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This is a SF novel from 1937, it shows a way the genre could have gone. It is like a dinosaur, it is great in some aspects and modern animal can go green with envy for their advantages but ultimately it was unfit, so the evolution done its deed.

The story follows the narrator’s journey through the space and time of the universe. It can be split into five major parts:
Part one, the physical universe. The narrator (soul?) goes from the Earth and travels across the galaxy. He sees different stars and their life-cycle, found out that there are rarely any planets around. Planets in the goldilocks zone are even rarer. Ones with life are rarer still, for many planets lose their atmosphere or fall prey to celestial calamities. And a sentient life is rarest of all.
Part two, the first encounter with aliens. After despairing to find any, our narrator discovers new people (throughout the novel all species are essentially people even if they are hive minds or trees), who are similar to humans but with worse hearing and better olfactory. There follows their physical and social descriptions, the later ones clearly a response to current day (1930s) politics. For example,

When its civilization had reached a stage and character much like our own, a stage in which the ideals of the masses are without the guidance of any well-established tradition, and in which natural science is enslaved to individualistic industry, biologists discovered the technique of artificial insemination. Now at this time there happened to be a wide-spread cult of irrationalism, of instinct, of ruthlessness, and of the "divine" primitive "brute-man." This figure was particularly admired when he combined brutishness with the power of the mob-controller. Several countries were subjected to tyrants of this type, and in the so-called democratic states the same type was much favored by popular taste.

In both kinds of country, women craved "brute-men" as lovers and as fathers for their children. Since in the "democratic" countries women had attained great economic independence, their demand for fertilization by "brute-men" caused the whole matter to be commercialized. Males of the desirable type were taken up by syndicates, and graded in five ranks of desirability. At a moderate charge, fixed in relation to the grade of the father, any woman could obtain "brute-man" fertilization. So cheap was the fifth grade that only the most abject paupers were debarred from its services. The charge for actual copulation with even the lowest grade of selected male was, of course, much higher, since perforce the supply was limited.

In the non-democratic countries events took a different turn. In each of these regions a tyrant of the fashionable type gathered upon his own person the adoration of the whole population. He was the god-sent hero. He was himself p divine. Every woman longed passionately to have him, if not as a lover, at least as father of her children. In some lands artificial insemination from the Master was permitted only as a supreme distinction for women of perfect type. Ordinary women of every class, however, were entitled to insemination from the authorized aristocratic stud of "brute-men." In other countries the Master himself condescended to be the father of the whole future population.

Part three follows the description of multitude of sentient races, the wealth for dozens of books: not only similar to us but symbiotic people, composite (i.e. hive mind) people, including birds and insects, giant sentient living ships, tree-humans, sea star people, etc.

Part four describes galactic civilizations, for this is hard SF and no faster than light travel exists, but there is instantaneous communications of the mind and most civilizations reach world-mind superorganism level at some point. Rise and fall of galactic empires, brute force overcome by pacifism. Even stars themselves get sentient.

Part five is the most bizarre. Star maker is the demiurge, who created our universe, but for him (she/it/they) it is not a cherished creation, but a finished picture � he doesn’t care about it and he thinks about his new works. He cares even less for something fickle and evanescent as life, which is so rare and fast (compared with the universe). This is the only religious-philosophical text I’ve met that says ‘god exist, but you don’t exist for him, for you’re too insignificant�.

All this stuff is great. However, only selected few will read through the whole book for the writing is extremely dull. It is page after page of descriptions, akin to old academic books, almost unreadable and clearly not enjoyable.