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The Lost World & The Poison Belt
Two Professor Challenger adventures chronicle--respectively--the professor's expedition to an ancient world inhabited by dinosaurs and ape-men, and his plan to save the world from the deadly gas he prophesies
250 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1989
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2477 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Conan Doyle
15.8k books24.3k followersSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 14, 2022
AC Doyle takes a bit of liberty with science and logic (especially in The Poison Belt), but it's forgivable given how creative and intriguing the rest of the texts are. As is expected for its time, there's mild racism/white supremacy and a big animal death toll.
I can see why the irascible Professor Challenger was Doyle's own favorite character.
A nice edition with short introduction and original images.
I can see why the irascible Professor Challenger was Doyle's own favorite character.
A nice edition with short introduction and original images.
January 28, 2011
Two great Doyle classics, highlighting some of his other works apart from those focusing on the great fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.....
March 6, 2023
The MIT Press 'Radium Age' series makes a very positive hit with the highly readable (if occasionally offensive by modern standards) 1912 The Lost World, coupled with a far less known, but nonetheless interesting, novella featuring the same characters, The Poison Belt from 1913.
It's easy to see The Lost World, featuring as it does dinosaurs in the present day of 1912, as a precursor to Jurassic Park, but here the ancient organisms are not re-born through genetic manipulation but have survived in a region which has become separated from the rest of South America. Admittedly, the science is dodgy - even on isolated land masses, animals evolve and we wouldn't expect to see creatures from the Jurassic as they used to be. But it is still an SF story, while also acting as a parody of the adventure stories of the late Victorian/Edwardian era.
This aspect of being a parody is significant. It comes through particularly strongly in a couple of the central characters. Professor Challenger is a scientist whose response to anyone disagreeing with him is to have a fight with them, while Lord John Roxton is a send-up of the huntin', shootin' soldier-cum-hunter so typical of the adventure story set in strange lands of the time. There's no doubt that the book suffers from the level of racism that was accepted then - though even this is tempered with the edge Doyle gives the writing. So, for example, Challenger at one point refers to a group of South Americans as a 'degraded race, with mental powers hardly superior to the average Londoner.'
However, it is also worth stressing that this is a genuinely engaging book to read. Some of the Radium Age titles can only really be read at a meta-level, thinking 'yes that's interesting, because...' but Conan Doyle knew how to write. When, for example, the main characters first get to the top of the plateau that forms the 'lost world', I had to keep on reading because it is gripping stuff.
By contrast, The Poison Belt is far less remembered, in part because Doyle gives us a lot less narrative drive - though still manages to keep it readable. The novella concerns the Earth moving through a poisonous belt in space (or, technically, through the aether, which was already scientifically doomed as a concept), apparently killing much of the population. What the introduction and afterword miss was that in 1910 there had been a considerable scare when it was suggested that the tail of Halley's Comet contained large amounts of the poisonous gas cyanogen. A leading contemporary French astronomer Camille Flammarion said that if Earth passed through the comet's tail 'cyanogen gas would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet'. It's hard to believe this wasn't the inspiration for Conan Doyle's story, published just three years after the comet's passage.
There is an assumption, based on the pseudo-science that race is something physically meaningful, that different races would differ in their speed of response to the belt, as would those of Northern Europe compared with those from Europe's south. This, though, is a very minor part of the main storyline, which covers the response of the famous four (plus Challenger's wife) to the death of everything but plants and their own imminent demise (put off for a while by oxygen cylinders). Although this could be heavy handed, thankfully it was written before Doyle's wholehearted plunge into spiritualism, and remains interesting. As Joshua Glenn points out in the afterword, a major feature is the contrast between the two scientists' approach - Challenger's combination of intuition and wild speculation, which triumphs in extremis, alongside Professor Summerlee's more conventional scientific caution, which is better at the small stuff, but fails to make the same intuitive leaps.
This is an excellent addition to the Radium Age series, in that it is both an important contribution to the development of science fiction and enjoyable to read.
