Dinosaurs! How could you not want to read about them? What what?

The scientific accuracy doesn't really line up with what we know today, but this book is about taking a ferry to South America to see living dinosaurs, so let's shelve those Dinosaur Encyclopedias for a moment. I think it's fair to say the author has taken some liberties with this one.

Professor Challenger is an interesting character, but I found as the book progressed he played second fiddle to Lord John Roxton--the tough outdoorsman and adventurer. If I came across the other stories in the Professor Challenger series I'd probably read them (although I hear they suffer from a lack of dinosaurs). I think I was expecting the book to be better, in all honesty, but it was still enjoyable and held my attention. Sure did take a while to get to the meat and potatoes, though. . . .

I've read some reviews that complain about racism in this book. I don't get a dark and sinister racism vibe from the book. I think those reviews are mostly from people who enjoy having their panties in a bunch and want the veneer of progressiveness. Everything written a hundred years ago sounds racist to us now, yes we get it. Thanks for the reminder.

A solid romp. 3.5 stars, but earning that extra point-five for including dinos!

I preferred Challenger to Holmes and dug up all the Challenger stories when I was younger. I agree with the "blurb" forget the newer story by this name and read this one. Great "high adventure" you don't seem to see anymore.

Be aware that this is an older book and like others of its era it is NOT PC. There are words used in the text that were acceptable then and are not acceptable now. If you are aware of this and can read the book without it bothering you then you'll find that the book is well written (if you like Conan Doyle that is...it's still him after all).

English gentlemen exploring a plateau where time has "stalled" (yah, I could have said "time stood still" but you know...its been done). Of course they end stranded on said plateau, have many adventures (not listed here lest I spoil the book for you). Professor Challenger has been laughed at, ridiculed, and insulted for years over his original report that he'd discovered dinosaurs in South America...he's also assaulted several reporters over it. So, he ends up leading this expedition. Will they survive? Will they find great scientific truths? Will they discover great riches?

Will they get home alive?

Their English, what do you think?

:)

5.9/10
Based on my previous experience reading Mr. Doyle's work, i thought i would like this more than i actually did.
The beginning of the book, for me is the strongest part of the story. The introduction and initial interaction of the characters, were more interesting than the journey itself.
Overall i enjoyed the book but i wouldn't look out for the next adventures of Dr. Challenger.

“There are heroisms all round us waiting to be done. It’s for men to do them, and for women to reserve their love as a reward for such men.(p. 4)”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s best-known literary contribution is Sherlock Holmes, the Baker Street detective who now has name recognition in every culture on the planet, with the exception, perhaps, of an occasional South American tribe sequestered in the rainforest that has yet to discover cotton underwear and wi-fi, let alone pulp novels from the late-19th century.

Probably not as well-known is a series of novels (five, to be precise) featuring his protagonist, Professor Challenger, a genius-level but rather ill-tempered scientist who goes on wild adventures that nobody in their right mind (and certainly not the majority of Victorian England) would ever believe.

“The Lost World”, published in 1912, was the first in the series. If it rings a bell, it’s because the book has been made into no less than six films throughout the years, not including sequels. It was also a TV show on TNT in the late-90s, and the title was used by Michael Crichton for the sequel to his best-selling novel “Jurassic Park” as a literary nod to Doyle’s influence.

In a nutshell, Professor Challenger has essentially been kicked out of any good standing among the British scientific community for propounding a wild theory that dinosaurs may not have gone extinct but, theoretically, could have survived in pockets throughout the world dependent on certain environmental factors. He not only believes this theory but also believes that he can find proof if given the chance to lead an expedition into uncharted sections of South America.

A skeptical rival scientist, Professor Summerlee, an adventurer named Lord John Roxton, and an intrepid journalist, Edward Malone, decide to take the professor up on his challenge.

The resultant story is a far-fetched but entertaining tall tale of high adventure in the jungles of South America, in which our team of heroes encounters earthquakes, rock-slides, pterodactyls, giant apes, and human tribes that have never encountered British explorers. Oh, and, of course, lots of dinosaurs.

If one can get past all the 19th-century misogyny, racism, and outlandish science that Doyle seems to relish, “The Lost World” is a heap of good harmless fun. To be fair, the racism isn’t as bad as can be found in some of Doyle’s contemporaries, and the science was, actually, quite current for its time. Doyle’s misogyny (as evinced in the quote above) is never adequately tested, though, as there are really no prominent female characters of which to speak.

