Odd John

By: Olaf Stapledon

Narrated by: Nigel Carrington

John Wainwright is a freak, a human mutation with an extraordinary intelligence which is both awesome and frightening to behold. Ordinary humans are mere playthings to him. And Odd John has a plan - to create a new order on Earth, a new supernormal species. But the world is not ready for such a change...The front cover image is by Eamon O’Donoghue.”©2012 Olaf Stapledon (P)2012 Audible Ltd

Meta-human evolution

Olaf Stapledon’s Odd John is an early 20th century offering of human evolution. John is odd. He is intellectually precocious, but physically stunted. The tale’s narrator is a journalist who is not only documenting John remarkable abilities, but also becomes his business partner and executor. John is presented as a being who behaves unrestricted by the ethics and morality of humanity. He amasses some considerable wealth through a series of inventions. He then turns to finding others like himself and together, they establish a colony on a distant island. Things do not end well.

Stapledon offers insight into his perspective on what comes next for human evolution. Beyond sheer intelligence, some psychic ability is also present in the form of telepathy and direct mind to mind communication. At the same time, he suggests some degree of trade-off in terms of physical stunting in exchange for mental expansion. One can see the origin of the hugely successful Marvel X-men series.

The narration is excellent with solid character distinction. Pacing is on the brisk side.

Fascinating, Suburb and Thoughtful

Where does Odd John rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I totally enjoyed listening to Odd John. It was extremely creative and extraordinarily well written. 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.

Who was your favorite character and why?

As the story was about Odd John I would have to say he was my favorite character. Stapleton created a completely unique individual that I believe most readers will be able to relate to on some level. Ingenious writing really.

What about Nigel Carrington’s performance did you like?

Very good. He has a very pleasant sounding voice that I never tired of.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Far too long to listen to in one sitting but it held my complete interest all the way until the end.

Any additional comments?

Enjoyable...this is what listening to books is all about. A total pleasure.