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The Poison Belt
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this ebook
What would you do if you had discovered that the planet was about to be engulfed in a belt of poisonous 'ether' from outer space? Professor Challenger invites a hand-picked crew of adventurers and scientists to his home outside London, which has been fortified with several hours' worth of oxygen. Challenger & Co. assemble in front of a picture window to witness the end of all life on the planet. As birds plummet from the sky, trains crash, and men and women topple over before their horrified gaze, they debate everything from the possibilities of the universe to the 'abysses that lie upon either side of our material existence.'
Author
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, most famous for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes and long-suffering sidekick Dr Watson. Conan Doyle was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.
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Reviews for The Poison Belt
Rating: 3.3017242931034483 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
116 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I quite enjoyed this book although it was not what I was expecting at all from this author! It's short enough to read in one sitting and did hold my interest all the way through.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In The Poison Belt, the characters from The Lost World get an encore performance, which they mostly spend discussing heavy shit in Professor Challenger's living room.The basic idea is that Challenger realizes, with barely any time to spare, that the world is about to pass through a patch of poisonous ether. He summons his Lost World companions to his country estate, where they seal themselves inside a high-oxygen room, which slows the action of the poisonous ether on their systems. Thus, they get a chance to observe universal death and the end of the world.The scientific hook in The Poison Belt has been obsolete for nearly a century. Fortunately, once you strip all the science away, you're left with a book that is still plenty entertaining. Professor Challenger, quick to anger and unbelievably arrogant, is a comic figure in the middle of horrible events. His tirades supply plenty of laughs, which leave the reader open to the body blow of the disaster Conan Doyle is painting. Universal, inevitable death. This scope makes "Deep Impact" look like a movie about a guy stubbing his toe.Challenger's foresight, and the dismissal of his warnings by the public, make for some interesting parallels with current tensions between the scientific and broader communities. Says Challenger, "The flippancy of the half-educated is more obstructive to science than the obtuseness of the ignorant."Conan Doyle seems wholly on board with the British colonial project of his day, and The Poison Belt is at points shocking in its casual racism. You'll have to cut the author some slack on this point to enjoy the book. On the other hand, it's encouraging to read these sorts of things and see that society has, indeed, made some progress in the last hundred years.It's a short, quick read. Not very substantive, but fun nevertheless. Recommended for reading in train stations.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Professor Challenger in a Science fiction yarn from the pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Ok it is one of this author's lesser works,but saying that, Doyle's worst is many other author's best.Plus he can do no wrong for me.Thus 5 stars.Enjoyable on a light level.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All science fiction is stuck with the science of its time and this short novel is no exception. Continuing with his characters from The Lost World, Conan Doyle creates a global catastrophe in which Professor Challenger can once again prove his brilliance. The ending is "happy" and resolves none of the issues raised, but this was a short happy read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sir Arthur Conan Doyle using characters from Lost World to experience a mysterious belt of ether that the earth will pass through.By isolating themselves in a small room with a supply of oxygen they are able to survive a horrible fate.This book is a quick read but somethimes the heavy British language stalls the story.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5There's something about ether.I don't know what it is, but early 20th century British writers were obsessed with it. Just as Huxley used it as a stupefying agent in "Brave New World" Doyle uses it as an agent to bring upon death to the world. Professor Challenger observes changes in the light spectrum through his telescope, and proclaims that the world is about to experience a change larger than the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs (excepting of course their lost world). Of course the world laughs at him again, and of course again he is right. The Earth was sent through a poisons belt of ether that is a "universal agent."