Last and First Men

First edition cover
Author	Olaf Stapledon
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Methuen
Publication date	1930
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	336
ISBN	9781857988062

Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is a science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon. A work of unprecedented scale, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years and eighteen distinct human species, of which our own is the first and most primitive. Stapledon's conception of history is based on the Hegelian Dialectic, following a repetitive cycle with many varied civilizations rising from and descending back into savagery over millions of years, but it is also one of progress, as the later civilizations rise to far greater heights than the first. The book anticipates genetic engineering, and the idea of superminds composed of many telepathically-linked individuals. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... William Olaf Stapledon (May 10, 1886 – September 6, 1950) was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Some notable science fiction novels, in alphabetical order by title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke 334 by Thomas M. Disch An Age by Brian Aldiss The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Methuen Publishing Ltd is a British publishing house, and publishes in the areas of theatre and drama. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... “ISBN” redirects here. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... William Olaf Stapledon (May 10, 1886 – September 6, 1950) was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction. ... Universe was a 1941 story from Heinleins Future History series (shown here in the 1951 Dell edition). ... For other uses, see Species (disambiguation). ... Broadly speaking, a dialectic (Greek: διαλεκτική) is an exchange of propositions (theses) and counter-propositions (antitheses) resulting in a disagreement. ... For other uses, see Civilization (disambiguation). ... Kenyans examining insect-resistant transgenic Bt corn. ... Supermind in Sri Aurobindos philosophy refers to the infinite unitary Truth Consciousness or Truth-Idea beyond the three lower planes of Matter, Life, and Mind. ... Telepathy, from the Greek τῆλε, tele, remote; and πάθεια, patheia, to be effected by, describes the hypothetical transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five classical senses. ...

A controversial part of the book depicts humans, in the far-off future, escaping the dying Earth and settling on Venus—in the process totally exterminating its native inhabitants, a marine intelligent species. Stapledon's book has been interpreted by some as condoning such interplanetary genocide as a justified act if necessary for racial survival, though a number of Stapledon's partisans denied that such was his intention, arguing instead that Stapledon was merely showing that although mankind had advanced in a number of ways in the future, at bottom it still possessed the same capacity for savagery as it has always had. Adjectives: Venusian or (rarely) Cytherean Atmosphere Surface pressure: 9. ... Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic or national group. ...

Last and First Men Pelican Edition

The book had the distinction of being the only work of fiction published by Pelican Books. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Some early Penguin editions ( details) Penguin Crime (details) Penguin Books is a British publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. ...

In 1932, Stapledon followed Last and First Men with the far less acclaimed Last Men in London. His other great novel, Star Maker (1937), could also be considered a sequel to Last and First Men, but is even more ambitious in scope, being a history of the entire universe. Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Last Men in London (1932) is a science fiction novel by Olaf Stapledon. ... Star Maker (1937) is a cornerstone work of science fiction by Olaf Stapledon, in which he undertakes the immense task of describing the entire history of life in the universe. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Human species

• First Men. (Chapters 1-6) Our own species: the rivalry of America and China, the First World State, its destruction as a result of using up all natural resources, followed by the Patagonian Civilisation 100,000 years hence, with the cult of Youth, and its destruction after the sabotage of a mine which leads to a colossal subterranean atomic explosion and the ensuing intercontinental nuclear holocaust, rendering most of the Earth's surface uninhabitable for millions of years save for the poles and the northern coast of Siberia. The only survivors are thirty-five humans stationed at the North Pole.
• Second Men. (Chapters 7-9) "Their heads, indeed, were large even for their bodies, and their necks massive. Their hands were huge, but finely moulded... their legs were stouter... their feet had lost their separate toes... blonde hirsute appearance... Their eyes were large, and often jade green, their features firm as carved granite, yet mobile and lucent. ...not till they were fifty did they reach maturity. At about 190 their powers began to fail..."
• Third Men. (Chapter 10) "Scarcely more than half the stature of their predecessors, these beings were proportionally slight and lithe. Their skin was of a sunny brown, covered with a luminous halo of red-gold hairs... golden eyes... faces were compact as a cat's muzzle, their lips full, but subtle at the corners. Their ears, objects of personal pride and of sexual admiration, were extremely variable both in individuals and in races. ... But the most distinctive feature of the Third Men was their great lean hands, on which were six versatile fingers, six antennae of living steel." Deeply interested in music and in the design of living organisms.
• Fourth Men. (Chapter 11) Giant brains, built by the Third Men. For a long time they help govern their creators, but eventually come into conflict.
• Fifth Men. (Chapters 11-12) An artificial human species designed by the brains. "On the average they were more than twice as tall as the First Men, and much taller than the Second Men... the delicate sixth finger had been induced to divide its tip into two Lilliputian fingers and a corresponding thumb. The contours of the limbs were sharply visible, for the body bore no hair, save for a close, thick skull-cap which, in the original stock, was of ruddy brown. The well-marked eyebrows, when drawn down, shaded the sensitive eyes from the sun." When Earth ceases to be habitable, they terraform Venus, but do not cope well after the move.

