- Paperback: 249 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Distribution Services; New edition edition (27 Feb 1978)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006152457
- ISBN-13: 978-0006152453
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 10.2 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,323,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
In the Days of the Comet
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In the Days of the Comet is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of H. G. (Herbert George) Wells then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Born Herbert George Wells in Kent in 1866, H. G. Wells was an outspoken socialist and pacifist, whose works caused some controversy. He is more widely known as a science fiction writer for the novels that he published between 1895 and 1901: The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, When the Sleeper Wakes and The First Men in the Moon. All, except for When the Sleeper Wakes, have been made into films. Along with Jules Verne, H. G. Wells is also known as 'the Father of Science Fiction'. His later novels were more realistic and he wrote many genres, including contemporary novels, history and social commentary. H. G. Wells died in 1946.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
I SAW a grey-haired man, a figure of hale age, sitting at a desk and writing. Read the first page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt
I SAW a grey-haired man, a figure of hale age, sitting at a desk and writing. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
William Leadford is a young London Socialist, leading a life of quiet desperation. Around him, the whole world seems to be unraveling, as capitalist wage war on their own workers, and nation rises up against nation. And through it all, a comet has entered the Solar System, and may indeed be aimed straight at Earth. Can the system that dominates men's lives survive its seeming inevitable destruction? And if the comet should strike the planet, what will be the result?
This now largely forgotten work was written by H.G. Wells (1866-1946) in 1906, during his brief sojourn with the Fabian Society. This book is less science fiction than his earlier works, such as the Invisible Man and the War of the Worlds, and is more of a political polemic. In it, we get to see the inevitable destruction of the capitalist system that the antediluvian Socialists predicted. But more, Wells uses the comet as a vehicle to posit a new utopia, where man has awakened from his childhood as a species and puts behind him such things as private ownership of land, nationalism, religion, and so much more. Indeed, this book marks Wells' open advocation of free love, which eroded his popularity among the reading public.
Now, as for the book itself, I am of two minds. The book starts out rather slowly, and I found myself rather bored with it. But, as it continued, it began to pick up steam, and became quite an interesting read. This is one of Wells' better works of fiction, being much better (in my opinion) than Tono-Bungay and the Food of the Gods.
So, if you are a fan of Edwardian literature, or just like a good story, then you will definitely like this book. I highly recommend it.
Format:Paperback
Despite its title and ostensible theme, this is only SF in the most superficial sense. It is a novel about alienation from contemporary life and about the desire for justice and vengeance against the perceived authors of that injustice. The narrator William Leadford's rejection of contemporary (turn of the 19th/20th century) capitalism is mixed with his rage and desire for vengeance after being rejected by his lover Nettie in favour of a local aristocrat. To add to the misery, towards the middle of the novel, war breaks out between Britain and Germany, mostly consisting of naval engagements in the North Sea, though there is a prescient reference to the "heaped slaughter of many thousands of men" (this novel was written in 1905).
The comet's crash with Earth gives forth a green vapour that somehow changes the nitrogen in the atmosphere and increases human brainpower to the extent that everyone learns to love their fellow man and co-operate. In the pen of a less skilful writer, this idea could fail dismally but the change is brilliantly described in terms of being an almost religious redemption of the souls and minds of all humans, or perhaps in more modern words, a vast injection of a positive mental attitude that transforms everyone's outlook on the world and on each other. They then create a communist society (in the pure classical sense of being communitarian, not the Marxist sense). Clearly this reflects the author's desire for such a human transformation, but it is a sad commentary on human nature that it took such a cosmic catalyst for this change to take place. The mass burning at the end of pre-Change artifacts struck me as horrific, though.
The comet's crash with Earth gives forth a green vapour that somehow changes the nitrogen in the atmosphere and increases human brainpower to the extent that everyone learns to love their fellow man and co-operate. In the pen of a less skilful writer, this idea could fail dismally but the change is brilliantly described in terms of being an almost religious redemption of the souls and minds of all humans, or perhaps in more modern words, a vast injection of a positive mental attitude that transforms everyone's outlook on the world and on each other. They then create a communist society (in the pure classical sense of being communitarian, not the Marxist sense). Clearly this reflects the author's desire for such a human transformation, but it is a sad commentary on human nature that it took such a cosmic catalyst for this change to take place. The mass burning at the end of pre-Change artifacts struck me as horrific, though.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Book very simple typed format not quite as expected but complete and readable which was the point after all!quick service from order to receipt, no problems.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
