Mature
Sirius (Summarized Edition)
Enriched edition. A philosophical sci-fi story of an intelligent canine, human–animal communication, and the ethics of cognitive enhancement and consciousness.By Olaf Stapledon
Length3h 21m
About this audiobook
Sirius (1944), subtitled A Fantasy of Love and Discord, imagines a dog endowed with human intelligence by experimental breeding and raised beside his human companion, Plaxy. The quasi-biographical narrative follows his schooling, farm labor on the Welsh border, wartime suspicion, and a piercing musical and religious sensibility. Stapledon fuses realist reportage with essayistic speculation, probing mind, language, scent, law, and the ethics of species difference. A philosopher-novelist with a doctorate in ethics, Olaf Stapledon channels the rigor of A Modern Theory of Ethics and the visionary reach of Last and First Men and Star Maker into an intimate case study. Writing amid total war and adult-education work, he interrogates prejudice, belonging, and institutional power, reframing his humanist, pacifist concerns through a single nonhuman life. Readers of speculative fiction, animal studies, and philosophy of mind will find Sirius both moving and exacting: part tragic Bildungsroman, part inquiry into personhood and community. It is an indispensable bridge between Wellsian scientific romance and later bioethics-inflected SF, and a touchstone for thinking beyond the human.
Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable—distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.
Audiobook details
GenreScience Fiction, General Fiction
Length3 hrs 21 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJan 10, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
5Sirius (pt. 1)
2Introduction
6Sirius (pt. 2)
3Synopsis
7Analysis
4Historical Context
8Reflection
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