The Professor Challenger Megapack: The Complete Series
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About this ebook
The Lost World (1912)
The Poison Belt (1913)
The Land of Mist (1926)
When the World Screamed (1928)
The Disintegration Machine (1929)
And if you enjoy this volume, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more entries in this great series, covering science fiction, fantasy, horror, mysteries, westerns, classics -- and much, much more!
Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He is the creator of the Sherlock Holmes character, writing his debut appearance in A Study in Scarlet. Doyle wrote notable books in the fantasy and science fiction genres, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.
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Reviews for The Professor Challenger Megapack
82 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I give this 5 for The Lost World, which has long been one of my favorites. The other Challenger stories might range from 2 to 4. Still,, I got this book precisely because it did have all the other stories, which are harder to get than The Lost World. Some might consider The Land of the Mists as fantasy or horror, since it is about ghosts, but Doyle regarded it as science as his appendixes of supporting cases demonstrates. I find his concept that some of the ghosts are simply "shells" of former spirits, not sentient beings, more credible than conventional ghosts, though he seems to forget that theory when his characters start interacting with the dead who all seem to be conscious personalities. Still, he does say the shell theory only applies in some cases.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The lost world is quite readable, Professor Challenger leads a band of intrepid victorian explorers to a lost outpost of the dinasour age, widlife intact. This is the basis of a lot of more modern fiction. However the following professor Challenger stories are very poor, with the increasing spiritualisitic themes. Probably represent an insight into genuine feelings of the time, but there is no connection for more modern readers.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whoa, five stories in one book. The Lost World is surely the best story of them all. Professor George Edward Challenger, the main character besides the narrator, is probably literature's most egoistical, megalomaniac, boisterous, conceited, passionate, pompous character I've ever read about, yet also very brilliant. Taking an eager young journalist, a world-famous explorer and a fellow academician who does not believe in his statement regarding a "lost world" hidden in South America, he embarked on a journey that would put him as one of the greatest scientists in his time. In the said Lost World, dinosaurs are still alive (but no T-Rex in there, so don't expect much Jurassic Park-like actions), as well as the ape-men which are said to be the "missing link" (according to one of the characters, they should stay missing because of their dangerous behavior, haha...). Overall, The Lost World is an easy-to-read tale of wonders, adventure, heroism, almost perfectly executed by Doyle.The other stories:Poison Belt = the earth has been driven into a poisonous ether belt, instantly killing its whole population starting from the Southern sphere to the North, except Challenger and his friends, who realized the danger before it's too late.The Land of Mist = different with other "scientific" issues in this book, the Land of Mist tells about psychic phenomenon, poltergeist, soul mediums, etc. I don't really like it. Perhaps it's just not too adventurous, hence boring.The Disintegration Machine = the shortest story in the book. Tells about a Latvian scientist who invites Challenger to see his invention: a machine that could disintegrate any matter into unseen atoms and reverse the process. Challenger does not like this machine, because the Latvian scientist plans to sell it to the highest bidder. Imagine what the machine can do to countries in war. In a blink of an eye, one mother ship with its crew vanished into thin air. The ending is nice, by the way.When the World Screamed = ecological disturbance caused by men's exploits (such as mining) will make the earth "scream". What does this mean? Just read the story. A bit preposterous (not too mention disturbing), methinks.The conclusion is, if you like science-fiction genre, you might want to check out this book. It'll give you description on the early development of the genre. Doyle CAN write sci-fi, not only about the famous Sherlock Holmes and his cases.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost World is a definite must for anyone interested in 19th Century science fiction. Forget Jurassic Park, this is where it started! Adventurers head off into deepest South Africa and comes across a high plateau (based on the huge Tapas mountain ranges?) where dinosaurs roam and humans are a much put upon race. Real 19th Century adventuring stuff, on a par with Quatermain. Another good read in this collection is 'The Poison Belt' when seemingly every living thing dies.... or do they?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The name of this collection of stories should be something like "The Scientific Adventures of Professor Challenger as told by the reporter Ed Malone." All the stories are related in that they feature Professor George Challenger, an irascible, arrogant, rude, but brilliant scientist as the main protagonist (except in one story, where his daughter plays a more important role, and he comes in at the end). Each story deals with a scientific mystery. We are introduced to Professor Challenger in the first novelette, "The Lost World," in which he enlists a young reporter (Edward Malone, the narrator of all but one story), an adventurer-gentleman John Roxton, and a very skeptical professor Summerlee to join him in South America to find evidence of prehistoric creatures still living and thriving. If you've read his Sherlock Holmes stories, then you are already familiar with Doyle's style: his concise and elaborate descriptions, as well as Victorian sensibilities. The main character, Professor Challenger, while physically and emotionally the opposite of Holmes, has much in common with Doyle's more well-known character. They are both exceedingly sure of themselves, see themselves as above the common herd, and are, almost always, correct in their assumptions. It is an enjoyable Victorian adventure. The next long short story, "The Poison Belt," deals with a terrestrial catastrophe. People around the world are behaving strangely, and whatever is causing it seems to spread from the south northward and from sea level to mountain tops. Professor Challenger believes the earth is passing through a celestial "poison belt", and that the human species will not survive. He has discovered that pure oxygen will help them survive a little longer, so the same group as the prior story, plus his wife, hole up with canisters of oxygen in his manor high above the town and watch from the window as the world dies around them. As people fall into comas before dying, horrible accidents occur, such as a train wreck, fires, etc. As the canisters empty and they have less and less time left to live, they each begin to think about death and the meaning of their lives. When they awaken the next morning, they find that they have passed through the poison belt and are the only ones left alive in the world, after which they drive into London and survey the havoc that the poison belt had caused. The third long story "The Land of Mist" explores the spiritual world. Ed Malone, accompanied by the daughter of Professor Challenger (a character not in existence in either of the first two stories), attends seances in order to write a unbiased account of what happens there. To his surprise, Malone finds himself convinced of the reality of the spiritual world and the spirits that inhabit it, as does Challenger's daughter. Challenger, of course, will have none of it, especially as his daughter and Malone intend to marry. He agrees to see for himself, and is surprised by what he encounters. This story is the one that most lovers of Sherlock Holmes cannot abide. I had heard that Doyle was actually a believer in spiritualism, and in this story he footnotes certain events and relates them to actual events. At the end of the story one can only scratch one's head in wonder."The Disintegration Machine" is very short, and is more of a character study. In this story, Challenger, for the good of mankind, does something heinous. In the last story, "When the World Screamed" Challenger proves that the planet Earth is a living creature.I enjoyed reading this collection, though the stories were not all of equal quality. It is unclear how much time elapsed between the stories. It would be nice if there were more information about when and where the stories were published. In the first two, Challenger has a wife, but no children, in the third, his wife is dead, but his daughter is old enough to marry--the last two stories don't mention either the wife or daughter, nor the fact that Malone had married the daughter in the third story.Contains: The Lost WorldThe Poison BeltThe Land of MistThe Disintegration MachineWhen the World Screamed
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost WorldThis still comes up well and is probably the author's most famous non-Sherlock Holmes story, the inspiration for many others, including Michael Crichton. It is very Jules Verne-esque, though I think Conan Doyle is the better writer. The story is told from the viewpoint of a young journalist Ed Malone. The characters are still rather cliched, but that doesn't detract from the sense of adventure and scientific wonder. Challenger is an amusing and mostly rather likeable central character. The main part of the novel does end rather abruptly, though with am amusing vindicatory postscript. 4.5/5The Poison BeltA corker of a post-apocalyptic story, though everything of course comes right in the final chapter. A real atmosphere of doom and horror here, with the central characters looking out at a dying world. Great stuff. 5/5The Land of MistsThis overlong story has no real plot as such and serves merely as a vehicle for Conan Doyle's growing belief in spiritualism during his latter years. Various characters including the central figures around Professor Challenger (the same set as in the earlier stories, except that Professor Sumerlee and Mrs Challenger are dead, the latter's role supporting the Professor being replaced by a hitherto unmentioned daughter, Enid) are converted through a range of experiences to spiritualism, until eventually even the great man himself succumbs near the end. Some genuinely touching and chilling scenes that give food for thought, but this story has not aged well. 3/5The Disintegration MachineVery short story about the invention of a machine with dire consequences. Fairly predictable ending. Challenger seems almost Holmes-like in this. 3.5/5When the World ScreamedI found this concluding story rather a disappointment. Although it is now quite common to conceptualise the Earth and its eco-system as analogous to a living organism, here it is taken very literally and unconvincingly. Unlike the other stories, it is told not from the point of view of the journalist Ed Malone, but from that of the engineer Peerless Jones. On a minor point, there is a passing reference here to Mrs Challenger, so this must take place before The Land of Mists (unless there is a second Mrs C, of course). 3/5Overall 4/5
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost World is a great read and, on its own, would rate 5-stars. The other stories in this edition let it down slightly, with only The Poison Belt coming close. The Land Of Mist is interesting from the point of view of how Spiritualism was conducted at the time, but it's dragged down by its preaching and slow pace. The other two short stories are fine, but are not particularly memorable. The book is worth buying for The Lost World alone, however, so the other stories can be seen as interesting, if flawed, bonuses.