The H.G. Wells Reader

by H.G. Wells, John Huntington (Editor)

Collects five of H. G. Wells's most notable works, including The Island of Doctor Moreau, The War of the Worlds, and The Time Machine, and offers readers a perspective on the author's intriguing scientific foresight.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Classics

536 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1996

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

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone who professes to value retro science fiction above all genres, with a particular fetish for time travel, I'm baffled with the fact that as of this writing (June 2022), I have yet to read Wells's The Time Machine, a book that's been on my shelf since I was nine, courtesy of the MV Logos. I guess frequent viewings of the movie version starring Rod Taylor on TV before spoiled any curiosity I had for the book, but it's in the "want to read" list.

I read this anthology in the post Y2K decade between 2001-2010. The entries are composed of short stories and excerpts from Wells's numerous literary contributions to science fiction. And social satire, I now belatedly realize. Among the excerpts, I've only read one novel, intriguing for its unabashed premise of depravity. I also claim familiarity with the selected section of The War of the Worlds, which I read in its Illustrated Classics comics version as a child.

Among the fourteen stories, only one has held the strongest impression, and this was The Country of the Blind, a story which drew its irony--literature's main attraction--from an aphorism I liked to bandy since I was a teen: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huntington’s The H.G. Wells Reader - - got this one as a birthday gift. And what a gift it was. Modern sci-fi owes a lot to Wells. His substance and style (while indicative of his time period) set an important tone for the genre as a whole. His thoughtful prose illuminates how humanity is wrapped up in science and how science can’t escape its legacy of humanity. These excerpts and short stories are brilliant, plain and simple. (Only criticism is on their typesetter - - lines are too long with typefaces too small there, pal!)