H. G. Wells Books

I didn't know very much about Wells beyond THE TIME MACHINE and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (which I've only encountered via the movie versions) until a friend gave me a copy of this terrific collection. It was great to have almost three complete novels by him as well as other selections in one volume. The excerpts made me want to read the whole of THE FOOD OF THE GODS, THE WHEELS OF CHANCE, and TONO-BUNGAY. There's not a poor choice in this book. Including the majority of IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET (not available elsewhere as one reader states) makes sense to me, since it seems like such an important book-bridge between his science fiction and social novels. The editor also includes most of THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON, which manages to be wildly imaginative, beautifully written, incredibly hilarious, and deeply chilling, often in the same paragraph. There's so much other great stuff in this anthology, which is a bargain at $14. The editor's comments were very helpful in placing the selections within Wells' creative growth and intent, and in placing Wells within the broader context of his day. I can't understand the venom of some of the other reader responses. Do they have some personal grudge against the editor? Perhaps they were former students and he graded them poorly. You'd think Wells was their grandmother and they were defending her honor. Wells speaks for himself quite well, I think. And the truth is if Wells' later stuff is so outstanding, and its absence worthy of being bemoaned and bitched about, why is it mostly all out of print? I'm definitely going to check out later Wells, but wouldn't be doing so without this marvelous introduction to spur me on.

I didn't know very much about Wells beyond THE TIME MACHINE and WAR OF THE WORLDS (which I've only encountered via the movie versions) until a friend gave me a copy of this terrific collection. It was great to have almost three complete novels by him as well as other selections in one volume. The excerpts made me want to read the whole of THE WHEELS OF CHANCE, THE FOOD OF THE GODS, and TONO-BUNGAY. There's not a poor choice in the book. Including the majority of IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET (not available elsewhere as one reader states) makes sense to me, since it seems like such an important book-bridge between his science fiction and social novels. The editor also includes most of THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON, which manages to be wildly imaginative, beautifullly written, incredibly hilarious, and deeply chilling, often in the same paragraph. There's so much other great stuff in this anthology, which is a bargain at $14. The editor's comments were also very helpful in placing the selections within Wells' creative growth and intent, and in placing Wells within the broader context of his day. I can't understand the venom of some of the other reader responses. Do they have some personal grudge against the editor? You'd think Wells was their grandmother and they were defending her honor. Wells speaks for himself quite well, I think. And the truth is if Wells later stuff is so outstanding, why is it mostly all out of print? I'm defintely going to check out later Wells, but wouldn't be doing so without this marvelous introduction to spur me on.

I come to this reader having read a few Wells novels: "War of the Worlds", "The Invisible Man", "The Time Machine". I didn't know much else about Wells' life or career. In reading this anthology, I found out quite a few new things, though not enough to claim that I'm an expert on the subject. Wells did live a long time, and this anthology uses a lot of space presenting things about Wells that I alreay knew. I know that Bison Books prints editions of "The Sleeper Awakes", "In The Days of the Comet", and "The Last War." The other reviewers of this book seem to miss the point that this book is meant to be an introduction. And an introduction is supposed to have a range and also be complete. A figure like Wells may be impossible to encapsulate in such a small volume, but I think for new readers, this might be the book for you. If you want to know the roots of science-fiction, where else can you look but at the master himself?

I am absolutely shocked by the strident, outrageous, and embarrassingly ignorant responses of these readers (who, by the way, lack the courage to sign their indictments and condemnations). If some "invisible" critics don't even want their names attached to their own reviews, where's the value? I urge prospective readers to ignore these Griffens. No anthology can adequately represent a literary career as long and prolific as that of Wells, who wrote 1,000+ pages of short stories, dozens of novels and nonfiction works, hundreds of articles, and thousands of letters and public statements, not to mention the autobiographical and scientific writings. Saying the task is similar to anthologizing Dickens or Trollope is entirely inaccurate, since the breadth and quality of their nonfiction output was negligible comparative to their fiction, whereas Wells was one of the most astute, far-wandering, and all-encompassing intellectual and imaginative forces of his day. Right from the start, Huntington ought to be applauded for being bold enough even to attempt such an endeavor (Huntington's audacity and admiration Wells would surely appreciate). One of these critics says: "One wonders precisely who this 'reader' is for!" NO. One wonders if these "critics" spent enough time from penning their own masterpieces of destruction for their own sake to actually peruse the editor's introduction and prefaces to his selections. These critcs are eviscerating this anthology because it doesn't correspond to their own "inner" collections. Huntington clearly define THE H. G. WELLS READER as an introduction, i.e. for someone who is either totally unfamiliar with Wells or for someone who might think of him as having only "written that Martian book." In 496 pages the editor does a commendable job of presenting Wells. Not the entirety of Wells, which is impossible to accomplish in even a 1,000-page anthology (not the hot trend nowadays in publishing). But Huntington explains his intentions and criteria and even admits the unavoidable limitations inherent in any collection: "I have selected the texts for this anthology with an eye for quality and to what I see as the central issues and styles of Wells. In the case of such a prolific and varied artist, there is danger of dispersal and dilution. I have therefore confined the selection strictly to fiction." That seems as cogent and clear as any manifesto I've encountered. Huntington continues: "I have also narrowed this selection by limiting it to work Wells published in the first decade and a half of his writing career. Later Wells is a fascinating area [obviously the editor has read the totality of Wells prodigiously], but only to readers who already have a sense of what early Wells is about. If I have emphasized the scientific romances, it is with a sense of how it leads into social novels like TONO-BUNGAY [excerpted] and THE HISTORY OF MR. POLLY." Why critique the editor for including readily available work after praising him for not neglecting "work that is out of print." Shouldn't that be the range and purpose of introductory readers? In fact, even that reproach is misleading. A hefty portion of THE H. G. WELLS READER is gathered from currently o.p. works. of which the editor includes nearly all of two novels (THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON and IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET, the former only recently reprinted by Modern Library) and one complete novel (THE HISTORY OF MR. POLLY, presently unavailable from a U.S. publisher) as well as a sampling of short stories (including the masterpieces "Aepyornis Island" and "The Country of the Blind," two of Wells's most perfect and haunting tales). IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET is not now available. The editor also excerpts the excellent yet unfortunately o.p novels THE WHEELS OF CHANCE and THE FOODS OF THE GODS. Easily two-thirds of this collection is unavailable elsewhere. Where one would expect Huntington to include all or gigantic chunks of THE TIME MACHINE, he has selected a previously excised and startling episode of the Time Travellor's travels not in many editions. How can an editor not include a healthy dose from Wells's masterpiece, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS? Key events on Moreau's island and from Griffen's psychic deterioration are also represented. One would expect Morlocks, Beast People, and Invisibly Inspired Mischief to abound, but, refreshingly, one encounters an anarchist, Selenites, and the incomparable Mr. Polly. Not bad for 496 pages. If one accepts the editor's view of Wells as a genius and satirist of society and the human condition, then this reader suddenly exhibits a critical strategy and brilliant architectural arc. No longer is it a potpourri of science fiction and mockery of social mores, but an evolution of Wells's satire from its guise as science fiction to its heartfelt and radical comedic critique of contemporary society. I'd prefer reading anything in this anthology than such mediocre Wells's "larks" as BOON and BEALBY. Another critic states that "Wells is a fugitive in the history of the novel and a questionable presence in the development of social sciences." WHAT? "Fugitive in the history of the novel." What does that nonsense mean? He was one of the forerunners, not among the fugitives. No one was hunting H. G. Wells. Certainly not George Orwell, Joseph Conrad, Jules Verne, or Upton Sinclair. Not even, as far as I can ascertain, Tommy Lee Jones. A questionable presence in the development of social sciences? WHAT? Wells's radical theories, accurate predictions, and prescient and resonant insights proved crucial to many scientific disciplines, both "hard" and "soft," from biology to sociology and futurism. "It doesn't tantalize prospective readers." Should that be the purpose of readers? Methinks, this anonymous cowardly lion mistakes books for burlesques. Both "reviewers" are slamming this work for not following their preferred and personal table of contents, which is entirely unjust. If one wishes to find fault with THE H. G. WELLS READER, one might critique it for not having a larger page count (thereby making possible the inclusion or more stories or excerpts from later novels) or a better proofreader. Instead, these "reviewers" snipe for what's not there, rather than responding to the formidable introduction and succinct and priceless prefaces. I challenge anyone to compose a better biographical, aesthetic, and critical profile in under ten pages than what Hujtington manages in his introduction. This collection doesn't stink, just the supposedly informed "critics." Kudos, kudos, kudos to Huntington. Only wish it could've been longer.

