last and first men

forget everything you think you know about novels.

i thought i was ready for stapledon after reading star maker, but this one proved me wrong. where star maker explored the vastness of space, last and first men plunges into the immense stretches of time in a way i'd never encountered. and just like star maker, it ties all this cosmic scale back to the human experience and our place in the universe.

now, it's not without its quirks. stapledon does recycle a few ideas from star maker (this book actually came first), which can give you a sense of deja vu. and, reading it almost a century later, some of the tech predictions feel pretty off, even distracting. plus, it was written in 1930, so be prepared for some ideas that might seem pretty offensive by today's standards.

but honestly, despite these minor points, the sheer scope of the story and its "characters" (if you can even call them that) are so mind-blowing they genuinely altered my perspective.

i don't want to give away too much about the book itself here, because i don't want to accidentally rob anyone of the joy of discovering it with fresh expectations.

oh, and one crucial tip: the book starts slow. very slow. i even had to force myself to keep reading. but to get to the best part, you need to resist the urge to quit. the reward is truly worth it.

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