With social media shortening attention spans and overwhelming you with distractions, I find it hard to settle down with a book and read it from cover to cover. Star Maker is so engrossing that I finished it in four days.It took that amount of time only because Stapeldon’s universe and menagerie of alien beings are so intricate, you feel compelled to look over the page to make sure you can learn everything you can about the creatures and worlds described in the novel. It navigates the space between the material and metaphysical. The narrator (identifying himself as “The Englishman”) always finds natural and evolutionary causes for the cultures that shape the thinking creatures of the universe, but that doesn’t prevent him from having a transcendental experience of his voyage through the stars. The stars themselves hold a few surprises in the story.I am giving this Kindle edition four stars due to the many typographical errors. I picked this edition solely because I liked the cover art. Not the best reason for choosing it.I also recommend getting the Audible version of Star Maker. Andrew Wincott reads with a calm, baritone voice which lulls you into the experience and keeps you focus of the story.Well worth the read. Well worth the listen. Switch off your apps and experience the original space odyssey.It was as they say, "real good," but it's vision by Stapledon was transcendent and as anything from this century. Stapledon combined his vision with the astronomy of the time, the politics, especially of Europe, mitt dur furher (Stapledon unlike most of his British countrymen kind of saw this), and viewed that kind of thinking as something primitive, and vicious and self-defeating, ultimately. The human specie is seen as a energetic later-comer to cosmic philosophy (nice v nasty). C.S. Lewis deemed it "satanic," because the humans were not regarded as the center of the universe, but as being, more of a sturdy fellow player. The biggies were the Crab + Fish combo, which sounds like something for dinner at Red Lobster, but is instead, two species working together to achieve great scientific achievement. So life contacts other life (psychically) and drifts all together, eventually, discovering, drum roll, the secrets of the universe! For me, personally, I prefer the fellow, UK writers of Stapledon, like Stephen Baxter, & Alistair Reyonolds who are both science guys.THE MOST IN DEPTH JOURNEY THROUGH THE OCEAN OF IMAGINATION I HAVE FOUND YET!A must read for any who is looking for true creative, scientific , or mystical inspiration...My Salute to Olaf Stapledon,I Found Star Maker the most inspiring and inspired book I have read thus far in my life's experience! Call me mad if you wish, but, by the way this book is written and by the language used to describe this adventure, I may discern that this adventure really did happen through means of the imagination of Olaf Stapledon! If you are on the path to enlightenment, then I must sincerely urge you to see this perspective. It is beyond most's ability to imagine and will take you on a wild ride through the universe! I also must note that at the time this was written, there was not the level of knowledge we have today, there was many times less. I Urge You to read this account of a true journey through the depths of the Sea of Imagination! Are You Up For It?Clever but nothing new. Not a waste of time though. His trip was interesting and, as I said, clever even very clever.The book is great and if you like heady Sci-fi you should absolutely read it. It's a little ham fisted in its parallels sometimes but that's my only real complaint.This particular edition is full of typos, and not even typos that make sense. There are numbers in place of words in some places. I don't believe anyone proofread it before going to print which is awful.So buy the book, but not this version.Good book. It does get a bit dull towards the end, but the ending is quite enjoyable. I would say that it is worth the buy.Many ideas for later SF seem to have come from this book.Not easy reading, being all told or described in first person, no dialogues. Poetic, philosophical, provocative! Stapleton takes us on a cosmic voyage, through space and time , a voyage of possibilities, as well a in depth analysis of our worlds, our cosmos. BreathtakingI'm still processing this book. Very strange. Like if HP Lovecraft and Neil deGrasse Tyson had a baby.I liked /loved this book so much that I bought copies as gifts. it is like nothing else I have ever read. I am not usually a fan of science fiction . read it!reeally boring book