When Worlds Collide

When Worlds Collide #1

by Philip Wylie, Edwin Balmer

Published first as a six-part serial in 1932, When Worlds Collide is a story of golden-age cataclysmic vision, bursting into the hearts and minds of science fiction readers ever since. The thrilling plot follows an astronomer, Sven Bronson, as he tries to save humankind from two approaching rogue planets that are sure to destroy the Earth as they readjust their orbit. Banding together with a team of scientists, the race to escape to the skies begins—but the more immediate threat seems to already be on the ground. When Worlds Collide was made into a film in 1951, and inspired various comic strips and pulp conventions in Science Fiction, and is now available as an ebook for the first time.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Apocalyptic, Classics, Post Apocalyptic, Adventure, Speculative Fiction

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1932

About the author

Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Philip Gordon Wylie was the son of Presbyterian minister Edmund Melville Wylie and the former Edna Edwards, a novelist, who died when Philip was five years old. His family moved to Montclair, New Jersey and he later attended Princeton University from 1920–1923. He married Sally Ondek, and had one child, Karen, an author who became the inventor of animal "clicker" training. After a divorcing his first wife, Philip Wylie married Frederica Ballard who was born and raised in Rushford, New York; they are both buried in Rushford.

A writer of fiction and nonfiction, his output included hundreds of short stories, articles, serials, syndicated newspaper columns, novels, and works of social criticism. He also wrote screenplays while in Hollywood, was an editor for Farrar & Rinehart, served on the Dade County, Florida Defense Council, was a director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and at one time was an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy which led to the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission. Most of his major writings contain critical, though often philosophical, views on man and society as a result of his studies and interest in psychology, biology, ethnology, and physics. Over nine movies were made from novels or stories by Wylie. He sold the rights for two others that were never produced.

Reviews

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pair of orphan planets break free from their star...why, not known, maybe asteroids hit them or the sun losing some gravitational pull but what matters is escaping home and leaving orbit into the vast, limitless void of dead space. An eternal journey of countless years , a few more pass then decades, hundreds, centuries, millions quite possibly billions heading forward seeing the chaotic universe. Until a very anxious astronomer on Earth spots a little frozen dot and another so immeasurably smaller entering the Solar System, from a distant could be galaxy . Still only scientists notice or care but things will change. Sven Bronson observed these wanderers in the southern hemisphere South Africa, only possible there named Bronson Alpha the gaseous giant world and Bronson Beta the earth -size sphere why wouldn't they? Receiving secret information from South Africa that Earth is doomed, a leak occurs and top scientist in New York, Dr. Cole Hendron is inundated by the press, and others becomes a virtual prisoner at his own home. His pretty daughter Eve in turmoil, now has two rivals for her love Tony Drake long time friend wanting an upgrade and flyer David Randall who brought the depressing intelligence from abroad. There is only one obvious way of survival for the human race...build a spaceship or two not to Mars, but Bronson Beta is closer, as it passes by us, hitch a ride however the big problem will inhabitants of Terra breathe the unknown air ? Millions on the third planet but only a couple hundreds can fit in the vessel. Not to mention vegetation for animals to fed, weather fair maybe but housing needed for the soon very hungry colonists, (farmers they're not ). In the year 1933 who has the knowledge to make a spaceship, let alone atomic power for engines but remember folks this is a fantasy to be quite precise science-fiction. Today almost a remote century later engineers are still trying, it is always just over the far horizon but remember, this is Earth and the skyline moves when you do. The 1951 ancient film isn't great still adequate yet much changed, the narrative streamlined because of limited budget. The sequel After Worlds Collide I have and soon to devour, so interested what comes next. The novel was first serialized in Blue Book magazine 1932-1933 in a six-part monthly , written by both Philip Wylie and Edward Balmer and we genre lovers of sci-fi are very grateful.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dated but wonderful book. I have the book with When Worlds Collide and After Worlds Collide both in it though it's simply called When Worlds Collide. As noted this book is very dated, was written long ago and has some pretty un-PC parts, but it's a good story and shouldn't be missed.

You will definitely spot the time lag here when you start to deal with science in the book but it doesn't take away from the experience. As a matter of fact you might find it interesting. The world of science fiction before miniaturization, portable computers, lasers, etc. Magnetic tape is in it's heyday here and we predate videotape. The book gives great portrayals of humans and human nature which hasn't changed all that much over the years...or decades...or centuries...or
millennia...

They even have to use actual paper books, wow. I always wonder what happens to the first interplanetary voyage if when they/we get there we can't access the electronic library. For that matter what happens HERE if there's an EMP and all the books preserving human knowledge are saved digitally.

Oh well, off topic.

This is a well plotted, well written book. One of my favorites from way, way back. Enjoy.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, rogue planets are a real thing. I just thought it was a cool---albeit ridiculous---idea conjured up by clever science fiction writers, but, apparently, our solar system is full of orbital planetary bodies that have never latched on to a star like the nine planets in our system (well, okay, eight, depending on whom you ask, although I’m still holding out hope that Pluto will put on some more weight and be re-classified as a planet) and are simply floating around out there in a galactic orbit, waiting to find some brown dwarf with which to shack up. Rogue planets lead a pretty lonely life.

Of course, if rogue planets are real, then it’s just one more crazy astronomical phenomenon that we have to worry about destroying us in the future. If it’s not sun spots, supernovae, giant asteroids, comets, or alien invasions, now we have to worry about some rogue planet entering our solar system and trying to nudge Earth out of our prime spot.

In 1932, authors Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie extrapolated such a scenario in their somewhat cheesy and dated but still immensely entertaining novel “When Worlds Collide”, made into a popular Hollywood film in 1951. The book and, perhaps moreso, the movie were influential in cementing a trend within the science fiction genre of scientist-heroes faced with either saving the world or saving as many people from an extinction-level disaster. Virtually every science fiction disaster film (“Deep Impact”, “Armageddon”, “The Core”, “Independence Day”, “2012”, just to name some contemporary examples) has followed the same exact formula.

Considering Balmer/Wylie’s novel was written long before the atomic bomb, space flight, and mankind stepping on the moon, the novel is pretty impressive with its attempt at scientific accuracy. It’s not hard sci-fi, but it’s not flaccid either. I’d say it’s semi-hard.

There are several heroes in the novel, although the main focus is on Tony Drake, who is the basic Everyman to which the average reader is meant to relate. Handsome, not that intelligent, decent job, Tony is also dating Eve Hendron, daughter of the brilliant scientist Cole Hendron.

When the book opens, scientists in a South Africa observatory have discovered the existence of two celestial bodies moving in the direction of Earth. The larger one is named Bronson Alpha, and it appears to be a gas-giant planet similar to Jupiter. The smaller one, which revolves around Alpha, is named Bronson Beta, and it is the same size as Earth. Both planets are named after the scientist, Sven Bronson, who made the discovery.

