Powieści i lektury

Najzabawniejsza, najbardziej erudycyjna i poruszająca powieść Dona DeLillo, jednego z największych amerykańskich pisarzy naszych czasów. Ta książka to oda do języka, wejrzenie w serce ludzkości, medytacja o śmierci i afirmacja życia. Ojciec Jeffrey'a Lockharta, Ross, jest bilionerem po sześćdziesiątce, żonatym z młodszą od niego Artis Martineau, której zdrowie wciąż się pogarsza.  Ross jest również głównym sponsorem tajnego ośrodka, w którym śmierć jest procesem do...

Po wydaniu mojej drugiej powieści zadzwonił do mnie profesor Domańczyk, mój nauczyciel historii z liceum. W dwóch pierwszych książkach nie opisałem go zbyt dobrze, więc propozycja: „Lang, musimy natychmiast porozmawiać, natychmiast, Lang”, nie wzbudziła we mnie przesadnego entuzjazmu… Powiedział, że może dla odmiany napisałbym coś dobrego, a on ma dla mnie taką historię, że… „Lang, przestań pisać o bzdetach, Lang” – krótko podsumował moje pisarstwo. Od niego dowiedziałem si...

‘‘Ce fut lui, le premier, qui vit la première lueur. Un cri lui échappa, tandis que ses deux mains s’agitaient frénétiquement en l’air. Et, presque aussitôt, comme des étincelles qui crépitent de tous les côtés, d’autres cris s’éparpillèrent dans le silence, qui se reforma instantanément, plus lourd et plus épais.’’ L’extraordinaire énigme des trois yeux. Voulez-vous savoir les réponses?

When Sir Edward Leithen leaves London to spend Whitsuntide as a guest at Flambard, he has no idea of the extraordinary sequence of events about to unfold. Among the collection of fellow guests, some of whom he knows and some he doesn’t, is the extraordinary mind of Professor Moe, a scientist who decides to select some of the houseguests as subjects for his latest experiment. He declares that he can make sure they can see into the future, and the people he chooses – for vari...

Lata 2070–2071. Minęło prawie sześćdziesiąt lat od Dnia Przekroczenia, a na Długiej Ziemi rozwija się nowa, postludzka spoleczność Następnych. Dla Joshuy Valienté, dobiegającego siedemdziesiątki, nadszedł czas, by wyruszyć na jeszcze jedną, ostatnią samotną wyprawę do Wysokich Meggerów: po przygodę, która zmienia się w katastrofę. Kiedy staje wobec bezpośredniej groźby śmierci, jedyną nadzieją ocalenia staje się stado trolli. Kiedy jednak Joshua musi się zmierzyć z własn...

The novel tells the prophetic story of man’s harnessing of the newly-discovered power of the atom, how this power nearly destroys civilization in a catastrophic war and foreshadows nuclear warfare years before research began and describes the chain reactions involved and the resulting radiation. It is presented as a history of the important events of the 20th century, jumping back and forth amongst narratives of different eyewitnesses and major players in those events. „The...

This book was written in 1899, and is one of the last science-fiction books Wells wrote before his turn towards social realism in his writing. In this dystopian novel, Graham falls into a coma-like sleep, a sleep that he wakes from some 203 years in the future. But times have changed. Due to the wise investments of a board of trustees, Graham’s money has compounded into the greatest fortune the world has ever seen, and the trustees have used it to virtually enslave the enti...

Dedicated to all schoolmasters and schoolmistresses and every teacher in the world, this re-interpretation of the Book of Job is one of the author’s finest discussion novels. Written in 1918, this is the story of Job Huss, the headmaster of a progressive school. It is saturated with the ideas of educational reform and of the teaching of world history as the basis for a common civilization and is one of his most ambitious dialogue narratives. Essentially it is a modernized p...

