Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future (Dougal Dixon)

Originally reviewed on 8/24/22.

Man after Man's cover. A small armored being rides atop a four-legged beige creature's back.

Interesting, but doesn't compare to other books like it. Man After Man is bleak and feels like it holds a disdain towards humanity and holds a primitivist misanthropic idea that intelligent beings paired with technology could only result in a pathetically weak and overpopulated species that destroy everything around them.

The speculative science behind it doesn't feel very realistic, evolution runs way too fast and I couldn't suspend my disbelief for some of the traits that the species developed seemingly out of nowhere. A random one-off experience in an individual can jumpcut to the entire species rocking a dedicated lifestyle centered around that unlikely experience. Definitely a lot more fiction than science, and not in the way that can be excused by the rule of cool either. I think the issue is it's inconsistent in its realism. If everything was semi-grounded in relative reality or if everything was out-there and goofy then it'd all fit in, but instead there's this mix of both that does not blend together well.

But on a positive note, I did like that it was a series of very short stories from the perspectives of various members of each species. I think there was a good mix of general species-wide statements and the perspectives of random individuals.

Also apparently that "Seasons Greasons" meme is from this book. Was not expecting to see that here.

★★☆☆☆