Mind at the End of Its Tether

by H.G. Wells

Mind at the End of Its Tether (1945) was H. G. Wells' last book, wrote at the age of 78. In the book Wells speculates on the notion of humanity being soon replaced by another, more advanced, species. He bases this thought on his long interest in the paleontological record.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Classics, Essays

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Herbert 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

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

At work today I found this lovely first edition (1945) in perfect condition of Wells' last essay. He died a very pessimistic and embittered man. But I still love him, or perhaps that's why. Even the paper is perfect, grainy wood pulp that appears to show a society on the brink of destruction. There's a lot of interesting doom and gloom in here. It's odd the way that after so many years of writing in the first person here it's always "he" or "the writer", interesting that at the end of his life he feels the need for this detachment. But there's still some great passages of Wells' prose... "It is claimed by various religious bodies that they protect "the institution of the family". They do nothing of the sort. The family has existed since animals bred and mated and went apart to protect and rear their young. But priestly intervention has degraded this clean and simple relationship by damning unborn children with the idea that they were "conceived in sin", making illegitimacy mysteriously shameful, and keeping all the fundamental facts and possibilities of family life from young people unit it is too late for them to benefit by their knowledge". As well as.. "In spite of the vehement denials of the pious, no rational mind can question the invincible nature of the evolutionary case"

[Renée Paule · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots to think about in this one!

[Cemal Can · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pessimist as the title suggests, and insightful. Wells, at the age of 79, gives his last speech about homo sapiens and elaborates on the idea that why he has become so pessimistic about the future of the world and humans as species. Not long, and definitely worth reading.

[Laura Leilani · Rating 3 out of 5]

H. G. Wells final views on where the world and we as a species are headed. Oblivion. He has some good points but the discussion goes off onto tangents that feel rambling. Some beautiful, quotable observations though.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

. . . I think too often Mind at the End of Its Tether is condemned or dismissed (or praised) as a disjointed (Orwell’s description) wallow in pessimism by an old man disappointed or even heartbroken over the failure of his life-mission as he feels that life winding down to an end he knows to be only days or weeks away. When I consider another little book Wells published just before Mind at the End of Its Tether, I find the suggestion that Wells had lost hope and given up to be preposterous. The Happy Turning concludes with an idea very similar to the conclusion of Mind at the End of It’s Tether:

So we found ourselves in agreement that the human mind may be in a phase of transition to a new, fearless, clear-headed way of living in which understanding will be the supreme interest in life, and beauty a mere smile of approval. So it is at any rate in the Dreamland to which my particular Happy Turning takes me. There shines a world “beyond good and evil”, and there, in a universe completely conscious of itself, Being achieves its end.

Well! That’s nothing other than an evolutionary jump! . . .

The rest is here: http://behindthehedge.wordpress.com/2...

[Pandit · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the kind of useless nonsense I used to write when I was a teenager. The kind of stuff that would not even make a blog.
Don't bother.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly interesting from a history-of-the-development-the-ideas-of-white-guys point of view. Certainly, a thinker before his time, but the science wasn't developed yet, nor did he have the education, to make sense out of what he was trying to understand. A self-taught guy who like a lot of self taught guys was impressed with his own thoughts and simply made stuff up.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The cinema sheet stares us in the face. That sheet is the actual fabric of our Being. Our loves, our hates, our wars and battles, are no more than phantasmagoria dancing on that fabric, themselves as insubstantial as a dream.” (p. 9)

[Joseph Bronski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and quick but a bit vague at times. Certainly 1940s man will cease to be as Homo sapiens is only <50,000 years old but I don't see life going anywhere for a billion more years or so. One could more easily argue for the end of intelligence but he doesn't make this argument.

[Ramanqu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its most value is that it affords a window to Wells' thoughts in his last days.

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the rate of metabolism increases, the rate of entropy does too.

[Bibliophobia · Rating 5 out of 5]

lets get you to bed grandpa

[Leo Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it interesting that even the smartest thinkers can't parse their personal apocalypse from the sense of an impending global one.

Wells at 79 was in HIS final year.

We're still here :)

[Aaron Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor old H.G. Wells, finally realizing the sad truth about mankind. Well, there’s always the hope that after homo sapiens are destroyed the evolutionary process will begin anew and end up with a species capable of producing utopia. Yay!

[علاء ابوغليون · Rating 3 out of 5]

اخر ما كتبه الكاتب والروائي
H. G. Wells'
وفيه يتوقع نهايه جنس البشر الحالي او تطوره الى جنس اخر اكثر تتطور وانقراض جنس البشر الحالي بكل مميازاته و خصاصئصه
كتاب جميل موجود فقط باللغه الانجليزيه عدد صفحاته حوالي 40 صفحه فقط

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wells’ final book, in which he urges all his previous essays to be ignored and put out of print. This is his final testament and he wants to let humanity know that it is doomed. An evolutionary and ethical dead end.

“The cinema sheet stares us in the face. That sheet is the actual fabric of our Being. Our loves, our hates, our wars and battles, are no more than phantasmagoria dancing on that fabric, themselves as insubstantial as a dream.”

[Marc Hutchison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very depressing little essay. Compare to Tolstoy's "Confessions". Also for a comprehensive look at the phenomenon, see Colin Wilson's " The Outsider"