News of the existence of the rogue planets is kept a secret from the general public because of something else that was discovered: Bronson Alpha is on a direct collision course with Earth. In two years, Earth will be destroyed. Prior to that, due to gravitational effects, Earth will succumb to major tidal and climatic changes, causing hurricanes, tidal waves, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

Dr. Hendron, of course, has a plan. He envisions a large space ship, big enough to carry several hundred people, leaving Earth just before the impact with Alpha and landing on Beta. The hope is that once Earth and Alpha are destroyed, Beta will latch on to an orbit around our sun and take the place of Earth’s orbit. The hope is that Beta’s Earth-like conditions have been in a kind of cryogenic freeze in its million-year stroll through the galaxy and that, once thawed, humans can live there. The hope is that the space ship can land safely on Beta.

There’s a lot of hope in this novel.

As expected, news leaks out. Panic ensues. Masses of looters and pissed-off people on a global scale are fighting to survive.

As cheesy as this book is, by today’s standards of science fiction, I have to say that I enjoyed the fact that it is still a suspenseful, edge-of-the-seat action thriller. Once you can get past all the disturbing socio-political implications (all the survivors are supposedly white and Caucasian, with one notable exception), it’s actually a fun read.

Two years after this novel was published, Balmer/Wylie published a sequel, “After Worlds Collide”.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Worlds Collide is a vintage sci-fi novel set in 1930s New York. It concerns a small group of scientists and others as they build a spaceship to allow a chance for human, flora, and fauna survival when it becomes known a rogue planet will annihilate Earth.

A South African astronomer, Professor Bronson, sends his startling photo plates of a rouge planet with David Ransdell who secretly couriers them by plane to a New York physicist of the name Cole Hendron. Bronson wants Hendron and his daughter, Eve Hendron, to give a second opinion on his findings. When the unbelievable fate is announced, humanity has just over a year to prepare for the event.

With the world in disbelief and denial, Hendron wastes no time in quietly strategizing, preparing, and building humanity’s salvation in a secluded location in North America. Tony Drake, a charming financial planner, and potential son-in-law is tasked with recruiting ideal volunteers for their project. After Eve becomes interested in David Ransdell, the former war pilot that brought the photos to New York, she asks her father to find a reason to involve Dave in their plans also.

As enjoyable as the story was with its plausible scientific explanations, adventure, and suspense, it suffered a few shortcomings that kept me from rating it higher than three stars. It had a slow start and took me awhile to determine who was the protagonist. A love triangle subplot worked okay but wasn’t a strength of the story. However, the book excelled in doom and gloom type melodrama and adventure. Given the period, the science was not only interesting but believable.

The 1951 film adaptation of the book starring Richard Derr altered the story in several aspects and gave the spaceship a complete redesign. The changes the film employed wasn’t necessarily poor choices simply different. I would rate the film the same as I have the book. However, if you are a vintage movie fan, the film is worth watching just to see the tech gadgets and space clothing. I could tell some of the close ups were of a miniature set, but their ingenuity I found interesting rather than cheesy.

Overall, an easily readable story that I would rate a solid three, if not a bit higher. It has a premise that could be modernized quite readily.

[Bronwyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

about when earth is about to collide with a runaway planet and a plan to build a rocket so a small group of people can escape to a planet which circles the planet about to collide with earth

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

To look at the astronomical statistics, you would think that planet Earth is a sitting duck. In our teensy immediate neighborhood of the galaxy alone, there are over 14,000 asteroids zipping about, not to mention over 100 near-Earth comets. Asteroids of over one kilometer in diameter have hit the Earth, it is approximated, twice every million years during the planet's history; those of five kilometers, every 20 million years. Every 2,000 years, it has been said, a chunk of space matter collides with or explodes over the Earth causing a 10-megaton blast, such as the one (size unknown) that fell over Siberia on June 30, 1908--the so-called Tunguska event--which flattened almost 800 square miles of forest. And these are all relatively small pieces of whizzing space rock, mind you; comparative pebbles. What if another PLANET were to bring good ol' Earth into its crosshairs? Worse still, what if a DOUBLE planetary system were to come swinging into our immediate vicinity? Well, that is precisely the setup of Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer's now-classic sci-fi novel of 1933, "When Worlds Collide." The novel originally appeared as a six-part serial in the hugely popular "Blue Book Magazine," starting in the September '32 issue (when Balmer was 49 and Wylie was 30) and concluding in the February '33. For such a seminal story, it now seems surprising that "When Worlds Collide" was never given the cover illustration on any of those six issues; Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan and the Leopard Men" copped the cover spots on the first two, while various stories of Arabia, Western action, Yukon (?) fur traders and the Far East accounted for the other four. I had never read the novel until just recently but had seen the 1951 filmization; a slow-moving affair, as I recall, with only so-so special FX. Fortunately, the novel is anything but dull, and offers up a spectacular story with telling details that dazzle the mind’s eye.

In the book, a South African astronomer named Sven Bronson makes a startling discovery: Two rogue planets, that had been ripped from their own sun untold millions of years earlier, are now hurtling toward the neighborhood of our solar system. Even worse, while the smaller of the two, the Earth-sized world dubbed Bronson B, is projected to bypass our world by a safe margin, the larger, Bronson A (a gas giant that is actually 12 times the size of Earth), would seem to be on a direct collision course! As the novel progresses, we observe the approaching disaster and ultimate cataclysm through the eyes of several central characters: Cole Hendron, America's greatest astrophysicist and engineer, who works with Bronson on a means of evacuating some 100 of Earth's best and brightest specimens, via rocket ship, to the promising haven of Bronson B; Eve, his daughter, and a brilliant scientist in her own right; Tony Drake, a stockbroker, all-American man of action, and Eve's hopeful fiancé; and Dave Ransdell, a South African pilot and adventurer, who flies Bronson's discoveries to Hendron in the States and stays on at the scientist's rocket base in Michigan, only to become Tony's rival for Eve's affections. Eventually, Bronson A & B do make their initial pass of Earth, resulting in worldwide earthquakes, volcanoes, massive flooding, the release of poisonous gases from the Earth's core, a general reconfiguration of the land masses, and universal panic and breakdown of society. But can Hendron and his 1,000 followers prepare their 100-person-capacity rocket ship before the so-called "Bronson bodies" return, and wipe out planet Earth in toto?

I alluded to the spectacular nature of Wylie & Balmer's story just before, and I use that word advisedly; "When Worlds Collide" surely does provide much in the way of spectacle. The authors describe the initial devastation of our planet's surface very well, with copious and convincing detail. After the first approach of the Bronson bodies, Ransdell and two others go on a wide-ranging reconnaissance of the U.S. by airplane, and the reader is thus privy to the great and general destruction. We see the ghost town that was Chicago, completely killed off by toxic gas; the riots that sweep Pittsburgh; and the inundated Eastern seaboard, completely washed over by 750-foot-high waves. During the Bronson bodies' second approach, we watch, from aboard that rocket ship in space, as our fair planet hurtles toward Bronson A, turning plastic and egg-shaped under the gravitational stress, and the authors make us feel what it must be like to have a world drop down on our heads and grind us to atoms. The book contains any number of highly suspenseful set pieces, as well, including Manhattan's initial flooding, which Tony and Eve observe from a downtown rooftop; the attack that a famished and desperate mob of 10,000 makes on Hendron's compound, during which many hundreds are killed; the scientists' desperate attempt to come up with an alloy that might withstand the dreadful heat of their rocket's atomic reaction tubes; and the spaceflight and landing on Bronson B itself.