This anthology stinks. I hope that this terrible collection doesn't hamper anyone else's attempt to put together a decently representative collection of Wells material. Huntington and his publishers should have read all of Wells before trying to assemble a collection of his work.

Wells remains a major 20th century intellectual--still up for grabs by the right and left, a fugitive in the history of the novel, and a questionable presence in the development of social sciences. I don't think this anthology does justice to Wells, it insults his critics and fans, and it does not tantalize prospective readers.

One word: "Booooo."

Oh, it gets off to the same start as "Looking Backward". Someone mysteriously falls into a sleep that lasts for two hundred years, and wakes up in a transformed world. After that, it's a whole different book.

In this case, the sleeper wakes not into a socialist world, but into a world wholly governed by property ownership - his. His original fortune, plus a few others, have ballooned due to compund interest. Currency consists of checks drawn on his account, passed back and forth in exchange for life's needs. His self-appointed estate managers are regents in all but name, and don't much like the idea of turning over the reins to He in Whose name they tyrranize the country.

But the ones who rescue him aren't much better. They seem to have invented the sound-bite, or Word as they call it (p.116), and want the sleeper only so they can replace the current oligarchy with their own, but under his name. Wells's cynicism appears elsewhere also, especially in anticipating religion as a commercial service, advertised like pantyhose. Once you start seeing prescient passages in this book, it's hard to stop. Wells anticipated moving sidewalks, air war (a decade before the first airplane), and even a form of internet addiction. Although the details differ, "to live outside the range of electric cables [including phone and video] was to live a savage."

The editors have added overy thirty pages of biography, bibliography, and scholarly analysis of Wells's different editions of this text, plus at least 15 pages of endnotes. Perhaps this material will interest the specialized reader, but I am not that specialist. Wells's text, for my taste, doesn't need the help. It does, however, cement his reputation as a social critic and seer.

-- wiredweird

A deeply burdened insomniac in nineteenth-century Great Britain falls into a great trance for where he does not awaken for 203 years. When he awakens, Graham, as he is known, finds himself in a twisted alternate reality in where laborers (one-third of the population) are treated as scum, where the entire numerical system is now in dozens, and with a hierarchical government, power rests only in the hands of a small dictatorship known as the Grand Council. Also, money has piled up and has been secured to make Graham the most powerful man on the earth and in all of human history. When Graham wakes up, he is shocked to find that the suppressed people have been praying for the "Sleeper" to wake, but also that the Grand Council has been planning his murder. However, he is saved by a group of resistance, lead by a man named Ostrog, whose objective is to expel the Grand Council out of power. Eventually, the Council is brought down to its knees. When Graham notices that the people are still oppressed, he tries to make the world turn back to democracy, but Ostrog strongly disagrees. The tension builds up, until Ostrog makes the order that the Black Police (from South Africa) are to maintain the order in England and throughout Europe, coming in aeroplanes. Graham cannot believe that he has been betrayed, as Ostrog had escaped earlier. Graham, who has had some flight experience, decides to pilot the only plane left, and goes down fighting, with the rest of the world and all of humankind with an unforeseeable future. The Sleeper Awakes, by H.G. Wells, is an excellent science-fiction novel because of three main qualities: its revolutionary science-fiction, its suspense, and its action.

When Graham awakens in the twenty-second century, he is immediately overwhelmed by the changes in this time then from the old Victorian period. Horse-drawn carriages are obsolete, and sidewalks are moving platforms in which everyone travels on. Also, books no longer exist, and there are holograms that show dramas and interpretations of life instead. The numerical system as we know has now been replaced by a twelve-number single-digit system. H.G. Wells is a fantastic science-fiction writer, in the fact that he wrote of airplanes eleven years before one ever flew, and fifteen years before any fought in battle.