Last and First Men SF Masterworks

• Sixth Men. (Chapter 13) "Sadly reduced in stature and in brain, these abject beings... gained a precarious livelihood by grubbing roots upon the forest-clad islands, trapping the innumerable birds, and catching fish... Not infrequently they devoured, or were devoured by, their seal-like relatives."
• Seventh Men. Flying humans, "scarcely heavier than the largest of terrestrial flying birds", are created by the Sixth Men.
• Eighth Men. "These long-headed and substantial folk were designed to be strictly pedestrian, physically and mentally." When Venus becomes uninhabitable, they design the Ninth Men, who will live on Neptune.
• Ninth Men. (Chapter 14) "Inevitably it was a dwarf type, limited in size by the necessity of resisting an excessive gravitation... too delicately organized to withstand the ferocity of natural forces on Neptune... civilization crumbled into savagery."
• Tenth to Seventeenth Men. "Nowhere did the typical human form survive." The Fifteenth and Sixteenth achieve a great civilization and learn to study past minds.
• Eighteenth Men. (Chapters 15-16) The most advanced humans of all. "Superficially we seem to be not one species but many." Are eventually extinguished on Neptune after a supernova consumes the remains of the solar system.

Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized... NOTE: some users are seeking to replace this article by another with the title Federal World Government. ... Patagonia, as most commonly defined (in orange). ... For other uses, see Youth (disambiguation) Youth is defined by Websters New World Dictionary as, The time of life when one is young; especially: a: the period between childhood and maturity b: the early period of existence, growth, or development. ... Nuclear Holocaust is the concept of the eradication of the human race through the means of Nuclear warfare. ... This article is about Siberia as a whole. ... For other uses, see North Pole (disambiguation). ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... A selection of antique, hand-crafted Chinese jade (jadeite) buttons Unworked Jade Jade is used as an ornamental stone, the term jade is applied to two different rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals. ... Jade is a saturated, slightly bluish green. ... Close-up of granite from Yosemite National Park, valley of the Merced River Quarrying granite for the Mormon Temple, Utah Territory. ... In 1996, AT&T spun off its Systems and Technology units, along with the famous Bell Laboratories, to form a new company named Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU). ... A halo (Greek: ; also known as a nimbus, glory, or Gloriole) is a ring of light that surrounds an object. ... Binomial name Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Felis lybica invalid junior synonym The cat (or domestic cat, house cat) is a small carnivorous mammal. ... Insects display a wide variety of antennal shapes. ... Kenyans examining insect-resistant transgenic Bt corn. ... sBold text == Headline text ==please edit this page!!!!! omething Gisela does not have These where evolved into our heads. ... Lilliput and Blefuscu are two island nations that appear in the 1726 novel Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift. ... A skullcap can be : in anatomy, the top part of the skull as headgear, a type of cap Observant Jewish men wear yarmulkes, small cloth skull-caps Catholic clergy, including The Pope, wear skullcaps known as zucchetti. ... Artists conception of a terraformed Mars in three stages of development. ... Adjectives: Venusian or (rarely) Cytherean Atmosphere Surface pressure: 9. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... SF Masterworks is a series of science fiction classics that are being republished by Millennium, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, a UK publisher, as a companion series for their Fantasy Masterworks line. ... // Look up seal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Pedestrian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Neptune (disambiguation). ... Men hur kommer man in i berget, frÃ¥gade tomtepojken (But how do I get into the mountain? the young dwarf asked. ... “Gravity” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Neptune (disambiguation). ... Multiwavelength X-ray image of the remnant of Keplers Supernova, SN 1604. ... This article is about the Solar System. ...

Appearances in other media

The novel appears in the computer game Deus Ex as a reference when a corporation in the game allegedly tries to develop the Second Men in the series, but also in a much broader aspect as the game deals with genetic engineering, the next phase of evolution and human augmentations. A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... This article is about the video game. ... Kenyans examining insect-resistant transgenic Bt corn. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ...

Also similar to the book are the options presented to the player as to where human kind will go next: a fall back into an almost savage state of humanity, or extreme progression with the danger of sacrificing basic rights.

External links

• Review by Tal Cohen
• Book transcript by Project Gutenberg of Australia