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Planet of the Apes #1
Planet of the Apes
Before you see the movie, read the original novel!
First published more than thirty-five years ago, Pierre Boulle’s chilling novel launched one of the greatest science fiction sagas in motion picture history, from the classic 1968 movie starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell, through four sequels and two television series . . . and now the newest film adaptation directed by Tim Burton.
In the not-too-distant future, three astronauts land on what appears to be a planet just like Earth, with lush forests, a temperate climate, and breathable air. But while it appears to be a paradise, nothing is what it seems.
They soon discover the terrifying On this world humans are savage beasts, and apes rule as their civilized masters. In an ironic novel of nonstop action and breathless intrigue, one man struggles to unlock the secret of a terrifying civilization, all the while Will he become the savior of the human race, or the final witness to its damnation? In a shocking climax that rivals that of the original movie, Boulle delivers the answer in a masterpiece of adventure, satire, and suspense.
From the Paperback edition.
First published more than thirty-five years ago, Pierre Boulle’s chilling novel launched one of the greatest science fiction sagas in motion picture history, from the classic 1968 movie starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell, through four sequels and two television series . . . and now the newest film adaptation directed by Tim Burton.
In the not-too-distant future, three astronauts land on what appears to be a planet just like Earth, with lush forests, a temperate climate, and breathable air. But while it appears to be a paradise, nothing is what it seems.
They soon discover the terrifying On this world humans are savage beasts, and apes rule as their civilized masters. In an ironic novel of nonstop action and breathless intrigue, one man struggles to unlock the secret of a terrifying civilization, all the while Will he become the savior of the human race, or the final witness to its damnation? In a shocking climax that rivals that of the original movie, Boulle delivers the answer in a masterpiece of adventure, satire, and suspense.
From the Paperback edition.
191 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
About the author
Pierre Boulle
155 books299 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Pierre Boulle (20 February 1912 – 30 January 1994) was a French novelist best known for two works, The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) and Planet of the Apes (1963) that were both made into award-winning films.
Boulle was an engineer serving as a secret agent with the Free French in Singapore, when he was captured and subjected to two years' forced labour. He used these experiences in The Bridge over the River Kwai, about the notorious Death Railway, which became an international bestseller. The film by David Lean won many Oscars, and Boulle was credited with writing the screenplay, because its two genuine authors had been blacklisted.
His science-fiction novel Planet of the Apes, where intelligent apes gain mastery over humans, was adapted into a series of five award-winning films that spawned magazine versions and popular themed toys.
Pierre Boulle (20 February 1912 – 30 January 1994) was a French novelist best known for two works, The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) and Planet of the Apes (1963) that were both made into award-winning films.
Boulle was an engineer serving as a secret agent with the Free French in Singapore, when he was captured and subjected to two years' forced labour. He used these experiences in The Bridge over the River Kwai, about the notorious Death Railway, which became an international bestseller. The film by David Lean won many Oscars, and Boulle was credited with writing the screenplay, because its two genuine authors had been blacklisted.
His science-fiction novel Planet of the Apes, where intelligent apes gain mastery over humans, was adapted into a series of five award-winning films that spawned magazine versions and popular themed toys.
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July 7, 2026
I absolutely love this book. Planet of the Apes is one of those rare novels that feels both timeless and shockingly fresh, a gripping adventure wrapped around profound philosophical questions about humanity, intelligence, civilization, and hubris. Pierre Boulle delivers a story that is clever, thrilling, and deeply unsettling in the best possible way.
From the very first pages, Boulle hooks you with a brilliant frame narrative: a sophisticated couple sailing through space in a light-propelled vessel stumbles upon a mysterious bottle containing a manuscript. This setup immediately pulls you into a sense of cosmic wonder and mystery. Once the manuscript begins - detailing journalist Ulysse Merou’s ambitious expedition to the distant star Betelgeuse - you’re fully immersed. The journey itself is fascinating, with detailed yet accessible explanations of relativistic travel, time dilation, and the sheer audacity of interstellar exploration. Boulle makes hard sci-fi feel elegant and exciting without ever bogging down the momentum.
What truly elevates the book is its stunning reversal of expectations. Landing on Soror, a planet eerily similar to Earth, the explorers encounter what seems like paradise - lush jungles, beautiful landscapes, and apparently human inhabitants. But the way Boulle peels back the layers is masterful. The early encounters with the "natives" (like the captivating and enigmatic Nova) are charged with tension, wonder, and a creeping sense of the uncanny. Boulle excels at building unease through small, telling details: the absence of language, the animalistic behaviors contrasted with strikingly human forms, the mix of beauty and primal instinct. It’s hypnotic and thought-provoking.
The novel’s greatest strength is its sharp satire and philosophical depth. Boulle uses the story to dissect human nature - our arrogance, our assumptions about superiority, and the thin line between civilized and savage. It’s a powerful commentary on society, power structures, and what truly defines intelligence. Yet it don't feels preachy; the ideas emerge organically through pulse-pounding adventure, vivid world-building, and memorable characters. Professor Antelle, the brilliant yet world-weary scientist, and Ulysse himself make for compelling viewpoints, while the planet Soror feels alive and dangerous.
“It seemed absolutely clear that industry did not require the presence of a rational being to maintain itself. Basically, industry consisted of manual laborers always performing the selfsame tasks who could easily be replaced by apes and at a higher level of executives whose function was to draft certain reports and pronounce certain words under given circumstances.”
“All this was a question of conditioned reflexes. At the still higher level of administration, it seemed even easier to concede the quality of aping. To continue our system, the gorillas would merely have to imitate certain attitudes and deliver a few harangues, all based on the same model.”
Ulysse realizes that human civilization had already become a machine that apes could operate. Industry, bureaucracy, and even high-level administration didn’t actually require genuine intelligence, creativity, or humanity - just reliable conditioned reflexes and the ability to imitate established patterns.
The terrifying insight is that humans had already reduced themselves to interchangeable parts long before the apes took over. The apes didn’t need to invent a new civilization; they simply stepped into roles that humans had made mechanical and soulless.
The irony is delicious: the ultimate insult to humanity is that apes didn’t need genius to replace us. They just needed to be good at copying us.
This passage feels even more relevant today.
Think about:
Automated factories and AI doing repetitive cognitive work. Corporate and political life full of scripted speeches, buzzwords, PowerPoint rituals, and performative gestures. How many “high-level” jobs are really just sophisticated pattern-matching and signaling.
Boulle is warning that a society that runs on autopilot invites takeover - whether by literal apes or by any group (or technology) willing to perform the rituals more diligently.
Boulle’s ape world suggests a centralized yet species-based governing body - something like a planetary council or supreme assembly where representatives from each ape “caste” convene. Orangutans typically hold the majority of seats or leadership roles (as presidents, ministers, or high priests), ensuring conservative continuity. Chimpanzee representatives bring scientific expertise and proposals for progress, while gorilla delegates handle security and enforcement.
This structure brilliantly mirrors real-world governments: an elite conservative core (orangutans), an intellectual middle class (chimps), and a strong-arm enforcer group (gorillas). It underscores the novel’s themes of prejudice, stagnation, and the fear of change - especially when a “primitive” human like Ulysse Merou disrupts everything.
It’s one of the story’s most enduring and thought-provoking elements.
Boulle’s writing is crisp, atmospheric, and perfectly paced. The descriptions of Betelgeuse’s red glow, the alien yet familiar landscapes, and the escalating strangeness of the encounters are cinematic in the best sense - vivid without being overwrought. The book balances high-concept ideas with genuine emotional stakes and moments of both wonder and horror.
The Seeds of Decline:
When the first intelligent apes began emerging, humans were already at the peak of their technological and cultural power. But that very success contained the poison:
Decadence and Dependency: Humans had grown lazy and over-reliant on machines, servants, and luxury. Apes - initially kept as exotic pets, laborers, or experimental subjects - were integrated deeply into society. They performed menial tasks, entertained, and even assisted in scientific work. Humans, increasingly detached from manual labor and struggle, stopped innovating as aggressively and lost the “fire” that had driven their progress.
The Intelligence Gap Closes: Through selective breeding, exposure to human knowledge, and natural evolution accelerated by the planet’s conditions, certain apes (especially chimpanzees) developed higher reasoning, tool use, and eventually speech. Orangutans took on administrative roles, gorillas provided muscle. Humans, meanwhile, grew complacent and failed to notice (or chose to ignore) the rising capabilities of their “servants.”
The Tipping Point:
The shift accelerated when apes began organizing, communicating secretly, and learning to replicate human technology. Small acts of rebellion grew into coordinated uprisings. Humans, softened by centuries of ease and distracted by internal divisions, were unprepared for a serious challenge from what they still viewed as inferior animals.
The real brilliance is the commentary: humanity fell not because apes were stronger, but because humans stopped being worthy of their dominance. Comfort, arrogance, and the abdication of responsibility created the vacuum that apes filled. It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when a dominant species loses its edge - echoing real historical rises and falls of empires.
This backstory makes the novel so much richer than just an adventure. The horror isn’t in a sudden war, but in how normal and inevitable the reversal felt once it was underway.
It’s far richer and more nuanced than its film adaptations (which I also enjoy, but the novel stands taller).
One of the most delightful (and telling) stories from the production of the 1968 classic Planet of the Apes is how the groundbreaking makeup transformed not just the actors' appearances, but their behavior on set.
