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  • Published: 3 June 2014
  • ISBN: 9780451468666
  • Imprint: Signet
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 208
  • RRP: $15.99

The Island of Dr. Moreau




A masterpiece of science fiction, now in a handsome new package.

A cautionary tale of the horrors that can ensue when man experiments with nature, from the father of science fiction, H. G. Wells.  

A lonely island in the Pacific. The sinister scientist who rules it. And the strange beings who dwell there....

This is the scenario for H. G. Wells’s haunting classic, one of his most intriguing and visionary novels. Living in the late nineteenth century and facing the impact of Darwin’s theory of evolution, Wells wrote this chilling masterpiece about the characteristics of beasts blurring as the animals turn into men. Dr. Moreau, a scientist expelled from his homeland for his cruel vivisection experiments, finds a deserted island that gives him the freedom to continue torturous transplantations and create hideous creatures with manlike intelligence. But as the brutally enforced order on Moreau’s island dissolves, the true consequences of his experiments emerge, and his creations revert to beasts more shocking than nature could devise.

A genius of his time, H. G. Wells foresaw the use of what he called the “atom bomb,” the practice of gene-splicing, and men landing on the moon. Now, when these have become part of everyday life, his dark fable serves as a compelling reminder of the horrors that reckless experiments with nature can produce.
 
With an Introduction by Nita A. Farahany
and an Afterword by Dr. John L. Flynn

  • Published: 3 June 2014
  • ISBN: 9780451468666
  • Imprint: Signet
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 208
  • RRP: $15.99

About the authors

H. G. Wells

English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian, whose science fiction stories have been filmed many times. WELLS’ best known works are THE TIME MACHINE, one of the first modern science fiction stories, THE INVISIBLE MAN, and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. Wells wrote over a hundred of books, about fifty of them novels.

H.G. Wells was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1866. After an education repeatedly interrupted by his family’s financial problems, he eventually found work as a teacher at a succession of schools, where he began to write his first stories.
Wells became a prolific writer with a diverse output, of which the famous works are his science fiction novels. These are some of the earliest and most influential examples of the genre, and include classics such as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. Most of his books very well-received, and had a huge influence on many younger writers, including George Orwell and Isaac Asimov. Wells also wrote many popular non-fiction books, and used his writing to support the wide range of political and social causes in which he had an interest, although these became increasingly eccentric towards the end of his life.
Twice-married, Wells had many affairs, including a ten-year liaison with Rebecca West that produced a son. He died in London in 1946.

Praise for The Island of Dr. Moreau