But the book is not solely concerned with mere spectacle, and its characters take time out to reflect on such matters as the new moral code that might have to be established on Bronson B (can the convention of marriage still be valid when a woman must procreate as often as possible, and with as many men as possible, in the name of humanity's survival?) and whether or not God has deliberately planned to wipe the bulk of humanity away, as He did before the Flood (why send a planet clear across the universe to destroy Earth, while offering the possibility of salvation via Bronson B?). The authors' writing style is often elegant, with references to such varied sources as the Bible, Omar Khayyam and English physicist James Hopwood Jeans. Wylie & Balmer take the time to let us get to know the main players in their story, ensuring that we stay invested in them, and when one of them is injured, or MIA, or endangered, we worry. As I mentioned, the book has more on its mind than just a panoramic catalogue of awesome destruction.

Writing of the book in his "Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction," Scottish critic David Pringle mentions that it is a "now dated story which was popular in its time and has been influential," and to be fair, the novel does indeed strike the modern reader as dated in some instances. For one thing, it is set in the early '30s, and as we now know...well, the Earth was NOT decimated by a giant gas planet back in 1932. The book also makes reference to such "modern-day, in-the-news" items as Stalin and Mussolini, Broadway actors in their "furred collars," the Farm Relief Bill and Prohibition. Drake's valet, Kyto, is repeatedly referred to as a "Jap servant," and Uranus is mentioned as having a diameter of 40,000 miles (we now know that it is more like 31,000 miles). As a lover of Golden Age sci-fi, I have never been bothered overmuch by these instances of datedness, however; they come with the territory. What concerns me more are some instances of fuzzy writing that crop up occasionally. For example, during the first set of cataclysms, "Gases, steam and ashes welled from ten thousand vents into the Earth’s atmosphere. The sun went out, the stars were made visible...." Huh? Shouldn't the stars be made INvisible? Also, when Prof. Bronson is described as having "tactile hands," what does THAT mean? That he has a sense of touch? I believe the authors were going for something like "flexible' or "supple" hands here, but who knows?

Anyway, I’m only carping now. "When Worlds Collide" was a pretty significant achievement for its authors, and again, a highly influential and seminal one. The book is a deserved classic. At its conclusion, Hendron's rocket and crew lie safely on the long-frozen and now sun-awakened world of Bronson B, unaware if any of Earth's other possible ships made it safely away. The 100 survivors have a new world to explore and millennia of humanity to preserve; it is truly a cliff-hanging conclusion, and the reader cannot help but wonder what might happen next. Fortunately, an answer WAS provided in this book's direct follow-up sequel, "After Worlds Collide" (1934), and that is where this reader is surely headed next....

(By the way, this review initially appeared on the FanLit site at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ ... a perfect destination for all fans of Golden Age sci-fi....)

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiration for countless disaster epics, most notably Deep Impact and 2012, When Worlds Collide is fun, though somewhat dated, novel. Holding up relatively well, the book is a bit jarring with the racism, sexism and extremely melodramatic dialogue.

The story is simple enough as a group of scientists attempt to flee Earth and land the incoming moon that will take the place of Earths orbit. While the science in this scenario is laughable, it's still an interesting concept, as are the philosophical challenges as to who should take the trip and who should be told of the inevitable disaster. The novel is, for the most part, exciting, with enough action scenes to keep the narrative moving forward.

The dialogue, however, is the novel's downfall. Not even taking into account the time when this was written, it is soap opera at it's most melodramatic and trashy. Extremely racist in its approach, this was a very difficult part of the book to get over, making When Worlds Collide laborious to read.

Recommended as a snapshot of 1930's SF, When Worlds Collide is raised above most other work by it's excellent story and willingness to explore difficult subjects, if one can get past the attitudes to other cultures and gender.

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an early post-apoc SF novel, originally published in 1932, initially as a serial in The Blue Book Magazine, September-December issues. I read it as a part of monthly reading for May 2022 at The Evolution of Science Fiction group.

The story starts a bit slow with a man on a fast liner heading to the USA with a package of photographic glass plates. He gets a lot of radiogrammed proposals to share the contents with newspapers, but he stays firm and delivers them to the addressee, a famous scientist. I give the beginning in such a detail go share the feeling of time of writing – a period when the fastest way between Europe and America was by ship and when hi-precision photos were made on glass plates, when newspapers were the media.

As it turns out (not a spoiler, after all, it is hinted in the very title and openly stated in the blurb here on Goodreads) there are two planets, heading from the outers space toward Earth and the larger of the two will initially pass by at a distance closer than between Earth and Moon and then collide with our homeworld, annihilating it. All later SF stories and movies with an incoming asteroid and the like are partially rooted in this novel.

The demise of Earth is inevitable, but the second of the incoming planets will pass quite close to hop to it by a rocket, so the best scientists create the League of the Last Days to save the best and the brightest. Our main protagonist is Tony Drake. He isn’t a scientist, but a broker at the stock exchange and, ore importantly, a guy in love with Eve Hendron, the daughter of the scientist that heads the League. He is also a capable organizer and just a good guy, a classic American hero with more brawl than brains.

The story is quite well written even if from time to time it drops to sexism or racism. Even if while Eve is described with her sweep of a forehead behind which, in rare company, a woman’s instincts and tenderness dwelt with a mind ordinarily as honest and unevasive as a man’s and with her intellectual brilliance, and her unique training from her father., much more clever than the male protagonist, most other women are often mentioned with words like ‘hysterics’. The same goes for the race – not only all mentioned scientists are white (and male and English-speaking), Tony has a butler, who is a Japanese (“Tony stared at the little Jap. He had always liked him; but suddenly he was assailed with a surge of fellow-feeling for this small brown man trapped like himself on the rim of the world.”) and therefore not very bright, speaks bad English but utterly loyal to his master.

There are newer and in the literary sense better stories of similar collisions or prevented collisions, but if one wants to check the pioneer of this sub-genre, this is the book.