The revolutionary prosthetic work by makeup legend John Chambers turned human performers into convincing chimpanzees (the intellectual class), gorillas (the military enforcers), and orangutans (the ruling elite).
According to multiple accounts from the cast and crew (including Charlton Heston), the performers began naturally segregating by species during breaks and meals.
It wasn’t directed or forced - it just emerged organically as the actors leaned into their roles. The heavy makeup and costumes encouraged them to move, gesture, and even socialize in character. Extras and supporting ape actors amplified the effect.
And it embodies the story’s central themes:
Hierarchy and Tribalism:
The “apes” formed their own rigid social order based on appearance and assigned role - exactly what the story warns about.
Identity and Conditioning:
The novel repeatedly explores how external roles and conditioning shape behavior. Humans on Soror lost their humanity partly because they stopped acting like thinking beings. The actors, by “becoming” their ape characters so deeply, showed how quickly identity can shift when you adopt the costume, posture, and expected behavior of a group.
Satire on Human Nature:
Boulle’s point is that civilization is often just performed rituals and tribal loyalty. The set anecdote proves it: give people clear categories (even artificial ones like “you’re a gorilla now”), and they will start to act the part - even when the cameras are off. It’s the ultimate real-world validation of the book’s idea that “aping” behavior is fundamental to social structures.
What started as practical makeup challenges turned into an organic acting experiment that reinforced the film’s message about how easily social roles can override individual identity.
It’s one of those magical cases where art imitates life, which then imitates art right back.
That authenticity is part of why the 1968 film still feels so powerful and unsettling today.
From the very first pages, Boulle hooks you with a brilliant frame narrative: a sophisticated couple sailing through space in a light-propelled vessel stumbles upon a mysterious bottle containing a manuscript. This setup immediately pulls you into a sense of cosmic wonder and mystery. Once the manuscript begins - detailing journalist Ulysse Merou’s ambitious expedition to the distant star Betelgeuse - you’re fully immersed. The journey itself is fascinating, with detailed yet accessible explanations of relativistic travel, time dilation, and the sheer audacity of interstellar exploration. Boulle makes hard sci-fi feel elegant and exciting without ever bogging down the momentum.
What truly elevates the book is its stunning reversal of expectations. Landing on Soror, a planet eerily similar to Earth, the explorers encounter what seems like paradise - lush jungles, beautiful landscapes, and apparently human inhabitants. But the way Boulle peels back the layers is masterful. The early encounters with the "natives" (like the captivating and enigmatic Nova) are charged with tension, wonder, and a creeping sense of the uncanny. Boulle excels at building unease through small, telling details: the absence of language, the animalistic behaviors contrasted with strikingly human forms, the mix of beauty and primal instinct. It’s hypnotic and thought-provoking.
The novel’s greatest strength is its sharp satire and philosophical depth. Boulle uses the story to dissect human nature - our arrogance, our assumptions about superiority, and the thin line between civilized and savage. It’s a powerful commentary on society, power structures, and what truly defines intelligence. Yet it don't feels preachy; the ideas emerge organically through pulse-pounding adventure, vivid world-building, and memorable characters. Professor Antelle, the brilliant yet world-weary scientist, and Ulysse himself make for compelling viewpoints, while the planet Soror feels alive and dangerous.
“It seemed absolutely clear that industry did not require the presence of a rational being to maintain itself. Basically, industry consisted of manual laborers always performing the selfsame tasks who could easily be replaced by apes and at a higher level of executives whose function was to draft certain reports and pronounce certain words under given circumstances.”
“All this was a question of conditioned reflexes. At the still higher level of administration, it seemed even easier to concede the quality of aping. To continue our system, the gorillas would merely have to imitate certain attitudes and deliver a few harangues, all based on the same model.”
Ulysse realizes that human civilization had already become a machine that apes could operate. Industry, bureaucracy, and even high-level administration didn’t actually require genuine intelligence, creativity, or humanity - just reliable conditioned reflexes and the ability to imitate established patterns.
The terrifying insight is that humans had already reduced themselves to interchangeable parts long before the apes took over. The apes didn’t need to invent a new civilization; they simply stepped into roles that humans had made mechanical and soulless.
The irony is delicious: the ultimate insult to humanity is that apes didn’t need genius to replace us. They just needed to be good at copying us.
This passage feels even more relevant today.
Think about:
Automated factories and AI doing repetitive cognitive work. Corporate and political life full of scripted speeches, buzzwords, PowerPoint rituals, and performative gestures. How many “high-level” jobs are really just sophisticated pattern-matching and signaling.
Boulle is warning that a society that runs on autopilot invites takeover - whether by literal apes or by any group (or technology) willing to perform the rituals more diligently.
Boulle’s ape world suggests a centralized yet species-based governing body - something like a planetary council or supreme assembly where representatives from each ape “caste” convene. Orangutans typically hold the majority of seats or leadership roles (as presidents, ministers, or high priests), ensuring conservative continuity. Chimpanzee representatives bring scientific expertise and proposals for progress, while gorilla delegates handle security and enforcement.
This structure brilliantly mirrors real-world governments: an elite conservative core (orangutans), an intellectual middle class (chimps), and a strong-arm enforcer group (gorillas). It underscores the novel’s themes of prejudice, stagnation, and the fear of change - especially when a “primitive” human like Ulysse Merou disrupts everything.
It’s one of the story’s most enduring and thought-provoking elements.
Boulle’s writing is crisp, atmospheric, and perfectly paced. The descriptions of Betelgeuse’s red glow, the alien yet familiar landscapes, and the escalating strangeness of the encounters are cinematic in the best sense - vivid without being overwrought. The book balances high-concept ideas with genuine emotional stakes and moments of both wonder and horror.
The Seeds of Decline:
When the first intelligent apes began emerging, humans were already at the peak of their technological and cultural power. But that very success contained the poison:
Decadence and Dependency: Humans had grown lazy and over-reliant on machines, servants, and luxury. Apes - initially kept as exotic pets, laborers, or experimental subjects - were integrated deeply into society. They performed menial tasks, entertained, and even assisted in scientific work. Humans, increasingly detached from manual labor and struggle, stopped innovating as aggressively and lost the “fire” that had driven their progress.
The Intelligence Gap Closes: Through selective breeding, exposure to human knowledge, and natural evolution accelerated by the planet’s conditions, certain apes (especially chimpanzees) developed higher reasoning, tool use, and eventually speech. Orangutans took on administrative roles, gorillas provided muscle. Humans, meanwhile, grew complacent and failed to notice (or chose to ignore) the rising capabilities of their “servants.”
The Tipping Point:
The shift accelerated when apes began organizing, communicating secretly, and learning to replicate human technology. Small acts of rebellion grew into coordinated uprisings. Humans, softened by centuries of ease and distracted by internal divisions, were unprepared for a serious challenge from what they still viewed as inferior animals.
The real brilliance is the commentary: humanity fell not because apes were stronger, but because humans stopped being worthy of their dominance. Comfort, arrogance, and the abdication of responsibility created the vacuum that apes filled. It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when a dominant species loses its edge - echoing real historical rises and falls of empires.
This backstory makes the novel so much richer than just an adventure. The horror isn’t in a sudden war, but in how normal and inevitable the reversal felt once it was underway.
It’s far richer and more nuanced than its film adaptations (which I also enjoy, but the novel stands taller).
One of the most delightful (and telling) stories from the production of the 1968 classic Planet of the Apes is how the groundbreaking makeup transformed not just the actors' appearances, but their behavior on set.
The revolutionary prosthetic work by makeup legend John Chambers turned human performers into convincing chimpanzees (the intellectual class), gorillas (the military enforcers), and orangutans (the ruling elite).
According to multiple accounts from the cast and crew (including Charlton Heston), the performers began naturally segregating by species during breaks and meals.
It wasn’t directed or forced - it just emerged organically as the actors leaned into their roles. The heavy makeup and costumes encouraged them to move, gesture, and even socialize in character. Extras and supporting ape actors amplified the effect.
And it embodies the story’s central themes:
Hierarchy and Tribalism:
The “apes” formed their own rigid social order based on appearance and assigned role - exactly what the story warns about.
Identity and Conditioning:
The novel repeatedly explores how external roles and conditioning shape behavior. Humans on Soror lost their humanity partly because they stopped acting like thinking beings. The actors, by “becoming” their ape characters so deeply, showed how quickly identity can shift when you adopt the costume, posture, and expected behavior of a group.
Satire on Human Nature:
Boulle’s point is that civilization is often just performed rituals and tribal loyalty. The set anecdote proves it: give people clear categories (even artificial ones like “you’re a gorilla now”), and they will start to act the part - even when the cameras are off. It’s the ultimate real-world validation of the book’s idea that “aping” behavior is fundamental to social structures.
What started as practical makeup challenges turned into an organic acting experiment that reinforced the film’s message about how easily social roles can override individual identity.
It’s one of those magical cases where art imitates life, which then imitates art right back.
That authenticity is part of why the 1968 film still feels so powerful and unsettling today.
May 26, 2014
I think Pierre Boulle’s novel Planet of the Apes is a social fantasy, an allegory for revealing our civilization as blindly mimicking our past, as “aping” the good and bad of what has come before. It is a statement against complacency, a warning that history will repeat itself if we are not eternally vigilant. The novel may also be read as a cautionary illustration of our relationship with our environment and the animals with which we share the Earth.