Suspense has a prominent role in the Sleeper Awakes. When Graham was introduced to a room inside the Grand Council building, he was stranded for several days without any news from the outside. However, he hears a noise from the roof spaces above, and thinks that he sees a shadow. Then, blood drops from above, and splatters onto the carpet. The reader is on the edge of his seat, with the urge to find more answers. Several men come through the roof space, and the resistance begins.

The Sleeper Awakes takes place in a twisted, alternate future, in which the lower class is now beginning to rise against the affluent members of the higher classes. When Graham is taken by a resistance group to a local hall, members of the red police (security forces of the Grand Council), a large battle occurs. Laborers everywhere are fighting in the name of the "Sleeper", and the Red Police are trying to recapture him. The fighting gets so out-of-control that an entire skyscraper falls over onto its side, creating a massive explosion. Another intense sequence of action occurs when Graham is fighting in his monoplane, where he fights against the whole Black Police, where he comes to his demise, instead of living out the rest of his life unaccustomed this new world.

In the course of four days, Graham discovers a brand new world completely alien to him and his time in the 1890's. Even the "Sleeper" was not enough to hold off his enemies, as his monoplane crashes into the cold ground of the earth. This story does, however, renew the word science-fiction. The greatest reason that this novel should be read is that H.G. Wells had basically started the science-fiction genre, and we continue to read his classics today. The Sleeper Awakes should be read due to this and because of its futuristic setting, its thrills, and its many skirmishes throughout. I rate this novel five stars out of five.

A. Chappell

It was all right... just all right. Some of the ideas stated were interesting and even prophetic, like the harnessing of wind power for electricity. Some parts reminded me of Fahrenheit 451.

The greatest disappointment was the ending. I was expecting Wells to use the story's build-up to say something clever and meaningful regarding the state of humanity, along with perhaps some useful suggestions, even if unfeasible. But it just ended in an unsatisfying way, almost as if he suddenly got tired of it and wanted to work on something else.

This is not a good "Wells starter book" -- The Time Machine is far better -- but as a study in fiction styles it is all right.

In 1897 a gentlemen falls asleep to wake up in 2100. In the future he finds himself owner of much of the world as his money, which grew while he slept, was used to take over the world by buying up all businesses and property. Now the "Sleeper" finds himself in the middle of a power struggle between those who have and those who have not.
The characters are bland, the future feels like a false front, like one of those towns used in a Wild West movie, and even after pages and pages of details everything still seems vague. I can't picture much of what he writes about as he seems to skim over scenes, leaving out details, and shooting ahead to what parts of the story he believes are important.
His idea about cities of the future, while interesting, is not interesting enough to carry a whole plot.

Science fiction fans simply looking for an entertaining story will want to skip this book. Its speculations, with a couple of exceptions, are dated -- Wells admitted such only ten years after it was written. The socialist values it expounds make one wonder whether Fabian Wells would have ever been satisfied with capitalism no matter what it did. The characters, again as Wells admitted, are Everyman and an implausible businessman villain.

And yet Wells kept playing with this story over 21 years. It also was probably quite influential on a young Robert Heinlein, a Wells admirer. (It has moving roadways amongst other things.)

The story? A man wakes up from a two hundred year coma to find out he's the richest man in the world. The capitalists who run this world hope he'll play along with them, continue to let them run the world using his money. But Sleeper Graham has other ideas and becomes a Socialist messiah to the oppressed.

Students of science fiction's history will recognize a plot with a starting point similar to Edward Bellamy's _Looking Backward_ -- to which Wells gives a nod. They'll also be interested in the understandably wrong predictions about aerial warfare. Students of Wells will definately want to read this, one of his second-tier works.

This book is a particularly good edition because it features a useful afterword noting the many changes Wells made in this story. It was first published as _When the Sleeper Wakes_, an 1899 magazine serial. It was changed for the book publication of the same year and further changed for the 1910 and 1921 editions.

Like other reviewers, I am sadly disappointed by this collection of work. I was (mistakenly) expecting science fiction, which this book is NOT. It's more literary reading, something I do not enjoy. This is my own fault perhaps as I believe now that misunderstood the title.

That however is not the extent of my disappointment with the book. While it did have a couple of excellent stories (perhaps 5% of those included), some work was far to esoteric for my enjoyment. Still others, I didn't understand at all.

This was supposed to be a collection of stories that describe 'apocalyptic situations' but, I felt like I was reading a collection bad poetry disguised as short story work.

I can't recommend it, but there are obviously people out there who enjoy this sort of work.

I was initially excited to discover the collection and didn't see how such a broad-based compilation could go wrong. I'm an avid reader of post-apocalyptic fiction, science fiction and futurism, so I'm no slouch, but this turned out to be quite different from what I was hoping for.

While a few of the pieces are good reads, so many of them are abstract, esoteric, or even reminiscent of the scribblings from slightly disturbed angst-ridden teenage diaries. There's no good "meat" here, no concrete scenarios, suspense or drama to drive fear into your heart and make your mind race. The circumstances under which "apocalypse" occurs are rarely even revealed. Even the subject matter is open to interpretation - "apocalypse" is made to mean many things, not simply the end of the world. Which it does, of course, but that's not what I was hungry for when I picked up this book. The book description should have done a better job of managing those expectations.

Perhaps if you are looking for a broad literary "treatment" of the subject, that kind of interpretation will appeal to you (or if you enjoy the just plain bizarre) then this collection is for you. It was not for me.

This is a fun collection of stories from some well known and serious talent (Gaiman, Lovecraft, Poe) and some newly minted authors. I found myself particularly amused by "These Zombies Are Not A Metaphor," the work of one of the new authors named Jeff Goldberg. I'll be keeping an eye peeled for future work from him.

Justin Taylor has put together a wide-ranging, mind-bogglingly excellent anthology about one of my favorite subjects. Every piece inspires. I couldn't recommend it more highly.

"THESE ARE THE WAYS THE WORLD ENDS--THIRTY-FOUR NEW AND SELECTED DOOMSDAY SCENARIOS"

This is a gorgeous book, from presentation to content. The selections are humorous, serious, simple, complex, and much more--thirty-four stories, some short, some long, make for a wide spectrum of apocalypses. Taylor, in the foreword, expounds on his conception of an apocalypse:

"It's worth pointing out that the word Apocalypse comes from the Greek, and literally means "a revelation" or "an unveiling." It can be used to describe cataclysmic changes of any sort. Revolution, for example, or social upheaval. [...] There are micro-Apocalypses that mark moments in our lives: childhood's end, a relationship's sudden implosion, Death."