[Amy H. Sturgis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is justifiably known as a classic of apocalyptic science fiction. It's an absorbing read. Two planets, pulled from their orbits, are hurtling toward Earth. One will make a disastrously close pass, and the second will impact our planet directly. With almost journalistic objectivity, the novel relates the global efforts by humanity to cheat certain death, and in particular the quest in the United States (with both American and international personnel) to shift a small number of people to one of the planets before Earth is destroyed. This has it all - personal drama, the best and worst of human nature, philosophical and religious musings - and it excels with the science. Given that When Worlds Collide was published in 1933, it's remarkable how modern the sensibility seems, including vivid descriptions of manned space flight, weightlessness, and astronomical observation. Some of the social aspects are dated, but not distractingly so. (In fact, the main female character is a scientist in her own right.) It's well worth reading for anyone interested in the history of science fiction, apocalyptic visions, and stirring adventure.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated, but I liked it so much that I went out immediately to purchase and read its sequel, After World Collide. Both were read at grandmother's cottage in Lake Charter Township, Michigan.

A movie version of this volume was made in the fifties in color. It also holds up rather well. The most recent remake appears to be 2012--one of the worst disaster movies ever made.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an amazing amount of prediction for a book written in the 1930s!

[Dollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Professor Bronson, a scientist in South Africa, sees two new objects in the evening sky, he is concerned. Once they are large enough, he realizes that they are a large planet with a smaller one revolving around it – Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta. He takes photographs and asks a young man, Dave Ransdell, to get them to Dr. Cole Hendron in the US ASAP. When Dr. Hendron does all his calculations, he sees that they are heading straight for planet Earth. He moves to one of his secure laboratories in Michigan, with numerous experts and builders including his daughter, Eve, and her love interest, Tony Blake, and they start working on a space ship that will, hopefully, take some survivors of the catastrophe to Bronson Beta, which seems to be able to sustain human life. All they have to do is survive the tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that take place during the passage of Bronson Alpha. Will any of them survive? Will Eve choose Tony or Dave? You’ll have to read it to find out. When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite movies (along with War of the Worlds – 1932 version – and The Day the Earth Stood Still - 1951 – “Klaatu barada nikto!”), so when I saw this book on one of my online libraries, I decided I would read it. It was great! The writing was good and there was so much disaster. And of course, people turned vicious. I liked almost everything about it. What didn’t I like? Kyto being called a “little Jap” and all the writing about religion. I cut the author some slack, seeing as it was written in the early 1930s. I liked it so much that I’m now going to read the sequel, After Worlds Collide.

[Sean O'Hara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah, 1930s SF. The men are cardboard, the foreigners stereotypes, and women are introduced as being incredibly intelligent but never do anything beyond existing as potential babymakers.

[Franky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pair of planets, Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta, are hurtling through space and it appears that one will crash into Earth. A group of scientists on Earth are scrambling to find a solution to the inevitable. One lead scientist in the United States, Cole Hendron, has the goal to build a spaceship that will perhaps save humanity. Other countries have a similar plan.

I know some have criticized the ‘science’ contained in this science fiction as being dated in When Worlds Collide, but I thought much of the science was fascinating and revolutionary, given the period (early 1930s) that this book was written. This is the type of science fiction I truly appreciate and tend to gravitate towards, and I think that the duo of authors, Wylie and Balmer, create an enthralling, grandiose and cosmic atmosphere indicative of the old vintage science fiction films that is intriguing to contemplate and think about. There were certain aspects of this book that reminded me a tad of novelists such as Ray Bradbury or Arthur C. Clarke in its themes.

There are some striking and visionary images of future space travel: “Hendren had thereupon succeeded in bombarding the surface of the moon with a projectile that was, in its essence, a small rocket. He had settled the problems of hull composition, insulation, and aeration, which would arise in such a vessel if made in a size to be preoccupied by man. He had devised rockets which could be directed.”

The plot is structured in a way that is takes us from the days before and up until the eventual impact of the planets heading towards Earth and the scientists’ plan for building the craft. There are some spotty moments in the first half of the novel that maybe slow it down a tad, but I thought the second half of the novel, and in particular the ending, quite riveting. I thought especially that the conclusion and final chapters—including the imagery and symbolism—were quite amazing.

While I thought this mostly an excellent and engaging read, there are some politically incorrect characterizations and moments. However, I think given that this book was written nearly one hundred years ago, this is probably to be expected and one could find similar instances in other books from this era.

Alongside this, the characters will not exactly win any awards for being memorable, as they are fairly prototypical. Still, though, the plot was so enthralling and captivating it held my interest throughout and I could forgive some of the pitfalls of the book.

Overall, When Worlds Collide is a definitive “end of the world”, post-apocalyptic styled work that was quite influential for later works and is a brilliant addition to this genre. This novel ends in such a way that it piques my interest to read on and finding out what happens in its sequel, After World Collide, which is also included in the Bison Frontiers of Imagination edition.

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein Abenteuer aus der Science-Fiction der Dreißigerjahre. Insgesamt hat es mir gut gefallen, die Idee fand ich tatsächlich grandios und die drohende Gefahr für die Menschheit konnte faszinierend geschildert werden, auch der Ausweg für einen kleinen Teil der Menschheit sowie die Folgen und Katastrophen durch die nah an unseren Planeten vorbeiziehenden zwei Planeten. Es ist Science-Fiction aus den alten goldenen Jahren und kommt daher teilweise etwas förmlich und steif daher, wirklich mitreißen konnte das Buch nicht. Auch hätte ich mir gewünscht, dass die spätere Handlung rund um die Flucht im atombetriebenen Raumschiff und um den Neubeginn auf dem neuen Planeten mehr Platz und Seiten bekommt. Gleichwohl eine (für SF-Fans) interessante Lektüre, die unterhalten kann.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The wonderful movie of the same name is based on this novel which caused me to seek out the book. I read the duology published in the 30's. It is the story of building an arc to save a few humans and animals after the collision with Earth by a rogue planet on collision course. I was surprised by the accuracy of the science, even compared to today's standards. Of course they had to get to the new planet without computers or other modern technological advances. An space travel is told from a 30's point of view. Still it has good, hard science for the 30's. It is an engaging story, even better than the movies.

[☆Ruth☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imagine an apocalyptic novel written by a combination of Barbara Cartland, Jules Verne and Arthur C. Clarke and that about sums up this book.
Originally published in 1932, the science seems almost laughable in places (although I'm no scientist - so perhaps I shouldn't judge). There is also a peculiar romantic element, which is soooo chauvinistic it made me want to throw up!
I did finish the book though and that was because there were a few sections which showed imagination and descriptive skill - plus I found myself wanting to know what happened in the end, so the author/s succeeded to that extent.

