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bperl's review against another edition
5.0
Masterful, compelling, highly intellectual, “Last and First Men” is a triumph of science fiction writing. Stapledon is brilliant, and I am in awe.
If you’re any fan at all of sci-fi, please - read this book.
If you’re any fan at all of sci-fi, please - read this book.
liviajelliot's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
This is by far the most Darwinistic, racist, and misogynistic book I have read. It is not a story per se, this is a 300-pages-long info-dump that acts as a recount of humankind's history from 1930 (the year the book was written) to several thousand million years after... and everything is told from the heavily biased, heavily racist view of an author who attempted to speculate about the future of humanity but failed to move past his own biases.
Please note that my review will be spoiler-lite, because otherwise I cannot complain about everything that requires a complaint here.
First of all, the book was written in 1930 and as a reader, you have to suspend disbelief because there are so many science things that the book got awfully wrong. For example, continental drift does not exist, it is heavily based on <a href="https://evolution.berkeley.edu/the-history-of-evolutionary-thought/1800s/natural-selection-charles-darwin-alfred-russel-wallace/">the Darwin-Wallace theory</a> of evolution (and I can't start summarising all the nuances that are socially wrong with it), plus it got the near-term (namely, the "between wars" period leading to WWII) completely wrong. It's like Stapleton didn't even know the time he was living in.
Second, the book is not a story—there are no characters or dialogue. It is a literal epistolary (sort of) record of humankind's history. It is drier than a history book... and I am someone who often enjoys reading history (not historical fiction; actual history books).
Third, oh my, let me do a mini-rant of the problematic points.
From there, the first four chapters fall into every single racist stereotype humanity has concocted, every single imaginable slur, every single imperialist attitude derived from a writer who—living amidst the Great Depression—still yearned for the imperialist past. It seems that Stapledon was also geographically illiterate, and I'll put this in spoilers because it got me foaming.
To the author, everything in the east is "China", and he even makes a shameful Mongolia=China equation. Australia and New Zealand are "dots", middle-east doesn't even exist, Africa below Egypt isn't even there, and all latinos are still monkeys. What offended me the most, is the moment when a "Patagonian" culture raises... and it does so from the Falkland Islads—namely, the only little piece of England that exists in South America. If you don't know about the geopolitical problems around it, I suggest <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands">that you start with the wiki</a>. In short: it's a sovereignty problem.
From there we have even more troublesome concepts such as the racial suicide Stapledon was so keen on abusing in this recount. What does this mean? Well, now and then humanity (or what passes as it) ends up engineering a new iteration of it, and one way or another, the predecessors (the "engineers") realise they are oh-so-inferior (yikes) and kill themselves. There is on (8th man, the flying man) in which they literally suicide like in a religious cult. Other times, they simply "plant" the newly engineered iteration somewhere else, and the engineers return to die to their place. It's like... my dude, humanity has done three things throughout its history: (1) war, (2) gaze at the stars and wonder what's there, (3) survive. I highly doubt that a population of millions would suddenly say "yup, we're inferior, let's die" and commit mass-suicide.
Then we have the pervasive ableism. Society after society (even after thousands of million of years) labels mental health "insanity" and creates asylums to isolate/kill those "affected" (don't get me started, Stapledon uses that term, and other worse terms). Of course, physically "crippled" people are repeatedly killed.
Oh, and of course, women and motherhood. Apparently, thousands of millions of years in the future women are still forced to have no life except to child bear and care for the kids. In the SF Masterworks edition, Stapledon wrote that there had been a "differentiation of the two ancient sexes into many sub-sexes" (page 264). Then (I almost threw the book out of the window here), two paragraphs below, still in page 264, "Thither all men and women repair..." and goes on a couple page after to say that women didn't die from childbirth anymore, but still spent a century (!!!) caring for the toddlers.
Ultimately, what I found most remarkable of this book is how someone (the author, Stapledon) who sat down to speculate about the future of humankind was so blind to his pervasive biases, that he wrote down billions of years of history as if lived in by the humanity of 1930. At no point he imagined a society that was truly different, nor who lived in on different standards. It is, shamefully, a product of its time—and not in a positive way.
If this book is anything, it is a cautionary tale of how blind someone can be to their own cognitive bias.