It's easy to see The Lost World, featuring as it does dinosaurs in the present day of 1912, as a precursor to Jurassic Park, but here the ancient organisms are not re-born through genetic manipulation but have survived in a region which has become separated from the rest of South America. Admittedly, the science is dodgy - even on isolated land masses, animals evolve and we wouldn't expect to see creatures from the Jurassic as they used to be. But it is still an SF story, while also acting as a parody of the adventure stories of the late Victorian/Edwardian era.
This aspect of being a parody is significant. It comes through particularly strongly in a couple of the central characters. Professor Challenger is a scientist whose response to anyone disagreeing with him is to have a fight with them, while Lord John Roxton is a send-up of the huntin', shootin' soldier-cum-hunter so typical of the adventure story set in strange lands of the time. There's no doubt that the book suffers from the level of racism that was accepted then - though even this is tempered with the edge Doyle gives the writing. So, for example, Challenger at one point refers to a group of South Americans as a 'degraded race, with mental powers hardly superior to the average Londoner.'
However, it is also worth stressing that this is a genuinely engaging book to read. Some of the Radium Age titles can only really be read at a meta-level, thinking 'yes that's interesting, because...' but Conan Doyle knew how to write. When, for example, the main characters first get to the top of the plateau that forms the 'lost world', I had to keep on reading because it is gripping stuff.
By contrast, The Poison Belt is far less remembered, in part because Doyle gives us a lot less narrative drive - though still manages to keep it readable. The novella concerns the Earth moving through a poisonous belt in space (or, technically, through the aether, which was already scientifically doomed as a concept), apparently killing much of the population. What the introduction and afterword miss was that in 1910 there had been a considerable scare when it was suggested that the tail of Halley's Comet contained large amounts of the poisonous gas cyanogen. A leading contemporary French astronomer Camille Flammarion said that if Earth passed through the comet's tail 'cyanogen gas would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet'. It's hard to believe this wasn't the inspiration for Conan Doyle's story, published just three years after the comet's passage.
There is an assumption, based on the pseudo-science that race is something physically meaningful, that different races would differ in their speed of response to the belt, as would those of Northern Europe compared with those from Europe's south. This, though, is a very minor part of the main storyline, which covers the response of the famous four (plus Challenger's wife) to the death of everything but plants and their own imminent demise (put off for a while by oxygen cylinders). Although this could be heavy handed, thankfully it was written before Doyle's wholehearted plunge into spiritualism, and remains interesting. As Joshua Glenn points out in the afterword, a major feature is the contrast between the two scientists' approach - Challenger's combination of intuition and wild speculation, which triumphs in extremis, alongside Professor Summerlee's more conventional scientific caution, which is better at the small stuff, but fails to make the same intuitive leaps.
This is an excellent addition to the Radium Age series, in that it is both an important contribution to the development of science fiction and enjoyable to read.
March 14, 2023
The Lost World and The Poison Belt, Arthur Conan Doyle [MIT Press, 2023].
A new volume from MIT Press which collects two classic science fiction novels (or proto-science fiction) by Arthur Conan Doyle, along with prefatory and critical materials: The Lost World [1912] and The Poison Belt [1913].
In The Lost World, Professor Challenger, a great scientific mind—but by temperament a bully and a boor—assembles a crew to investigate a region of the Amazon where dinosaurs continue to flourish. Accompanied by his adversary Professor Summerlee, a young journalist named Malone who serves as narrator, and Lord John, an avid sportsman and marksman, Challenger encounters numerous perils in the rainforest.
In The Poison Belt, Challenger, accompanied by his new wife along with Malone, Summerlee, and Lord John weather an apocalyptic event—the passage of earth through a poisonous ether belt—in a sealed room.
***
Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes in 1887 in the pages of Beeton’s Christmas Annual—arguably, the most iconic character in British literature, and along with Poe’s Dupin stories, the first modern detective series. Additionally, Doyle wrote Gothic Fiction, poetry, drama, humor, science fiction and historical fiction. Doyle died in 1930.