The selections do span the gamut--some were written so long ago as to be in the public domain, and some were freshly minted in the late 2000's; some focus on religious upheavals, some macro, some micro; there are personal upheavals, student rantings, surreal recountings of madmen; and of course many take the reader through more conventional "end of the world" scenarios. And even with all that diversity, perhaps guided by the introduction, the theme of the anthology runs strong.

If there were a criticism I could make of this volume, that, ironically, would be it. I consider myself a bit of an Apocalypse afficionado--I particularly enjoy reading such stories, along with dystopias--and I would have thought that I could never grow tired of reading well-wrought incarnations of such--and these stories were all well-wrought and well-edited, there is no doubt about that--but this volume overwhelmed me. I was tired, even weary, by the time I had wended my way through the collection (and that in the course of several "sittings")..

The lead story, a piece of flash fiction by H. P. Lovecraft, starts the anthology out elegantly, and slowly. It warns you, implicitly, that you're in for some heavy reading, even if you're a fan of Mr. Lovecraft's writing (and not just his mythos, which more people are familiar with, and is much easier to get into third hand). On that end of the scale, there's also a piece from Edgar Allan Poe that is ponderous but worth an examination, entitled "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion".

Some of my favorites included:

"The Apocalypse Commentery of Bob Paisner" by Rick Moody -- This is an essay detailing the allegorical depths of the Book of Revelation with regard to Bob Paisner's life. The tone is both erudite and a bit delirious, and the piece as a whole is both informative and immersive--I found myself eagerly wondering where Moody was going to take us next, what dark or clinical humor would next be presented.

"Fraise, Menthe, et Poivre 1978" by Jared Hohl -- Another piece of meta-fiction, this follows a group of people through the more traditional trope of being the last survivors in a ruined post-apocalyptic city. What makes this piece stand out is the manic bent of the narrator and the push for the show to go on--the story weaves the primary narrative with a small handful of abbreviated stageplays that emphasize much about human nature, hope, and despair, while retaining a very human humor.

"An Accounting" by Brian Evenson -- An "honest" accounting of how one explorer fell into becoming a reborn Jesus and how he helps his flock survive. I don't want to say too much about this, but the voice is clear, the narrative is well woven and unrolls at a compelling pace, and other than, perhaps, the initial fanaticism he encounters, it is all quite believable.

"Some Approaches to the Problem of the Shortage of Time" by Ursula K. Le Guin -- This is a clever set of abstracts that are ever timely and consider a novel scenario for the end of the modern-day universe. The shortage of time is pervasive, and this story is brief to give you a maximum pleasure for what it takes.

"Think Warm Thoughts" by Allison Whittenberg -- A bite-sized slice of apocalypse that is poetically poignant; every word counts.

"When We Went to See the End of the World by Dawnie Morningside, age 11 1/4" by Neil Gaiman -- This is the end of the world, everyone and everything together, through the playful, somewhat naiive eyes of an eleven year old. It's told in the vein of "What I did over Summer vacation", and is very evocative, sweet, and strange.

"The Escape--a Tale of 1755" by Grace Aguilar -- This is an elegant tale of a woman's love for her husband, religious persecution, and a prison escape. It is written with a very modern feel despite its age (originally published in 1844).

That's not to say I disliked the other stories; and on another day I would have different favorites, though there were some pieces that didn't work for me. But I hope this selection will help give you a feel for the collection as a whole, beyond my simple regard for it. In all, it's a beautiful collection, and I recommend it strongly, with the caveat that you may want to take it in small doses.

I like Wells' SF books. This one has a SF aspect to it, but it is primarily a work of social philosophy. British travelers are accidently transported into another dimension, where human beings live a life of productive labor, sociability (no one is too introspective), lack of private property, and almost complete nudity. According to Wells, this is paradise, and people here are not much different from Gods. It turns out that in this dimension, civilization had taken almost exactly the same course as it did on our Earth. The differences are superficial. Then at some point during the industrial age, a great transformation began to take place. Over the course of a hundred or so generations, private property in all but personal things was abolished, there were no more sexual preditors, and people have become open with strangers in their thoughts and actions. They have also become much taller, stronger, much more beautiful and intelligent.

This utopia relies on the Lamarckian misconception of biological evolution, where acquired improvements are transmitted to the next generation, culminating in a generation of God-like human beings. It also relies on the misconception that private property is at the root of societal evils and that people would want to get rid of it for good.

If all you've read of Wells is The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and The Island of Dr. Moreau, you're not getting the full story. This novel--writen some twenty-five years after the aforementioned works--shows the author's more philosophical side; there's less of the straight SF romance aspect to it; it's also, in my estimation, a considerably more gripping read.

In short, it's about a group of people who are inadvertantly drawn into an alternate dimension, which turns out to be a paradisiacal version of Earth thousands of years in ahead of contemporary society. There's some action involved, but it's more a book of moral philosophy than anything else, as it explores issues of what humanity should be and be striving for. I liked it a lot, and you should try to find a copy and read it.

Truly a rare find, this book gives us a deeper insight into the life and times of the author, H.G. Wells. It does so indirectly, though, for it is not a book about his life as it was or about his world as he saw it but rather a book about how certain characters respond to encountering a civilization other than their own. The characters were written by Wells in a way that reflects certain attitudes and moral values of his time. As such their feelings, their actions, their strengths and their foibles are commentary not only on their own society but on modern humanity as a whole.

Another reviewer on this board has given this book a poor rating, seemingly because the utopian ideal depicted in the book is not possible nor scientifically logical. While that is certainly the case, is "The Time Machine" any less enjoyable becuase temporal physics doesn't work the way Wells writes it as working? Is "The Lord of the Rings" any less enjoyable because there are no such things as elves?

When reading this book I would not suggest that you look upon it as a plan for building a utopian future. It is fantasy and not a guide to world-building. Instead, look at the idea of perfection Wells puts forth... look at the things he sees lacking in his own society and wishes somehow could magically become part of it. Look on this work not as a treatise on how to make the the world perfect, but rather as an author's delving into the reality of the human condition and his hopes and fears of what that condition could become... not through evolution but through the power of the mind to change who we are.

