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Four Masterworks (1895‒1898) #1, 2, 4
Three Novels by H.G. Wells: The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Island of Dr. Moreau
H. G. Wells was one of the most influential science fiction writers of all times. His three most important novels The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and The Island of Dr. Moreau still seem as fresh today as when he first wrote them. The Time Machine explores human nature. The Time Traveler finds himself in 802,701 A.D., where he meets the peaceful Eloi and encounters the violent Morlocks. Wells uses these two descendants of man to explore evil and its causes, drawing conclusions that might surprise you in this riveting tale that has stood the test of time. This deluxe edition has the deleted portion of chapter eleven that ran in the original serialization, but was removed by Wells for book publication; it runs after the story as the "Gray Man." In addition to the "Gray Man" this edition also contains the full text of "The Chronic Argonauts" Wells' first time travel story which he borrows liberally from for The Time Machine. In War of the Worlds Mankind finds itself in a fight for its very survival when invaders from Mars land on Earth. Using their vastly superior technology the Martians make short order of all the great powers of Earth, laying waste to everything in their path. The novel follows an unnamed man as he flees for his life while trying to locate his wife in the shattered ruins of Earth. Powerful and insightful. Island of Doctor Moreau: Edward Prendick finds himself adrift at sea, a lone survivor of a ship wreck. He spends more than a week drifting without food or water. Pendrick consigns himself to death, but fate intervenes and delivers him to an unknown Island. The terrors that await him on Doctor Moreau's island are far worse than what he has just been rescued from or anything that he could imagined.
323 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1981
13 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
H.G. Wells
5,336 books11.1k followersHerbert George Wells was born to a working class family in Kent, England. Young Wells received a spotty education, interrupted by several illnesses and family difficulties, and became a draper's apprentice as a teenager. The headmaster of Midhurst Grammar School, where he had spent a year, arranged for him to return as an "usher," or student teacher. Wells earned a government scholarship in 1884, to study biology under Thomas Henry Huxley at the Normal School of Science. Wells earned his bachelor of science and doctor of science degrees at the University of London. After marrying his cousin, Isabel, Wells began to supplement his teaching salary with short stories and freelance articles, then books, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).
Wells created a mild scandal when he divorced his cousin to marry one of his best students, Amy Catherine Robbins. Although his second marriage was lasting and produced two sons, Wells was an unabashed advocate of free (as opposed to "indiscriminate") love. He continued to openly have extra-marital liaisons, most famously with Margaret Sanger, and a ten-year relationship with the author Rebecca West, who had one of his two out-of-wedlock children. A one-time member of the Fabian Society, Wells sought active change. His 100 books included many novels, as well as nonfiction, such as A Modern Utopia (1905), The Outline of History (1920), A Short History of the World (1922), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932). One of his booklets was Crux Ansata, An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Wells toyed briefly with the idea of a "divine will" in his book, God the Invisible King (1917), it was a temporary aberration. Wells used his international fame to promote his favorite causes, including the prevention of war, and was received by government officials around the world. He is best-remembered as an early writer of science fiction and futurism.
He was also an outspoken socialist. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Fathers of Science Fiction". D. 1946.
More: http://philosopedia.org/index.php/H._...
http://www.online-literature.com/well...
http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells
Wells created a mild scandal when he divorced his cousin to marry one of his best students, Amy Catherine Robbins. Although his second marriage was lasting and produced two sons, Wells was an unabashed advocate of free (as opposed to "indiscriminate") love. He continued to openly have extra-marital liaisons, most famously with Margaret Sanger, and a ten-year relationship with the author Rebecca West, who had one of his two out-of-wedlock children. A one-time member of the Fabian Society, Wells sought active change. His 100 books included many novels, as well as nonfiction, such as A Modern Utopia (1905), The Outline of History (1920), A Short History of the World (1922), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932). One of his booklets was Crux Ansata, An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Wells toyed briefly with the idea of a "divine will" in his book, God the Invisible King (1917), it was a temporary aberration. Wells used his international fame to promote his favorite causes, including the prevention of war, and was received by government officials around the world. He is best-remembered as an early writer of science fiction and futurism.
