Star Maker and over 360,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

26 used & new from $6.91

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Star Maker (SF Masterworks) (S.F.Masterworks)
 
 
Start reading Star Maker on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Star Maker (SF Masterworks) (S.F.Masterworks) (Paperback)

~ Olaf Stapledon (Author), William Olaf Stapledon (Author) "One night when I had tasted bitterness I went out on to the hill..." (more)
Key Phrases: cosmical mind, telepathic exploration, symbiotic race, Star Maker, Other Men, Homo Sapiens (more...)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


13 new from $7.01 13 used from $6.91

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Kindle Edition $0.99 -- --
  Hardcover -- -- --
  Paperback $9.95 $5.23 $4.98
  Paperback, 1999 -- $7.01 $6.91
  Unknown Binding -- -- $6.00

Special Offers and Product Promotions


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Last and First Men

Last and First Men

by Olaf Stapledo
3.7 out of 5 stars (17)  $29.09
Odd John and Sirius

Odd John and Sirius

by William Olaf Stapledon
4.9 out of 5 stars (16)  $10.17
More Than Human

More Than Human

by Theodore Sturgeon
4.6 out of 5 stars (43)  $11.20
Radix

Radix

by A. A. Attanasio
Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution

Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution

by Steve McIntosh
4.5 out of 5 stars (16)  $16.47
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century." (Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.


Product Description

One moment a man sits on a suburban hill, gazing curiously at the stars. The next, he is whirling through the firmament, and perhaps the most remarkable of all science fiction journeys has begun.

Even Stapledon's other great work, LAST AND FIRST MEN, pales in ambition next to STAR MAKER, which presents nothing less than an entire imagined history of life in the universe, encompassing billions of years.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz (1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1857988078
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857988079
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,080,833 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Olaf Stapledo
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Olaf Stapledo Page

Inside This Book (learn more)




What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Star Maker (SF Masterworks) (S.F.Masterworks)
79% buy the item featured on this page:
Star Maker (SF Masterworks) (S.F.Masterworks) 4.3 out of 5 stars (27)
Last and First Men and Star Maker : Two Science Fiction Novels
9% buy
Last and First Men and Star Maker : Two Science Fiction Novels 3.9 out of 5 stars (23)
Odd John and Sirius
5% buy
Odd John and Sirius 4.9 out of 5 stars (16)
$10.17
Last and First Men
4% buy
Last and First Men 3.7 out of 5 stars (17)
$29.09

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

27 Reviews
5 star:
 (18)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic in more than one way..., May 26, 2004
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Star Maker (Paperback)
'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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book For Any Time, March 20, 2004
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
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.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars APOCALYPSE ON THE WIRRAL PENINSULA, July 26, 2003
By DAVID BRYSON (Glossop Derbyshire England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
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.

Comment Comments (4) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcendent
It's not a word I use often, but it fits this remarkable book: transcendent.

Stapledon's philosophical fantasy starts small. Read more
Published 3 days ago by wiredweird

5.0 out of 5 stars Olaf Stapeldon
Truly a masterpiece. This single book will take you on a trip the likes of which will stay with you for a long time. Read more
Published 9 months ago by James A. Root

5.0 out of 5 stars "Over the top" praise for Stapledon & Star Maker
BECAUSE I consider Star Maker to be the most important work of autobiography, literary art, and metaphysical knowledge ever to be created by a member of our species, I suggest... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Francis Szot

4.0 out of 5 stars Have a Pail of Cold Water Handy
As I read this book, I was so challenged by the scope of the author's incredible imagination and intelligence that there were times when I had to just stop and wait for my brain... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Dane Udenberg

4.0 out of 5 stars Free SF Reader
A humanist galactic odyssey. This is one of those 'wow' books. If you are after stories involving a local character or person, I would not recommend this one. Read more
Published on September 3, 2007 by Blue Tyson

5.0 out of 5 stars Towering but overlooked sci-fi classic
Olaf Stapledon was a Philosopher who dabbled in science fiction. He wrote several science fiction stories and books, which attempted to project future trends of his time very far... Read more
Published on February 23, 2007 by Greg

5.0 out of 5 stars Read no other scifi
Before you read this, or if you've read other sci-fi, read it and be prepared for a shocker.

As a sci-fi/fantasy fan, I'd been irritated by classic movie buffs raving... Read more
Published on November 28, 2006 by B. B. Bridenbaugh

3.0 out of 5 stars A Large Task, Indeed
While I do not believe Star Maker is an attempt at creating a new religion, Stapledon does add his religious and cultural (and political, which centered mostly around socialism... Read more
Published on September 6, 2006 by Jonathan Stephens

5.0 out of 5 stars wow..
well.. for me this is probably the most amazing piece of fiction ever written.. i ended up reading it after getting into the cosmic visions of both h.p. Read more
Published on May 29, 2006 by D. Draper

5.0 out of 5 stars Get This Straight:
What is remarkable about Stapledon's The Star Maker is the year in which it was written: 1937, only eight years after Edwin Hubble had announced his discoveries concerning... Read more
Published on April 19, 2006 by An Intelligent Reviewer

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   



So You'd Like to...


Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:







i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.



Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.