If you read it in that light, I think you will find it both enlightening and enjoyable to read.

This book by H. G. Wells is only a sort of novel. He uses the device of
a man having, basically, prophetic visions of the future, to discuss
society at length.

The discussion is about the future, and the direction that mankind
is taking. Written towards the end of the Depression, this of course
influences the writing, as does the likelihood of further world war,
also a prediction in the book.

He continues on, as the book is divided into multiple parts, each looking at a different stage.

From Google Groups Jordan179:

The book was published in September 1933, which means that it was presumably written up to a year earlier. This is interesting in terms of _when_ its "present" was (the early years of the Great Depression, and right when Hitler had taken power in Germany). It is also interesting to note that this was around the same time as _Last and First Men_, and that Stapledon and Wells, as two British socialist literary science fiction writers, almost certainly would have known one another in person. I wonder if there was some sort of informal challenge in their circle to try to "write about the future," or something of that sort?

_The Shape of Things to Come_, of course, is a far less ambitious work than _Last and First Men_, in terms of scope. While LaFM covers two billion years of the history of not only our own species but its successors as dominant sapient races of the Solar System, TSoTtC covers only about a century (to the 2040's) in any sort of detail, and gives some vague hints of what happens out to 2100. This is roughly 110 to 166 years past the point of publication, corresponding to the very earliest parts of Stapledon's book in terms of timescale.

The framing story is that this is the "dream book" (recording of a series of dreams experienced by) of Dr. Phillip Raven, a progressive-minded statesman, influential in the League of Nations, who died in 1930. As becomes apparent to his friend (presumably H. G. Wells himself), the dreams were accurately prophetic (he foretells the election of FDR among other things), channelling a history book written in 2106, and so Wells decides to write them up into this history of the future.

I say "history of the future" rather than "novel" with precise meaning. Like _Last and First Men_, _The Shape of Things to Come_ is not really a novel: it has very little characterization and indeed few named characters engaging in anything like normal dialogue or plot. It's actually set up as if it really were a history of the last 200 years, writen in 2106 (as it claims to have been). The only places where it's dramatic is where one might expect a well-written, lively sort of history book to be so.

This of course ruins it as a novel, but then that's never what Wells was aiming at. He was aiming at a "future history," and as such this book really has more in common with works such as the _Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology_ than with science fiction _novels_ in general.

It's interesting to note that both TSoTtC, and LaFM, were written several years before the earliest story in Heinlein's famous "future history." I wonder if Heinlein read either book before coming up with _his_ notion of a "future history?" Wells was, of course, quite famous by the late 1930's / early 1940's, both as a fiction writer and a serious futurist.

The work is divided into five "books," each the length of a short history book. The first: "Today and Tomorrow: The Age of Frustration Dawns," is Wells' precis of the history of the world from roughly 1914-1933, as it might be seen from the viewpoint of his fictional 2106. It is, as one might expect, essentially socialist and pessimistic in view: Wells believed that Western Civilization had lost and was continuing to lose tremendous opportunities of education, production, and progress owing to what he saw as the pernicious effects of capitalism and superstition. He also had by this time lost almost all hope that the Soviet Union was going to turn out any better than Western Europe had. This part is somewhat amusing in terms of exposing Wells' own views, but is less than fascinating even viewed as history (and I like to read history). Wells himself would do this sort of thing _far_ better in his famous _Outline of History_.

The second book,"The Days After Tomorrow: The Age of Frustration," is essentially about the wreck of Civilization. Basically, the Great Depression (which he calls "the Slump") gets worse and worse. In 1935, Franklin Delano Roosevelt calls The London Conference in which all the nations of the world try to come to an agreement to end it: they fail miserably and the Depression continues to deepen.

(this follows logically from Wells' own socialist views: if the Depression was caused by the limitations of capitalism, obviously nothing short of a complete restructuring of the economy towards socialism could cure it).

(in our time line, of course, what happened was that the Depression partially lifted in 1934, and conditions gradually improved throughout the 1930's; finally, World War II caused governments everywhere to demand massive war production that put an end to it once and for all. Wells, embarassingly, was to see his theory proven false _within one year after the publication of the book_, which may be why there isn't any mention of a Depression On Steroids in the movie version).

Anyway, things get worse and worse, socially as well as economically. Production of whole classes of goods ceases (this is logically inconsistent with the structure of a Depression, but Wells isn't a very good economist). Crime and despair spread.

In 1940, the Germano-Polish War starts, by accident, over the Danzig Corridor. A Nazi shoots a Polish man at a train station, and Poland invades Germany and drives a good way into the Eastern part of the country before being stopped by German fortifications.

(this is the same year that "the Second World War" starts in the movie, but in the movie we never learn the cause of the war or even the identity of the foe)

Germany and Poland trade continual air raids while their ground armies are locked in stalemate on massive trench lines, including extensive poison gas and anti-tank obstacles ...
(continued on google groups)

_The Shape of Things to Come_ is the Penguin Classics edition of the novel first published in 1933 by the famous science fiction writer and British socialist H. G. Wells which provides an account of the "history of the future" and offers predictions as to what the future (at the time of writing) will bring. H. G. Wells envisioned this book in many ways to be a sequel to the historical work _The Outline of History_ (1930) which attempted to predict future developments taking off from where "history" left off. This book is particularly prescient and offered predictions for a Second World War and the creation of a "World State" and world government. As such, it is apparent that the thinking of individuals in the milieu of Wells had a profound influence on the thinking of the elite who operated behind the scenes in the Twentieth Century to erect a world government. H. G. Wells (1866 - 1946) was a British science fiction writer of world renown best known for his novels dealing with various scientific predictions and developments. However, there is another side to Wells. Wells also had an interest in politics and was an avid socialist, seeking to redress perceived social wrongs, who joined the Fabian society of socialists seeking "revolution" through gradualism for a time. Wells ardently believed in the ideals of socialism and world government as the answer to Nineteenth and early Twentieth century discrepancies in wealth. Wells was also an historian who was influenced heavily by Darwinian thinking and science. This novel which is really more of a political outline for a utopia than a real "novel", provides a vision of the World State achieved through co-operation among nations, as well as predicting various Twentieth century events including the Second World War. The "novel" is presented as the "dream book" left behind by one Dr. Philip Raven, an intellectual working for the League of Nations, who dies in 1930. This "dream book" reveals Raven's visions for the future of mankind and the creation of the World State. These visions are particularly prescient in light of the developments of the Twentieth century and the coming emergence of a worldwide government, and it is obvious that Wells was certainly no small visionary. As such, I believe this book is highly important and can be profitably read today to understand the events that have taken place in world politics during the Twentieth century and even into our own times.

