The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

Book of the Week: 7 June 2015

” No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s … Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.”

You may have heard about the famous 1938 radio broadcast of this story by Orson Welles, when some listeners believed that what they were hearing was a news item announcing the arrival of Martians. You may have seen the 2005 Stephen Spielberg film starring Tom Cruise, or have listened to Jeff Wayne’s musical version from 1978. But have you read the original book? It first appeared as a magazine serial in 1897 and has never been out of print since. It tells the story of an invasion of Earth by Martians from the point of view of an un-named journalist and is a classic science fiction story of suspense and horror.