[A.J. Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this, the first time when I was a youngster. I read it again in 2016 and found it to be just as great 50 years later.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written in the 1930s so considering the time period, it is an inventive tale. Two planets, designated Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta have broken away from their solar system and are hurtling towards Earth. A few scientists discover they can hop onto Bronson Beta before Bronson Alpha collides with Earth and so prepare to do so.
There are some generalizations about race and gender that are considered racist or mysogynestic today but are not unusual for the 1930s. A Japanese servant is referred to as a little brown man and Eve, the only named female character, is fit to be a mother on the new planet.
The first part of the book reads like a play, with stiff dialogue and a few descriptions of what is around the main characters, like stage directions. The next 2 thirds of the book generalizes consistently; a writing style that I really didn't like.
All the remaining people on earth, after the planets pass by the first time and cause great destruction, are written about as if they are all of one mind and one experience. We are told that only the healthy people are picked to go in the space ship. And they are all tired, scared, hungry, curious, etc... at the same time. There are a few individuals named, including Tony, Eve, Bronson, etc... who have their own reactions to the destruction of Earth and the discovery of the new planet. And like coconut cream pie on Gilligan's Island, there is mysteriously an unending supply of sandwiches and fresh coffee for everyone.
The author, in this hard science fiction story, does tell us about the make up of the ship (called the Ark, that they escape Earth on) and includes scientific like descriptions of the destruction of earth. I think books like Children of Time do a better job describing a group of people looking for a new home but this had some interesting points.

[Saya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puntuar esta novela es tremendamente difícil. Ha envejecido mal, pero tiene un buen ritmo y plantea cuestiones más que interesantes. Si la ponemos en contexto, le daría las cinco estrellas sin duda: escrita antes de la bomba atómica, habla de energía atómica y de viajes espaciales, aun sin dar detalle (no es ciencia ficción dura). De hecho, me ha recordado mucho a Jules Verne (como viaje) y a Edgar Rice Burroughs (como aventura). Pero, teniendo en cuenta la época en la que me ha tocado vivir, ciertos detalles del libro me han sacado de la lectura y por eso quizá le daría solo tres estrellas.

Un ejemplo es Eve. Es el único personaje femenino, y aunque tiene bastantes líneas de diálogo de corte científico y parece más sensata que Tony, el protagonista, al final no cumple más que el papel que se espera de ella: aceptar sin drama el rol que otros han decidido que tiene que representar. Me refiero a ser madre; en la novela parece que las mujeres solo son útiles para eso, y así lo deja bien claro la última página del libro (aunque la idea ya se ha repetido varias veces antes):

To be a mother in actuality, to become a mother of men, was to be her role on this reawakened world.

Pero, por otro lado, esto plantea preguntas interesantes sobre la sociedad en la que vivimos. ¿Debería seguir existiendo el matrimonio? ¿Será el ser humano capaz de olvidar la monogamia? Parece que no: Tony, el héroe, el protagonista, el que parece todo el rato no querer estar ahí, no soporta la idea de compartir a "su" mujer, a "su" amor, con otros. No sé cuántas veces ha agarrado y besado a Eve a lo largo del libro, pero su comportamiento obsesivo se ha hecho tremendamente pesado.

Demasiadas líneas le estoy dedicando al lado romántico de la obra, que me importa más bien poco. Sobre el aspecto científico, claro, tampoco puedo opinar mucho porque no soy una experta, pero me considero una persona sensata, y por eso me sorprende la ingenuidad con la que los protagonistas se enfrentan a un mundo nuevo y totalmente desconocido: comprobemos si la atmósfera es respirable o si tiene algo que pueda matarnos... respirándola directamente. Seamos héroes. ¿Ves ese musgo? Tócalo, no pasa nada. ¿Esporas, dices? Nada de lo que preocuparse. ¿Qué problema puede haber con un mundo que estuvo habitado y del que no sabemos nada? Ni siquiera se menciona si la gravedad es similar a la de la Tierra o no. Pero bueno, qué otra cosa podemos esperar de un libro en el que los científicos e ingenieros aciertan a la primera con la construcción de una nave espacial con cien personas y un número indeterminado de animales en su interior. Ni Elon Musk llega a ese nivel de acierto.

En cualquier caso, y pese a todos sus aspectos negativos (por anticuados o por ridículos), esta es una de esas historias que me encantan: historias que plantean mundos nuevos por conocer, que ponen a prueba el orgullo y los prejuicios de la humanidad, que plantean incógnitas que quizá jamás puedan resolverse. ¿Qué descubrirán en ese planeta? ¿Qué retos se encontrarán en él? Leeré el segundo libro, sin duda; quiero conocer qué mundos imaginaron los autores.

En definitiva, este es un libro que cualquier amante de la ciencia ficción debería leer, sobre todo si se siente predilección por las grandes catástrofes de dimensiones apocalípticas (y no, no recomiendo en absoluto Inferno) o por las historias de nuevos mundos que retan al ser humano (sí, estoy pensando en Cita con Rama o en Mundo Anillo).

[Linus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel, if you accept that this book was written 90 years ago, so of course some dialogues and beliefs about life and society are a bit dated, you get nevertheless a superb and quite imaginative end-of-the-world story. I highly recommend this!

P.S. This was made into a movie in 1951 directed by George Pal who was also responsible for The War of the Worlds (1953) and The Time Machine (1960), but the book is way better!

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book to read when you want to be enthralled, entertained, have your heart wrenched out by what humans will do to each other in times of crisis, have your heart rejoice at what humans will sacrifice for each other, and definitely to see how science puts hard edges on hopes, dreams and desires. Think of it as a novel length version of "The Cold Equations".

[Teemu Öhman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is almost a month overdue, so things tend to get a bit blurry in my head. Thus, I'll keep this short.

When Worlds Collide by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie (both unknowns to me before this) was a positive surprise. I started to read it mostly because as a geologist specialized in impact craters I sort of have to. Some of the science in the book is rather wonky, and the "weightlessness" in space is misunderstood, but the massive earthquakes, volcanism and tsunamis due to enormous tidal forces are sort of sensible, which for a 1932-1933 scifi novel is pretty good.

I liked the plot and most of the characters. They even had a female scientist as one of the main characters. Essentially she's a "calculator" like they had in the real world in some observatories, which for a 1930s book is pretty advanced. However, other female characters are unfortunately lacking.

Racism in the book is "built-in". The white Americans (and a couple of South Africans) are the heroes, and the blacks or the Native Americans don't get a mention. Guess it doesn't matter if their entire cultures get wiped out. There's a Chinese character in the book, but he is a servant who just happily fulfills all of his master's wishes. So it goes.

However, as an old scifi adventure story with some sort of believable science in it, I really liked it. And it's always good to have proper scientists in a scifi story. I'm seriously considering reading the sequel (despite the poor reviews).

4.25/5

P.S. I had thought that Iron Maiden's When Two Worlds Collide (Harris-Murray-Bailey) was based (or "based", as is typical for Iron Maiden songs inspired by books or movies Harris has read or seen) on this book. Apparently I was wrong, as it seems that the song was based on Armageddon and Blaze Bailey's experiences in Japan. Pity. The lyrics fit this book very well.

[Will G · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book conceived of and written in the 1930’s, this is an amazing sci-fi novel. While the writing style is dated (it is after all 90 years old), the story is well conceived and riveting. The characters are a bit contrived and the descriptions of Tony Drake’s man servant are racist, this makes for a compelling read. Looking forward to reading the sequel.

