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Title: The Lost World: Being an Account of the Recent Amazing Adventures of Professor George E. Challenger, Lord John Roxton, Professor Summerlee, and Mr. E.D. Malone of the by Arthur Conan Doyle, Michael Crichton ISBN: 0812967259 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 14 January, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.35
Rating: 4
Summary: The earliest Lost World tale of dinosaurs in modern times.
Comment: This book is one of a number of Professor Challenger adventures of Sir A. C. Doyle. A noted zoologist (Challenger) has come across evidence that there is a plateau in South America that can be reached from deep in the Amazon rain forest in which prehistoric animals still exist. An expedition of four (Challenger, a sceptical zoologist named Summerlee, a noted hunter (Lord John Roxton), and Edward Malone, a journalist) sets out to verify this report. The arguing and interactions between the academics is interesting in that little seems to have changed in the last 87 years! It should be noted that Doyle isolates the plateau so that there is minimal interaction with the rest of the rain forest (thus, the dinosaurs can't escape). But, why couldn't the ptereodactyls spread out? This story was one of the earliest "Lost World" tales and has been made into a film a number of times. Other stories in this sub-genre owe much to Doyle and Challenger.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Victorian "Jurassic Park"
Comment: Professor Challenger, a protagonist as unique and eccentric as Sherlock Holmes, "challenges" the London Zoological Society to send a team of impartial judges to verify his claims that dinosaurs live on a plateau in the Brazilian rain forest. Professor Summerlee, a staunch foe of Challenger, accepts the challenge. Lord John Roxton, a soldier and big game hunter, agrees to go along, and Edward Malone, a star rugby player and journalist, goes as their scribe.
The world they find is every bit as captivating as Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, and the danger is every bit as exhilarating. The characters are more engaging, and the story contains a good deal of humor as the four strong personalities clash a number of times on a number of levels.
There are no velociraptors to menace the adventurers, who have become hopelessly marooned, but a tribe of ape men serves quite well to provide the danger. It is a pleasure to have the English language used so well in describing the adventures of the four.
"The Lost World" is obviously the inspiration for Crichton's "Jurassic Park." Crichton may have modernized the story, but he certainly didn't improve it. Unfortunately, "The Lost World" reflects the ethnic insensitivity and "classism" of the Victorian Era, but if you can overlook that flaw, you will thoroughly enjoy the story.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Memorable Early "Pulp" Adventure
Comment: Whatever else it may be, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD has certainly been influential. The 1925 silent film version was one of the great special effects landmarks of its day, and the novel has been filmed on at least two other occasions, once in 1960 and once more (for television) in 2002. And one scarcely need mention such LOST WORLD-influenced efforts as THE LAND UNKNOWN or the book-to-film JURASSIC PARK and its various sequels. There seems no end in sight.
Doyle's original is remarkably straightforward and devoid of the subplots and love-interest introduced in the various film versions. The story is told from the point of view of a London reporter, Edward Malone, whose beloved spurs him into action when she declares that she could never marry a man who has no taste for high adventure or bold risk. Malone accordingly begins to cover a scientific scandal: Professor Challenger has returned from South America with outrageous claims of prehistoric life that survives on a plateau in the Amazon. When Challenger suggests a party be formed to verify his claims, Malone jumps at the chance.
It is interesting to read Doyle's LOST WORLD in comparison with Wells' WAR OF THE WORLDS, for the two novels counterpoint each other terms of mindset; where Wells' famous novel is a covert satire of the brutality of English imperialism, Doyle accepts English imperialism with a manly embrace and sends his explorers off into the uncivilized wilds, where they repeatedly encounter undesirables in great need of a blast from an English-made rifle. Indeed, they often seem more interested in eradicating newly discovered life forms than in observing them!
But we would do a disservice to both Doyle and his novel by taking it too seriously. It was written to be a blood and thunder adventure, pitting "modern" men against nature's bloody claw--and while Doyle's style here will likely seem a bit stilted to modern readers, the book still works extremely well. According to lore, Doyle preferred Dr. Challenger to his more celebrated Sherlock Holmes, and indeed Doyle wrote several novels that featured the gruff, blustery, and violent-tempered scientist. While it seems unlikely that Challenger will ever depose Holmes in the public favor, fans of the Holmes stories will likely enjoy THE LOST WORLD as an example of Doyle's non-mystery work--and certainly fans of early pulp adventure will have a field day. Recommended for the pure fun of it!
GFT, Amazon reviewer
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Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne ISBN: 0140022651 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1965 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: The Time Machine by H. G. Wells ISBN: 0812505042 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: December, 1995 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: H.G. Wells' Classic the Invisible Man by Inc Alien Voices, Leonard Nimoy, John De Lancie, H. G. Wells, John de Lancie, Nat Segaloff ISBN: 0671581058 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov ISBN: 0451524918 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: December, 1986 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells ISBN: 0812505158 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: February, 1993 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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