the first man to the last, we follow mankind, how it develops, the problems it faces, not only in their changing environments, but also their social problems and the problems within mankind's mind.
This one is something else again. My first copy cost five pence, second-hand; I was in my mid-teens and hadn't the faintest idea what I was getting into.
If you want to mine it for ideas for your own fiction, it's a four star. Lots of great stuff.
Wasn't sure what to expect, but an interesting sci-fi telling the history of the human race through all manner of genetic and change of planets. Some of the details don't hold out now (living on Neptune) but otherwise quite and interesting idea.
Wow, I'm not sure what to say. this book is better than any modern SF I can think of by such a distance I dare not pick up another space opera for at least another month or two.
Blick in die Vergangenheit
Ein ambitioniertes Projekt: Der Blick des letzten Menschen in die Vergangenheit, der Jahrmilliarden uberbruckt, um die Geschichte der Entwicklung der Menschheit zu erzahlen. Veroffentlicht zu Beginn der 1930er Jahre, wird ausgehend vom Ersten Weltkrieg uber die Vernichtung Europas, der Zweiten Menschenrasse und so weiter bis hin zum letzten Menschen ein unglaubliches Panorama der Evolution des Menschen aufgefachert.
Breadth of vision is incredible. some things are a bit ridiculous, but they are apt to be, when covering that time scale.
I had been wanting to read something like this for a long, long time.
Written like a history lesson, Stapledon narrates the future of the human race across 18th different races every one with notables differences but still recognizable human in their own way.
