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Title: Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future by Dougal Dixon, Philip Hood ISBN: 0-312-03560-8 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: September, 1990 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.45 (11 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Three And A Half Would Be Better
Comment: I must admit that I'm somehwat surprised by the controversy surrounding this book. It certainly isn't as good as his other works (the New Dinosaurs, After Man and the Future is Wild) but it certainly isn't a terrible book either. It seems that most people dislike it either because it leans so heavily towards sci-fi/paranormal (mainly via psychic powers and genetic engineering) or because it degrades humankind. Honestly, if you have no problem with sci-fi influences or with a pessimistic attitude towards human nature then you probably won't be too offended by this book.
Like all of Dougal Dixon's books, it starts out with a brief history of homo sapiens and our ancestors. The short accounts of us are given in a first person fashion, departing from his other works but I didn't find them to be hard to follow. He then gives an evolutionary chart for the various species in his book. The book then starts two hundred years in the future, as a rift develops between the upper and lower class humans, and the genetically modified servants. Another century later, their descendants are examined. Then it jumps ahead to 500 years from present, when genetically modified humans are created to repopulate the earth (from which most large animals have been exterminated) and upper class humans are kept alive through machines, while lower class humans resort to communal agriculturalism. Another five hundred years and we come upon an earth on the brink of disaster, as both the high-tech mechanical societies and agricultural communities fail while the genetically modified humans in the wilderness survive.
The book keeps going showing the various twists and turns taken by the genetically modified humans, as they evolve into strange new organisms. Psychic powers, symbiosis, parasitism, aquatic lifestyles and social colonies all evolve, and vaguely humanoid creatures colonize tundras, plains, jungles and other environments. Ultimately 3 million years into the future these creatures come closer to animals like mammoths, slothes, jerboas and sabretooth tigers than humans. The book closes out at 5 million years, when the descendants of upper class humans sent to space colonies return to earth, genetically modifying and exploiting their "cousins", and ultimately laying waste to the earth. But there is still survival, and life goes on in strange new forms.
Ultimately I found this book to be an interesting concept, though not on par with his other works. Still it was a nice experiment in sci-fi for Dixon, and if you're a fan of the genere then you will probably appreciate this book. If reading this review you decide that you wouldn't like it or would find it offensive, then don't bother tracking it down. Trust me, its out of print and usually expensive to buy. Thats about the best I can say for this book. I appreciated it, but others out there might not feel the same way, so just read my review and consider whether or not it sounds like you would like it.
Rating: 1
Summary: Nothing but trash
Comment: I bought this book many years ago after buying Dougal Dixon's other two masterpieces, After Man and The New Dinosaurs. But reading THIS book made me sick to my stomach. The idea of using genetic engineering to turn future humans into animalistic creatures was literally an insult to my intelligence, and some of the creatures that are said to have evolved later were simply unscientific and implausible, such as the water seeker and the "memory people". Then aliens descended from humans that have escaped to another part of the galaxy return to Earth after 5 million years and wipe out nearly all creatures on Earth! After a few weeks, I literally threw this book away and my opinion of Mr. Dixon was lowered permenantly. Quite simply, he should never have written this nonsense! Being human himself, how could he have done this to his own species?!
Rating: 3
Summary: I gave it three stars because it's by Dixon.
Comment: The other reviews on this book are a mixed bunch. While most of Dixon's readers loved his other books - After man and the New Dinosaurs, most agreed that this book was a dissapointment in comparison to the other two. But a few reviewers loved it. I bought it anyway. When I first saw the cover, I didn't know what to expect. The book's start is a sort of review of all of man's ancestors, the same type of introduction in all of Dixon's two other books. Then it breaks into bizzare and implausible entries and drawings of genetically modified monsters that were disigned to repopulate the ravaged earth. The illustrations are often dismissed as "bad". And some are. I could have drawn them, if I wasn't too worried someone else would see them and wonder what twisted thoughts passed unseen through my mind. But many weren't so bad, it was just the content and design. Most were completely ridiculous. And the entries on each species. I don't even want to talk about them, but I have to, since I am writing this review. The entries make no sense. While reading the other reviews, I thought, "Poorly written? Dixon isn't capable of that". But he is. The entries start out at a completely random point. About nothing at all can be discerned about each species. If the author had just written straightfoward entries about each species, instead of random events in each creatures life. "Coffee table book"? Ha! I wouldn't leave this one on a coffee table if my life depended on it.
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Title: After Man : A Zoology of the Future by Dougal Dixon ISBN: 0312194331 Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback Pub. Date: 15 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution by Dougal Dixon ISBN: 0881623016 Publisher: Salem House Publishing Pub. Date: October, 1988 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Future is Wild by Dougal Dixon, John Adams ISBN: 1552977234 Publisher: Firefly Books Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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