Galapagos (Kurt Vonnegut Series)
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Product Description
The human survivors of the "nature cruise of the century", are quietly evolving into sleek, furry creatures with flippers and small brains. All other forms of humankind have ceased to exist, made redundant by their prized big brains. From the author of "Slaughterhouse 5".
From the Back Cover
Long, long ago, as he researched into the origin of species, Charles Darwin had been inspired by the creatures of the Galapagos. Now, a million years on, the new inhabitants of the islands – the human survivors of the 'Nature Cruise of the Century' – have quietly evolved into sleek, furry creatures with flippers, and small brains. All other forms of humankind have ceased to exist, finally made redundant by their own inventions.
All that survives of their Big-Brain Culture is contained in Mandarax, a tiny electronic marvel which can recall any one of twenty thousand popular quotations from world literature, as well as translate among a thousand languages. Unfortunately Mandarax doesn't understand Kanka-Bono, the language of the cannibals who have arrived to 'look after' the new humanity…
"'Galapagos' is Vonnegut's funniest and maddest book in years."
TIME OUT
"'Galapagos' is clever, extremely entertaining, cordially balancing on the knife edge of blackness and never falling off."
GUARDIAN
"Vonnegut's best novel since 'Slaughterhouse 5'"
MARTIN AMIS,' Observer'
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First Sentence
THE THING WAS: One million years ago, back in 1986 A.D., Guayaquil was the chief seaport of the little South American democracy of Ecuador, whose capital was Quito, high in the Andes Mountains. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
THE THING WAS: One million years ago, back in 1986 A.D., Guayaquil was the chief seaport of the little South American democracy of Ecuador, whose capital was Quito, high in the Andes Mountains. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Once more, Vonnegut uses the genre of Sci-Fi to explore and give insight to the human condition. And he does it in such a way that it is almost but not quite believable and acceptable.
His ever-so-slightly tongue-in-cheek view (that the size of the human brain is the cause of all our problems, from sex to economics to world peace) doesn't seem either believable OR acceptable until you read the book.
Read it and understand that human intelligence is the cause of all of the ills in the world and when humanity is fully evolved (a million years in the future), we'll be less intelligent yet much happier.
This book is a lot of fun.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the first Kurt Vonnegut book I ever read and is by far the most unique, witty and insightful book that I have come across in many years. The book is narrated by a shipbulider who was decapitated 1 million years before, whos spirit currently resides amongst the only living decendants of mankind who have evolved into small seal like creatures. The story revolves around the last remaining people left to continue the human race after the virtual extinction of mankind. The tragic stories of the individuals brought together for the doomed 'cruise of the century' are pointiently described towards their eventual place in the continuation of the human race. Vonnegut effortlessly exposes the frailties of mankind and the obsurdities of modern civilisations in a way that is very profound and poetic. Anyone unaware of Vonneguts books will soon discover that he has a very unusual (to say the least) perspective on life, which he conveys with ease, writing in a way that makes you think that he believes that everyone thinks this way.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was my first Kurt Vonnegut read and although at the time I was disappointed with it, it was intrigued enough to read Slaughterhouse 5. Knowing a bit more of his style and particular world view, I got more out of that book.
At the time I read Galapagos, I found it hard to take his particular view of the future; that the human beings' large brains will ultimately be our downfall. Having read Slaughterhouse 5, I can now understand Kurt Vonnegut's particularly nihilistic world view. In the book, he shows the end of the human race except for one group of people who end up stranded on Galapagos during some kind of military/ecological disaster. They begin as civilised 20th century people and we then see their descendents in 1,000,000 years time having evolved into inarticulate seal-like creatures.
At the time of reading, I felt the need to defend the human race against such a prediction but then thought, Hey, what's the point? It interests me as much as our ancestors 1,000,000 years ago. There likely to be as much meeting of minds with those ancestors as there is with our descendents.
One annoying flaw in the book is a fact revealed by the Mandrax (a 1980s' Wikipedia-like computer programme) used by one of the characters. The book states that Charles Darwin was born in 1812. He was in fact born in 1809. I realised this was wrong when I read this statement and thought that perhaps the decline of the human race would be predicated on this factual error. Sadly, this is never picked up in the rest of the book.
Anyway, I hope this does not put anyone off reading the book - at the very least, it may lead you to other books by this particular writer.
At the time I read Galapagos, I found it hard to take his particular view of the future; that the human beings' large brains will ultimately be our downfall. Having read Slaughterhouse 5, I can now understand Kurt Vonnegut's particularly nihilistic world view. In the book, he shows the end of the human race except for one group of people who end up stranded on Galapagos during some kind of military/ecological disaster. They begin as civilised 20th century people and we then see their descendents in 1,000,000 years time having evolved into inarticulate seal-like creatures.
At the time of reading, I felt the need to defend the human race against such a prediction but then thought, Hey, what's the point? It interests me as much as our ancestors 1,000,000 years ago. There likely to be as much meeting of minds with those ancestors as there is with our descendents.
One annoying flaw in the book is a fact revealed by the Mandrax (a 1980s' Wikipedia-like computer programme) used by one of the characters. The book states that Charles Darwin was born in 1812. He was in fact born in 1809. I realised this was wrong when I read this statement and thought that perhaps the decline of the human race would be predicated on this factual error. Sadly, this is never picked up in the rest of the book.
Anyway, I hope this does not put anyone off reading the book - at the very least, it may lead you to other books by this particular writer.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tedious and disappointing compared to his other books
Very disappointing, have read half of this and have given up. I read Slaughterhouse 5 as a paperback and loved it, then read Cat's Cradle (excellent), Breakfast of Champions... Read more
Published 6 months ago by David Charge
GALAPAGOS
Not having read Vonnegut before i read other reviews of his books. Written from an unusual point of view. (1 Million years in the future) I found this book very entertaining. Read more
Published 14 months ago by steve d
Pretty Good!
As always, Kurt Vonnegut doesn't disappoint. Not quite as good as some of his other novels but still worth reading.
Published 15 months ago by dtownend087
The most entertaining book from Vonnegut
I'm a big fan of Vonnegut. I've probably read all the books and short stories by him.
I must say Galapagos rates #1 in the list. Read more
I must say Galapagos rates #1 in the list. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Tanel Teemusk
Survival of the misfits
Written with typical Vonnegut esprit, Galapagos is an entertaining read. The pages fly by and, although a little laboured and repetitive at times, the hallmark humour is present. Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2009 by sft
If you're new to Vonnegut, start with this one
Vonnegut (may he rest in peace) has been my favourite author ever since I graduated out of 'youth' books 25+ yrs ago, and I've read all that he's written, in many cases several... Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2007 by _roope_
A winner for vonnegut fans
This is not a straightforward, run of the mill normal story. Like Vonnegut's most famous work, Slaughterhouse 5, it is told out of sequence, eccentrically and erratically. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2007 by wombat
Evolution of a species
The survivors of the "Nature Cruise of the Century", marooned on the Galápagos archipelago, have slowly evolved into furry mammals with tiny brains and flippers as humankind... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2006 by Madly Bobbington-Blythe
A nice idea poorly executed
I do like the premise of the book - exploring how humans evolve so they have smaller brains. However the storytelling is almost non-existent. Read more
Published on 8 May 2006 by B. Carpenter
Gripping read
I was gripped from start to finish with this book. I love the way Vonnegut writes and how he builds his characters. Read more
Published on 16 Oct 2005
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