He was also an outspoken socialist. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Fathers of Science Fiction". D. 1946.
More: http://philosopedia.org/index.php/H._...
http://www.online-literature.com/well...
http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 13, 2012
HG Wells' fiction was heavily influenced by his fervent belief in Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Wells background helps us understand why he embraced Darwinism so readily and used it as an ongoing subtext in his work.
Wells was born in 1866, in the middle of the raging debate on evolution, with scientists advocating for this explanation of the origin of life and the Church very much against. In view of his working class roots, however, Wells would not likely have been exposed to this discussion until 1883, when he entered the environment of higher education after several failed apprenticeships. Even at this time, acceptance of Darwin's theory was hardly mainstream: the bishops of the predominant Church of England only relented their opposition in 1890.
Wells excelled in his new environment, self-admittedly due to his teacher, Thomas Huxley, who first introduced him to Darwinism. So influenced was he by Huxley and evolutionary theory that, in his autobiography, Wells wrote: "Darwin and Huxley... belong to the same aristocracy as Plato and Aristotle and Galileo..."
After dabbling in short stories, Wells began his writing career in earnest in 1895, with the publication of his first novel, The Time Machine, referring to evolutionary theory when he described the Eloi and the Morlocks. He returned to Darwin's theory over again in other books, including The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), when Moreau boasted he could do "better than evolution," and The Country of the Blind (1904), with native adaptation "over 14 generations" to life in darkness. The theory of natural selection is the star of the ending in "The War of the Worlds."
For Wells, evolution was not only a theory of life, it provided a scientific rationale for the socialist ideal he embraced, where people like him--marred by the accident of lowly birth--could succeed. Even in his last book, A Mind At the End of Its Tether (1945), Wells referred to evolution when he postulated that humanity will be rejected by nature and replaced by another species. In fact, it is entirely fitting that Darwin's theory should feature in the bookends of this extraordinary writer.
Wells was born in 1866, in the middle of the raging debate on evolution, with scientists advocating for this explanation of the origin of life and the Church very much against. In view of his working class roots, however, Wells would not likely have been exposed to this discussion until 1883, when he entered the environment of higher education after several failed apprenticeships. Even at this time, acceptance of Darwin's theory was hardly mainstream: the bishops of the predominant Church of England only relented their opposition in 1890.
Wells excelled in his new environment, self-admittedly due to his teacher, Thomas Huxley, who first introduced him to Darwinism. So influenced was he by Huxley and evolutionary theory that, in his autobiography, Wells wrote: "Darwin and Huxley... belong to the same aristocracy as Plato and Aristotle and Galileo..."
After dabbling in short stories, Wells began his writing career in earnest in 1895, with the publication of his first novel, The Time Machine, referring to evolutionary theory when he described the Eloi and the Morlocks. He returned to Darwin's theory over again in other books, including The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), when Moreau boasted he could do "better than evolution," and The Country of the Blind (1904), with native adaptation "over 14 generations" to life in darkness. The theory of natural selection is the star of the ending in "The War of the Worlds."
For Wells, evolution was not only a theory of life, it provided a scientific rationale for the socialist ideal he embraced, where people like him--marred by the accident of lowly birth--could succeed. Even in his last book, A Mind At the End of Its Tether (1945), Wells referred to evolution when he postulated that humanity will be rejected by nature and replaced by another species. In fact, it is entirely fitting that Darwin's theory should feature in the bookends of this extraordinary writer.
July 6, 2008
Three great Wells stories, the reader can imaginatively travel to the future, be attacked by martians and meet a really mad doctor who's turning animals to people.
March 9, 2012
Amazing imagination... read all three at various times and still find myself astonished at Wells vision.
January 18, 2013
Wow, this was definitely a H. G. Wells book. Very science fiction!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews