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juushikaTitle: Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future
Author: Dougal Dixon
Illustrator: Philip Hood
Published: New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 128
Total Page Count: 84,934
Text Number: 244
Read Because: personal enjoyment, downloaded
Short Review: I originally read this book when I was 13, and picked it up again these many years later out of nostalgia. Unfortunately my nostalgia was largely misplaced: Dixon's After Man is the book I remember so fondly; Man After Man by comparison is something of a disappointment. It has a similar premise: pulling on evolutionary trends of the past, Dixon looks forward and projects possible variations and forms that mankind may adopt in the distant future. In Man After Man, however, these predictions are based on a combination of genetic engineering and natural evolution. Near-future man creates genetically reversed-engineered variations of himself, stripped of nearly all human intelligence and built to fill niches in the ecosystem vacated by extinct animals; over time, these human animals evolve into fitter, sometimes more intelligent forms.
Stripping mankind of society, intelligence, and recognizable human form, most human evolutions in Man After Man hardly seem human or futuristic—which rather defeats the purpose of the book. Yet most of the future evolutions remain constrained to variation of the same human/primate form, and so feel uninspired and repetitive. Narrative sections add a personal, sometimes refreshing, element, but the writing style is unremarkable. Mediocre art which (even after suspending disbelief for genetically engineered, distantly evolved forms) never feels entirely convincing or realistic does a lot to drag down the book. Which isn't to say that Man After Man is all bad: there are some clever ideas, a few fascinating evolutions, and at least a basis in rational explanation which, combined with the short length and plentiful illustrations, make the book a quick, fairly absorbing read. But Man After Man isn't half as inventive, entertaining, or thought-provoking as it could be (or as Dixon's other books are), and so it's a disappointment. I don't recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Man After Man and After Man are both out of print and it looks like copies range between $150-300.
Author: Dougal Dixon
Illustrator: Philip Hood
Published: New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 128
Total Page Count: 84,934
Text Number: 244
Read Because: personal enjoyment, downloaded
Short Review: I originally read this book when I was 13, and picked it up again these many years later out of nostalgia. Unfortunately my nostalgia was largely misplaced: Dixon's After Man is the book I remember so fondly; Man After Man by comparison is something of a disappointment. It has a similar premise: pulling on evolutionary trends of the past, Dixon looks forward and projects possible variations and forms that mankind may adopt in the distant future. In Man After Man, however, these predictions are based on a combination of genetic engineering and natural evolution. Near-future man creates genetically reversed-engineered variations of himself, stripped of nearly all human intelligence and built to fill niches in the ecosystem vacated by extinct animals; over time, these human animals evolve into fitter, sometimes more intelligent forms.
Stripping mankind of society, intelligence, and recognizable human form, most human evolutions in Man After Man hardly seem human or futuristic—which rather defeats the purpose of the book. Yet most of the future evolutions remain constrained to variation of the same human/primate form, and so feel uninspired and repetitive. Narrative sections add a personal, sometimes refreshing, element, but the writing style is unremarkable. Mediocre art which (even after suspending disbelief for genetically engineered, distantly evolved forms) never feels entirely convincing or realistic does a lot to drag down the book. Which isn't to say that Man After Man is all bad: there are some clever ideas, a few fascinating evolutions, and at least a basis in rational explanation which, combined with the short length and plentiful illustrations, make the book a quick, fairly absorbing read. But Man After Man isn't half as inventive, entertaining, or thought-provoking as it could be (or as Dixon's other books are), and so it's a disappointment. I don't recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Man After Man and After Man are both out of print and it looks like copies range between $150-300.
