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Last and First Men

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About this listen

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.

©1930 Olaf Stapledon (P)2012 Audible Ltd Classics Science Fiction Fiction
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Brilliant, a wonderful sci-fi narrative that explores the realms of the possible. Truely immersive and captivating. One of the great forebears of science fiction.

Wonderful Read

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Impressive scope and foresight for a book that was written in 1930,
but ultimately not interesting enough for my taste.
No story or characters, just a bunch of concepts and small events explaining the long story of humanity across 18 civilisations ...

impressive but not interesting

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An interesting read, how a visionary man saw the distant future in 1930. Author combined his futuristic vision with some great spiritual and philosophical ideas, which makes this book very unique

Enjoyed the last quarter the most

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What a fantastic book and what an extraordinary mind Olaf possessed. Obviously our understanding of the universe has changed somewhat since this was written however this doesn't appear to date the book. I can't help but feel our civilisation has deteriorated considerably in the 94 years since this book was written, I can't imagine a modern writer being able to create such an insightful piece of work and that saddens me however this book does give hope that perhaps our decline will end one day and perhaps we might regain or even exceed our past brilliance.

Excellent and thought provoking

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This is an excellent price of writing, but beware what it is. It is a not a story with any characters to follow, but a overview of the whole history of the human species. This can make it a bit of slog to get through. Particularly as some of the incarnations of civilization tend to become a bit repetitive towards the end.
Nevertheless, I think it is a classic with ideas and thoughts that any fan of science fiction would appreciate.
Readers / listeners should be conscious that the book was written in 1930, some of the ideas where very groundbreaking at the time and still stand as a lesson to this day, other elements and attitudes have dated though. However, to be fair to the author, he does amusingly mention that he'd expect future generations to consider the book outdated in the prologue.
Star Maker came later and was even more groundbreaking on terms of creative writing and extraordinary ideas, nevertheless this one is still also worth the effort.

Worth the effort,

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