Or it’s a fun science fiction book about chimps, orangutans and gorillas ruling a planet.
Written by Pierre Boule and first published in 1963, as La Planète des singes, this bears a closer literary resemblance to Edgar Rice Burroughs or Jules Verne than to modern science fiction. Boulle himself, the author of The Bridge Over the River Kwai, described the novel as a social fantasy.
There is a scene of racial memory that is especially noteworthy, but a fine work throughout. I can say after reading the original novel that all of the films have been loosely based upon Boulle’s literature; although the most recent series may ultimately be the closest to Boulle’s vision. I am coming to believe that the 1960s were the zenith of science fiction and this is a good example.
Or it’s a fun science fiction book about chimps, orangutans and gorillas ruling a planet.
Written by Pierre Boule and first published in 1963, as La Planète des singes, this bears a closer literary resemblance to Edgar Rice Burroughs or Jules Verne than to modern science fiction. Boulle himself, the author of The Bridge Over the River Kwai, described the novel as a social fantasy.
There is a scene of racial memory that is especially noteworthy, but a fine work throughout. I can say after reading the original novel that all of the films have been loosely based upon Boulle’s literature; although the most recent series may ultimately be the closest to Boulle’s vision. I am coming to believe that the 1960s were the zenith of science fiction and this is a good example.
June 18, 2023
No uwielbiam tę książkę.
October 6, 2024
Those damn dirty apes!
A group of scientists from Earth takes a journalist named Ulysse with them to document their journey to a distant planet. They have lots of deep conversations and eventually land on the planet Betelgeuse, which, if said exactly THREE times in a row, will invoke Michael Keaton to appear.
Seriously.
.
Upon the initial landing, Ulysse and the group of redshirts he's traveling with run into a woman in the jungle that they name Nova, who seems slightly more intelligent than the other humans.
I'm just kidding. She's just as animalistic as the others, but she's hot as fuck, so our guy gives her a pass on the whole speech thing.
Unfortunately, Nova is the one who initially alerts her gibbering cronies that a spaceship has landed, and they menace the science team while tearing the shit out of the ship's navigation system.
This is the first clue that a return ticket may not be in the cards.
Because, as with most space adventures, things do not go as planned.
{insert theme song to Gilligan's Island here}
And the crew of The Minnow find themselves on a planet where everything is topsy-turvy - humans act like animals and the world is ruled by simians!
gasp!
They haven't been in the jungle long when a surly group of apes starts shooting, killing off several members of the team along with the other humans as they herd them into nets. Ulysse ends up captured and put into a laboratory where he meets the lovely and compassionate chimpanzee, Zira.
The rest of the story entails sexy times in a cage with Nova, showing off his intelligence to his captors, endearing himself to Zira and her fiancé, and uncovering the secret origin of this Planet of the Apes.
Honestly, I think it holds up pretty darn well as a sci-fi story.
Short, action-packed, crammed with social commentary, and full of fun little twists and turns that I'm sure would have been amazing back in the day.
You know, before we had hundreds of movie sequels.
Recommended for humans.
A group of scientists from Earth takes a journalist named Ulysse with them to document their journey to a distant planet. They have lots of deep conversations and eventually land on the planet Betelgeuse, which, if said exactly THREE times in a row, will invoke Michael Keaton to appear.
Seriously.
.
Upon the initial landing, Ulysse and the group of redshirts he's traveling with run into a woman in the jungle that they name Nova, who seems slightly more intelligent than the other humans.
I'm just kidding. She's just as animalistic as the others, but she's hot as fuck, so our guy gives her a pass on the whole speech thing.
Unfortunately, Nova is the one who initially alerts her gibbering cronies that a spaceship has landed, and they menace the science team while tearing the shit out of the ship's navigation system.
This is the first clue that a return ticket may not be in the cards.
Because, as with most space adventures, things do not go as planned.
{insert theme song to Gilligan's Island here}
And the crew of The Minnow find themselves on a planet where everything is topsy-turvy - humans act like animals and the world is ruled by simians!
gasp!
They haven't been in the jungle long when a surly group of apes starts shooting, killing off several members of the team along with the other humans as they herd them into nets. Ulysse ends up captured and put into a laboratory where he meets the lovely and compassionate chimpanzee, Zira.
The rest of the story entails sexy times in a cage with Nova, showing off his intelligence to his captors, endearing himself to Zira and her fiancé, and uncovering the secret origin of this Planet of the Apes.
Honestly, I think it holds up pretty darn well as a sci-fi story.
Short, action-packed, crammed with social commentary, and full of fun little twists and turns that I'm sure would have been amazing back in the day.
You know, before we had hundreds of movie sequels.
Recommended for humans.
May 8, 2023
I remember being seven or so and seeing the last scene of Planet of the Apes film (the old one with Charlton Heston) on my grandma’s TV. It blew my barely formed mind. Jaw dropping, speechless, all that. That was the only thing from the entire film I still remember.
Too bad that scene is not in this book. But I’ll get over that. (I think.)
Written in 1963, Pierre Boulle’s Planet of the Apes does feel dated in science and attitudes — but to me it also had that older “classic” feel that reminded me of Jules Verne. It may be the way the language came through in English translation from French, or just the overall vintage feel — or maybe just me.
But in the end it was interesting.
Admittedly, the wonky “science” in this “science fiction” takes a bit to get past, with some parts more difficult to ignore than others (ancestral human voice memories being more ridiculous than identical convergent evolution around Betelgeuse, even if we embrace the theory of Panspermia — seriously, Heston film made more sense there).
But science is not the point here, it seems. It’s the social commentary — the disregard of and cruelty to those we perceive as “lesser”, the injustice of powerlessness, the perils of complacency and stagnation that lead to usurpation by a species with more drive and motivation, and how it’s easy to repeat the same mistakes over and over again, even on planets lightyears apart. And yes, it’s done in the way that’s very dated, even for 1963 — but that’s inevitable. Not everyone can be a Le Guin, after all.
Our protagonist was an obstacle for me enjoying this book, however. Ulysse Mérou is a self-important man who has no issues sleeping with a woman who possesses an equivalent of animal intelligence (she’s beautiful and has “golden breasts”, after all) and yet treating her cruelly and with physical violence. She’s “human” enough to sleep with, but “animal” enough to hit and taunt. He carries within him a conviction of human superiority over the “inferior” species — and is smugly satisfied coming to the conclusion that apes are nothing but imitators of humans despite evidence to the contrary.
And therefore the end of the story brings a strange satisfaction even if it wasn’t meant to. Or was it? Hmmmm….
3.5 stars. I liked it, but didn’t quite love it. But it’s worth a read.
——————
Buddy read with Dennis and Cathy.
Too bad that scene is not in this book. But I’ll get over that. (I think.)
Written in 1963, Pierre Boulle’s Planet of the Apes does feel dated in science and attitudes — but to me it also had that older “classic” feel that reminded me of Jules Verne. It may be the way the language came through in English translation from French, or just the overall vintage feel — or maybe just me.
But in the end it was interesting.
Admittedly, the wonky “science” in this “science fiction” takes a bit to get past, with some parts more difficult to ignore than others (ancestral human voice memories being more ridiculous than identical convergent evolution around Betelgeuse, even if we embrace the theory of Panspermia — seriously, Heston film made more sense there).
But science is not the point here, it seems. It’s the social commentary — the disregard of and cruelty to those we perceive as “lesser”, the injustice of powerlessness, the perils of complacency and stagnation that lead to usurpation by a species with more drive and motivation, and how it’s easy to repeat the same mistakes over and over again, even on planets lightyears apart. And yes, it’s done in the way that’s very dated, even for 1963 — but that’s inevitable. Not everyone can be a Le Guin, after all.
“True, we also have known a period of semi-stagnation. We, too, have had our orangutans, our falsified education and ridiculous curricula, and this period lasted a long time.”
Our protagonist was an obstacle for me enjoying this book, however. Ulysse Mérou is a self-important man who has no issues sleeping with a woman who possesses an equivalent of animal intelligence (she’s beautiful and has “golden breasts”, after all) and yet treating her cruelly and with physical violence. She’s “human” enough to sleep with, but “animal” enough to hit and taunt. He carries within him a conviction of human superiority over the “inferior” species — and is smugly satisfied coming to the conclusion that apes are nothing but imitators of humans despite evidence to the contrary.
“My self-respect notes with satisfaction that apes have invented nothing, that they are mere imitators. My humiliation derives from the fact that a human civilization could have been so easily assimilated by apes.”
And therefore the end of the story brings a strange satisfaction even if it wasn’t meant to. Or was it? Hmmmm….
3.5 stars. I liked it, but didn’t quite love it. But it’s worth a read.
“He is a gorilla.”
——————
Buddy read with Dennis and Cathy.
April 20, 2023
When you hear Planet of the Apes, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the movie trilogy with the evolved chimp Caesar as a protagonist. Forget about the movie. The book by Pierre Boule, first published in 1963, tells an entirely different story.
Three men from France embark on a journey. They set out to find a remote planet. They have a little chimp on board. This chimp is destined to be the first but not the last victim.
But let us not jump ahead.
The men plan to spend only a few years traveling and exploring space. But by the time they return home many decades will have elapsed on Earth. The travelers are aware of the fact that the voyage that lasts around two years for them equals about three and a half centuries on Earth due to the theory of relativity.
