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fionacalda's review
1.0
Gave up half-way through. Is this a novel or a "history" lesson? Not enough plot for me!
thomcat's review
3.0
Wells predicted not only the first atomic bomb but also the search for weapons of mass destruction. The difference is that his was successful.
barryhaworth's review
3.0
I've read this book just once before. Written before the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, it is perhaps the first science fiction novel to realistically describe nuclear war. Not bad for thirty years before the Manhattan Project.
This book makes for an interesting read. On the one hand you have the nuclear technology. Wells imagines nuclear power as coming about through artificially triggered radioactivity. Radioactive decay is induced in a heavy metal and power produced. The device needed is small & light and large amounts of power can be released, so that cars and aeroplanes are powered by nuclear sources. Ah, if only it were so. Wells also seems not to know about the dangers of radiation. Nuclear bombs are what Wells calls "continuously exploding". One of his "Carolinium" bombs does not release its power all in an instant, but releases it instead at the same rate as a regular explosive, with the difference that it continues for weeks and months (a half life of 17 days is mentioned). This means that a small bomb (dropped out of a biplane, in a war imagined to take place in the 1950s) will devastate a large area and render it uninhabitable for years.
The other aspect to the book is the social commentary. Wells imagines society as being unable to deal with either the disruption caused by the new technology, or with its use in warfare, and imagines a new society arising from the ashes of the old. The social comment is just as dated as the technology, and while I am no economist or sociologist I can see many ways where our current society performs much better than the society Wells was writing to criticise.
Still, an interesting read and well work the effort, if alternative visions of technology or society appeal to you.
This book makes for an interesting read. On the one hand you have the nuclear technology. Wells imagines nuclear power as coming about through artificially triggered radioactivity. Radioactive decay is induced in a heavy metal and power produced. The device needed is small & light and large amounts of power can be released, so that cars and aeroplanes are powered by nuclear sources. Ah, if only it were so. Wells also seems not to know about the dangers of radiation. Nuclear bombs are what Wells calls "continuously exploding". One of his "Carolinium" bombs does not release its power all in an instant, but releases it instead at the same rate as a regular explosive, with the difference that it continues for weeks and months (a half life of 17 days is mentioned). This means that a small bomb (dropped out of a biplane, in a war imagined to take place in the 1950s) will devastate a large area and render it uninhabitable for years.
The other aspect to the book is the social commentary. Wells imagines society as being unable to deal with either the disruption caused by the new technology, or with its use in warfare, and imagines a new society arising from the ashes of the old. The social comment is just as dated as the technology, and while I am no economist or sociologist I can see many ways where our current society performs much better than the society Wells was writing to criticise.
Still, an interesting read and well work the effort, if alternative visions of technology or society appeal to you.
lord_tyronisis's review
3.0
This is supposed to be Wells’ utopian fantasy, but frankly I found it frightening.
Also weirdly sexist
Also weirdly sexist
silenttardis's review
4.0
Its amazing that a book that was written more than 100 years ago, had so much about the future as this one, I mean, the narrator explained in such details the outcome of a nuclear bomb, of course there are some things that are not totally correct, but still wells imagination is so over the top, that really makes me wonder, of the modern authors that describe future apocalypses, how many of them will look like wells when he wrote this book… yes it’s a scary though but still a possibility.
It’s clear from reading this book that the theme was something that was a concern to wells, he did a pretty good research about nuclear bombs, the results, and how could the world could recover and even prevent this kind of situations, I do feel that wells was a socialist and the utopia that he dreamt was very much based in those beliefs, but that aside, this book is a pearl, really!, a travel to the past, that feels like going to the future itself.
I highly recommend this book to the future generations, I mean people should be recommending reading this book as much as the war of the worlds or the time machine, the English could feel a bit outdated in some situations but also quite modern.
Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.
It’s clear from reading this book that the theme was something that was a concern to wells, he did a pretty good research about nuclear bombs, the results, and how could the world could recover and even prevent this kind of situations, I do feel that wells was a socialist and the utopia that he dreamt was very much based in those beliefs, but that aside, this book is a pearl, really!, a travel to the past, that feels like going to the future itself.
I highly recommend this book to the future generations, I mean people should be recommending reading this book as much as the war of the worlds or the time machine, the English could feel a bit outdated in some situations but also quite modern.
Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.
kriziaannacastro's review
reflective
slow-paced
1.0
Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the free copy in return for a review.
This is my first H.G. Wells novel. I chose it because of all the good things I heard about HG Wells. Before reading the book, I did some research and found out that H.G. Wells predicted the invention of the atomic bomb and the destruction it brings. At under 200 pages, this was supposed to be an easy read but it was not. It was slow paced and there was no real protagonist. It was a weird book and I was really bored. It took me several days to finish. I think I am not the audience for this book. Despite this, I still hope for the future that this book foresee.
This is my first H.G. Wells novel. I chose it because of all the good things I heard about HG Wells. Before reading the book, I did some research and found out that H.G. Wells predicted the invention of the atomic bomb and the destruction it brings. At under 200 pages, this was supposed to be an easy read but it was not. It was slow paced and there was no real protagonist. It was a weird book and I was really bored. It took me several days to finish. I think I am not the audience for this book. Despite this, I still hope for the future that this book foresee.
venerablemonster's review
3.0
For all the foresight that Wells seemed to have in respect to the destructiveness of man, it's a laughable second half that shows his utter naivety and ignorance. It was an amusing moment when he brought up Candide. I had, in fact, been thinking of Voltaire's piece for a bit before that point. Voltaire, for his part, I believe would have lambasted Wells for this utopian (honestly distopian/totalitarian) nonsense should their timelines have aligned.
How Wells addresses the council and remakes the world is really telling of his laughable views. Add in the gratuitous narrative of Karenin on gender in the final chapters, and this book really shows its 1913 origins.
My greatest curiosity is really regarding what Wells would say when confronted with the world that had become in the last century since this publishing. What would he have to say.
That all being said, that's not to say that this book isn't worth reading. I believe it is. But one needs to use analytical thinking and look beyond the atomic context that everyone seems to be hung up on.
How Wells addresses the council and remakes the world is really telling of his laughable views. Add in the gratuitous narrative of Karenin on gender in the final chapters, and this book really shows its 1913 origins.
My greatest curiosity is really regarding what Wells would say when confronted with the world that had become in the last century since this publishing. What would he have to say.
That all being said, that's not to say that this book isn't worth reading. I believe it is. But one needs to use analytical thinking and look beyond the atomic context that everyone seems to be hung up on.
nereid71's review
3.0
This was an unusual book which at times is written in a very historical textbook-like manner in some distant future looking back upon our times. In other places, the narrative becomes more story-like and focussed upon certain individuals who have an impact on major events. This book is renowned for Wells' predictions of global warfare, the use of planes in battle and the development of nuclear weapons. It also places a strong emphasis on a social move towards gender equality and predicts genetic engineering. This book also very graphically describes the violent consequences of war very well. It was ab interesting read, but despite the fact that Wells is one of my favourite authors, I do not believe from a literary stance that this is one of his stronger novels. Completed January 17 2014.