Bedford, a businessman facing financial ruin, meets Cavor, a physicist developing a gravity-defying substance called Cavorite. The two build a sphere coated in this material to travel from southern England to the moon. Upon landing, they discover a subterranean civilization ruled by the Selenites, an insect-like species with specialized bodies bred for specific social functions. While Bedford views the lunar landscape as a source of extractable gold, Cavor engages with the Grand Lunar, explaining human history and warfare, which leads the lunar society to view Earth as a violent threat.
Readers of classic scientific romance and early planetary fiction find in this text a precursor to modern alien encounter tropes. It attracts those interested in the transition from Victorian adventure to speculative sociology. A reader finishes the book with an understanding of how Wells used extraterrestrial biology to critique the rigid industrial divisions of labor in his own time. They gain a perspective on the contrast between imperialist greed and the dangers of unfiltered scientific communication between vastly different civilizations.
Outward-looking and escapist; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Curious Generalist. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1901
- Language
- EN