So, by making their decision the characters voluntarily accept that they will never see their friends and relatives. Such a choice must be a difficult one.
They end up landing on an unknown planet that strangely resembles Earth. The landscape and the atmosphere are strikingly similar to Earth. Our travelers decide to call the planet Soror.
The space travelers start exploring the place. Imagine their surprise when they find out who rules this planet. Evolved apes, namely gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees, have taken the role traditionally played by Sapiens. They can talk and think. They can cooperate in large numbers, while human beings on the planet Soror are deprived of those abilities. Humans lack intelligence and are relegated to conditions similar to those in which animals live in our world.
The way the author portrays society organized by the apes is fascinating. It mirrors human society in many ways, but the order is reversed. Apes are smart and sophisticated. Men and women lead primitive lives, sleeping in nests in the forests and eating raw products. More than that, it turns out that one of the three humans from Earth has been quickly sliding into a primitive lifestyle.
Another man, Ulysse Merou, tries to establish contact with a young female chimpanzee Zira. He seems to be able to make a favorable impression on Zira. Ulysse, this strange creature, intrigues her. But can he rely on her help?
Apes, the rulers of this planet, have their own legends and mythical narratives rooted in history and their own insecurities connected with those legends. One of these stories is the question of origins. How did apes come to dominate this planet? What was the reason for that? When did they start ruling this planet? Did God create them? Or was it an accident? The theory of evolution? Thinking of those questions often makes apes feel uncomfortable.
Like humans in our world, the apes fear that their official history can be challenged. And an 'evolved' human being from Earth (Ulisse) risks becoming an obstacle for them.
As we already know, there are three races - gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees. It seems that they coexist peacefully. The ape society functions more or less smoothly. Freedoms and rights of citizens exist in their world which gives an overall impression of a normal place to be living in. Public opinion and media are influential but not always influential enough to impact decisions made by powerful individuals. There is a division of labor. The orangutans are official science. The chimpanzees are essentially intellectuals. "They seem animated by a powerful spirit of research," one of the characters speaks of the chimpanzees.
The gorillas are considered the most powerful class. There are many high administrators among them.
Apes hold science in high regard. To further scientific knowledge, they use humans in their laboratory experiments. Sounds familiar? Also, apes study the behavior of humans, including their amorous behavior.
One of the things one can take away from this science-fiction story concerns reciprocity. If the reader does not like the way humans are treated in this story by apes, maybe they should think of their own treatment of animals. According to estimates, ape populations are today under a lot of pressure. They face threats from poaching, deforestation, and pet trade.
A few insignificant inexactitudes caught my eye.
Gorillas are presented as meat eaters when in reality they feed mainly on a vegetarian diet.
Humans in the story are described as ignorant of laughter. It is implied that humans that inhabit this planet resemble apes in our world. But great apes are known to laugh during tickling or when playing with each other. I better stop here if I do not want to sound too nagging.
All in all, this was entertaining and at times unsettling. The author succeeded in marrying an engaging plot to social commentary.
My gripe about this story was its somewhat slow beginning. The ending was wild, though. One of the travelers gets the opportunity to return to Earth. What he sees upon his arrival leaves him flabbergasted.
Three men from France embark on a journey. They set out to find a remote planet. They have a little chimp on board. This chimp is destined to be the first but not the last victim.
But let us not jump ahead.
The men plan to spend only a few years traveling and exploring space. But by the time they return home many decades will have elapsed on Earth. The travelers are aware of the fact that the voyage that lasts around two years for them equals about three and a half centuries on Earth due to the theory of relativity.
So, by making their decision the characters voluntarily accept that they will never see their friends and relatives. Such a choice must be a difficult one.
They end up landing on an unknown planet that strangely resembles Earth. The landscape and the atmosphere are strikingly similar to Earth. Our travelers decide to call the planet Soror.
The space travelers start exploring the place. Imagine their surprise when they find out who rules this planet. Evolved apes, namely gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees, have taken the role traditionally played by Sapiens. They can talk and think. They can cooperate in large numbers, while human beings on the planet Soror are deprived of those abilities. Humans lack intelligence and are relegated to conditions similar to those in which animals live in our world.
On the planet Soror reality appeared to be quite the reverse: we had to do with inhabitants resembling us in every way from the physical point of view but who appeared to be completely devoid of the power of reason.
The way the author portrays society organized by the apes is fascinating. It mirrors human society in many ways, but the order is reversed. Apes are smart and sophisticated. Men and women lead primitive lives, sleeping in nests in the forests and eating raw products. More than that, it turns out that one of the three humans from Earth has been quickly sliding into a primitive lifestyle.
Another man, Ulysse Merou, tries to establish contact with a young female chimpanzee Zira. He seems to be able to make a favorable impression on Zira. Ulysse, this strange creature, intrigues her. But can he rely on her help?
Apes, the rulers of this planet, have their own legends and mythical narratives rooted in history and their own insecurities connected with those legends. One of these stories is the question of origins. How did apes come to dominate this planet? What was the reason for that? When did they start ruling this planet? Did God create them? Or was it an accident? The theory of evolution? Thinking of those questions often makes apes feel uncomfortable.
Like humans in our world, the apes fear that their official history can be challenged. And an 'evolved' human being from Earth (Ulisse) risks becoming an obstacle for them.
As we already know, there are three races - gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees. It seems that they coexist peacefully. The ape society functions more or less smoothly. Freedoms and rights of citizens exist in their world which gives an overall impression of a normal place to be living in. Public opinion and media are influential but not always influential enough to impact decisions made by powerful individuals. There is a division of labor. The orangutans are official science. The chimpanzees are essentially intellectuals. "They seem animated by a powerful spirit of research," one of the characters speaks of the chimpanzees.
The gorillas are considered the most powerful class. There are many high administrators among them.
Apes hold science in high regard. To further scientific knowledge, they use humans in their laboratory experiments. Sounds familiar? Also, apes study the behavior of humans, including their amorous behavior.
One of the things one can take away from this science-fiction story concerns reciprocity. If the reader does not like the way humans are treated in this story by apes, maybe they should think of their own treatment of animals. According to estimates, ape populations are today under a lot of pressure. They face threats from poaching, deforestation, and pet trade.
A few insignificant inexactitudes caught my eye.
Gorillas are presented as meat eaters when in reality they feed mainly on a vegetarian diet.
Humans in the story are described as ignorant of laughter. It is implied that humans that inhabit this planet resemble apes in our world. But great apes are known to laugh during tickling or when playing with each other. I better stop here if I do not want to sound too nagging.
All in all, this was entertaining and at times unsettling. The author succeeded in marrying an engaging plot to social commentary.
My gripe about this story was its somewhat slow beginning. The ending was wild, though. One of the travelers gets the opportunity to return to Earth. What he sees upon his arrival leaves him flabbergasted.
July 14, 2011
When a film becomes so immensely popular they achieve pop culture status, such as The Planet of the Apes, (1968's version with Charlton Heston of course) and the many different reincarnations that follow, nothing can match it... including ironically the book which originated all the hubbub. Now a return to this novel and examine the quality of, not an even contest since countless hundreds of millions have viewed the motion picture, with relatively speaking a few million read the publication I'm guessing. A futuristic couple Jinn and Phyllis acting appropriately bored, while taking a soothing, leisurely vacation in remote , dark, endless Space still strangely enthralling in the distant year of A.D. 2500 ...
They quite unexpectedly arrive upon an object outside their spaceship. Curious the pair retreats the item and memories go back to the days of sailing ships on the high seas of Earth, come forth with a rush . A message in a bottle is found, imagine; the manuscript is in the ancient language of the third rock from the Sun, French ...However Jinn having been well educated there and can read the papers though, he uncovers the author's name... written by Ulysse Merou and telling of an expedition from our world to the giant star Betelgeuse, 642 light years from good old Earth, their object was to explore planets suspected of orbiting that legendary star, maybe find life. Along with journalist Merou , are botanist Professor Antellet and physician Arthur Levain, when landing on one of the four planets discovered, they surprisingly meet humanoid like mutes, harmless creatures, primitives to be honest and easily dominated by the spacemen. Soon however the Earthmen, along with the natives are ambushed by...Apes more human than humans , no exaggeration either nor dream brutal reality sets in quickly and consequences begin ...Slaughtering them these intelligent ape-like animals; the men run for their lives but are soon captured, separated from his friends Ulysse is put in a humiliating cage with enchanting Nova a female mute he has befriended. This planet of the apes looks at Merou like a lowly animal in a zoo, leaving this upside down place is the ultimate goal of Ulysse, a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there. A fine satire of the silliness of our world's numerous foibles and downright if I may say the old- fashioned word evil, everything changes but all remains the same...
