Rating: 
Summary: Across the Universe
Review: "Who are we?", "Why are we here?" and "What's it all for?" are questions most of us have probably asked at some point, whether we're going through times of doubt, uncertainty or philosophical musing. Destiny and fate are fuzzy topics that make for deep intellectual discussion, providing much stimulation and irritation for those who like to ponder such matters. "Star Maker" attempts to answer the above questions by taking the reader on an epic voyage spanning the cosmos.The human protagonist becomes a disembodied psychic presence travelling across the immense gulf of space and time, visiting numerous worlds, some of which, like Earth, spawn conflicting cultures and religions. We see evolving star systems and witness the birth and death of countless species before meeting the creator of it all, the enigmatic Star Maker. On our own miniscule speck of a planet (where the book begins) we go about our daily business, struggling to make sense of a senseless existence, living in a world that seems to punish the innocent and reward the wicked. As we soon discover, it's like this throughout the universe. We witness acts of barbarism and atrocity, noble races are wiped out, unwilling (even if able) to defend themselves against less civilised, but no less talented aggressors. Other worlds are simply destroyed by freak twists of fate. All this is of complete indifference to the Star Maker. (How many of us feel grief when we accidentally step on a bug?) On meeting the Star Maker we find that our cosmos is merely one of a series of artistic experiments churned out over the aeons, as the Star Maker strives to create something that meets his satisfaction. Like any artist on an endless quest for perfection, he has to go through several failures in his "immature" phase. Our cosmos is produced in his "mature" phase. Yet it still fails to satisfy him, and even stranger, more incomprehensible creations are brought into being. I suspect John Wyndham got his inspiration for "Chocky" from reading this book, the way the narrator becomes an observer who can inhabit the minds of various hosts. I know Wyndham had read "Odd John". In "Star Maker" there's a lot to take in, even the narrator had trouble understanding a lot of it. 100 billion years of birth and death, hope and despair, good and evil are covered in 253 pages. I read "Last and First Men" two years ago. Even though "Star Maker" is an interesting book which I finished more quickly, I still prefer the former.
Rating: 
Summary: tedious and unrewarding
Review: 'Star Maker' by Olaf Stapledon is more about philosophy than about science fiction, but it has enough of both to make all kinds of fans happy. The author covers the history of, well, almost everything. He travels through space and time, back and forth, to explore everything from intelligent stars to the alien civilizations that rise ands fall, from simple plant-men to massive utopias. Always, he is also looking for the Star Maker, God, the Great Creator.
He even links this book to his first novel, 'Last And First Man', by talking about some periods in mankind's history, like the war with Mars. This book is all about scale. Yet while I enjoyed this book it didn't feel as well planned, as detailed as 'Last And First Man'. But I'm not sure a book of 272 pages could be said to be lacking in details. Its scope is vast and giving too many details might of limited it, framed it into too small a canvas. Olaf is using wide strokes of his huge brush to build this story.
With a forword by Brain Aldiss and a interesting glossary, I would suggest this book for both sci-fi fans, people looking for God in what seems like a godless universe and also people who just enjoy philosophy.
Rating: 
Summary: Total Perspective Vortex
Review: I have no idea how I missed this book after all these years. Perhaps it is best that I found it now and not earlier, for it is the supreme example of speculative thinking about the future in my experience. I can't think of another book in the science fiction genre that I could compare it to, for nothing else comes close. This is the story of a man who takes an evening walk out upon the hills behind his home, only to be seized and swept away by a cosmic vision that seems to span the aeons. At first, he seems to be a single, disembodied point of consciousness with the ability to move at will among the stars. Then, he is drawn to a world of man-like creatures where he comes to enter into telepathic union with one of the natives. He and his host come to explore the entire history of this world before shoving off, together, to explore the other inhabited worlds of the galaxy. They are joined, one by one, by other simular explorers as they come to wander an incredible diversity of inhabited worlds. Slowly, they come to see the larger story of the galaxy, and then the entire cosmos. They see world after world unite into various forms of utopian "world minds." Then they see these world minds reach across the galaxy to colonise other worlds, and to make contact with other intelligent species. Finally, after aeons of conflict and struggle, all the galaxy is united into one great telepathically linked Galactic Union. Yet even this is but the beginning, for the next step is to make contact with the other galaxies- and with the stars and nebula themselves (for it turns out that the great cosmic bodies of the universe are themselves intelligent.) And when this is accomplished, all three great living super species press on into the higher dimensions of existance to make contact with the Creator himself- the Star Maker.... I understand that Stapledon spent part of his youth in Egypt, that would partially explain the ease at which he spans great extents of time, as well as, the rise and fall of great civilizations. Of course, he was also educated at Oxford, which would explain the simularities to Neoplatonism. At any rate, like the narrator, it is hard to believe that Stapledon didn't experience a vision of Cosmic Consciousness himself to inspire such a magnificently complex and profound work. Oh yes, this book is not written like a conventional novel. In fact, there is not a line of conventional dialog in it. It is instead, an extremely concentrated journal of idea after significant idea. As for the ideas, not only does the science hold up remarkably well for a book written in 1937, but if you read closely you find hints of the big bang, the holographic universe, morphogenic fields, the multiverse, cybernetic reality, etc., etc., etc. It reads rather like the journal of a classically educated Englishman of before the war. No, check that, it reads like journal of a classically educated genius....
