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Zusatztext “Written with astonishing animation and lucidity.” —G. K. Chesterton Informationen zum Autor Herbert George Wells was an influential English writer, best known for his works in science fiction, though his prolific output spanned various genres, including history, social commentary, politics, and autobiography. Born on September 21, 1866, in Bromley, London, Wells attended the Normal School of Science in London, where he studied biology under Thomas Henry Huxley. Wells initially worked as a teacher and journalist before turning to writing full time. Over his career, he penned more than fifty novels, along with numerous short stories and non-fiction works. His early works, such as "The Time Machine,The War of the Worlds," and "The Invisible Man," helped establish him as one of the pioneers of modern science fiction. He also explored themes of social justice, the possibilities of science and technology, and the complexities of human nature in works like "The History of Mr. Polly" and "The Shape of Things to Come." Throughout his life, Wells engaged in political and philosophical discourse, influenced by thinkers like Mark Twain and Plato. He died on August 13, 1946, in London, leaving behind a legacy that shaped the development of speculative fiction and continued to inspire future generations of writers and thinkers. Klappentext "Why do people read science fiction? In hopes of receiving such writing as this—a ravishingly accurate vision of things unseen; an utterly unexpected yet necessary beauty.” So says Ursula K. Le Guin in her Introduction to The First Men in the Moon, H. G. Wells's 1901 tale of space travel. Heavily criticized upon publication for its fantastic ideas, it is now justly considered a science fiction classic. Cavor, a brilliant scientist who accidentally produces a gravity-defying substance, builds a spaceship and, along with the materialistic Bedford, travels to the moon. The coldly intellectual Cavor seeks knowledge, while Bedford seeks fortune. Instead of insight and gold they encounter the Selenites, a horrifying race of biologically engineered creatures who viciously, and successfully, defend their home. I Mr. Bedford Meets Mr. Cavor at Lympne As I sit down to write here amidst the shadows of vine-leaves under the blue sky of southern Italy, it comes to me with a certain quality of astonishment that my participation in these amazing adventures of Mr. Cavor was, after all, the outcome of the purest accident. It might have been any one. I fell into these things at a time when I thought myself removed from the slightest possibility of disturbing experiences. I had gone to Lympne because I had imagined it the most uneventful place in the world. “Here, at any rate,” said I, “I shall find peace and a chance to work!” And this book is the sequel. So utterly at variance is Destiny with all the little plans of men. I may perhaps mention here that very recently I had come an ugly cropper in certain business enterprises. Sitting now surrounded by all the circumstances of wealth, there is a luxury in admitting my extremity. I can admit, even, that to a certain extent my disasters were conceivably of my own making. It may be there are directions in which I have some capacity, but the conduct of business operations is not among these. But in those days I was young, and my youth among other objectionable forms took that of a pride in my capacity for affairs. I am young still in years, but the things that have happened to me have rubbed something of the youth from my mind. Whether they have brought any wisdom to light below it is a more doubtful matter. It is scarcely necessary to go into the details of the speculations that landed me at Lympne, in Kent. Nowadays even about business transactions there is a strong spice of adventure. I took risks. In these things there is invariably a certain amount of give and take, and it f...
