This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
The Invisible Man (Pocket Penguin Classics)
and over 1.5 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? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
About the Author
H.G. Wells was born in Bromley, Kent in 1866. After working as a draper's apprentice and pupil-teacher, he won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in 1884, studying under T. H. Huxley. He was awarded a first-class honours degree in biology and resumed teaching but had to retire after a kick from an ill-natured pupil afflicted his kidneys. He worked in poverty in London as a crammer while experimenting in journalism and stories. It was with THE TIME MACHINE (1895) that he had his real breakthrough.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By S. Flaherty
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
This book is one of the ones which could have been said to have launched Science Fiction, over 100 years ago. The main problem with reading it is that you think you already know it as it has been made into a film and gone into modern parlance. But this doesn't prepare you for reading the actual story that Wells wrote. Along with everything else, Wells was a good storyteller and this is something you realise as you read this book. He portrays the protaganist, Griffin the Invisible man, very clearly as someone who has been driven insane by what has happened to him but doesn't actually realise this and so makes a deranged sort of sense as he lays out his plans for world domination - only to be bought up short by the forces of Victorian Society.
Of course, we've all heard and seen this many times since. But Wells was one of the first to show this and all later Science Fiction writers owe this to him.
You can criticise, of course. The Science is laughable, or at least seems so from a smug 21st century distance. It's easy to criticise with hindsight. Wells' strength as an author was that he could speculate, which is of course the basis of Sci-Fi. That some speculations were wrong was inevitable. And it doesn't detract from a great read. This should be read as a book of its time - a great book of its time.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Lark
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
The story of invisibility and its consequences has been dealt with in both fantasy and philosophy, I'm not exactly sure but I think it may have been Plato who suggested that anyone acquiring the power of invisibility would become corrupted by the lack of social inhibition.
Wells' tale transports the narrative into a more modern context, however I did not think that the narrative was slapstick or humourous. The story begins with a stranger visitor taking up residence in a guest house and is believed disfigured because of his appearence, the story unfolds with an explanation of how the stranger has discovered invisibility by experimentation and is hopeful about reversing the process but events transpire to frustrate these attempts. Finally the story centres on a village under siege from an unseen menace whose intend is to kill and terrorise.
There are a lot of scenes during which gentlemen scientists sit around having protracted conversations about their discoveries and adventures, the manners and morals of an earlier age are stamped all over the work, like all of Wells' books and I think this is a positive selling point. As a result I think the original story is considered less daunting than many of the retellings, such as HOLLOW MAN [DVD] [2000] or even, arguably, Predator / Predator 2: Special Edition Collection (2005) [1987] [DVD] but its not a humourous book like some of the humorous retellings, ie Memoirs Of An Invisible Man [DVD] [1992].
I would recommend this to anyone who's interested in Wells' fiction, classic science fiction or general readers, it has been overshadowed by Wells' more noted books like The War of the Worlds or The Time Machine (Penguin Classics) but I think its on a par with those books.
Wells' tale transports the narrative into a more modern context, however I did not think that the narrative was slapstick or humourous. The story begins with a stranger visitor taking up residence in a guest house and is believed disfigured because of his appearence, the story unfolds with an explanation of how the stranger has discovered invisibility by experimentation and is hopeful about reversing the process but events transpire to frustrate these attempts. Finally the story centres on a village under siege from an unseen menace whose intend is to kill and terrorise.
There are a lot of scenes during which gentlemen scientists sit around having protracted conversations about their discoveries and adventures, the manners and morals of an earlier age are stamped all over the work, like all of Wells' books and I think this is a positive selling point. As a result I think the original story is considered less daunting than many of the retellings, such as HOLLOW MAN [DVD] [2000] or even, arguably, Predator / Predator 2: Special Edition Collection (2005) [1987] [DVD] but its not a humourous book like some of the humorous retellings, ie Memoirs Of An Invisible Man [DVD] [1992].
I would recommend this to anyone who's interested in Wells' fiction, classic science fiction or general readers, it has been overshadowed by Wells' more noted books like The War of the Worlds or The Time Machine (Penguin Classics) but I think its on a par with those books.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Inspector Gadget
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
The Invisible Man (subtitled, rather pointlessly with 'A Grotesque Romance') is one of the most famous of 'horror' classics and probably the second-most regarded HG Welles novel after War of the Worlds. There is no doubt in my mind that he was a competent, imaginative writer, but the Invisible Man fails on many levels.