Rating:
Summary: tedious and unrewarding
Review: I rather doubt Douglas Adams "was thinking of Stapledon when he invented, in the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy [actually, in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"]...the Total Perspective Vortex", just as I doubt former Late Show host Johnny Carson was thinking of Stapledon when he parodied Carl Sagan with his "billions and billions" speech. Douglas Adams and Johnny Carson were quite capable of finding out for themselves, without help from Stapledon, that the universe is big and that time is vast. For that matter, it is a different thing for comics to harp on this simple-minded theme and for a science fiction writer who seems to take himself very seriously to do so. Rather than read "Star Maker" or "The First and Last Man", I suggest you read instead H. G. Wells's short story "Under the Knife", written several decades earlier. "Under the Knife" deftly and SUCCINCTLY puts the "Total Perspective Vortex" itself into perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely should not be considered a novel.
Review: I started this book in a Science Fiction class at Florida International University. I finished this book because I wanted to pass. First of all, there are no characters in this book. Character is what most readers look for when reading a novel, but you won't find a character to identify with here. Plot is another reason people read; it's hazy here at best. Finally, the most importan reason poeple read is for story. You definitely won't find one of those here. If this was slotted under the "Imaginative Philosophy" section, I might have held the book in higher regard. That's pretty much what "Star Maker" is, a philosophical mind trip through entire universes. I was reminded many times of Plato's _Republic_ while reading this, and indeed it seems like Stapleton was extending his philosophical exercise to cover an entire universe. So, if you want to tackle philosophical issues, this book is okay. If you're looking for a novel (like I was), with a story and characters--and entertainment, damnit!--then run as fast as you cn from this one.
Rating:
Summary: plodding
Review: It's amazing to me that someone could call a book first published nearly a half-century after "The Time Machine" and five years after "Brave New World" "EARLY [my emphasis]...science fiction". Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" is an "early classic of science fiction", although, for that matter, the great astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler wrote a science fiction story about a voyage to the moon four centuries ago. Any way you slice it, however, science fiction had become a continuous tradition in the 1890's with H. G. Wells, and it is absurd to call a science fiction book published four to five decades later "early". So much for "early"; now about "classic": For a work to be classic it has to be (at least) 1) very good and 2) WIDELY recognized in its own time. You can have your own opinion about 1) as far as "Star Maker" is concerned, but you can't reasonably argue that it meets criterium 2). P. S.: Amazon's biographical blurb above is not quite accurate: >After spending eighteen months working in a shipping office in Liverpool and Port Said, he lectured extramurally for Liverpool University in English Literature and industrial history. Actually, after (and before) leaving the Blue Funnel Line and while teaching at Manchester Grammar School, Stapledon lectured evenings in the Liverpool area for the Workers Educational Association, NOT for Liverpool University.
Rating: 
Summary: Workers of the Galaxy Unite!
Review: Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker is a sequel of sorts to his earlier book Last & First Men. Whereas L&FM dealt with the fate and evolution of humankind, Star Maker concerns the fate and evolution of the universe. The unnamed narrator passes through time and space in an out of body experience, discovering the history of the universe both past and future, with the ultimate goal of understanding the nature of the Prime Creator- The Star Maker.
Like L&FM Star Maker is a book that is easily admired yet difficult to enjoy. The scope of Stapledon's imagination is astonishing. Yet because of its broad scope (literally billions of years of time and billions of light-years in space) it is by its very nature general, with little detail and much philosophy. This makes for tedious reading. And the philosophy espoused by Stapledon is Socialism. The theme running through the book is that only when the workers overcome their capitalist masters and control the means of production will a society be able to evolve a world mind -the next stage in galactic evolution. Those societies which do not will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
This attitude is not surprising given when the book was written. WWI demonstrated the failure of monarchy, the Depression the failure of liberal democracy and capitalism. The choice seemed to many in the 1930's, a choice between fascism and communism. And Stapledon chose Lenin; to quote 'we were amazed to find that in a truly awakened world even a dictatorship could be in essence democratic' (Chp 9.1)That would be the Dictatorship of the Proletariat comrade.
Politics aside, it is a seminal work in the history of the genre. It is an amazing work of imagination, even if it does take a great deal of effort to wade through.
Rating:
Summary: Workers of the Galaxy Unite!
Review: Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker is a sequel of sorts to his earlier book Last & First Men. Whereas L&FM dealt with the fate and evolution of humankind, Star Maker concerns the fate and evolution of the universe. The unnamed narrator passes through time and space in an out of body experience, discovering the history of the universe both past and future, with the ultimate goal of understanding the nature of the Prime Creator- The Star Maker.