[Rafeeq O. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer's 1932 When Worlds Collide is billed on the cover of my 1968 Paperback Library edition as "The classic novel that ranks with 1984 and Brave New World." Um...no. Definitely not. It is, though, tolerable science fiction of 2.5- to 3-star variety, memorable more as an artifact of early 1930s science fiction than as a deftly written or thought-provoking piece of literature.

Mind you, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World was published the same year as Wylie and Balmer's novel, and yet Huxley's remains delightfully readable both for its imaginative probing and for its writing. The discerning reader, however, will pick up When Worlds Collide out of curiosity but will finish the book more out of duty than out of excitement.

Yes, the impending complete destruction of Earth by a wandering gas giant, along with the possibility for emigration to the planet's terrestrial companion for an elite few, surely gives enough of a problem for the plot. The science, however, is rather thoughtless and rushed, even for the pulp era; the intellectual and moral underpinnings of who, out of all the 1.5 billion in the world, should have a berth on the ark are woefully underexamined as well; and characterization somehow seems to grow ever more two-dimensional as the story progresses.

How is it, for example, that these scientists of 1932 are so close not only to nuclear fission but also to using an atomic motor as a direct-thrust rocket? Why is everyone so sure that the Earth-sized companion wanderer would be habitable? Such things could have been made a bit more believable, perhaps, but some careful and deliberate setup definitely would have been necessary.

Worse, the logic of the "lifeboat ethics" of the novel receive no real examination or soul-searching. The eminent scientists who found the "League of the Last Days" are going to take the best of the world, period. This means the intelligent, of course, though mainly in science-science fields rather than social science--yet no promising children likely on the way to useful adulthood are recruited, come to think of it--and the physically healthy. Such, we are told with unquestioned eugenic aplomb, will be the best to carry on and reproduce the species on a once-frozen new world.

But how will this new society of only one or two hundred be organized? We are told, after all, that there must be--quick wiping of drool here--scientifically directed breeding. The beautiful two-legged brood mares brought aboard the Space Ark will be available for Anyone Whom Science Dictates, and the broad-shouldered young fellows whose intellects are matched only by their former college sports records will have to provide human stud service of the most noble and selfless kind. Yes, saving the human race is tough work, but it may have its occasional rewards. But how will personal and societal relationships be organized, and what will the living arrangements look like? And yet, speaking of race, 'tis odd, though never remarked-upon by any character, that all of the chosen happen to be of European stock...

Finally, the writing here tends toward the overly broad, with sweeping, sometimes-stereotypical observations and a point of view that by no means makes for a subtle or nuanced read. Comparisons to Huxley's Brave New World, or even to other '30s works collected in Healy and McComas's 1946 Adventures in Time and Space will show this work noticeably inferior.

I was rather surprised--and I think this observation is correct, as opposed to being one driven by increasing literary ennui--that characterization actually grows worse as the novel draws on. The more we get to know Dr. Cole Hendron, for example--the physicist who confirms the trajectories of the inrushing paired planets, liberates nuclear energy, and builds the Space Ark--the less we know him. Oh, he speaks, of course, though more often he pontificates, enough that at one point he apologies for making so many speeches...but then goes right on speechifyin'. Rather than revealing any true "self," Hendron instead more and more becomes the cardboard cutout Leader, as firm as Mussolini's jaw and seemingly incapable of technical or moral error. Those recruited by the League of the Last Days follow him without question, as he is the only one with a Plan. All has been thought out, all planned for, and no one ever seems to suggest alternatives or ask why; the chosen simply wait for one godlike order after another. Other named characters--as distinct from the indistinct "they" that make up the rest of the cheering worker bees--grow similarly wooden.

Should When Worlds Collide still be read? By anyone interested in pulp-era science fiction and who knows what that entails, yes. But only by these.

[Reet · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
The author, through the voice of his character Cole Hendron, gives an explanation for how Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta came to be approaching our solar system:
".. among the many billions of stars, there are probably millions of suns with planets. It is always possible that some catastrophe would tear the planets away. It would require nothing more than the approach of another star toward the sun to destroy the gravitational control of the sun over the Earth and Venus and Mars and Jupiter and other planets, and to send them all spinning into space on cold and dark careers of their own.
This world of ours, and Venus and Mars and Jupiter and saturn, would then wander throughout indefinite ages - some of them perhaps eternally doomed to cold and darkness, others might, after incalculable ages, find another sun.
It might be assumed, for purposes of explanation of the Bronson Bodies, that they once were planets like our Earth and Uranus, circling about some life-giving sun. A catastrophe tore them away, together with whatever other of her planets there might have been, and sent them into the darkness of interstellar space. these two - Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta - either were associated originally, or else established a gravitational influence upon each other in the journey through space, and probably have traveled together through an incalculable time until they arrived in a region of the heavens which brought them at last under the attraction of the sun. Their previous course, consequently, has been greatly modified by the sun, and as a result, they are now approaching us."
So, cole hendron, along with other top scientists, has to do something about this! Earth is going to be battered into bits! They decide, that there's a chance that they can make it to Bronson Beta, and live there. Only 100 humans will be able to fit in the rocket they have planned to build. The rest will have to perish.
"Very different from its companion up there, but not so different from our world, it seems. It has a surface we can see, with air and clouds and its atmosphere. The clouds shift or disappear and form again; but there are fixed details which do not change, and which prove a surface crust exists. The atmosphere was frozen solid in the long journey through space, but the sun has thawed out the air and has started, at least, on thawing out the seas."

When Bronson Alpha passes by the Earth for the first time, it wreaks havoc on our planet.
"on the night of the 25th, tides unprecedented in the world's history swept every sea coast. There were earthquakes of varying magnitude all over the world. In the day that followed, volcanoes opened up, and islands sank beneath the Sea; and on the night of the 26th the greater of the Bronson Bodies came within its minimum distance from the earth on this their first approach.
No complete record was ever made of the devastation.
Elliot James, who made some tabulation of it in the succeeding months, could never believe all that he saw and heard, but it must have been true.
The eastern coast of the United States sustained a tidal wave 750 ft in height, which came in from the sea in relentless terraces and inundated the land to the very foot of the Appalachians. Its Westward Rush destroyed every building, every hovel, every skyscraper, every city, from Bangor in Maine to Key West in Florida. the tide looped into the Gulf of Mexico, rolled up the Mississippi Valley, becoming in some places so congested with material along its foaming face that the terrified human beings upon whom it descended saw a wall of trees and houses, of stones and machinery, of all the conglomerate handiwork of men and nature - rather than the remorseless or uplifted water behind it. When the tide gushed back to the ocean's bed, its strewed the gullied landscape with the things it had uprooted.
It roared around South America, turning the Amazon Basin into a vast inland Sea which stretched from what had been the east coast to the Andes mountains on the West Coast. The speed of this tide was beyond calculation.
Every river became a channel for it. It spilled over Asia. It inundated the Great plain of China. It descended from the Arctic regions and removed much of france, England and germany, all of Holland and the great Soviet empire from the list of nations..."