A new volume from MIT Press which collects two classic science fiction novels (or proto-science fiction) by Arthur Conan Doyle, along with prefatory and critical materials: The Lost World [1912] and The Poison Belt [1913].
In The Lost World, Professor Challenger, a great scientific mind—but by temperament a bully and a boor—assembles a crew to investigate a region of the Amazon where dinosaurs continue to flourish. Accompanied by his adversary Professor Summerlee, a young journalist named Malone who serves as narrator, and Lord John, an avid sportsman and marksman, Challenger encounters numerous perils in the rainforest.
In The Poison Belt, Challenger, accompanied by his new wife along with Malone, Summerlee, and Lord John weather an apocalyptic event—the passage of earth through a poisonous ether belt—in a sealed room.
***
Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes in 1887 in the pages of Beeton’s Christmas Annual—arguably, the most iconic character in British literature, and along with Poe’s Dupin stories, the first modern detective series. Additionally, Doyle wrote Gothic Fiction, poetry, drama, humor, science fiction and historical fiction. Doyle died in 1930.
April 9, 2023
Tbh this book was out of my scope. I tend to lean more towards the fiction rather than the science of the science fiction genre, but a step out of a comfort zone is always a step in the right direction. The book begins with a foreword that sets the 21st century reader up for success - which I really appreciated. Then immediately we jump right into the character of Malone and the inception of his relationship with Challenger that feels like something out of WWE. As the pages fly by you can easily see how this is the source material for a large chunk of Hollywood. If you need me I’m definitely going to be lingering in the science fiction aisle, probably looking for more books from MIT Press’s Radium Age Collection
August 12, 2018
The one and only reason I found myself picking this book up was the tv series that I fell in love with. Yes I knew they were greatly different but I wanted to get my hands on everything Lost World. I found the first book pretty dry and slow, I'm very sad to say. But the second shorter book I think made up for it. It had the group I love with a good stronge mystery and it didn't draw out so much like the Lost World. I am glad to tell people I have read these classics.
July 26, 2017
Such vivid and interesting narratives.
May 7, 2020
Takes you on this journey to a whole another world, the imagery is fantastic, unlike anyother.
August 28, 2013
The Lost World
"I feel that there is reason lurking in you somewhere, so we will patiently grope around for it." ~ chapter 4
"I assure you that I little thought when I left my professional chair in London that it was for the purpose of heading a raid of savages upon a colony of anthropoid apes." ~ chapter 14
******
The Poison Belt
"I think that if you knew more about the facts you might be less positive in your opinion." ~ chapter 1
"the end of the world! One had often heard the words, but the idea that they could ever have an immediate practical significance, that it should not be at some vague date, but now, today, that was a tremendous, a staggering thought." ~ chapter 2
"We ain't nervous folk, as you know well; but when it comes to makin' a weekend visit and finding you've run full butt into the Day of Judgment, it wants a bit of explainin'. What's the danger, and how much of it is there, and what are we goin' to do to meet it?" ~ chapter 2
"Nowhere in the blue heaven or on the sunlit earth was there any foreshadowing of a catastrophe." ~ chapter 3
"I feel that there is reason lurking in you somewhere, so we will patiently grope around for it." ~ chapter 4
"I assure you that I little thought when I left my professional chair in London that it was for the purpose of heading a raid of savages upon a colony of anthropoid apes." ~ chapter 14
******
The Poison Belt
"I think that if you knew more about the facts you might be less positive in your opinion." ~ chapter 1
"the end of the world! One had often heard the words, but the idea that they could ever have an immediate practical significance, that it should not be at some vague date, but now, today, that was a tremendous, a staggering thought." ~ chapter 2
"We ain't nervous folk, as you know well; but when it comes to makin' a weekend visit and finding you've run full butt into the Day of Judgment, it wants a bit of explainin'. What's the danger, and how much of it is there, and what are we goin' to do to meet it?" ~ chapter 2
"Nowhere in the blue heaven or on the sunlit earth was there any foreshadowing of a catastrophe." ~ chapter 3
May 12, 2015
The Lost World was a nice re-read. As a kid was probably very exciting. As an adult was just a good tale. The Poison Belt was a great concept for a period when space and our relationship to the solar system and the universe was just starting to gain main stream acceptance as a science or note. Here we have the planet passing through an area of some strange gas that is noted in a spectral analysis and only the mind of Challenger can figure the meaning from the data and reports of problems around the world. The premise is that we will all die. Most life will be ended in a few days times. The premise is well laid out and the first indications are horrendous. But then the ending of the story is a bit childish. We all get better. As many others have pointed out, this Challenger tale is not very good. Set before WWI it was probably part of a series that Conan Doyle owed a publisher. Like the Holmes tales, he promised something and delivered. Even good authors miss sometimes.
