The War of the Worlds

Inget omslag — H. G. Wells: The War of the Worlds (2006, 1st World Library)

E-book

På English

Publicerades 6 augusti 2006 av 1st World Library.

ISBN:: 978-1-59540-080-2
OCLC-nummer:: 70150711

From the book:No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of …

From the book:No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment.

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Mr. Beedell, Roke Julian Lockhart (RJLB) recenserade The war of the worlds av H. G. Wells

A nigh-unbelievable prediction of technological and scientific advancement.

5 stjärnor

As at lib.reviews/review/b852de8f-8c5b-4338-8ae6-4fefc8d6496e:

That this novel was serialised in 1897 remains difficult to believe, because, for an author to possess such accurate knowledge of the effects of compromised immunology, and predict:

that the circuit would replace the wheel, in driving machinery, and

that the laser would exist

…and utilise these as the fundamental premise of the story is impressive beyond belief. Even irrespective of this, to script a mesmeric novel requires consistent, correct pace, which this novel does. However, even more impressively, to create such a novel about a Victorian alien invasion, without it appearing contrived – or hopelessly… hopeless – requires serious consideration for the weakness of what should be whatsoever weak. Yet, he, a Victorian, achieved this, and being an educated, Victorian Englishman, communicated it perfectly.