The Lost World
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Our Price: $6.89
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Sir Arthur Conan DoyleEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Unabridged
Published: 1997-06-15
ISBN: 0812564839
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Tor Classics
Book Reviews of The Lost World
Book Review: A high-adventure, scientific thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Summary of The Lost World
Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title?offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.
Nests of pterodactyls, hordes of iguanadons, swarms of plesiosaurs still roaming the earth in the twentieth century? Professor Challenger says yes and to prove it he leads an expedition into the deepest jungles of South America. Together, the men--a young journalist, an adventurer, and an aristocrat--along with their bearers and guides, search for the rumored country and encounter savagery, hardship, and betrayal on the way. But things only get worse as they get closer to the hidden world they seek. Trapped on an isolated plateau, menaced by hungry carnosaurs, it begins to look as though the expedition will never return from ...The Lost World.
Nests of pterodactyls, hordes of iguanadons, swarms of plesiosaurs still roaming the earth in the twentieth century? Professor Challenger says yes and to prove it he leads an expedition into the deepest jungles of South America. Together, the men--a young journalist, an adventurer, and an aristocrat--along with their bearers and guides, search for the rumored country and encounter savagery, hardship, and betrayal on the way. But things only get worse as they get closer to the hidden world they seek. Trapped on an isolated plateau, menaced by hungry carnosaurs, it begins to look as though the expedition will never return from ...The Lost World.
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 behavior toward Native Americans, he's a lot of fun.
Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.86
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.02
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar Books and other products
The House of Sixty Fathersby Meindert DeJong
HarperCollins; Published: 1987-08-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.57
Price in other shops:
All Creatures Great and Smallby James Herriot
Spring Arbor/Ingram; St. Martin's Paperbacks; Published: 1998-04-15; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.80
Price in other shops:
Island of the Blue Dolphinsby Scott O'Dell
Yearling; Published: 1987-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.57
Price in other shops:
By the Great Horn Spoon!by Sid Fleischman
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 1988-04-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Pippi Longstocking (Puffin Modern Classics)by Astrid Lindgren
Puffin Books; Puffin; Published: 2005-04-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.81
Price in other shops:
Shakespeare Storiesby Leon Garfield
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; Published: 1991-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $26.00
Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryby Roald Dahl
Puffin Books; Puffin; Published: 2007-08-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.81
Price in other shops:
Tom Playfair: Or Making a Startby Francis J. Finn
Tan Books; Published: 2001-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops: