The War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells
The War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells
59 Rating(s)
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The War of the Worlds

Author: H. G. Wells

Narrator: John Rayburn

Unabridged: 6 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/10/2023

Synopsis

There were signs that H. G. Wells wasn’t quite sure how to end his famous story The War of the Worlds, which featured an invasion from the planet Mars. He certainly knew how to do the story itself and pointed out Martians were highly advanced over humans in their technology. Wells used an unnamed narrator telling the tale in first person with input from his brother. The book was published in 1898, and even with the passing of years, there are no present day traces of life on Mars, a reality that would have undoubtedly disappointed the author. Some of his thoughts about the other planet were of a strictly imaginary nature. In any case, he, like many others of today, would undoubtedly ask the question, “Can prophecy someday become reality?” It brings up a personal reaction … are you optimistic? … pessimistic? Make your own choice. No matter what you are, either one can provide you with some very listenable material in the two premises involved: Book one, The Coming of the Martians, and book two, The Earth Under the Martians.Sci-fi has been an extremely interesting and exhilarating form of literature created by a number of top-notch writers. They owe a debt of sorts to Wells for leading the way. Listen now to understand more fully.

About H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) was born in Bromley, England, to a working class family. His first novel, The Time Machine, was an instant success and Wells produced a series of science fiction novels which pioneered ideas about the future. His later work focused on satire and social criticism. Wells forecasted the rise of major cities and suburbs, economic globalization, and aspects of future military conflicts.

About John Rayburn

John Rayburn (1927–2024) was a veteran of over sixty years in broadcasting. He served as a news/sports anchor and show host, and his TV newscast achieved the largest share of audience figures of any major-market TV newscast in the nation. John was a member of the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. He was well suited to bring fascinating stories to life concerning the people, places, and things that combine to present lively observations of our day-to-day lives.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Leonard on March 09, 2021

Paraphrasing Whitehead, I would say that the safest general characterisation of the science-fiction tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to H. G. Wells. Indeed, The War of the Worlds is probably the most influential novel of the whole science fiction genre, as well as a significant......more

Goodreads review by Lisa of Troy on August 19, 2024

Written in 1897, The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest stories about mankind and aliens. Many consider this book to be the inception of the science fiction genre. This story is relatively straightforward: An unknown man is going about his life in jolly old England when aliens invade, causing......more

Goodreads review by Anne on March 25, 2025

I didn't listen to the novel-novel, but I listened to a radio adaptation performed by some fan-favorite cast members of Star Trek. <--Leonard Nimoy is amazing. It was cool as hell. And hilarious. Because it doesn't really have a Big Battle or anything that humanity has to do to overcome these invaders.......more

Goodreads review by Mario the lone bookwolf on January 15, 2023

Invading aliens have never been that ridiculously incompetent That´s an often seen problem in classic sci-fi, the authors didn´t really care about thinking too much about logic or readers' problems with suspension of disbelief, they just wanted to tell their story. As long as there were no other gen......more

Goodreads review by [ J o ] on July 14, 2023

Read as part of the Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003. The War of the Worlds goes beyond the of-the-time popular military invasion fiction, which took away the standard protagonist/antagonist arc of single characters and popped whole countries or tribes in......more

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