The novel begins with an Introduction to "The Dream Book of Dr. Philip Raven". This introduction explains that Dr. Philip Raven was an intellectual working for the League of Nations who died in Geneva in 1930. Further, it is explained the means by which Dr. Philip Raven maintained contact with the future and through his visions was able to predict the coming World State. The introduction is supposed to be written by H. G. Wells himself who serves as the "transcriber" of Dr. Philip Raven's manuscripts. The novel then turns to "Book I: Today and Tomorrow: The Age of Frustration Dawns". The novel explains how following the First World War and the crippling Treaty of Versailles there arose the desire to put an end to war once and for all through means of an international overseeing body (which became the League of Nations). Further, the novel explains how economic crises led to various socialist proposals for alleviating poverty and resolving such economic downturns. Following this, the novel turns to "Book II: The Days After Tomorrow: The Age of Frustration". Here, the novel shows the development of economic theory through the London Conference as well as the rise of dictatorships and fascisms. The novel also explains how the old order was "sloughed off" and subsequently replaced by a new order based on world government. The novel also predicts the Second World War and shows the role of the Russian revolution and the theories of such economic theorists as Karl Marx and Henry George. Following this, the novel turns to "Book III: The World Renascence: The Birth of the Modern State". Here, the novel explains the plan of the modern World State, the development of the technocracy, and the role of a new "technical revolutionary" in the creation of the modern World State. Following this, the novel turns to "Book IV: The Modern State Militant". Here, the novel explains the rise of the World State and the Air Dictatorship. The novel explains such features of the "modern World State" as "futile insurrections" against it and predictions for the future. Following this, the novel turns to "Book V: The Modern State in Control of Life". This part of the novel discusses such topics as geogonic planning, changes in control of human behavior, the increase in lifespan and "wisdom" of the average man, and other topics as they relate to the "modern World State". The novel ends here by explaining that the World State has made possible a new development in the history of mankind devoted to socialism and cosmopolitanism.

This novel by H. G. Wells lays out an important blueprint for the history of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. Wells' predictions are particularly prescient as they relate to the Second World War, the development of the League of Nations, the rise of socialism, and the creation of a global world state. Herein, H. G. Wells reveals himself to be a conspirator of the highest order whose utopian schemes were to be played out in the schemes of the elite in the coming ages. While this book is primarily meant to be a sequel to Wells' works on history, it lays out his coming plan and understanding of the new age. As such, this book reveals not only Wells as a primary thinker behind the goal of the New World Order but also as a powerful utopian dreamer and seer who predicted the coming age.

Received in a timely manner, and the product was in great shape! Thank you!

Reads like a history written by an anthropologist (and alas, that's exactly what it is). Not enough of either subject (archaeology or history) are approached effectively. The book is overall just poorly conceived and has several serious flaws. On whole the book is agonizingly repetitive with the same things being addressed just mere paragraphs apart. This would have been better off as a 45 page scholarly article. If Wells would have simply focused on the archaeological exploration of the battlefield the work may have been more successful.

The author seems to have written this as a very basic coverage of what was likely a much more complicated situation. I didn't know anything about this incident in history, but from his own descriptions, it had far reaching consequences. I was hoping for a little more meat but as an introduction, it was sufficient. This just makes me want to find out more about the Teutoberg battle.

I found Peter S. Wells' book on the destruction of the three Roman legions at Teutoburg Forest to be terribly limited in scrope and very short on description. Since Teutoburg Forest is a very specific military campaign, most people who would read this book will already have a good solid background on Rome and her history. Thus, we do not need 160 pages worth of background material which will not add anything to anyone's knowledge.

To make this really sad, I thought the author's description of the campaign and battle to be truly simplified. What make the author even dream that this entire battle was over within a hour?? It going to take whole lot more then 18,000 barbaric Germans to wipe out three Roman legions in one hour regardless of the situation. It may be that the author tried too hard to be different from the norm and this led to many foolish conjectures that borderline on fantasy.

It should also be stress that as catastrophic as this defeat may be, it only discouraged Roman expansion across into Germany. But it definitely did not stopped the Romans from moving in other territories. Just look at Trajan's rule or even earlier...Claudius' invasion and conquest of Britain. Glory of Rome have only began in 9 AD, it did not end at Teutoberg Forest. The author appears to be grossly overhyped this campaign. (In hindsight, it may have been a disaster for Germany who didn't get the benefits of Roman civilization.)

Considering that there are several other books written on this campaign, it would be easy to pass on this book which really doesn't explained much about the battle or the campaign. I would recommend Major Tony Clunn's In Quest of the Lost Legions which explained the details of this campaign and battle in far clearer and with more authority. The paperback copy of this book I was reading, looked exactly like the first edition copy of Clunn's book. Same black background with Roman mask.

I also find very interesting reading the past reviews of this book that people who wrote negatively about this book appears to be know more about Teutoberg Forest then the people who wrote positively.

