The Invisible Man / The Island of Dr. Moreau

Four Masterworks (1895‒1898) #2, 3

by H.G. Wells

H. G." Wells (1866 –1946) was an English writer. He was prolific in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is called a "father of science fiction" Some of his early novels, called "scientific romances", invented several themes now classic in science fiction in such works as The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds.

Genres: Classics, Science Fiction, Fiction

306 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2004

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

[Brooklyn Ramsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty enjoyable, not crazy concepts for modern-day but i can see the impact this had on science fiction at the time.
the invisible man was very funny, i was rooting for him the entire time tbh. it got a bit boring at parts but it was short so it made up for it!
the island of dr moreau was super engaging, i loved the discussion of ethics, humanity, and mercy that it contained. i literally cried at some parts and i absolutely flew through it.
hg wells is pretty good 👍

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't read these two classics since the late 1970s. I have been meaning to reread them for years, and the Armchair Fiction 2-in-1 edition provided a great opportunity, since I wanted to get this for the funky cover art anyway. Both are great stories of science with, shall we say, bad outcomes. In THE INVISIBLE MAN, a scientist, as the title implies, discovers a formula to make himself invisible, but cannot find an antidote, and eventually descends into madness and murderousness. In THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, a survivor of a sunken ship is given refuge on an island occupied by Dr. Moreau and his assistant, Montgomery, who are engaged in animal experimentation that is nothing short of horrific.

[Anthony Messina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook: I have not read Wells in quite a long time. Island of Dr. Moreau was on my list for a long time and The Invisible Man was one of the first books I remember reading in grammar school (paired with Time Machine) and spurred my interest in sci-fi

[Emma Grayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 27/28 - the island of dr. Moreau is so good!! Invisible man, not so much :/

The invisible man

As you can imagine, about an invisible man, but who was once ordinary and through a series of self-experimentation, he became invisible. Of course, being invisible seems like the greatest thing on earth, until you are subjected to the prejudices of being so different and totally ostracized. The book comes to a head when his otherness and being treated as such causes him to fly into a rage and he becomes threatening and more angry that he normally is. Until finally he is killed by the local police and slowly fades back to his normal self. Just okay.

The island of dr. Moreau - written as a letter by Edward Prendick, stranded for a time on the island

“The crying sounded even louder out of doors. It was as if all the pain in the world had found a voice.” P 206 - when Dr. Moreau is conducting the vivisection on the puma that was brought in on the same boat as Prendick had been traveling on before finding himself on the island (he was initially kicked off the boat carrying him and then not let on the island, he jumped into a dinghy until Montgomery (Moreau’s right-hand man) rescued him and brought him to shore)

I say I became habituated to the beast people, a thousand things which had seemed unnatural and repulsive speedily became natural and ordinary to me. P 255

…their mock-human existence, begun in agony, was one long internal struggle, one long dread of Moreau - and for what? It was the wantonness of it that stirred me. P 268

“Though I do not expect that the terror of that island will ever altogether leave me. At most times it lies far in the back of my mind, a mere distant cloud, a memory, and a faint distrust; but there are times when the little cloud spreads until it obscures the whole sky.” P 306

[Sophie Lagacé · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tackling these H.G. Wells books for the Coursera SF/F class was a lot of reading, but it was also a treat; in the first five weeks, we had not had anything I think truly belongs in the science fiction category. Even Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Poe’s more pseudo-scientific tales like “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” do not actually spend more than a short description on anything science-like; more importantly, they do not bring anything from the realm of science as more than trappings in a few scenes, whereas Wells uses its ideas and methods in constructing the structure of the novels.

I also enjoy Wells’ ability to use very different tones and styles from book to book — for example, The Island of Doctor Moreau is adventure and horror, The Invisible Man has a little bit of scariness in it but mostly humour. In fact, I nominate The Invisible Man as a precursor in the British tradition now exemplified by the long-running Doctor Who, of mixing fear, adventure, and humour.

[sunanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

“What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?”

truthfully i didn't, particularly like this book.

HUMANS ARE SELFISH AND I KNOW IT...

[Brittney Colburn-Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Invisible Man was two stars but The Island of Dr. Moreau was an easy five stars.