They quite unexpectedly arrive upon an object outside their spaceship. Curious the pair retreats the item and memories go back to the days of sailing ships on the high seas of Earth, come forth with a rush . A message in a bottle is found, imagine; the manuscript is in the ancient language of the third rock from the Sun, French ...However Jinn having been well educated there and can read the papers though, he uncovers the author's name... written by Ulysse Merou and telling of an expedition from our world to the giant star Betelgeuse, 642 light years from good old Earth, their object was to explore planets suspected of orbiting that legendary star, maybe find life. Along with journalist Merou , are botanist Professor Antellet and physician Arthur Levain, when landing on one of the four planets discovered, they surprisingly meet humanoid like mutes, harmless creatures, primitives to be honest and easily dominated by the spacemen. Soon however the Earthmen, along with the natives are ambushed by...Apes more human than humans , no exaggeration either nor dream brutal reality sets in quickly and consequences begin ...Slaughtering them these intelligent ape-like animals; the men run for their lives but are soon captured, separated from his friends Ulysse is put in a humiliating cage with enchanting Nova a female mute he has befriended. This planet of the apes looks at Merou like a lowly animal in a zoo, leaving this upside down place is the ultimate goal of Ulysse, a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there. A fine satire of the silliness of our world's numerous foibles and downright if I may say the old- fashioned word evil, everything changes but all remains the same...
August 21, 2018
ENGLISH (Planet of the Apes) / ITALIANO
«Jinn and Phyllis were spending a wonderful holiday in space, as far away as possible from the inhabited stars»A couple of tourists on an interplanetary trip runs into a bottle drifting in the space. They obtain in this way a manuscript in which is told the story of Ulysse Mérou, a French journalist, and his space journey toward the Betelgeuse star, 300 light years far away from Earth.
I fell in love with this novel after half a page. Simple, addictive, shocking. The core of the science fiction.
Vote: 9
«Jinn e Phyllis stavano passando delle meravigliose vacanze nello spazio, il più lontano possibile dagli astri abitati»Una coppia di turisti in gita nello spazio si imbatte in una bottiglia alla deriva nello spazio. Vengono così in possesso di un manoscritto nel quale è narrata la storia di Ulisse Mèrou, giornalista francese, e del suo viaggio spaziale verso il sistema solare di Betelgeuse, distante 300 anni luce dalla Terra.
Mi sono innamorato di questo romanzo dopo mezza pagina. Semplice, coinvolgente e sconvolgente. L'essenza della fantascienza.
Voto: 9
November 10, 2023
Zakończenie tej książki to jedno z moich ulubionych zakończeń ever!!
Ocena: 4,0.
Ocena: 4,0.
August 3, 2020
Re-Read 6/3/23:
My Buddy reader surprised me by finding and wanting to read this (for free, now) on Audible, and I thought it sounded great. So here I am, enjoying this very excellent skewering of all racism.
Of course, it's veiled behind SPECIES, but it really puts a pin in the kinds of assumptions that keep such bullshit going.
Suffice to say, it's a smarter, more intellectual, and heartfelt novel than most of the movies it has since spawned.
Original Review:
This is a book that deserves to stand the test of time. I think it's as valid now as it was back in the fifties.
Let's ignore the movies for just a moment. They're important in their own right for capturing a cultural zeitgeist and for showing us all how damning cultural bias can be. One can make the argument that the Planet of the Apes movies underscored the 60's, put it all in sharp relief.
But I'm going to talk about the book -- about why the book needs to be read now.
Cultural bias is everywhere. All around us. It's in the very air we breathe. In general, we don't see it.
Our assumptions make us prisoners.
The apes are the epitome of Western Thought. Casually racist in everything they do, they rationalize everyone OTHER than themselves into a kind of slavery. Whether it's about cultural superiority, scientific superiority, military superiority, or ANY reason to make themselves appear more important than the OTHER, they take it.
Because what would happen otherwise?
Rhetoric would fall apart, giving way to a careful observation of the real circumstances.
People are being kept in cages. They're experimented upon. They are left in atrocious conditions and made to fight for scraps to survive. The purpose is to turn them into animals FIRST in order to prove the original assumption that they are animals.
If this isn't classic racism, I don't know what is. Every argument they make must revolve around the basic assumption that THEY are better than US. If the argument doesn't fit, it is thrown out.
Only OVERWHELMING evidence to the contrary can lift a single human out of this bondage, and but the great emancipation only works for this single human.
The pervasive racism persists.
Classic cultural bias.
We are fully immersed in it. We feel the hopelessness underlying their bulwarks of rationalizations. We are made small, helpless, even as we retain our dignity in all the tiniest of ways. And ultimately, we lose.
It takes a whole society to change a whole society.
My Buddy reader surprised me by finding and wanting to read this (for free, now) on Audible, and I thought it sounded great. So here I am, enjoying this very excellent skewering of all racism.
Of course, it's veiled behind SPECIES, but it really puts a pin in the kinds of assumptions that keep such bullshit going.
Suffice to say, it's a smarter, more intellectual, and heartfelt novel than most of the movies it has since spawned.
Original Review:
This is a book that deserves to stand the test of time. I think it's as valid now as it was back in the fifties.
Let's ignore the movies for just a moment. They're important in their own right for capturing a cultural zeitgeist and for showing us all how damning cultural bias can be. One can make the argument that the Planet of the Apes movies underscored the 60's, put it all in sharp relief.
But I'm going to talk about the book -- about why the book needs to be read now.
Cultural bias is everywhere. All around us. It's in the very air we breathe. In general, we don't see it.
Our assumptions make us prisoners.
The apes are the epitome of Western Thought. Casually racist in everything they do, they rationalize everyone OTHER than themselves into a kind of slavery. Whether it's about cultural superiority, scientific superiority, military superiority, or ANY reason to make themselves appear more important than the OTHER, they take it.
Because what would happen otherwise?
Rhetoric would fall apart, giving way to a careful observation of the real circumstances.
People are being kept in cages. They're experimented upon. They are left in atrocious conditions and made to fight for scraps to survive. The purpose is to turn them into animals FIRST in order to prove the original assumption that they are animals.
If this isn't classic racism, I don't know what is. Every argument they make must revolve around the basic assumption that THEY are better than US. If the argument doesn't fit, it is thrown out.
Only OVERWHELMING evidence to the contrary can lift a single human out of this bondage, and but the great emancipation only works for this single human.
The pervasive racism persists.
Classic cultural bias.
We are fully immersed in it. We feel the hopelessness underlying their bulwarks of rationalizations. We are made small, helpless, even as we retain our dignity in all the tiniest of ways. And ultimately, we lose.
It takes a whole society to change a whole society.
May 14, 2020
I enjoyed this story. I can say both the book and the movie are great in their own way. The movie was science fiction but the book seemed more socially-based lo-fi science fiction.
The book goes way more in depth about the planet our narrator and his crew have landed on. Through the narrator we discover much more about the ape planet than the movie gives. The interaction between the primitive man, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans follows the movie yet the author does a great job of telling the tale.
On the planet exists social constructs and norms, a Simian language, art and science, zoos, lobotomy experiments, and more. Lastly, we discover how the shift occurred and monkeys came to rule the world.
Pierre Boulle has a unique way of telling a story full of detail yet is entertaining and creative. Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes any movies from the franchise. Thanks!
The book goes way more in depth about the planet our narrator and his crew have landed on. Through the narrator we discover much more about the ape planet than the movie gives. The interaction between the primitive man, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans follows the movie yet the author does a great job of telling the tale.
On the planet exists social constructs and norms, a Simian language, art and science, zoos, lobotomy experiments, and more. Lastly, we discover how the shift occurred and monkeys came to rule the world.
Pierre Boulle has a unique way of telling a story full of detail yet is entertaining and creative. Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes any movies from the franchise. Thanks!
July 2, 2024
No świetna była!
May 12, 2013
"Almost all the great discoveries," she stated vehemently, "have been made by chimpanzees."
Experimentation is needed for all great discoveries, and what would a chimpanzee use as a lab animal? Why, a human, of course! Oh, those damn dirty apes!
Despite Charleton Heston's scenery-chewing, I've always loved Planet of the Apes, the movie.
The book? Well, it gets off to an awkward start.
The writing is clunky, and the plot, so improbable - - I actually thought about trotting this right back to the library, but I kept saying to myself, "This is the same guy who wrote Bridge Over the River Kwai...how bad can it be?"
Not bad at all, it turns out, though I'm still not sure first-person was the way to go.
The movie was mostly faithful to the book.
The main character is a Frenchman named Ulysse. The apes do not speak the same language, which makes for some interesting communication problems. There is also some friction between the chimps, the orangutans and the gorillas, with each group believing theirs is the superior collection of beings.
Dr. Zaius https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2E1m... is much the same in the book as in the movie, part orangutan/ part jackass.
And I was quite pleased that one of my favorite bits in the film was taken directly from the book - the sweet, somewhat flirty relationship between Zira and her too-ugly-to-kiss human captive.
Experimentation is needed for all great discoveries, and what would a chimpanzee use as a lab animal? Why, a human, of course! Oh, those damn dirty apes!
Despite Charleton Heston's scenery-chewing, I've always loved Planet of the Apes, the movie.
The book? Well, it gets off to an awkward start.
The writing is clunky, and the plot, so improbable - - I actually thought about trotting this right back to the library, but I kept saying to myself, "This is the same guy who wrote Bridge Over the River Kwai...how bad can it be?"
Not bad at all, it turns out, though I'm still not sure first-person was the way to go.
The movie was mostly faithful to the book.
The main character is a Frenchman named Ulysse. The apes do not speak the same language, which makes for some interesting communication problems. There is also some friction between the chimps, the orangutans and the gorillas, with each group believing theirs is the superior collection of beings.
Dr. Zaius https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2E1m... is much the same in the book as in the movie, part orangutan/ part jackass.