Tony Drake, one of the main characters, and Eve hendron's love interest, is standing in the clearing of the complex in Michigan where the rocket is being constructed, looking up into the sky:
"he was standing alone, looking up and checking his mental calculations, when someone stopped beside him.
'what is it, tony?' hendron said.
'Where's the Moon tonight?'
'Where - that's it where? That's what we'd like to know - exactly what happened. We had to miss it, you see; probably nowhere in the world were conditions that permitted observation when the collision occurred; and what a thing to see!'
'the collision!' Said tony.
'When Bronson Alpha took out the moon! I thought you knew it was going to happen, Tony. I thought I told you.' "

The capital of the country is moved to Hutchinson Kansas. Cole hendron has two airplanes at his command, and Elliot james, the diarist in the book, accompanies the expedition to call on the president.
"We explained the situation to the president, and he was delighted to know that we had survived the crisis of the passing. He then continued gravely: 'I believe that Hendron will be successful. You alone, perhaps, may carry away the hope of humanity and the records of this life on earth; and I will return to the tasks confronting me here with the Solace offered by the knowledge that the Enterprise could be in no -' "

An extra ship is built, and the 500 humans that are left in the Michigan encampment are removed. From there place in the heavens, they watch the destruction of their former home.
".. the nebulous atmosphere of Bronson Alpha touched the air of earth, and then the very Earth bulged. Its shape altered before their eyes. It became plastic. It was drawn out egg-shaped. The cracks girdled the globe. A great section of the Earth itself lifted up and peeled away, leaping toward Bronson Alpha with an inconceivable force.
The two planets struck.
Decillions of tons of mass colliding in cosmic catastrophe.
'It's not direct,' Duquesne shouted. 'Oh, god! Perhaps -'
everyone knew what he was thinking. Perhaps they were not witnessing a complete annihilation. Perhaps some miracle would preserve a portion of the world.
They panted and stared.
Steam, fire, smoke. Tongues of flame from the center of the earth. The planets ground together and then moved across each other. It was like watching an eclipse. The magnitude of the disaster was veiled by hot gases and stupendous flames, and was diminished in awfulness by the intervening distances and by the same slowness with which it took place.
Bronson Alpha Rode between them and the earth. Then - on its opposite side - fragments of the shattered world reappeared. Distance showed between them - widening, scattering distance. Bronson Alpha moved away on its terrible course, fiery, flaming, spread enormously in ghastly light."

The rocket carrying Cole Hendron, Tony Drake, and Eve Hendron lands safely on Bronson Beta. They decide to wait throughout the long night till morning, to test the air and the hot Earth beneath the rocket. But one by one, tony, Hendron, Duquesne, even Eve, slip out of the rocket, not able to wait till the morning. Then they realize the other rocket may not have made it. They have a little philosophical conversation about the legacy of mankind:
" 'it is nothing - if we merely continue the earth - here. When I recollect the filth of our cities, the greed of individuals and of nations, the savagery of wars, the horrors of pauperism permitted to exist side by side with luxury and wealth, our selfishness, hates, diseases, filth - all the hideousness we called civilization - I cannot regret that the world which was afflicted by us is flying in fragments utterly incapable of rehabilitation, about the sun. On the other hand, now we are here; and how are we to justify the chance to begin again?' "

Tony Drake and Elliott James make a trip on an airplane to a domed city they had seen in the distance.
"Dimly Tony heard James shouting 'it's magnificent!' And in an almost choked voice he replied: 'they must have been amazing.' in the majestic streets beneath that dome no living thing moved. No lights glowed in those streets where the setting Sun allowed Shadows to fall; no smoke, no steam, no fire showed anywhere, and although their motor made hearing impossible, they knew instinctively that the colossal, triumphant metropolis below them was as silent as the grave."

Well, as it turns out, the other rocket did make it, though just barely. The tubes that contained the atomic force that propelled the rocket, were melting as they approached Bronson Beta, and they were barely able to land. On their way back to their settlement, Tony and Elliott swooped South, to explore a bit more before returning. This trip revealed the little settlement where Reynolds and his group had crashed. They are ecstatic to know that their friends survived.

This book is full of racial stereotypes, and of course misogynistic roles for the women. (Except for Eve Hendron, Who is allowed to be a scientist helping her father.) Tony had had a "Jap servant" named kyto. Well, Kyto gave Tony the surprise of his life, when he approached him one day in their settlement on Bronson Beta:
" 'I always knew more than I pretended to know,' the Japanese answered coolly.
Tony smiled. 'Really, kyto? Then why did you pretend not to? Is that one of those things that makes people say the japs are subtle and dangerous?'
'in a way,' Kyto answered. 'I pretended not to know much English while I was in your employ, because I was a spy.'
'What!'
'it is true.'
'But good god, kyto, what use was my service - to a spy? I didn't know where there was a fort, or a gun - '
'it gave me a respectable character.'
'And what did you spy on?'
'It doesn't matter now. I shall tell you someday. You see, I used to be,' - there was scarcely a trace of accent in his words, - 'long ago in tokyo, a professor of foreign languages. I spoke English when I was a baby. Missionaries taught me. I was a patriot. I volunteered for espionage. while I was in america, my ideas changed. I became - before the Bronson Bodies appeared - A pacifist. I had sent in my resignation and offered to give myself up - at the time of the discovery of the approaching planet. My letters were ignored in the subsequent frantic days. So, during those days, I endeavored to reshape my life. You americans-some of you, at least - stood for the things I desired: a world run by sense and science; a world of peace and fraternity. I wished to go on your ship. But my wish was not exclusively a selfish one. I continued to mingle with my associates in espionage - as one of them. I learned much.' "
This was the days before reagan, before reaganomics, before the elite were allowed to take over the world.

As it turns out, the asians, the russians, and the Germans, had made it in a rocket to Bronson beta, too. Another rocket carrying the English, had made it as well, but the Asians, Russians and Germans captured them and made them their slaves.
Now the Asians Russians and Germans want to capture the Hendron cohort, and make them their slaves as well. They are living in another domed city, which turns out had been the capitol of Bronson Beta. As they have control of the power plant that controls all the lights, air, electricity, they wait until Bronson Beta travels in its elliptical orbit towards Mars, the coldest part of their year. Then they shut off the lights. Now, the Hendron colony is freezing, living in the dark. They feel on the brink of despair, when Marion jackson, the woman that Reynolds had deemed a "moron," infiltrates the capitol domed City, cozies up to the leader, kills him and his closest men, and saves the day.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

All those other apocalyptic books with their puny viruses and piddling nuclear wars have nothing on When Worlds Collide, which is about the smashing of Earth itself into jagged little pieces.

Or it would be -- if physics respected the three-act structure.

