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h.g. wells

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Bound in blue bonded leather. Gilt edges, silver titles, and raised spine.

688 pages, Leather Bound

First published January 1,1979

This edition

Format
688 pages, Leather Bound
Published
January 1, 1979 by Amaranth Press
ISBN
9780808162988
ASIN
0808162985
Language
English

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About the author

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h.g. wells

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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

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 27 votes)
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27 reviews All reviews
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Skarvalin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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If you're a syfy fan, you're gonna get around to a Wells novel. I've reviewed all six novels elsewhere, here's a summary:
Island of Dr. Moreau - 4 stars and my fav Wells, the one I'll revisit.
War of the Worlds - 4, very good also.
Invisible Man - 3
Time Machine - 3
Food of the Gods - 2
First Men on Moon - 2, the weakest
Summary - 3 stars
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Caller_of_Void
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I've unfortunately lost the well loved edition I had as a kid, but between H.G. Wells and Edgar Allen Poe, it's a tight tie to say which was my favorite as a child. I reread their stories feverishly. These stories are classic.
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honilock
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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/*
As an avid Sci-Fi reader and follower, I've loved H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Jules Vern, Edgar Allen Poe, and many of the greats as far back as the day that I began to pick up books!

This particular edition is an excellent addition to my collection. I would recommend that you make it yours as well. These stories are time encompassing classics that will never die.

Till next time...

Greg.
"Twitter"
https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorBoulwareG
*/
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Agent141
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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H.G. Wells. What is there to say? Adulterer, plagiarist, one of the fathers of science fiction, father of wargaming, and a brilliant author.

This collects six of his stories. I'd read The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds before, but the other three were new to me. They were, as with the rest of his stories, very, very good. Somewhat dated, but no less fun to read.

I'd recommend this for anybody who likes science fiction. These books are classics, and for a very good reason. And if you aren't familiar with his work already, for shame. You must correct this as soon as possible.
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jofbub
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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H. G. Wells weaves science fiction that is always thought-provoking, often delightful, and occasionally disturbing or ridiculous. In many places Wells uses his stories to promote a socialist agenda. This is most clear in "The First Men in the Moon," and less clear (or perhaps more subtle) in his other stories. The stories in this collection, ranked from my favorite to my least favorite, would be as follows:
1) The War of the Worlds
2) The Time Machine
3) The Invisible Man
4) The First Men in the Moon
5) The Island of Dr. Moreau
5) The Food of the Gods
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Otaku_cheiroso
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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My book also included "In the Days of the Comet". All these are excellent short stories.
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classicfig
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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It is apparent after reading this collection why H.G. Wells is revered as one of the founding fathers of science fiction. However, as with any short story collection, some stories are more successful than others.

The Time Machine: As a short story, this is probably the most complete. It captures well HG Wells' concerns about humanity, commercialism, knowledge, etc. through a thoroughly engaging story.

The Island of Dr. Moreau: The worst story in the collection by far, this builds off the hubbub surrounding Darwin's theories and foreshadows genetic engineering. However, the science is so faulty that it is hard to get past the ridiculousness.

War of the Worlds: The first half the story is much more successful than the second, and it has a bit of Dickensian miraculousness at the end, but the aliens he creates in the story are surprisingly non-humanoid, and he does get into the challenges of an alien invasion. The invasion is a pretty stupendous read - I just didn't feel like it kept the momentum going very well.

First Men in the Moon: This is the flip side of War of the Worlds for me, telling the story of a human invasion. The science behind how they achieve space travel is absolutely unusual and fascinating, and while physically it doesn't really make sense, it is just a conceptually elegant and wacky idea...in some ways, science fiction at its best. The aliens are in many ways less interesting to me than those of War of the Worlds, but the concepts of communication are expanded upon much more. He also really goes after some of the consumerism/scientism battles that feature in The Time Machine and Food of the Gods. The multiple, episodic endings wore on me a bit, but it was still a fun read.

Food of the Gods: This foretells the challenges of genetically modified foods or synthetic biology and, in general, what happens when technology can get ahead of the scientists who create it. It also deals with government intervention, how scientists differ from both engineers and the human race (although a bit of a narrow, cliche look), and all sorts of other social stuff in addition to the sci-fi angle. Unfortunately, the implications of the technology aren't that great (kind of as bad as Dr. Moreau), but all of the stuff around it is interesting.

Overall, I definitely recommend reading some of his works, especially First Men in the Moon and The Time Machine. It's fascinating to see how forward-thinking some of this stuff really was.
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