Please note that my review will be spoiler-lite, because otherwise I cannot complain about everything that requires a complaint here.
First of all, the book was written in 1930 and as a reader, you have to suspend disbelief because there are so many science things that the book got awfully wrong. For example, continental drift does not exist, it is heavily based on <a href="https://evolution.berkeley.edu/the-history-of-evolutionary-thought/1800s/natural-selection-charles-darwin-alfred-russel-wallace/">the Darwin-Wallace theory</a> of evolution (and I can't start summarising all the nuances that are socially wrong with it), plus it got the near-term (namely, the "between wars" period leading to WWII) completely wrong. It's like Stapleton didn't even know the time he was living in.
Second, the book is not a story—there are no characters or dialogue. It is a literal epistolary (sort of) record of humankind's history. It is drier than a history book... and I am someone who often enjoys reading history (not historical fiction; actual history books).
Third, oh my, let me do a mini-rant of the problematic points.
From there, the first four chapters fall into every single racist stereotype humanity has concocted, every single imaginable slur, every single imperialist attitude derived from a writer who—living amidst the Great Depression—still yearned for the imperialist past. It seems that Stapledon was also geographically illiterate, and I'll put this in spoilers because it got me foaming.
From there we have even more troublesome concepts such as the racial suicide Stapledon was so keen on abusing in this recount. What does this mean? Well, now and then humanity (or what passes as it) ends up engineering a new iteration of it, and one way or another, the predecessors (the "engineers") realise they are oh-so-inferior (yikes) and kill themselves. There is on (8th man, the flying man) in which they literally suicide like in a religious cult. Other times, they simply "plant" the newly engineered iteration somewhere else, and the engineers return to die to their place. It's like... my dude, humanity has done three things throughout its history: (1) war, (2) gaze at the stars and wonder what's there, (3) survive. I highly doubt that a population of millions would suddenly say "yup, we're inferior, let's die" and commit mass-suicide.
Then we have the pervasive ableism. Society after society (even after thousands of million of years) labels mental health "insanity" and creates asylums to isolate/kill those "affected" (don't get me started, Stapledon uses that term, and other worse terms). Of course, physically "crippled" people are repeatedly killed.
Oh, and of course, women and motherhood. Apparently, thousands of millions of years in the future women are still forced to have no life except to child bear and care for the kids. In the SF Masterworks edition, Stapledon wrote that there had been a "differentiation of the two ancient sexes into many sub-sexes" (page 264). Then (I almost threw the book out of the window here), two paragraphs below, still in page 264, "Thither all men and women repair..." and goes on a couple page after to say that women didn't die from childbirth anymore, but still spent a century (!!!) caring for the toddlers.
Ultimately, what I found most remarkable of this book is how someone (the author, Stapledon) who sat down to speculate about the future of humankind was so blind to his pervasive biases, that he wrote down billions of years of history as if lived in by the humanity of 1930. At no point he imagined a society that was truly different, nor who lived in on different standards. It is, shamefully, a product of its time—and not in a positive way.
If this book is anything, it is a cautionary tale of how blind someone can be to their own cognitive bias.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Sexism, Ableism, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Genocide
ewizard's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book was enormously consequential for speculative fiction and absolutely deserves its spot in the hall of fame. The ideas it toys with are intriguing and it amazes me that this was written in the early 20th century. However, it is challenging to read, the first half in particular reads like a Hegelian treatise of proto-sociology. The intro for the edition I picked up even recommended to skipping to halfway through the book. I think the initial slog is rewarding but certainly not for modern sci-fi fans.
paperkit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
mallorn's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.75
peel_acres's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
buttcord's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
jason_pym's review against another edition
3.0
If you want to mine it for ideas for your own fiction, it's a four star. Lots of great stuff. If you're looking for entertainment, it's a two star: The problem with a future history is there aren't any characters or plot, so it's a bit hard to maintain an interest.
acsg's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kartooch's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I cannot believe this book was written so many decades ago. It is amazing in its imagination and description of potential futures while being still relevant for today's world. There are some words and expressions that we would frown upon nowadays but this is more a reflection of past misconceptions. Some of the evolution of future mankind's are a bit repetitive but overall this is not affecting the reader
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Colonisation, Death, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, War, Genocide, Slavery, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, and Suicide