Last and First Men / Olaf Stapledon

Last and First Men
by Olaf Stapledon

science fiction... classic

copyright 1931
read in October 2013

rated 5/10: readable, but only if there's nothing else

By my -- not original -- definition, this book is a true classic: Everyone has heard of it, no one has read it.

In a very limited sense.

I have heard of it, I know that this book is a classic of science fiction. Yet I have never read it.

Finally, I have seen the book. Finally, I have started reading... And it is still a classic: I have still not read it.

Last and First Men is a future history of the human race. (Or, possibly, of the population of Earth.) It starts with the "first" men, from the author's time. A sad mistake for a predictive story.

Eighty years on and the mark had already been sadly missed. Not that that would be a worry on its own...

The book begins by boring me to sleep. There are references to -- I guess -- historical facts and acts and people. Which I don't recognise. Sorry, I'm not a student of European history.

As the book moves closer to my "now", racial stereotypes are maintained. The Germans are Germanic, the English are proper, the Asians are inscrutable. This may be a valid view -- but it would be nice to read some indication that global communication has broadened our thoughts and actions.

Then civilisation is destroyed and I stopped reading. Not because of the end of civilisation as I know it -- that chain of events was quite believable. Just that the book had failed to get me interested.

A science fiction classic. Read it -- if you're studying the classics of science fiction.

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