A bandaged stranger, latterly known as Griffin, arrives at an Inn in the village of Iping on a cold February afternoon and takes up residence where he plans to work on his experiments in peace. But the locals grow suspicious of his behavior and soon he is chased out of town because of the color of his skin, which is no color at all. While loose in the countryside he concocts extremely vague plans to get revenge or conclude his experiments. And then it ends.
Many of the chapters are no more than 5 pages long, giving the narrative a serialized feel. The story may move quickly, but it moves in short bursts with no bigger vision other than what is immediate. Griffin is also a completely unlikable character and since the rest of them only appear for no longer than a few pages we never get to really know any of them or root for someone else. It reminded me of Frankenstein in many ways (a novel I did not enjoy at all) in regarding man's arrogance toward his own kind and perversion of science as soon as impossible boundaries have been transcended, though it doesn't stick with it long enough to properly do anything with such heavy subtext.
A disappointment, but it's such a quick read that it won't weigh on your mind for very long. Curiously, my edition had a big printing error but for contrived reasons I had another identical copy without said error. I suppose that the first printing that Modern Library got out there was defective and that they soon corrected it. I do wish that they had revised the text ever so slightly as some of it becomes quite hard to follow towards the end.
A bandaged stranger, latterly known as Griffin, arrives at an Inn in the village of Iping on a cold February afternoon and takes up residence where he plans to work on his experiments in peace. But the locals grow suspicious of his behavior and soon he is chased out of town because of the color of his skin, which is no color at all. While loose in the countryside he concocts extremely vague plans to get revenge or conclude his experiments. And then it ends.
Many of the chapters are no more than 5 pages long, giving the narrative a serialized feel. The story may move quickly, but it moves in short bursts with no bigger vision other than what is immediate. Griffin is also a completely unlikable character and since the rest of them only appear for no longer than a few pages we never get to really know any of them or root for someone else. It reminded me of Frankenstein in many ways (a novel I did not enjoy at all) in regarding man's arrogance toward his own kind and perversion of science as soon as impossible boundaries have been transcended, though it doesn't stick with it long enough to properly do anything with such heavy subtext.
A disappointment, but it's such a quick read that it won't weigh on your mind for very long. Curiously, my edition had a big printing error but for contrived reasons I had another identical copy without said error. I suppose that the first printing that Modern Library got out there was defective and that they soon corrected it. I do wish that they had revised the text ever so slightly as some of it becomes quite hard to follow towards the end.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 229 reviews
4.1 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Definately considered one of my favorite books!
I read the entire book in 5 short evening reads, before bed and although the dated way its written was hard for me to read at times, the book on the whole was Great. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Koopa90
3.0 out of 5 stars
The invisible man
I was a little disappointing in his book, I would of thought that a lot more detail could have been added having set this scene.
Published 4 months ago by G McGregor
3.0 out of 5 stars
The original Invisible Man
I have been re-discovering H G Wells in Kindle downloads, though this is the first time I have read 'The Invisible Man'. Read more
Published 12 months ago by David Williams
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great concept, irritating character.
The Invisible Man is a short read, but not a particularly easy one. H.G. Wells is renowned for his technobabble and it does tend to slow down the story at times. Read more
Published 13 months ago by H. Whitehead
1.0 out of 5 stars
Rip off
Out of copyright, previously free, now a significant charge for kindle version. Cynical and enought to push me away from Kindle towards another format if it continues.
Published 14 months ago by S. P. Field
3.0 out of 5 stars
Melodramatic, pithy and surprisingly amusing...
I always thought my first foray into H.G. Wells would be The War of the Worlds - but actually this made a fantastic starting point! Read more
Published 14 months ago by Miss E. Potten
3.0 out of 5 stars
Probably great for its time, but only so-so nowadays
While the concept of the book is an interesting one, the science passable enough (see below), and the exploration of morals a good tack to take, the story itself is too linear for... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mal Ross
5.0 out of 5 stars
vivid, suspenseful, and good early sci-fi
This is a absolutely wonderful book that can be read quickly, maybe even in one sitting. It is told in the first person by an observer who knows the invisible man and is appalled... Read more
Published 21 months ago by rob crawford
4.0 out of 5 stars
Darkness Invisible
The opening scenes of this novel are superb and evocative of any number of mystery stories. A stranger, his face heavily wrapped in bandages, arrives during a violent snow storm in... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Gregory S. Buzwell
3.0 out of 5 stars
OK, but...
Like other books by H. G. Wells, I found that the technobabble is the only worthy part. He is great at convincing the reader that a certain technological achievement could be... Read more
Published 24 months ago by KellyT
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
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.