Almost every 'dinosaurs are alive' movie owes something to this book; a fantastic adventure story for young boys and girls that will make them curious about science and adventure. There is also an element of working together as a team in this book that I think has lessons for emergency planning, funny how and where you find ideas!

It's a classic tale of adventure and discovery that goes something like this:

I'm a journalist and my girlfriend doesn't want to marry me because apparently I'm not adventurous enough. So I decided to join an expedition with the narcissistic and venomous Professor Challenger to the Amazonian rain forest so that he can prove his (universally dismissed) discovery of a lost world of dinosaurs and so that I can prove my manhood to my beloved.

So we go, along with a couple other adventurers. Holy cow, there really are dinosaurs! What beautiful beasts! Isn't it amazing that they are still alive! We can't wait to shoot them all and take their corpses back to England.

But uh oh, there are also a bunch of savage ape men that want to kill us and probably eat us because they're probable cannibals; I know this because their skin is not white.

Will we escape with our hides? What about the hides of a bunch of officially extinct dinosaurs? Will I win the heart of my astoundingly shallow girlfriend? You must read to find out!

Какво ли не би направил един млад мъж, за да заслужи любовта на желаната жена?

Всичко, дори ако това означава участие в налудничава експедиция из дебрите на непозната част от джунглите на Южна Америка, под ръководството на сприхавия и ексцентричен професор Челинджър.

Чудесно приключенско четиво, за малки и големи мечтатели!

One of the two original, popular "dinosaur" novels.

By Charles van Buren on May 2, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

This review of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD is from the Amazon Classics edition, December 5, 2017. Reviews of this edition also appear at the Amazon listing for a different edition published by Amazon Digital Services, March 30, 2011. Appearing under both lisings are multiple reviews of Michael Crichton's THE LOST WORLD. For instance, of the 35 one star reviews listed on, May 1, 2018, 25 are clearly reviews of the Crichton book. Only 2 are clearly reviews of Doyle's novel.  I have now discovered that my review and many others of Doyle's book appear under at least one of Amazon's listings for Crichton's book.

Doyle's THE LOST WORLD was originally published as a magazine serial in 1912. It was the second story of modern humans meeting dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals to meet with widespread public appreciation. The first was Jules Verne's 1864, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Doyle's book was followed by Edgar Rice Burroughs' THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, in 1918. Over the following years, Burroughs wrote several more "dinosaur" novels. Doyle, Verne and Burroughs are obviously the main forerunners of Michael Crichton's JURASSIC PARK, books and movies.

Doyle's book has a team of four European explorers trapped on the South American plateau of the lost world. SPOILERS AHEAD: there are dinosaurs chasing humans but not devouring them. With but four explorers, Doyle would have run out of characters. Instead, the book concentrates on the many dangers which confront the explorers, character development, suspense and acrimonious arguments within the scientific community. As one would expect from Arthur Conan Doyle, the novel is well written, but don't expect Sherlock Holmes meets dinosaurs. Several movies and TV programs have been based on the book. Some pretty good and some pretty silly. My favorite is Irwin Allen's 1960 movie with Michael Rennie and Claude Raines. It does not follow the book very closely but Rennie, Raines and Jill St. John make up for a lot of the sometimes silly alterations of the plot

I don't like to end the book so soon, I really love this book although I expected something gorier like dinosaur killing the whole tribe or cannibals eat human flesh. Still, I did love this book in many ways and as long as I live I'll treasure this book forever. Hey, stop looking to me like that. I can still remember all the things I read from the book. Amen.

The whole journey started when a Gazette Irish journalist named, Malone, went go straight to the house of notorious Professor Challenged claims that dinosaurs exist. To give them proof the scientist sent away a team and of course himself to journey that they won't regret forever that talks about surviving, extinction and friendship. But when they went home, a sudden change of fate is waiting for them

This is a good book and reminds me of The Time Machine. It has the same narration with the book and the story was kind of documentation by letters of their journey through the land of extinction. There are boring parts in the book and mostly those parts are in the beginning before they left. Anyway, I recommend this book to everyone who loves to read Arthur Conan Doyle's works and people who love prehistoric animals.

As a science student I have problem regarding the usage of a scientific name on chapter 8. About Nuttonia vexillaria said to be a rare plant and the second word must start in small letters to follow the rules regarding naming a plant. But I'm not sure if the plant was in Latin because I did a research online and can't find the plant.

Another unconditional moment on the book was the fight between the Indian tribe and the Ape-men. I was so shock that I can't stop reading that part that I want to know what happened to them and in the end, my heart broke into pieces and nobody can help but to observe the real meaning of extinction. It was a great example and I think most of the readers find it interesting since it has a symbol of how things extinct in real world.

If you don't like spoiler please don't continue.

I also find the naming of the Lake funny and what happened to him and to the girl in the near end. I was so ashamed of him being too young minded bout love and so on. Although romance did not emphasize in the book, it happens that it was so funny that it keeps on popping in my head. The right part, they did not even proved everyone that dinosaurs exist and it was the best thing happened than killing extinct animals for selfish rights.

When Lord Roxton mentioned the blue gay, I have this feeling that diamonds exist from them. It was simple, I watch movies adopted from the book and they usually surrounded by blue clay or sand and same with the other books I read such as Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game. And why I mentioned it, because everyone had their chance to make their dreams come true in the end. After a cup of coffee or tea, all their hard work payed in a very surprising way.

Review posted on n  Old-Fashioned Readern.

Rating: The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle, 4 Sweets

Challenges:
Book #256 for 2011

The only thing primitive is the racist narrator.

Some witty dialogue and interesting observations, but overall, the plot dragged quite a bit and was predictable. Challenger was really the only character of any real interest. I also feel more than a bit of nausea when faced with the "going on an adventure so your love interest will finally see you" trope. *Gags just typing that*

Is this a well-paced novel brimming with bracing action and adventure sequences and vivid descriptions of unusual flora and fauna? Certainly. But I'm sure you can also find those things in plenty of other books that are just as entertaining and exciting but not nearly so blatantly sexist and racist.

First of all, the four main characters are miserable assholes. The narrator, Edward, is the least offensive, but he's still a whiny doormat and says some pretty awful things about women. I don't have a problem with unlikable characters in general because they're often interesting and complex in ways that wholly likable ones are not. But I wanted all of these guys dead by the time the book ended (spoiler alert: they are not).

There are two named women, and they are both depicted horribly. The first chapter opens with Edward complaining about being friend-zoned by his longtime acquaintance, Gladys. I can't say that I blame her when he believes that "the bent head, the averted eye, the faltering voice, the wincing figure" are "the true signals of passion" in a woman. Doyle depicts Gladys as a shallow, selfish caricature who is reserving her love for a big, strong adventurer so that his glories "would be reflected upon [her]" and she would "be envied for him." The other female character, Professor Challenger's wife, Jessie, tells Edward that she knows how to keep her violent, hot-tempered husband in check. Yet, a chapter later, she chastises Challenger, and he proceeds to, literally, pick her up and place her, like a child, upon a pedestal he calls the "stool of penance," where he leaves her until she is forced to submit and beg for forgiveness. After this, women literally disappear until page 157 when Edward decides he wants to name a lake after Gladys. Despite her name barely crossing his mind in all the pages between. Despite hardly a single acknowledgment until then that women even exist. You could excise each and every reference to women without altering the book's story in any significant way.

And, oh boy, the racism. It's there from the start, but it ramps up the moment our heroes arrive in South America. They never listen to the advice of their indigenous companions because, as Challenger grumbles, it would be foolish "to trust the fallacious instincts of undeveloped savages rather than the highest product of modern European culture." All native peoples either fall into the vengeful and evil stereotype or the "noble savage" stereotype with absolutely no room for nuance.

Later, everyone but Edward is captured by "ape-men" (who feel kind of like Doyle just threw them in for the hell of it - and, oh yeah, to allow for more racism). When he helps his friends escape by means of violence, there's a nauseating passage wherein Edward waxes philosophical about his "tender heart" in order to justify his blood lust. They also save a group of captured natives, and, of course, are hailed as white saviors for it: "The whole tribe lay down upon the ground before us in homage." In a quote that actually made me want to die, here is what our white heroes lead the tribe in doing to the ape-men: "The males were exterminated, Ape Town was destroyed, the females and young were driven away to live in bondage." So the literal extermination and enslavement of an entire race. How noble and civilized of them.

It's hard to enjoy the book for the lighthearted adventure romp that it's supposed to be when it perpetuates such vile stereotypes. I've considered the possibility that the book is satirical or ironic or that it's simply a product of its times, but, if satire, it's way too heavily-veiled, and just because such ideas may have been predominant at the time it was written doesn't mean we have to accept the book at face value now.