-The best parts where the descriptions of how the people went coo-koo when exposed, like Professor Summerly barking like a dog and proving he could do all the barn yard animals. Some surprising parts are reminder of how closely we still live to a racist world when the smartest man in the universe refers to non-whites as "the lower races" and "the less evolved humans" and no one bats an eye. I would have given a higher rating overall, but the ending was predictable and unimaginative.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Professor Challenger has issued a warning. The ether of space has a poisonous belt and the earth is going to pass through it. He invites his friends from the “Lost World’ expedition to his country home and asks them to bring canisters of oxygen. As Malone, Lord Roxton, and Summerlee are traveling by train to Challenger’s mansion they start acting strangely; becoming overly emotional, saying and doing strange things. They are already being affected by the poisonous cloud. When the friends arrive at the estate Challenger explains that they will be riding out the poison in a sealed room using the oxygen canisters.I enjoyed this Challenger story more than “The Lost World.” It was like an armchair mystery. The good comrades sit and discuss the events as they unfold believing they are watching the end of the world. It reminded me of British post-apocalyptic novels. It’s a short book and a quick read. I suggest reading “The Lost World” before reading this novel because the first book introduces the main characters.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Indeholder "Den giftige zone", "Opløsningsmaskinen", "Da Verden skreg".Professor Challenger har en teori om at Jorden en gang imellem passerer igennem en giftig zone. Astronomerne har netop meddelt at de fraunhoferske linier er udviskede og uklare og som den eneste advarer Challenger om at det kan betyde civillisationens undergang og alles død. Lord Roxton, Challenger og Mrs Challenger, Professor Summerlee og Ted Malone gemmer sig i et forseglet værelse hos Professor Challenger og bruger ilt til at modvirke giften i æteren. Efterfølgende tror de først at alle er døde og går rundt i Londons gader, hvor ligene ligger overalt, men kort efter vågner alle til live igen og "kun" dem, der er ramt af ulykker og ildebrande, har faktisk mistet livet. Bevidstløshed og opvågnen sker så pludseligt at de fleste blot fortsætter med det, de nu var i gang med og først senere opdager at de har mistet timer af deres liv.En opfinder, Mr. Theodore Nemor, har opfundet en opløsningsmaskine. En demonstrationsmodel kan opløse en person og endda samle ham igen og endda lave modifikationer, fx kommer Challenger tilbage i en version uden hår og skæg "med et hageparti som en skinke". Nemor har solgt maskinen til en fremmed magt og morer sig med at fremmane muligheden af fx at slå alle ihjel i Themsdalen. Challenger snører Nemor til at tage plads i maskinen og trykker på knappen og væk er Nemor for stedse. Challenger kommenterer det med "Enhver lovlydig borges pligt er at forhindre mord" og går videre til vigtigere ærinder.Professor Challenger borer en 14 kilometer dyb skakt og når ned til Jordens hjerne. Det kan Jorden ikke lide og allehånde jordskælv og vulkanudbrud følger. "Alle mennesker har altid gerne villet have verden til at tale om sig. Men ene af alle opnåede Challenger at få hele verden til at skrige."Ganske muntre bagateller med genbrug af figurerne, Professor George Edward Challenger, Professor Summerlee, Lord John Roxton og journalisten Edward Malone.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I had never thought of Arthur Conan Doyle as a science fiction writer but the Poison Belt (which has nothing to do with an item of clothing) is the real deal. The earth will pass through a poisonous belt of ether which will kill all life on the planet predicts the redoubtable Dr Challenger. Of course no one believes him except a select group of friends who gather at his house and with a few canisters of oxygen and in a temporary sealed room they plan to prolong their existence by a few hours. From an upstairs window they look out across the countryside and witness the deaths of workers and golfers and via telephone calls receive updates on a world wide annihilation. Their oxygen supply to their great surprise lasts long enough for them to survive the poisonous belt and they venture outside to search for other survivors. Everybody appears to be dead and major fires have erupted in some of the big cities and the six survivors contemplate a dead world and their place in it……………..This novella was published in 1914 and it coincides with two of my themed reads: early science fiction and books published in 1914 and is an excellent example of both. It has a good story line with lively characters especially the irascible Dr Challenger that moves quickly along and it explores a major science fiction trope of the end of the world. It attempts a little more with the characters engaging in lively conversations about their fate both from the viewpoint of believing they only have hours to live and then when they realise they are perhaps the only survivors. There is perhaps a bit too much of the British stiff upper lip from the Dr Challenger character, to make it a serious contemplation on the end of the world, but Conan Doyle was writing an adventure story that would appeal to the imaginative reader. I enjoyed it and so 3.5 stars.
Book preview
The Poison Belt - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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