This is one of my favorite books. I have the Swedish
translation since childhood! “After Man” is a clever evolutionary fantasy, in
which the author tries to imagine how a post-human world might look like 50
million years into the future.
What I particularly like about Dixon's speculations, is that they aren't particularly farfetched. Most of the futuristic animals he describes are either enhanced versions of current creatures (such as bats with even better eco-location) or products of convergent evolution. Thus, the future Eurasian forests are inhabited by animals resembling deer, wolves and birds of prey. Only a closer look reveals that they are really rabbits, rats and starlings evolved to fill similar ecological niches. In like manner, the savannahs of Africa are stalked by lion-like animals which are evolved baboons. My favorite fantasy animal is the Vortex, a “whale” which turns out to be a gigantic penguin evolving to spend all his life at sea. Only in the last chapter does Dixon leave moderation behind, introducing us to monstrous bipedal bats at the volcanic island chain of Batavia! And yes, he calls one of the new landmasses created by continental drift Lemuria...
The true purpose of “After Man” is to teach the reading public about evolution, and several chapters are non-fiction about Earth's past ages. I think Dougal Dixon realized that a slightly fantastic book would be more readily picked up by the casual reader, rather than yet another dry polemic against creationism. Precisely for that reason, I like the book's moderation. And to be honest, I also “like” (if that's the right word for it!) Dixon's pessimistic perspective. The only thing lacking in his future world is human intelligence or, indeed, any intelligence. After running amuck for a couple of millennia, humanity simply vanished, leaving the animal world to continue its normal evolution…
Five stars.
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