One can see the origin of the hugely successful Marvel X-men series. At the same time, he suggests some degree of trade-off in terms of physical stunting in exchange for mental expansion. Beyond sheer intelligence, some psychic ability is also present in the form of telepathy and direct mind to mind communication. Stapledon offers insight into his perspective on what comes next for human evolution. He then turns to finding others like himself and together, they establish a colony on a distant island. He amasses some considerable wealth through a series of inventions. John is presented as a being who behaves unrestricted by the ethics and morality of humanity. The tale’s narrator is a journalist who is not only documenting John remarkable abilities, but also becomes his business partner and executor. He is intellectually precocious, but physically stunted. Olaf Stapledon’s Odd John is an early 20th century offering of human evolution. Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?įar too long to listen to in one sitting but it held my complete interest all the way until the end.Įnjoyable.this is what listening to books is all about.

He has a very pleasant sounding voice that I never tired of. What about Nigel Carrington’s performance did you like? Stapleton created a completely unique individual that I believe most readers will be able to relate to on some level. I believe Stapleton was well ahead of his time and that his works ought to have a revival as his topics are completely relevant today.Īs the story was about Odd John I would have to say he was my favorite character. It was extremely creative and extraordinarily well written. Where does Odd John rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Odd john by olaf stapledon