The book begins with the man who is carrying the fate of Mankind in his briefcase: photographic plates of two large planetary objects -- one about the size of Neptune, one Earth-sized -- that are on a collision course with the third planet in our little solar system. Yeah, that's us. And ain't nothin in the world can stop them. So what is going to happen to our planet is, to coin a phrase, written in the stars from page one. Well, at least there'll be no more ads for Viagra.

The story -- the one with some reasonable margin for error -- is about the men and women who refuse to accept this fate. It turns out, you see, that the smaller body is not only about the same size as Earth, but also very Earth-like. If their calculations are correct, it will survive the collision of the other two planets and take up an orbit of its own about the Sun. So it's just a matter of building a ship that can make the crossing. There's just one catch: the ship envisioned can only house about a hundred people.

According to the blurb on the back of my mid-seventies paperback, this caveat "touch[s] off a savage struggle among the world's most powerful men for the million-to-one chance of survival." You'd think that it would, wouldn't you? But, if you were anything other than a blurb writer, you'd probably want to read the book first before announcing it to the world. The fact is, no such thing ever happens.

In fact, this is one of the curious things about this novel. I could also have said "quaint." "Charming" is another matter. It has that old-timey faith in science and scientists as the saviors of our world. It comes by this honestly -- it was published in 1933 -- but it makes, at times, for some...interesting...developments. For instance, government plays no role in the building of the spaceship. It is conceived by Dr. Cole Hendron (whose honorific is of the Ph, not the M, variety), and he alone gathers about him the people he believes he needs to succeed. He alone will decide who goes and who stays. Meanwhile, the President of the United States rallies the populace to die another day.

That most of "us" have several opportunities to die is determined by the fact that the invading planets make two passes of the Earth, not just one. The first is a near miss. But even a near miss, with the combined mass of Neptune and Earth, is catastrophic. Tidal waves, earthquakes, floods, volcanic activity -- the world is torn apart. Well, all but torn apart; the actual rending comes later. In between, reduced in large part to barbarism, the remaining population finds more traditional ways to kill each other.

This is great stuff.

Keeping the home fires burning are Tony Drake and the chief's daughter, Eve. But theirs is a romance with serious complications. If only a hundred people can survive, how can they justify monogamy? Tony, a simpler soul than Eve, thinks he can justify it just fine; Eve is more realistic. Enter David Ransdell, a real man's man, whose appreciation of Eve's charms is not altogether unrequited.

Flipping my paperback over, we find on the front cover the bold statement: "America's most famous science fiction classic that ranks with 1984 and Brave New World." Except that this book is largely forgotten and the other two are still considered classics. This, I'm here to tell you, isn't quite fair. Literarily, no, When Worlds Collide isn't in the same league. In terms of its vision, though, and its remarkable evocation of utter disaster, it actually is. This is a book in which shit not only happens, it obliterates practically everything.

I'm going to see the 1951 movie later today, but I can already tell you, if ever there was a story ripe for a remake, this is it. And it could be glorious.

When Worlds Collide (1951), directed by Rudolph Maté
http://brianmartin.booklikes.com/post...

[Sharon Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, you can see I gave this book 5 stars. I know, I know. It's an old book, not a "hot off the presses" book. Not a New York Times best seller. But I really loved it. I've also recently learned that Hollywood is about to turn this book into a major motion picture. And...I can hardly wait.

Now, to the book: First, it is 642 pages, so not a small book. It was written by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer. It is the second of three books I have read by the writing team.

SHORT SYNOPSIS: It is discovered that a huge planet is racing towards the earth. As the planet hurtles towards destroying earth, a team of scientists work furiously to build a special space ship in which to escape earth and fly to a second planet (not far from the one which will crash into earth), that will only pass by the earth and not hit it. They hope to bring along enough seeds, plants, animals and humans to be able to survive on this new alien planet.

As they prepare to leave earth and race in their construction of their space ship, tidal waves occur, earth quakes and hurricanes. But they face an even greater threat that the forces of nature. Groups of terrified people begin swarming their compound. The scientists fight for their lives and have to fire back on the attacking crowd of ravaging people.

WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT THE BOOK:
I could not imagine a more terrifying end of the world scenario than the one conceived by Balmer and Wylie. The destruction of New York was especially riveting, and how one pastor could go with the scientists, but opts to stay to give comfort to the terrified for as long as he can. I love how Balmer and Wylie portray the uncertainty of the scientists and how they wonder about such simple, taken-for-granted things as marriage and children--will love have to be set aside for the sake of procreating children for this new world?

I will definitely REREAD this book again. And, I can't wait for the movie to come to the big screen! I give this wonderful sci-fi classic two thumbs up!

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first time I remember hearing the name Philip Wylie was when the University of Nebraska put out this wonderful edition of When Worlds Collide (which also contains its sequel, After Worlds Collide). The plot of the book is no doubt well-known by now. Earth finds itself in the path of two rogue planets, one of them on a collision course with Earth. Some scientists believe the other planet might just be hospitable enough to allow human habitation, the problem being how to get from here to there. Though both the language and the science in the book is dated, there's a lot about it that still rings true.

However, the reason I most appreciate this book and this edition is it introduced me to Philip Wylie, and after reading it, I hunted down most everything by him I could find. Seemingly almost forgotten today, Wylie was a working writer for more than half a century, who distinguished himself in a number of genres, including science fiction, crime, and social criticism.

Among other things, he wrote the screenplay to the Claude Rains classic, "The Invisible Man." His 1930 novel Gladiator is often credited with inspiring the character of "Superman." His 1934 novel Finnley Wren is a tour de force and an English language masterpiece. Later, during the Cold War, Wylie wrote a number of books featuring a post-nuclear war America, most notably in Tomorrow! Wylie himself became personally involved in Civil Defense initiatives.

But what I find to be the most delightful Wylie are the "Crunch and Des" stories he wrote, mostly for the Saturday Evening Post, that you can now find in a number of modern editions. Telling the tales of a pair of commercial fishermen in Florida, they are guaranteed to bring a smile.

So, in a nutshell, you're ever at a yard sale and see a dog-eared and yellowing book by Philip Wylie, pick it up. You'll be glad you did.

[Jim Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an "end of the world" fiction that reads as if it was written by Any Rand. It has the same "matter of fact" style with descriptive characters that border on the stylized. The only thing absent from the comparison is the extended preaching to the audience. That does not occur in this book.

The narrative, without highly descriptive and colorful passages, reads almost like a journalist's essay of a major event. Somehow, that gives the story weight and significantly heightened my interest. The absence of "breathless narration" made me use my imagination more, and the images lingered because of that.

In an age when our Earth has experienced a number of "close encounters" with celestial bodies, and our scientists have been discussing what to do in preparation of "The Big One" coming, WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE has an urgency probably not as readily apparent as when it first appeared in 1932. The description of both the devastating consequences and the unbending hope for the future is powerful, and there are some descriptions of political machinations that don't seem far removed from today's reality, either.

I understand that the story continues in the book, AFTER WORLDS COLLIDE. That one will be added to my reading list.