The number of significant Roman military defeats was so low that one can draw the inescapable conclusion that Rome lost so rarely because Rome made sure that defeat simply could not happen with any regularity. The annihilation of Rome's legions at Cannae comes to mind as an exception. And now in THE BATTLE THAT STOPPED ROME. Peter S. Wells details what is perhaps Rome's second most notorious debacle. The details of the destruction of three of Emperor Augustus' legions have been well documented in other texts, but what makes Wells' version worthwhile is the sense that the reader feels that he is right there in the Teutoburg Forest in Germany in 9 AD. The first half of his book details the preliminaries: the background of the geography, the competing rulers, the structure of both armies, and the villain of this piece--the German Arminius, who had once served in Rome's legions and used that knowledge of tactics against them. Wells now adds that there is a new villain--the Roman general Varus, whom Wells describes as "the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Before the battle, Rome seemed destined to expand its hegemony throughout Germany. Augustus tapped Varus as the commander who could deliver Germany as a docile vassal of Rome. The German hordes could be many things but docile was not one of them. Arminius induced Rome's three legions to traverse a narrow pathway in the Teutoburg Forest, where the disciplined battle order of the legions could not be used. What Wells adds to other and earlier accounts is a "you are there" scenario. Much of what one reads he claims is based on the latest archeological finds, but the depth of detail suggests a fertile imagination that fills out the meat from the bare skeleton of these finds. Several reviewers have suggested that they found it difficult to believe that twenty thousand legionnaires could have been slaughtered in under one hour. But a careful consideration of the geography adds credence to the speed with which the Germans could have wreaked incalculable damage with spears tossed directly into the midst of bunched up Romans, all of whom were sitting or rather standing ducks. Indeed, one can visualize the majority being impaled within just the first few minutes. Wells clearly labels this less a battle than a massacre, the result of which was to fix forever the easternmost edge of the Roman empire. For modern students of Roman history who wish to recreate in a few dozen pages how a mighty fighting force could have been eradicated within moments, THE BATTLE THAT STOPPED ROME depicts how so many were killed solely because of the incompetence of a commander who should have known better.

An unnamed time traveler sees the future of man (802,701 A.D.) and then the inevitable future of the world. He tells his tale in detail.

I grew up on the Rod Taylor /George Pal movie. When I started the book I expected it to be slightly different with a tad more complexity as with most book/movie relationships. I was surprised to find the reason for the breakup of species (Morlock and Eloi) was class Vs atomic (in later movie versions it was political). I could live with that but to find that some little pink thing replaced Yvette Mimieux was too munch.

After al the surprises we can look at the story as unique in its time, first published in 1895, yet the message is timeless. The writing and timing could not have been better. And the ending was certainly appropriate for the world that he describes. Possibly if the story were written today the species division would be based on eugenics.

The Time Machine Starring: Yvette Mimieux

The Time Machine is mostly about a guy who takes a journey through time.
The Time Traveller first shows his peers his mini model of the Time Machine. Then he goes into the future. When he gets back he tells them about his experience. First he met the Eloi, then he met the Morlocks. After awhile he wants to return back home and realizes the Time Machine is missing. Then he meets a White Sphinx, then he met a girl named Weena. Following this he finds his Time Machine and returns back to 1809. After telling the rest of his adventure he disappeared and never came back.

THE TIME MACHINE IS A VERY INTERESTING BOOK. EVEN THOUGH IT HAS ALOT OF HARD WORDS AND A LITTLE HARD TO UNDERSTAND YOU GET CAUGHT UP IN IT AND YOU WANT TO KEEP READING TO SEE WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT AND WHAT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MORLOCKS AND ELOIS AND ABOUT WEENA AND THE TIME TRAVELER. ALSO TO SEE WHAT MIGHT ACTUALLY HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE IF WE KEEP TREATING EARTH THIS WAY. THE TIME TRAVELER THINKS THAT EARTH IN THE FUTURE IS PERFECT BUT WHEN HE FINDS OUT THAT MOST OF THE ANIMALS ARE EXTINCTED AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HUMANS HE THINKS OTHER WISE. SO THE TIME MACHINE IS A GOOD BOOK TO READ ITS A CLASSIC! SO I'LL BE READING THIS IN THE FUTURE AGAIN.

Well The Time Machine was an ok book. It could have been better. Wells does a great job at describing the future from his view point. High points in the book were chapters 4 through 9 thats where the Time Traveller goes to the year 802701 and meet carnivorous creatures called Morlocks. One thing I did like about the book is the epilouge after chapter 12 saying that the Time Traveller never came back, it was a great cliffhanger. All in all, The Time Machine is an ok book. I strongly recommend this book to H.G. wells fans.

The book The Time Machine is basically about a Time Traveler who has ventured through time. At first, The Time Traveler is at his house with his companions. They don't believe that time travel is possible until he returns from the future. He then tells them about his experience. He says that he was first met by the Eloi. He thought he landed in a perfect land. Afterwards, he was met by the monstrous Morlocks. When the Time Traveler desired to returns to his time, he realized that the Time Machine has disappeared. Not long after, he finds it in the White Sphinx. The Morlocks then try to trap him, but he finds a ransom to escape. Then, traveling to the more distant future, he witnesses the end of the Earth. Following his encounters, he finally returns to 1809. When he finished telling his story, he went to where no one was, and returned to the future, but never came back.

-Sebastian Eccles

Those who're doing in-depth research on Margaret Sanger and the organization she founded, Planned Parenthood, will find this an excellent resource. With it you can save hours in the library and still create a paper that'll impress your teacher. It has all of Sanger's 1922 bestseller PLUS 31 chapters of other articles from the period to put what she was saying in "historical perspective." This book is not only less expensive than other versions, it includes far more material.

Ignore Amazon's boilerplate about "most publishers" not allowing printing. This publisher does. And all digital management features that can be turned off are off. You can print unlimited pages unlimited times. You can copy and paste text into what you're writing rather than laborously retype it.

Also, this is the single-column "Screen Version" designed to be easily read on screen. There's also a more compact, double-column print version available. Just search Amazon for the (fake) ISBN: B000BKKPN6

I not only want my money back, I want the author to pay me for the time I spent reading this piece of trash. If you are one of the ten people in the world who believes that birth control pills should be outlawed, this book is for you. But if you were born with a brain, then don't waste your money on this book.

This book is an excellent resource for students doing school papers. You not only get the original, you get the complete text of all sorts of source material from the period, so you can put what Sanger was saying in context from a dozen different angles. In a few hours, you can turn out a paper that looks like you spent a week researching in a university library!

If you're in a hurry or your budget is tight, check out the ebook under "Product Details, In Print Editions." Despite the Amazon boilerplate, none of the digital rights management is activated. You can copy, print and cut-and-paste to your heart's content.

Actually, there should be two ebook versions available. The "print version" is double-column and small type to cut down on printing costs. The "screen version" is single-column with larger type to make it easier to read on-screen. The content is the same. The first comes from the paperback version of the book, the second from the hardback version.