Like L&FM Star Maker is a book that is easily admired yet difficult to enjoy. The scope of Stapledon's imagination is astonishing. Yet because of its broad scope (literally billions of years of time and billions of light-years in space) it is by its very nature general, with little detail and much philosophy. This makes for tedious reading. And the philosophy espoused by Stapledon is Socialism. The theme running through the book is that only when the workers overcome their capitalist masters and control the means of production will a society be able to evolve a world mind -the next stage in galactic evolution. Those societies which do not will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
This attitude is not surprising given when the book was written. WWI demonstrated the failure of monarchy, the Depression the failure of liberal democracy and capitalism. The choice seemed to many in the 1930's, a choice between fascism and communism. And Stapledon chose Lenin; to quote 'we were amazed to find that in a truly awakened world even a dictatorship could be in essence democratic' (Chp 9.1)That would be the Dictatorship of the Proletariat comrade.
Politics aside, it is a seminal work in the history of the genre. It is an amazing work of imagination, even if it does take a great deal of effort to wade through.
Rating:
Summary: APOCALYPSE ON THE WIRRAL PENINSULA
Review: On a suburban hill, presumably on the Wirral (with the foundry beyond the estuary being Shotton or Brymbo), a man falls asleep and experiences not some mere vision of the entire cosmos but a conscious participation in the Creator's whole programme of innumerable cosmoi. This is a compulsive and utterly comfortless book. Keep a sense of humour if you are going to read it attentively, as you may need that to stay sane. It starts at a level familiar to science-fiction readers, and the details of the various alien intelligences have the sort of fascination that one gets in, say, Van Vogt (or even the work that immortally began 'Help, we are surrounded by Vugs'). The vision then advances to the collective telepathic minds developed by some of the civilisations, next to the sentient minds (individual and collective) of the stars themselves, then to similar consciousness possessed by whole nebulae, and finally to direct contact with the Creator. This Creator is not some fount of infinite love and goodness as we might understand those concepts. Our values are not his -- 'Sympathy was not ultimate in the temper of the eternal spirit; contemplation was. Love was not absolute; contemplation was.' Countless disasters and unthinkable suffering are all part of the grand design. Hell itself may be deliberately inflicted by the Creator on those he gives no opportunity to avoid it. To me this scenario seems just as likely as any religious theory of ultimate goodness, which may be basically wishful thinking. Grappling with questions like these by reasoning is like wrestling with a jelly in a high wind -- when we think we have made progress it just closes back in on us from behind. And other than reason what do we have? Belief is just belief -- things may be the way we believe or would rather believe, or they may not. 'I know not "seems"' says Hamlet. 'Seems' may be all we've got. Back on his suburban hill in 1937, the anonymous visionary contemplates the 'reality' around him. Like many agonising intellectuals of the time, Stapledon partly fell for the monstrous con of Soviet communism. He had no grasp of Realpolitik whatsoever, and Muggeridge's account of the edifice of corruption, chicanery and strategic lying that took in Shaw and other big brains is recommended to any who have not read it. Others of Stapledon's perceptions ring partly 'true' -- '...a world wherein, none being tormented, none turns desperate' is probably a bit much to hope for, given human perversity, but we all know the lengths people will go to when they have 'beliefs', which flourish where there is injustice and oppression. Can you face this book? In recommending it I am quite aware of the disorientation and unhappiness it may create in some. In others, if it undermines the high ground occupied by those deceptive and destructive phantoms, deeply held beliefs, it may do some 'good'. The bigger questions stay just as they were, of course.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book For Any Time
Review: Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon, is an incredible achievement. It was first published in 1937. It is not a conventional novel, so if that is what you are looking for, you should look elsewhere. It is more of a philosophical journey than a conventional story. The nameless narrator takes a journey through the universe and through time, starting on a hill near his home, and ultimately finding the creator of the universe, i.e. the Star Maker. He witnesses the entire life of the universe, and joins with many other minds from other civilizations throughout the galaxy. It is tempting to use phrases like "for its time" when describing this book, but it is a remarkable work for any time. I am sure that some of descriptions of civilizations and their scientific achievements would change if it were written today. However, the statement that the book makes would likely remain the same. This book was tied for 13th on the Arkham Survey in 1949 as one of the `Basic SF Titles'. It also was tied for 30th on the 1975 Locus All-Time poll for Novels; and 32nd on the 1998 Locus All-Time Poll for Novels written prior to 1990. This particular edition includes a Foreword by Brian W. Aldiss, and also includes A Note on Magnitude, Time Lines, and a Glossary all created by Olaf Stapledon. This is the 21st of the SF Masterworks paperbacks released by Victor Gollancz Books. If this is an indication of the quality of work they have done throughout the series, then it is a very worthwhile series to own.
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