When the Sleeper Wakes, H. G. Wells
When the Sleeper Wakes, H. G. Wells
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

When the Sleeper Wakes

Author: H. G. Wells

Narrator: Frederick Davidson

Unabridged: 8 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/21/2011

Categories: Fiction, Romance, Fantasy

Synopsis

Graham, an 1890s radical pamphleteer, was a young man when he finally resorted to medication for his insomnia and fell into a deep sleep. He wakes two hundred years later, still youthful, to an age of great marvels and scientific achievementand a world whose strange underlying economy is that it is all his private property. By inheritance and the compounding of interest, Graham the Sleeper has become the sole, final owner of everything, and revered as a leader, with a council that dictates to the world in his name. This science fiction classic was called by Wells himself "one of the most ambitious of my books." A stirringly prophetic novel, it envisioned flying, advertising, television, banking, labor organization, and totalitarianism, all within the framework of an exciting personal adventure story.

About H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells, better known as H. G. Wells, was a novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian who wrote over 100 books. His novels are among the classic works of science fiction. His works, which go beyond ordinary adventure stories, are thought-provoking, forcing the reader to examine the future of mankind.

Wells was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1866. His father was a shopkeeper and a professional cricketer until he broke his leg. Wells studied biology at the Normal School of Science in London and later taught in several private schools. In 1893, he became a full-time writer. He married one of his brightest students, Amy Catherine, in 1895.

Wells earned his reputation with a string of science fiction novels, including The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The Invisible Man. In 1938, his realistic portrayal of a martian invasion in The War of the Worlds caused a panic across the United States when it was performed as a radio broadcast by actor Orson Wells. His science fiction stories have since become some of the most filmed works of all time.

Between the two world wars, Wells lived mainly in France. Beyond his literary career, he was the president of an international peace organization (PEN) from 1934 to 1946. In this capacity, he had discussions with both Stalin and Roosevelt, trying to recruit them to his world-saving schemes. However, he later became disillusioned with the cause of peace when global war broke out for the second time in a generation. Throughout the Second World War, Wells lived in his house on Regent's Park, refusing to let the blitz drive him out of London. He died there on August 13, 1946.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Henry

H.G.Wells is more interested here in preaching about Socialism and its supposed benefits than providing the reader with a plot that tells a story. The year is 2102 a man Graham wakes after sleeping since 1899 caused by sickness but he lacks rest all through the rather inconherent scifi narrative a f......more

Goodreads review by David

Wells' Dystopian Vision 13 July 2016 When I started reading Jules Verne a number of years back I became increasingly interested in some of these pioneers of the science-fiction genre, and while many of us have heard of Wells' more well known books, after digging around the internet I discovered that......more

Goodreads review by MJ

H.G. wrote this novel at warp speed nine, as evidenced by the bluntest ending ever written and presented in a Penguin Classic. His dystopian vision here, however, is one of the most influential in SF and beyond. Needless, we’d have no 1984 if it wasn’t for this patchy, overtly racist, but workmanlik......more

Goodreads review by John

This was Wells's revised version of When the Sleeper Wakes, which was serialized and published in book form in 1899; the version I read was the 2005 Penguin Classics edition, with a Foreword by Patrick Parrinder and useful notes by my old friend Andy Sawyer of the Foundation. On a walking holiday i......more

Goodreads review by Christopher

I read this book because of Orwell's discussion of it in The Road to Wigan Pier. That Orwell called it The Sleeper Awakes and not When the Sleeper Wakes may be why I sought out the rarer version (on manybooks)- There is a preface in which Wells virtually disclaims the book. He saw its flaws, but was......more

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