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The Lost World
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Amazon Review
Forget the Michael Crichton book (and Spielberg movie) that copied the title. This is the original: the terror-adventure tale of The Lost World. Writing not long after dinosaurs first invaded the popular imagination, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spins a yarn about an expedition of two scientists, a big-game hunter and a journalist (the narrator) to a volcanic plateau high over the vast Amazon rain forest. The bickering of the professors (a type Doyle knew well from his medical training) serves as witty contrast to the wonders of flora and fauna they encounter, building toward a dramatic moonlit chase scene with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. And the character of Professor George E. Challenger is second only to Sherlock Holmes in the outrageous force of his personality: he's a big man with an even bigger ego, and if you can grit your teeth through his racist behaviour towards the natives, he's a lot of fun.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
As Thinking Boy's Adventure it can't be beaten - and the narrator sounds uncannily like a driven 19th-century adventurer himself! --Rachel Redford
The author is ably supported by Glenn McCready, who delivers a reading very much in the nineteenth-century style. He plays up the characters' big personalities and celebrates the rather orotund style of the writing, which isn't as tight as in the Holmes books. Not for modern-fiction-only readers, this book will appeal most to lovers of nineteenth-century literature. --Maine Portland, Audio File
The author is ably supported by Glenn McCready, who delivers a reading very much in the nineteenth-century style. He plays up the characters' big personalities and celebrates the rather orotund style of the writing, which isn't as tight as in the Holmes books. Not for modern-fiction-only readers, this book will appeal most to lovers of nineteenth-century literature. --Maine Portland, Audio File
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book was written over a hundred years ago but you'd never know it. Conan Doyle writes a gripping adventure story that will astound you, if you only thought he wrote Sherlock Holmes stories. The thing about Conan Doyle and indeed H G Wells is that their stories can be read today with ease and great enjoyment. You will not read a novel more entertaining than The Lost World this year. Like a fine wine this story improves with age.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was really a very talented writer, and he had many tales to tell that did not involve the famous Sherlock Holmes. The Lost World is perhaps the best known of his noncanonical stories. He describes a lush, mysterious plateau in the remote Amazonian regions of South America in which creatures thought to have died out eons ago still stalk the earth. Professor Challenger, while possessing some of the confidence and intellect of a Holmes, could not be more different in his passions and boisterous, conceited behavior; it is his contention that a "lost world" does exist. Recruiting a disbelieving zoologist, a famed adventurer, and a fresh, young newspaper man to go with him, the group sets out for the inaccessible reaches of the jungle and manages, after some great effort, to reach the isolated plateau. By an act of treachery by an Indian bearing a grudge against the famed Lord Roxton, their portal of entry is destroyed, leaving them trapped in the mysterious new land they dub Maple White Land after an American who earlier discovered the place but died soon thereafter (but not before encountering Professor Challenger in the Amazon and revealing to him its existence and location). They build a camp and begin investigating the area, quickly discovering unknown forms of plant life and animal life, including dinosaurs and pterodactyls. As if the monstrous reptilian beasts aren't hazard enough for them, they soon find themselves besieged by a vicious race of ape-men, whom they eventually take on in alliance with a separate race of Indians. The newspaperman narrates events in a series of postings he manages to get sent back to London, describing the creatures and their habits. Each man is called upon to distinguish himself through deeds of heroism in order to escape this newly discovered world and return to civilization with the scientific coup of all time.
Conan Doyle's characterizations and descriptions of both man and beast are rich and vibrant. Ironically, the lost world seems much more real than the world of London. The scientific meetings held in front of a number of disbelieving scholars result in great commotions, tempests of defamations and praises, fainting women, and combatant men. When Challenger reveals his proof of the exploits that have been related, untold chaos and zeal follow quickly on the heels of one another. As for the reporter, he made the astounding journey because of a woman--while this part of the story is somewhat silly, it is nevertheless fitting. The woman he loves declares that she can only love a man who has taken great risks and won fame for himself, and this sets our protagonist on as daring an adventure as could be found at any time. It may well be that such compulsions of the heart have led to many great acts and discoveries in history; it is even more probable that such exploits have been rewarded in the predictable way our protagonist's was, the details of which I will endeavor not to disclose here.
All in all, it's a wonderful tale of adventure, cunning, heroics, and scientific achievement. Somewhat surprisingly, there are not that many dinosaurs described in the story. We have a fleeting glimpse of a stegiosaur, but we mostly read of medium-sized dinosaurs such as the "iguanadon." There is no brontosaurus or T-Rex here, which is somewhat disappointing. The jungle action actually centers around the ape-men and Indians, as once again, even amid the prehistoric realm of Jurassic life, we find that humanoids, even of the most primitive type, are the most dangerous, ruthless animals on the earth.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By bandcandy
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Lost World is an exciting, well written story with beautifully drawn characters and touches of humour and philosophy which raise it to the highest level of literature. I particularly enjoyed the dynamic between the two professors. As well as being a classic story of adventure and discovery - and presumably an inspiration behind the film Jurassic Park 2 [DVD], there is a strong personal story of self-discovery for the central character and narrator, Edward Malone. The only thing that caused me to raise my eyebrows at times was the degree of intervention the scientists and explorers allowed themselves in the lost world they visit - but this was written in the early twentieth century when a different ethos prevailed. I was also mildly distracted by the use of American spelling in places in a book written by a Scottish author; but without another version to compare, I cannot tell if this was a modification made for the Kindle version. All in all, highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Un-PC fun
Why would a grown man in this century sit down and read this book and then think WOW! I shall tell you, this is just damn good fun to read. Read more
Published 1 day ago by JimmyG
3.0 out of 5 stars
Book
It's a classic tale what more is there to say about it except now in electronic form and paper form.
Published 7 days ago by John Fulton
5.0 out of 5 stars
classic
one of the great writers of our time, at his best. can't recommend this enough. truly inspiring book for all.
Published 7 days ago by Chunkyman65
5.0 out of 5 stars
The lost world
A fantastic story, with many twists and turns. Very interesting and glad to have reread the book. Ae must read.
Published 11 days ago by B. Kubiak
4.0 out of 5 stars
worth reading.
A classic adventure story of it's time and well worth reading now. Gripping storyline and believable characters. Read more
Published 26 days ago by Laura
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice to see a non Sherlock story...
Only downloaded and read this to see how the author got away with writing something which wasn't a Sherlock Holmes book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Pappa Bravo
4.0 out of 5 stars
Blast from the past
I chose this rating of 4 stars for this book by sir Arthur Conan Doyle, because of the fact that I am 53 years off age I found myself totally taken into this quest that lay before... Read more
Published 1 month ago by John snape
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Its great to find that you can get most of the classics for free on the Kindle. I have been working my way through them. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Shane Stewart
4.0 out of 5 stars
Help the monsters have arrived
A great adventure story for all ages
Another old classic but worth reading again as with all his writings a well crafted story
Another old classic but worth reading again as with all his writings a well crafted story
Published 1 month ago by Jon. F
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Lost World
I have always had a love for the Sherlock Holmes books, and Arthur Conan Doyle in general, when I saw that the Lost World was free, I was amazed. I still am. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Hugo Spindler
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