And I was quite pleased that one of my favorite bits in the film was taken directly from the book - the sweet, somewhat flirty relationship between Zira and her too-ugly-to-kiss human captive.
November 6, 2012
French writer Pierre Boulle (1912-1994) made use of his experience as a soldier in WWII in depicting the relationship of apes and men in this 1963 book, Planet of the Apes. While stationed in Indochina in 1943, he was captured by Vichy France loyalists on the Mekong River and was subjected to severe hardship and forced labour. The way the loyalists treated him and his fellow Gaulle and resistance supporters inspired Boulle to write this novel.
This book was highly praised and was given such reviews as this example from England's Guardian newspaper: "Classic science fiction...full of suspense and satirical intelligence." I agree to this. It is a sci-fi because of the idea of having apes ruling the universe as they think that men have lesser intelligence than them. The Ape planet, called Soror (Latin for sister), revolves around the red Sun called Betelguese (that is real). Then the ape scientists in the said planet conduct Pavlov-like experiments to their captured human beings and one of the three was Ulysse, the author of the journal found floating in the space as narrated in the frame story. His companion, the genius scientist from Earth, Professor Antell turns crazy while his fellow crew, physicist Arthur Levaine is killed during the landing of their spaceship.
For me, its main theme is an reminder of the things we take for granted or better yet, the people who we take for granted. Sometimes, we think that they are lesser than us: in stature, job title, wealth, skin color, etc. But in reality, we don't realize that they can be more than us. It's just that we are too focused on ourselves that we don't see what they have that we lack.
For example as a reader, we think that we all pick and read the better books and we look down on people who read other books not realizing that those could be better than what we are reading.
This book is a sci-fi and I know some people look down on sci-fi readers. Not true, figment of imagination, will never happen, yadda, yadda. But hey, how about this main theme that I deduced from this book?
This book was highly praised and was given such reviews as this example from England's Guardian newspaper: "Classic science fiction...full of suspense and satirical intelligence." I agree to this. It is a sci-fi because of the idea of having apes ruling the universe as they think that men have lesser intelligence than them. The Ape planet, called Soror (Latin for sister), revolves around the red Sun called Betelguese (that is real). Then the ape scientists in the said planet conduct Pavlov-like experiments to their captured human beings and one of the three was Ulysse, the author of the journal found floating in the space as narrated in the frame story. His companion, the genius scientist from Earth, Professor Antell turns crazy while his fellow crew, physicist Arthur Levaine is killed during the landing of their spaceship.
For me, its main theme is an reminder of the things we take for granted or better yet, the people who we take for granted. Sometimes, we think that they are lesser than us: in stature, job title, wealth, skin color, etc. But in reality, we don't realize that they can be more than us. It's just that we are too focused on ourselves that we don't see what they have that we lack.
For example as a reader, we think that we all pick and read the better books and we look down on people who read other books not realizing that those could be better than what we are reading.
This book is a sci-fi and I know some people look down on sci-fi readers. Not true, figment of imagination, will never happen, yadda, yadda. But hey, how about this main theme that I deduced from this book?
June 28, 2023
4.5 ⭐
„Планетата на маймуните“ е много хубава фантастика със силни антиутопични елементи! Чрез тази определено запомняща се история, Пиер Бул съвсем разбираемо е представил недостатъците на всяко общество, което заради своите интелектуални постижения е решило да господства над планетата си и подчинява останалите живи същества на нея. Да, авторовата ирония към човечеството е доста силна... Освен това, той е вложил философски размисли върху темата за проблемите в комуникацията между различни видове, както и елегантно е отправил критика към подражаването в литературата и изкуствата.
Космически пътешественици пристигат на далечна и непозната планета. Оказва се, че на нея маймуните са изградили най-развитото и напреднало в науките общество, докато хората са примитивен вид, който не умее да говори. Един от новопоявилите се хора от Земята е главният герой Юлис, който описва в книгата своите страни приключения. Той се забърква в сериозни опасности, опитвайки се да докаже на интелигентните маймуни, че също притежава разум, както и да разбере загадъчната ситуация...
„Планетата на маймуните“ е много хубава фантастика със силни антиутопични елементи! Чрез тази определено запомняща се история, Пиер Бул съвсем разбираемо е представил недостатъците на всяко общество, което заради своите интелектуални постижения е решило да господства над планетата си и подчинява останалите живи същества на нея. Да, авторовата ирония към човечеството е доста силна... Освен това, той е вложил философски размисли върху темата за проблемите в комуникацията между различни видове, както и елегантно е отправил критика към подражаването в литературата и изкуствата.
Космически пътешественици пристигат на далечна и непозната планета. Оказва се, че на нея маймуните са изградили най-развитото и напреднало в науките общество, докато хората са примитивен вид, който не умее да говори. Един от новопоявилите се хора от Земята е главният герой Юлис, който описва в книгата своите страни приключения. Той се забърква в сериозни опасности, опитвайки се да докаже на интелигентните маймуни, че също притежава разум, както и да разбере загадъчната ситуация...
June 20, 2025
Palpitating topical satire disguised as a sci-fi.
Thanks to the numerous film adaptations the plot of the book more or less familiar. But since it was written more than fifty years ago it's quite old fashion in narration style and descriptions. Women described as tender, nymph, divine beauty, femininity and so on. Space technologies are also sometimes laughable. But if you manage to overlook all of this, you'll get to the point that makes this book still interesting in our times. Cos it's first of all brilliant satire. Satire political and social. Satire on scientific and academic world. Satire on human self-centred arrogance.
In general, short, engaging and still relatable.
Thanks to the numerous film adaptations the plot of the book more or less familiar. But since it was written more than fifty years ago it's quite old fashion in narration style and descriptions. Women described as tender, nymph, divine beauty, femininity and so on. Space technologies are also sometimes laughable. But if you manage to overlook all of this, you'll get to the point that makes this book still interesting in our times. Cos it's first of all brilliant satire. Satire political and social. Satire on scientific and academic world. Satire on human self-centred arrogance.
In general, short, engaging and still relatable.
May 24, 2022
Planet of the Apes is an extraordinary book; it does wonders at questioning and reversing human to animal relations: it is a powerful statement against anthropocentrism.
Firstly, I want to talk about the films. Although they have all captured the basic idea of the book, a planet ruled by apes where humans are primitive, they have all failed tremendously to capture the essence of the novel. This is about reversal and its also about writing a story from the animal’s perspective. It highlights the injustice of treating primates in such awful ways; it captures the brutality of vivisection, the inauthentic and inhumane nature of zoos and the heartlessness of a world driven by scientific progress (at the cost of the liberty of creatures deemed lesser.)
Again, it’s all about perspective. It’s about putting a human in an animal’s situation, giving them the opportunity to experience exactly what an animal feels and think. They are powerless, dominated and utterly at the mercy of man. Rather than directly presenting a case for animal rights, Boulle has created a subversive sci-fi horror which questions the normative treatment of animals. And it’s certainly a book that gets you thinking, thinking about how awful it would be to be treated how humans treat animals. The writing also breaks down barriers between human and animal; it shows that under certain circumstances they are not too far from each other. And this is a really important point.
What strikes me as most unusual is how relatively unread this work is when considering the success of the films. There have been numerous versions made, all of which have been quite successful. I feel like the source material has been somewhat overlooked and neglected, which is a huge shame considering how intelligent the writing is and how challenging the subject matter is. The films stay true to some of the themes, but they just don’t quite capture the essence of the book. The most recent version really plays with the source material and adapts it into something quite different, and along the way this original story has become a bit lost and overshadowed.
My point here is that this is a very good book indeed and I think you should go read it. The ending, although I knew it was coming because of the movie, is perhaps one of the finest and strongest I have ever read.
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Firstly, I want to talk about the films. Although they have all captured the basic idea of the book, a planet ruled by apes where humans are primitive, they have all failed tremendously to capture the essence of the novel. This is about reversal and its also about writing a story from the animal’s perspective. It highlights the injustice of treating primates in such awful ways; it captures the brutality of vivisection, the inauthentic and inhumane nature of zoos and the heartlessness of a world driven by scientific progress (at the cost of the liberty of creatures deemed lesser.)
Again, it’s all about perspective. It’s about putting a human in an animal’s situation, giving them the opportunity to experience exactly what an animal feels and think. They are powerless, dominated and utterly at the mercy of man. Rather than directly presenting a case for animal rights, Boulle has created a subversive sci-fi horror which questions the normative treatment of animals. And it’s certainly a book that gets you thinking, thinking about how awful it would be to be treated how humans treat animals. The writing also breaks down barriers between human and animal; it shows that under certain circumstances they are not too far from each other. And this is a really important point.
What strikes me as most unusual is how relatively unread this work is when considering the success of the films. There have been numerous versions made, all of which have been quite successful. I feel like the source material has been somewhat overlooked and neglected, which is a huge shame considering how intelligent the writing is and how challenging the subject matter is. The films stay true to some of the themes, but they just don’t quite capture the essence of the book. The most recent version really plays with the source material and adapts it into something quite different, and along the way this original story has become a bit lost and overshadowed.
My point here is that this is a very good book indeed and I think you should go read it. The ending, although I knew it was coming because of the movie, is perhaps one of the finest and strongest I have ever read.
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July 24, 2024
I watched the movie for the first time this year and loved it so much I knew I had to read the book.
I was really curious about how the book would compared to the movie as I never heard people talk much about the book but people talk about the movies all the time.
The original book and follow a lot of the same plot points part one and two. A small team arrives on a planet, and they discover the humans are analytic and the apes rule all. Captured and only one is able to prove his intelligence.
I really appreciated the subtle differences in the first two acts. Both book and movie use the own medium so the same story and change the details to emphasize their medium. The movie had the main character neck get injured so he couldn’t talk. Where in the book it was a lack of understanding the different language. The movie had a great line that was used for this book the slower approach and more gradual that was more appropriate to see in a book over a movie. I also found the science talk to be much more enjoyable and in the book we’re in the movie I found it dragged the movie along for the first 22 minutes and made it rather boring.
I found part three of the book is where things really took a different direction. The MC becomes a respected member of the ape community and is able to walk freely. He impregnates nova, and is able to escape the planet with his new family. I like how they had a twist and that was unique to the book. The book was great, in the house somewhere a lot of it was the movie I was able to enjoy both the movie movie and book and very separate ways.
I was really curious about how the book would compared to the movie as I never heard people talk much about the book but people talk about the movies all the time.
The original book and follow a lot of the same plot points part one and two. A small team arrives on a planet, and they discover the humans are analytic and the apes rule all. Captured and only one is able to prove his intelligence.
I really appreciated the subtle differences in the first two acts. Both book and movie use the own medium so the same story and change the details to emphasize their medium. The movie had the main character neck get injured so he couldn’t talk. Where in the book it was a lack of understanding the different language. The movie had a great line that was used for this book the slower approach and more gradual that was more appropriate to see in a book over a movie. I also found the science talk to be much more enjoyable and in the book we’re in the movie I found it dragged the movie along for the first 22 minutes and made it rather boring.
I found part three of the book is where things really took a different direction. The MC becomes a respected member of the ape community and is able to walk freely. He impregnates nova, and is able to escape the planet with his new family. I like how they had a twist and that was unique to the book. The book was great, in the house somewhere a lot of it was the movie I was able to enjoy both the movie movie and book and very separate ways.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2025
Absolutnie wspaniała.
June 17, 2016
Kitabın bir çok filmi çekilmiş olduğu için konusunu neredeyse bilmeyen yoktur. 2001 yılı yapımı olan Maymunlar Gezegenini izlemiştim ve şaşırtıcı bir sonla karşılaşacağımı biliyordum. Ancak kitap bir darbeyle yetinmemiş ve ikinci darbeyi vurmuş. Kitabın sonu adamın beynini yakıyor, hemde iki kere... Okuduktan sonra keşke filmini izlemeseydim beynim daha güzel yansaydı demedim değil. :) Sonuç olarak ters-psikoloji ile yazılmış, insana bazı şeyleri sorgulatan tam bir baş yapıt okudum. Şiddetle tavsiye ederim.
March 29, 2021
No tenía muchas esperanzas con esta novela ya que pensé que no había envejecido adecuadamente, sin embargo me ha sorprendido gratamente.
Un grupo de exploradores espaciales alcanzan un planeta lejano donde luego se dan cuenta que también viven humanos, sin embargo, la especie dominante es el simio.
La novela te hace analizar que pasaría si el humano no fuera el que domina, si el humano fuera desprovisto de su inteligencia, y si una de las especies más cercanas, que además es más fuerte físicamente, desarrollara dicha inteligencia? Efectivamente ocurriría lo que los humanos le hacemos al resto de los animales, cazarlos, encerrarlos para zoológicos y como sujetos de pruebas científicas, Agotarlos hasta extinguirlos o casi extinguirlos...
Un grupo de exploradores espaciales alcanzan un planeta lejano donde luego se dan cuenta que también viven humanos, sin embargo, la especie dominante es el simio.
La novela te hace analizar que pasaría si el humano no fuera el que domina, si el humano fuera desprovisto de su inteligencia, y si una de las especies más cercanas, que además es más fuerte físicamente, desarrollara dicha inteligencia? Efectivamente ocurriría lo que los humanos le hacemos al resto de los animales, cazarlos, encerrarlos para zoológicos y como sujetos de pruebas científicas, Agotarlos hasta extinguirlos o casi extinguirlos...
November 12, 2018
Bayılıyorum bu klasik seriye. O kadar kıymetli ki. Günümüze, toplumumuza geçmişten çok farklı bakış açıları mevcut. Bu kitap da öyleydi ve her sayfası ayrı keyifliydi.
August 2, 2009
Caution: Vague Spoilers Ahead
I don't really think that I can do this book justice in my review. I thought that it was brilliant. I know that I have seen the movie long ago, and remember the big reveal at the end and Charlton yelling about damning everyone all to hell, but I don't remember much more than that. I'll have to watch the movie again.
I really loved the subtle cautionary tale running throughout the story. Maybe it's just my feminist liberal bleeding heart whispering to me, but I feel that Boulle just plain hated live-animal experiments and was determined to show people that the tables could be turned one day. Easily. But more than that, the book cautions us not to be complacent and lazy about our place in life and in the food chain and to keep striving and learning and bettering ourselves, but NOT at the cost of other life-forms. We're on top now, but only time will tell if we stay there.
And do we actually deserve to be? We, the "Lords of Creation," seem to think that we can do anything and everything we want to do. We're so filled with pride that we never think that OUR civilization could fall. Those kind of things are for history books, not real life. Yet we consume resources like they're going out of style, and pollute the earth like we have a spare, and just generally act like there's a "Reset" button somewhere that we can just press when we've reached the point of no return. Why shouldn't another species give running things a try? If they can do it better...
But that's the thing. They imitate us, so WOULD they do it better? At one point in the story, when Merou was being shown the experiments, I thought to myself, "They are proud of the fact that they are keeping the "animals" down... Taking any vestiges of humanity or rational thought away as soon as it is displayed in order to protect themselves. They are so fearful of the possibility of human uprising that they commit atrocities to prevent them." And then I thought to myself, "Oh, snap! So do we." We can justify anything. And so can Apes, who apparently learned from the best. In examining the Apes, we're looking at ourselves. Can we really pass judgment?
But, I was happy to see that the three "races" of Apes could cohabitate and cooperate in peace, which is more than we've accomplished so far. Our differences divide us, but the Apes recognize and relish their differences and use them well. But Apes still seem to rival Man in the fear department: the unknown is scary, so just destroy it and move on.
I do have to say that I was kind of annoyed with Merou's assumption that life forms in a far, far away galaxy would automatically be human to be intelligent. It just goes to show that our pride will be our downfall. But it reminded me of a quote from another science-fiction book that I enjoyed, Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (which you should remember if you keep up with my reviews):
Oh, it's so apt. We inherently assume that anyone of any worth or intelligence will be just like us. Even the "Little Green Men" type aliens that pop up in the Weekly World News magazines are still modeled after humans, and hell, they are nicknamed "men"! I just hope that one day we'll be able to see the bigger picture.
I do want to mention two things that I wish were clarified a little more in the book. I'd been told that the twist in the book was different than the twist in the movie. I had had a theory that somehow during the journey from Earth, something got mixed up and the planet they landed on WAS Earth, only far in the future. Since it seems that was not correct, I'm confused as to how two planets so distant actually would be so very similar. The two main races (Apes and humans) are the same genetically (or so it seems as Merou was able to successfully mate with an "alien" human), and there are several other animals that are similar. Not to mention the society and transportation etc. It just seems so unlikely that Soror would be so similar to Earth without knowing of its existence.
And speaking of which, that brings me to the second thing. Merou named the planet Soror prior to meeting any sentient beings. Didn't they have their own name for the planet? I cannot believe that throughout ANY of the discussions they had regarding the origins of their species, or space travel, or anything, that they did not once say, "Oh, and by the way, we call our planet Apex." (Haha, get it?) But really, that point bothered me in the story.
Anyway, Aside from those two points, I thought that this was a really great book. I hope that everyone gets a chance to read it one day.
I don't really think that I can do this book justice in my review. I thought that it was brilliant. I know that I have seen the movie long ago, and remember the big reveal at the end and Charlton yelling about damning everyone all to hell, but I don't remember much more than that. I'll have to watch the movie again.
I really loved the subtle cautionary tale running throughout the story. Maybe it's just my feminist liberal bleeding heart whispering to me, but I feel that Boulle just plain hated live-animal experiments and was determined to show people that the tables could be turned one day. Easily. But more than that, the book cautions us not to be complacent and lazy about our place in life and in the food chain and to keep striving and learning and bettering ourselves, but NOT at the cost of other life-forms. We're on top now, but only time will tell if we stay there.
And do we actually deserve to be? We, the "Lords of Creation," seem to think that we can do anything and everything we want to do. We're so filled with pride that we never think that OUR civilization could fall. Those kind of things are for history books, not real life. Yet we consume resources like they're going out of style, and pollute the earth like we have a spare, and just generally act like there's a "Reset" button somewhere that we can just press when we've reached the point of no return. Why shouldn't another species give running things a try? If they can do it better...
But that's the thing. They imitate us, so WOULD they do it better? At one point in the story, when Merou was being shown the experiments, I thought to myself, "They are proud of the fact that they are keeping the "animals" down... Taking any vestiges of humanity or rational thought away as soon as it is displayed in order to protect themselves. They are so fearful of the possibility of human uprising that they commit atrocities to prevent them." And then I thought to myself, "Oh, snap! So do we." We can justify anything. And so can Apes, who apparently learned from the best. In examining the Apes, we're looking at ourselves. Can we really pass judgment?
But, I was happy to see that the three "races" of Apes could cohabitate and cooperate in peace, which is more than we've accomplished so far. Our differences divide us, but the Apes recognize and relish their differences and use them well. But Apes still seem to rival Man in the fear department: the unknown is scary, so just destroy it and move on.
I do have to say that I was kind of annoyed with Merou's assumption that life forms in a far, far away galaxy would automatically be human to be intelligent. It just goes to show that our pride will be our downfall. But it reminded me of a quote from another science-fiction book that I enjoyed, Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (which you should remember if you keep up with my reviews):
"...We take off into the cosmos, ready for anything: for solitude, for hardship, for exhaustion, death. Modesty forbids us to say so, but there are times when we think pretty well of ourselves. And yet, if we examine it more closely, our enthusiasm turns out to be all sham. We don't want to conquer the cosmos, we simply want to extend the boundaries of Earth to the frontiers of the cosmos. For us, such and such a planet is as arid as the Sahara, another as frozen as the North Pole, yet another as lush as the Amazon basin. We are humanitarian and chivalrous; we don't want to enslave other races, we simply want to bequeath them our values and take over their heritage in exchange. We think of ourselves as the Knights of the Holy Contact. This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. [...:] We arrive here as we are in reality, and when the page is turned and that reality is revealed to us--that part of our reality which we would prefer to pass over in silence--then we don't like it anymore."
Oh, it's so apt. We inherently assume that anyone of any worth or intelligence will be just like us. Even the "Little Green Men" type aliens that pop up in the Weekly World News magazines are still modeled after humans, and hell, they are nicknamed "men"! I just hope that one day we'll be able to see the bigger picture.
I do want to mention two things that I wish were clarified a little more in the book. I'd been told that the twist in the book was different than the twist in the movie. I had had a theory that somehow during the journey from Earth, something got mixed up and the planet they landed on WAS Earth, only far in the future. Since it seems that was not correct, I'm confused as to how two planets so distant actually would be so very similar. The two main races (Apes and humans) are the same genetically (or so it seems as Merou was able to successfully mate with an "alien" human), and there are several other animals that are similar. Not to mention the society and transportation etc. It just seems so unlikely that Soror would be so similar to Earth without knowing of its existence.
And speaking of which, that brings me to the second thing. Merou named the planet Soror prior to meeting any sentient beings. Didn't they have their own name for the planet? I cannot believe that throughout ANY of the discussions they had regarding the origins of their species, or space travel, or anything, that they did not once say, "Oh, and by the way, we call our planet Apex." (Haha, get it?) But really, that point bothered me in the story.
Anyway, Aside from those two points, I thought that this was a really great book. I hope that everyone gets a chance to read it one day.
October 10, 2021
4.0 Stars
I was a huge fan of the old movies so I was very excited to check out the original material. I am happy to report that I was not disappointed. I expected the novel to be campy but it was much more serious in tone. The story was told through the inner monologue of the male Earther so it was a quieter reflective narrative. There are some plot points that are rather cringey, but overall I was surprised how well this story held up to reading for the first time in the modern day. The book presents some interesting questions surrounding ethics even if the premise of the story is a bit outlandish. The ending was fantastic. Even better than the movie in my opinion.
I was a huge fan of the old movies so I was very excited to check out the original material. I am happy to report that I was not disappointed. I expected the novel to be campy but it was much more serious in tone. The story was told through the inner monologue of the male Earther so it was a quieter reflective narrative. There are some plot points that are rather cringey, but overall I was surprised how well this story held up to reading for the first time in the modern day. The book presents some interesting questions surrounding ethics even if the premise of the story is a bit outlandish. The ending was fantastic. Even better than the movie in my opinion.
June 2, 2023
Wow! I couldn't begin to tell you how much i loved this book! I literally devoured it. I had previously watched almost all the movies based on the novel and none resembles it even slightly.
"Planet of the apes" is sci fi at it's best, a story that is told in a simple, understandable manner that the reader is delighted to digest. It's a book that doesn't leave unanswered questions and at the same time it's thought provoking concept is somehow relevant to standard human behaviour . What might happen if another more intelligent species takes over the world and the human race is somewhat deteriorated? Also the ape society is a mirror of our own homo sapiens society. It's like the writer comments on how we behave towards other living species by merely seeing how the apes treat humans.
The ending of the book is even more striking, unexpected and crafty. This is really one of the best books i've read this year. Thumbs up to the writer and the excellent audiobook narrator, Greg Wise, who gave life to this fantastic adventure! 5 stars without hesitation or second thoughts.
"Planet of the apes" is sci fi at it's best, a story that is told in a simple, understandable manner that the reader is delighted to digest. It's a book that doesn't leave unanswered questions and at the same time it's thought provoking concept is somehow relevant to standard human behaviour . What might happen if another more intelligent species takes over the world and the human race is somewhat deteriorated? Also the ape society is a mirror of our own homo sapiens society. It's like the writer comments on how we behave towards other living species by merely seeing how the apes treat humans.
The ending of the book is even more striking, unexpected and crafty. This is really one of the best books i've read this year. Thumbs up to the writer and the excellent audiobook narrator, Greg Wise, who gave life to this fantastic adventure! 5 stars without hesitation or second thoughts.
August 15, 2023
3.5. Zaskakująco dobrze się zestarzała
August 15, 2024
“Machines will always be machines; the most perfected robot, always a robot. But what of living creatures possessing a certain degree of intelligence, like apes? And apes, precisely, are endowed with a keen sense of imitation.…”
Astronauts from Earth travel to the Betelgeuse solar system and land on a planet with civilized apes and bestial humans. This short and very readable novel, written by French novelist Pierre Boulle, was intended as social satire (like much of the best Science-Fiction of the time) and may have been best summarized by Wikipedia as "a wry parable on science, evolution, and the relationship between man and animal." Like Boulle's earlier novel The Bridge Over the River Kwai, this novel is said to have been adapted into a successful film.
“Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!”
- Charlton Heston
Astronauts from Earth travel to the Betelgeuse solar system and land on a planet with civilized apes and bestial humans. This short and very readable novel, written by French novelist Pierre Boulle, was intended as social satire (like much of the best Science-Fiction of the time) and may have been best summarized by Wikipedia as "a wry parable on science, evolution, and the relationship between man and animal." Like Boulle's earlier novel The Bridge Over the River Kwai, this novel is said to have been adapted into a successful film.
“Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!”
- Charlton Heston
June 1, 2020
Affascinato dal film (quello originale del 1968) dopo anni ho colto l'occasione per dedicarmi alla lettura del libro da cui ne è stato tratto. Una lettura semplice ma efficace, la trama risulta abbastanza diversa dal film ma allo stesso modo intrigante e ben strutturata, forse anche più interessante.
January 4, 2008
So in fourth grade we had an assignment to write our favorite author. Being a dork, I went for Pierre Boulle because he had written the only book I knew of that let you put on a gorilla mask and run around like you'd taken over the world. Imagine my surprise when one day a letter from Paris arrived in the mail from none other than the very tolerant Mr. Boulle (then about sixty), who answered such probing questions as "Why are Jinn and Phyllis not in the movie?" (There's an opening narrative frame featuring two swinging astronauts having a holiday in space....) I still have the letter Mr. B sent me (yes, it's framed, but no, it's not hanging on a wall). Unfortunately, I don't have the two or three subsequent letters where he even more tolerantly entertained my endless ideas for even more Planet of the Ape-sequels. And Lord knows I fear the thought that somewhere in some French library a scholar is poring over scratchy Michigan penmanship wondering what the hell the author of THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI was doing wasting his time with fan letters from nine-year olds. Please, God, don't letter there ever be a scholarly edition of Mr. B's correspondence.
Anyway, the other day AMC ran the entire PoftheA marathon, but I was busy (reading!), so I didn't watch. Still, it reminded me that it'd been more than 30 years since I read this, so I went and dug it out. For Roddy McDowell fans, be prepared: this is not your father's Charleton Heston. Yes, there's Drs. Cornelius and Zira, and the stratified ape society, but there's no "get your stinking paws off of me, you damned dirty ape"---and no statue of liberty surprise ending (Pierre Boulle was French, remember). This is a fast-paced, literate satire that tweaks human vanity, science, classism, and Peter Tork---well, ok there's no Peter Tork. But he's about the only thing in 50s/60s society that doesn't get a ribbing. Fun stuff, inevitably tainted by boyhood nostalgia.
Anyway, the other day AMC ran the entire PoftheA marathon, but I was busy (reading!), so I didn't watch. Still, it reminded me that it'd been more than 30 years since I read this, so I went and dug it out. For Roddy McDowell fans, be prepared: this is not your father's Charleton Heston. Yes, there's Drs. Cornelius and Zira, and the stratified ape society, but there's no "get your stinking paws off of me, you damned dirty ape"---and no statue of liberty surprise ending (Pierre Boulle was French, remember). This is a fast-paced, literate satire that tweaks human vanity, science, classism, and Peter Tork---well, ok there's no Peter Tork. But he's about the only thing in 50s/60s society that doesn't get a ribbing. Fun stuff, inevitably tainted by boyhood nostalgia.
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