June 9, 2015
Professor Challenger Adventures
Two novellas introduced a new Doyle hero-and-chronicler pair: Professor Challenger and Edward Malone. The irascible and sometimes even violent Challenger triggers both stories
--the Lost World by reporting on his solo finding of an isolated South American plateau populated by dinosaurs and missing links.
--The Poison Belt by suggesting in a letter to the Times that something is amiss in the Earth's atmosphere.
Reporter Malone is there to dodge Challenger's fists and capture the adventures on paper.
Outside the confines of 221B Baker Street and the Holmes/Baker characters, Doyle's writing is at least as good, and the stories seem to have more life and action and breath.
Ripping good fun that would be worthy of good modern movie adaptations.
Two novellas introduced a new Doyle hero-and-chronicler pair: Professor Challenger and Edward Malone. The irascible and sometimes even violent Challenger triggers both stories
--the Lost World by reporting on his solo finding of an isolated South American plateau populated by dinosaurs and missing links.
--The Poison Belt by suggesting in a letter to the Times that something is amiss in the Earth's atmosphere.
Reporter Malone is there to dodge Challenger's fists and capture the adventures on paper.
Outside the confines of 221B Baker Street and the Holmes/Baker characters, Doyle's writing is at least as good, and the stories seem to have more life and action and breath.
Ripping good fun that would be worthy of good modern movie adaptations.
May 25, 2012
The text was a little hard to read; as it was written barely into the twentieth century. Some parts of it I reread because I didn't know what was happening. However, the adventure projected through Doyle's words may be hard to conquer. The description of the plateau was so vivid and lustrous. You felt like you were in The Lost World itself. Also the twist of having the story told through the journalist point of view, and him knowing that there is a reader digesting his words, really portrayed the nature of his profession and made the read that more interesting. I didn't read The Poison Belt yet, for I have to take a break from his style, but perhaps I'll read that one too before I take it back to the library.
March 24, 2013
I'm about halfway through the book now. Lucked out that I downloaded it the day before I ended up hospitalized for a couple of days. Really helped to have such an enthralling adventure to while away the hours. Home now and still enjoying it...although I have less free time. Love the characters, humor, and can even see a bit of Sherlock Holmes in all the science and logic. Written at a time when who knows what was hiding in the Amazon.
August 26, 2014
Both are fun to read, but The Lost World is definitely the more successful of the two. At the heart of both stories is the infamous Prof. Challenger; an eccentric adventurer who is like a mix between Theodore Roosevelt and Mr. Toad... AND there's dinosaurs. What more could you want?
July 23, 2014
I am in the middle of reading more of Doyle's works. He has such a nice variety of styles! This one, for me, was slightly reminiscient of "The Scarlet Plague" by Jack London. (I listened to this as a free audiobook downloaded from Librivox.org.)
September 11, 2011
A.C. Doyle is a so clever. Science fiction at it's best. The characters are what count, not the event.
May 9, 2012
Well written action story. Read this as a teen, forgot a lot of it, or confused it with all the gawdawful movie adaptations that have been forced upon us.
December 11, 2015
What a great series! A perfect continuation of The Lost World
March 10, 2016
Two stories by the author of SHERLOCK HOLMES, the first one a movie a I had just watched. I found it interesting to see what had been changed in making it into a movie.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews