Star Maker

Description

Olaf Stapledon's grand exploration of the universe is one of the most acclaimed science fiction novels ever written Driven out into the night by the bitterness of his life, an Englishman finds himself contemplating the night sky - its immensity, its mystery. Without explanation, he suddenly finds himself floating out into its depths. There he explores strange worlds, links with other conscious beings, and witnesses the birth and death of civilizations. As the scope of his experiences expands, the universe itself is revealed to him - its startling origins, its potential fate, and our place within its vastness... One of greatest and most influential science fiction novels ever written, Olaf Stapledon's philosophical masterwork is the ultimate exploration of the cosmos.

Olaf Stapleon (1886-1950) was born in Cheshire and educated at the University of Oxford. In his early career he worked as a teacher in Manchester and in shipping offices in Liverpool and Egypt. A pacifist and conscientious objector, he drove ambulances in the First World War and won a medal for bravery. He was later awarded a doctorate in philosophy and turned to fiction writing in the hope of making his ideas more widely available. His two masterpieces, Last and First Men (1930) and Star Maker (1937), contributed many ideas to science fiction and profoundly influenced numerous subsequent writers.

A prodigious novel -- Jorge Luis Borges The most wonderful novel I have ever read -- Brain Aldiss Stapledon's works show us just how big the universe is * Kirkus *