Philip Wylie (1) (1902–1971)

A lot of the science in this book is antiquated and the story makes sending an ark to another planet seem so much easier than it would really be, while relegating women to resources possessed by the few surviving men. This is the earlier version of the Seveneves story (Neal Stephenson), and while Stephenson's book is probably more realistic, Wylie's book is far more readable. Another modern version of this story, Aurora (Kim Stanley Robinson) falls somewhere in the middle, far more readable than either Wylie's or Stephenson's book, and with better female characters, but the only one in which humanity succeeds at settling on a new world is this classic version. Maybe modern writers have lost their optimism about mankind emerging out into space, as they have added in the realistic complications that would be involved with such stories in real life.… (meer)