This is my first book by Stapledon and I'm impressed. I love his writing style. I can see why this odd Englishman's works are still respected. This is a good book but not a page-turner. Perhaps a little to much philosophy.
I will try other books by this author. ( )

Odd John, by Olaf Stapledon

Written in 1935 Stapledon impresses me with his prescient reading of Adolf Hitler (without mentioning his name).

In any case, the publishers overdid themselves in creating a salacious cover image—at least on my issue—showing a desert island with a voluptuous naked woman, with beautifully quaffed hair, lipstick, mascara, earrings and strategically placed driftwood, being hunted by a man with white hair, muscular build and a very menacing look in his large eyes. The titular come-on states “He had to be stopped, for all women were his playthings and all men his pawns.”

For what it’s worth (and not much of a spoiler alert) Odd John is anything but menacing. We can discuss whether a mind that is so far above Homo Sapiens as Homo Sapiens is above the apes is good or evil in his condescending attitude toward normal man, but Stapledon portrays him as the next step in man’s evolution, caught in a predicament of being able to save mankind from his own inherent stupidity and selfishness—and knowing that mankind has the inclination and power to prevent such an occurrence:

“I believe, if I set my mind to it, I could fairly easily secure power and take charge of the normal species [homo-sapiens];and, once in charge, I could make a much more satisfactory world, and a much happier world; but always I should have to accept the ultimate limitations of capacity in the normal species. To make them try to live beyond their capacity would be like trying to civilize a pack of monkeys. There would be worse chaos than ever, and they would unite against me, and sooner or later destroy me. So I’d just have to accept the creature with all its limitations. And that would be to waste my best powers. I might as well spend my life chicken-farming.”

Sadly Stapledon has our hero accept his doom in a very puerile manner of telling the truth of his condition and pretty much forcing the world governments to push him into suicide. Maybe if Stapledon had written the book after WW-II he might have found a way to create his new society/world-order in hiding and allowed Odd John and his cohorts to emigrate to another planet. As it is, the author was writing in the hiatus between the most destructive wars in mankind’s history and, with a sensitivity too overwhelmed by his visions, could see no easy way out. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-of-odd-john-by-olaf-stapledon.ht... ( )

A study of the life of a mutant superman, John, written by an admiring uncle-figure narrator. John is a Homo Superior, far advanced on Homo Sapiens. But even he has to spend time maturing, developing his ideas and his emotions. This book reminded me of the telepaths of Julian May's Galactic Millieu (especially 'Intervention') and the Canopeans of 'Shikasta' by Doris Lessing. ( )

Ugh. This was a drudge to finish. The premise is decent enough: there is a race of superhumans among us, and they discover one another and endeavor to create a new society. The execution is dreary and full of typos. Not quite sure why this was listed as "essential" other than it may be the first of the enhanced humanity tales. ( )