This book is awful. I am writing a thesis on Margaret Sanger and wasted my time today. I cannot believe that a university library would actually purchase this book as it's the most unacademic piece on Sanger I've read. On the first page Perry implies that Planned Parenthood promotes teen promiscuity to make profit when teens need to go back for birth control and abortions. I don't have time to write a longer review, but just look at the other reviews! Half of them are by the author himself (which is pathetic, by the way). If you take out those reviews, there is no way this book would have 3.5 star rating.

Those who're doing in-depth research on Margaret Sanger and the organization she founded, Planned Parenthood, will find this an excellent resource. With it you can save hours in the library and still create a paper that'll impress your teacher. It has all of Sanger's 1922 bestseller PLUS 31 chapters of other articles from the period to put what she was saying in "historical perspective." This book is not only less expensive than other versions, it includes far more material.

Ignore Amazon's boilerplate about "most publishers" not allowing printing. This publisher does. All digital management features that can be turned off are off. You can print unlimited pages unlimited times. You can copy and paste text into what you're writing rather than laborously retype it.

Also, this is the double-column "Print Version" designed to print on the fewest possible pages. There's also an easier to read at your computer Screen version available. Just search Amazon for the (fake) ISBN: B000BKKPLS

Yes this work of science fiction obviously has flaws in terms of the believability of it all. But this was written in a time when subjects like space travel were considered very differently. I think part of the fun of reading Wells' work is how ridiculous some aspects of the story seem by mdoern scientific standards. But this does not detract from the work itself.

For me the most memorable part of the novel was the description of the aliens. As often, Wells has thoughts on our society which reflect in the work. The aliens are arranged in a strictly pragmatic system of breeding and the allocation of tasks where beings are educated with repect to what society needs them to do to the exclusion of everything else. Like an ant colony. And the character's account to their leader of life in human society is priceless - as if often takes the act of seeing our world through alien eyes to see how crazy some if it is.

As can be seen, this book has something to say on themes such as individuality and human worth - but since it's a work of science fiction is does not do this in a "look at me, I'm such a profound novel!" way that other works do (eg. Brave New World).

Not a masterpiece but is quite good.

Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of H.G. Wells, I am fond of his books and have read pretty much all of them. Most of which I thoroughly enjoyed except for this one.

The story, quite obviously is about the first men on the Moon, and was as per usual well written but I noticed quite a few flaws which was unlike the great H.G. Wells:

1/ The travellers who voyaged to the moon had no spacesuits(obvious, considering the period described) which mean that as soon as they would have gone for a stroll they would have either choked for lack of air or their heads wold have exploded due to the lack of pressure(as their bodies would have tried to adapt). The latter being most likely.

Unfair criticism I hear you say? Surely H.G. Wells who had never been to the moon couldn't be expected to know that there was no air on the Moon. True, but my next criticism fulfills this criteria:

2/To actually launch the space shuttle, H.G. Wells described the process vividly saying that they used dynamite(?) to thrust them out??!! First of all, dynamite could never have been sufficient enough to break through the stronghold of the Earth and secondly, the use of dynamite would have blown the trio to pieces rather than blast them away!

Surely Wells knew this much about dynamite!

As per usual, it's well written but quite unbelievable, I recommend you miss this one out and stick with the other ones, you won't miss much!

The other reviewer of this book (Rob steele) is actually wrong about the so called "problems" in this book. The capsule was not blasted into space by dynamite, which of course Wells knew would only blow them to bits. The capsule was launched into space using a substance that the two protagonists create called Cavorite. This substance basically counters the effects of gravity. H.G. Wells is mereley using anti-gravity, something many authors have used since.
I think this is one of his best works so far. The other books I have read (Time Machine, War of the Worlds, Invisible Man, and Island of Dr. Moreau) were all rather dark and pretty depressing, even though they were really good. This book is actually light-hearted and made me chuckle in a few places. I recommend this book to people who enjoy fun fiction.

I bought this book primarily for the Correa illustrations that are included in the book. The illustrations in the book are reasonable reproductions but are definetly not as good as I was hoping for. If you're buying this book for the illustrations be aware they are about the quality you would find in a 1950s text book.

If anyone knows of any other places to get decent reproductions of the Correa images please let me know.

I bought this edition of H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" because it uses the classic Corea illustrations. Though the illustrations are well reproduced they are inserted in a totally random fashion; with no connection to the sequence of events in the story!!! Anyone reading this story for the first time will be very confused. Here's an instance: the illustration of the opening of the Martian cylinder appears in the second half of the book!!!

It is very disappointing.

Not much needs to be said here about the story of this truly perennial classic. The War of the Worlds (1898) is the account of Martians invading earth, attacking and ruining London. What happens to the rest of earth and mankind is not resolved till the very end. Although this novel was seen as the start of modern science fiction, it had also a deeper meaning of fighting tyrannies and the occurrence of mass-hysteria.

This deeper meaning was clearly shown when Orson Wells broadcast in 1938 an extremely believable radio dramatization. Listeners thought that Martians were actually attacking and in panic they left their homes trying to escape this terrifying experience. It is interesting to note that that broadcast happened at the eve of World War II.

Now in 2005, a new movie adaption has just been released by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise. While I'll leave it to movie critics to evaluate that movie, it has already received wide acclaim for its special effects. Something else interesting to note is that in the early scenes of the attack by the Martians, the children of the character played by Cruise question whether these are attacks by "terrorists". In an era where we are sandwiched in time by 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and further terrorist attacks in Bali, Istanbul, Madrid and London, the world seems again in the grip of fear, of wars and of mass-hysteria. One could wonder if The War of the Worlds in 2005 again will create or foresee further scares in the world.

What makes this edition of The War of the Worlds so worthwhile is not just the inclusion of the classic illustrations by Henrique Alvin Correa, but also the introduction by Robert Bartholomew. Bartholomew is a leading expert on panic attacks, media manipulation and mass delusion, and he puts this book in historical and contemporary context. He tries to answer why this book has "created" such a scare in 1898, in 1938 and maybe again in 2005, or is the scare in all of us us calling this book into everlasting existence? I rate this edition 4 stars, and just wished that the publisher had considered releasing a hard cover edition.