Star Maker William Olaf Stapledon 9781542520737 Books
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Widely regarded as one of the true classics of science fiction, Star Maker is a poetic and deeply philosophical work. The story details the mental journey of an unnamed narrator who is transported not only to other worlds but also other galaxies and parallel universes, until he eventually becomes part of the "cosmic mind." First published in 1937, Olaf Stapledon's descriptions of alien life are a political commentary on human life in the turbulent inter-war years. The book challenges preconceived notions of intelligence and awareness, and ultimately argues for a broadened perspective that would free us from culturally ingrained thought and our inevitable anthropomorphism. This is the first scholarly edition of a book that influenced such writers as C.S. Lewis and Arthur C. Clarke and which Jorge Luis Borges called "a prodigious novel." He was born in Seacombe, Wallasey, on the Wirral peninsula near Liverpool, the only son of William Clibbert Stapledon and Emmeline Miller. The first six years of his life were spent with his parents at Port Said. He was educated at Abbotsholme School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he acquired a BA in Modern History in 1909 and a Master's degree in 1913[citation needed]. After a brief stint as a teacher at Manchester Grammar School, he worked in shipping offices in Liverpool and Port Said from 1910 to 1913. During World War I he served with the Friends' Ambulance Unit in France and Belgium from July 1915 to January 1919. On 16 July 1919 he married Agnes Zena Miller (1894-1984), an Australian cousin whom he had first met in 1903, and who maintained a correspondence with him throughout the war from her home in Sydney. They had a daughter, Mary Sydney Stapledon (1920-), and a son, John David Stapledon (1923-). In 1920 they moved to West Kirby, and in 1925 Stapledon was awarded a PhD in philosophy from the University of Liverpool. He wrote A Modern Theory of Ethics, which was published in 1929. However he soon turned to fiction to present his ideas to a wider public. Last and First Men was very successful and prompted him to become a full-time writer. He wrote a sequel, and followed it up with many more books on subjects associated with what is now called Transhumanism.
Star Maker William Olaf Stapledon 9781542520737 Books
I bought this book because I was interested in Stapledon's depiction of the possible future of humanity. I wasn't aware when I bought the 'Millennium Edition' that the entire section on the First Men- Stapledon's prediction of human society's development between 1930 and the eventual collapse into worldwide barbarism- had been completely rewritten to make it 'easier' for modern readers to digest without excessive disbelief. Yes, Stapledon's predictions of a League of Nations world power and the various wars in Europe and the unification of science and religion in the United States have no resemblance to the reality we've lived through so far, but so what? Part of the point of buying older books and reading older predictions is seeing what the authors of the past thought would shape the world of the future.The Millennium Edition does warn readers about this rewrite in a small preface, but I didn't see the warning until after I'd bought the book. I hadn't thought I would need to check samples of the book to make sure I was getting what I wanted. I realize that I wrote a glowing review of The Night Land: A Story Retold, but there's a difference. The Night Land's original style was almost unreadable. (I tried. I tried so hard.) The Night Land: A Story Retold warned you *right in the title* of what you were getting. And The Night Land: A Story Retold may have removed several of the author's philosophical points, mostly having to do with Edwardian beliefs about gender roles persisting so far into the future that the Sun had gone out, but it didn't take a socialist writer's work and rewrite it to say that human civilization essentially collapsed because people refused to attempt to economically succeed on their own and fell into a leisure-induced society-wide coma, which is the impression one gets from the rewritten first chapter.
Long story short, I'd have appreciated more warning of the rewrite and what it entailed.
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Star Maker William Olaf Stapledon 9781542520737 Books Reviews
I absolutely loved this. Plant people, composite minds, intelligent stars - and an exploration into some of life's biggest questions. This book is a history of the universe, told by an Englishman who mysteriously floats into the sky one night while contemplating its immensity. It does not contain many of the traditional elements of a novel. For example, there are not many "characters" in the traditional sense. But what it does have is a beautifully crafted series of interwoven alien histories, sci-fi-type hypotheses, and spiritual and philosophical musings.
One thing that surprised me is how specific some of the answers to these big questions get toward the end. It's not just some vague notion of the "unified spirit," it's much more detailed than that. I suspect that not all readers will like these answers, but I found them to be compelling and fascinating possibilities.
I also think this is a must read for any sci-fi fan. It was first published in 1937, at the dawn of sci-fi's Golden Age, making the ideas expressed all the more impressive and important. The final pages of the book tie its themes back to what was happening in Europe when it was written, which I found brilliant and poignant at the same time.
One technical note apostrophes appear as "f"s and quotation marks appear as "g"s and "h"s in the version. This was not a problem for me once I got used to it, but if that sort of thing bothers you, you might want to get the paperback.
Four or five stars for Stapledon’s original masterpiece. One star for a gratuitous rewrite of the first few chapters in an attempt to make the work more palatable to modern readers. ZERO stars for listing this edition on with no indication that the early chapters have been (anonymously!) bastardized.
The rewrite of the early chapters ostensibly makes the more more palatable by ‘correcting’ Stapledon’s 1930 predictions to reflect actual events, and then extrapolating a 2015 vision of global and societal trends into the future far enough that the anonymous author’s and Stapledon’s timelines can once again intersect. In my opinion, as of 2018, this was a mistake of epic proportions.
Microscopic details from today’s op-ed pages become trends of millennial magnitude, totally ruining the grandeur and sweep of the original. And in today’s polarized world, any contemporary reader is going to be distracted by the author’s take on current events.
I would recommend avoiding this ‘Millenium Edition’ like the plague and tracking down the original. Unfortunately, the lack of transparency on the product page[s] makes that impossible at this time.
I bought this book because I was interested in Stapledon's depiction of the possible future of humanity. I wasn't aware when I bought the 'Millennium Edition' that the entire section on the First Men- Stapledon's prediction of human society's development between 1930 and the eventual collapse into worldwide barbarism- had been completely rewritten to make it 'easier' for modern readers to digest without excessive disbelief. Yes, Stapledon's predictions of a League of Nations world power and the various wars in Europe and the unification of science and religion in the United States have no resemblance to the reality we've lived through so far, but so what? Part of the point of buying older books and reading older predictions is seeing what the authors of the past thought would shape the world of the future.
The Millennium Edition does warn readers about this rewrite in a small preface, but I didn't see the warning until after I'd bought the book. I hadn't thought I would need to check samples of the book to make sure I was getting what I wanted. I realize that I wrote a glowing review of The Night Land A Story Retold, but there's a difference. The Night Land's original style was almost unreadable. (I tried. I tried so hard.) The Night Land A Story Retold warned you *right in the title* of what you were getting. And The Night Land A Story Retold may have removed several of the author's philosophical points, mostly having to do with Edwardian beliefs about gender roles persisting so far into the future that the Sun had gone out, but it didn't take a socialist writer's work and rewrite it to say that human civilization essentially collapsed because people refused to attempt to economically succeed on their own and fell into a leisure-induced society-wide coma, which is the impression one gets from the rewritten first chapter.
Long story short, I'd have appreciated more warning of the rewrite and what it entailed.
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