Bert Smallways is the unlikely protagonist, a kind of Edwardian Mod, not interested in a steady career, always looking for a good time, riding his proto-scooter down to Brighton at the weekends. When Bert is accidentally scooped up by a German fleet, on its way to launch a surprise attack on the United States, he finds himself with a front row seat to the greatest war that has ever been – the war in the air! This new war is to be a different sort of war than all the wars th...

Decades ahead of his time, H.G. Wells leaps beyond the bounds of conventional imagination to tell the story of the Time Traveler. A seminal and hugely imaginative work of early science fiction, H.G. Wells’s „The Time Machine” is the first and greatest modern portrayal of time-travel and definitely a spiritual ancestor of every time travel story since. The book introduces a scientist who uses a Time Machine to be transferred into the age of a slowly dying earth. Humans have ...

One of the most famous science-fiction stories ever written, „The War of the Worlds” helped launch the entire genre by exploiting the concept of interplanetary travel. Thirty-five million miles into space, a species of Martians sets eyes on planet Earth. With their own planet doomed for destruction, the Martians prepare to invade. Their weapons are ready and their aim is ruthless. The war of the worlds is about to begin. „The War of the Worlds” describes the fictional 1895 ...

This is a short novel about a nineteen century Englishman who falls in a deep sleep only to awake over two hundred years later. The World has changed beyond recognition, and „The Sleeper” finds himself in a remarkable predicament – he has become the owner of the entire planet. However, his awakening profoundly shakes this state of affairs, and he suddenly finds himself at the very center of revolutionary social upheavals and a struggle for the ultimate power. But when he co...

„The Shape of Things to Come” is one of the great classics of science fiction. Originally written in 1929, this masterly work of science fiction has already confirmed H G Wells’ status as a remarkable soothsayer, and provides glimpses of what is perhaps yet to come. The book is written as a sort of historical account. It tells of how a world state could be considered an answer to Earth’s problems. After a large plague wipes out much of humanity, a dictatorship takes over, t...

Herbert George Wells is a huge name in the world of literature. He is known as the king of Science Fiction stories. He was an accomplished teacher, a best-selling novelist, a historian and a journalist, however, he established his name in the world through his passion for writing and will be remembered forever as „Father of Science Fiction”. „The King Who Was a King – The Book of a Film” is a fascinating treatise on the development of film written by H. G. Wells and first p...

Depicting one man’s transformation and descent into brutality, H.G. Wells’s „The Invisible Man” is a riveting exploration of science’s power to corrupt. In this tale of psychological terror, a young scientist must live in the personal hell created by his own experiments. Using himself as the subject, the scientist discovers the key to invisibility; yet, he is unable to reverse the results. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but begins to become mentally ...

On a deceivingly beautiful island in the South Seas exists the sinister kingdom of Doctor Moreau. Edward Prendick is shipwrecked in the Pacific. Rescued by Doctor Moreau’s assistant he is taken to the doctor’s island home where he discovers the doctor has been experimenting on the animal inhabitants of the island, creating bizarre proto-humans...The main plot, a shunned biologist, Dr. Moreau, attempting to create a new species of animals by combining biological elements of ...

What happens when science tampers with nature? Mr. Bensington and Mr. Redwood create a new food material, Herakleophorbia, later called Boomfood, they hope will have beneficial uses to mankind. They come up with a substance that causes flora, fauna, and people to become giants. At first, there are giant nettles, mushrooms – but then it ramps up, with giant rats that can take down and eat horses and wasps so large one could hear them half a mile off. In the end it becomes a ...

Another H.G. Wells classic sci fi. The novel tells the story of a journey to the moon by the impecunious businessman Mr. Bedford and the brilliant but eccentric scientist Dr. Cavor. Bedford bankrupt businessman who is making a comeback by writing a play, through a series of circumstances, teams up with Professor Cavor a recluse scientist who does not realize his own potential. Together they build a contraption, sphere, that can cut off gravity waves. Once on the moon Bedfor...

A fictional biography of Rudolf „Rud” Whitlow, who builds a political party that slowly becomes a world dominant dictatorship. Wells wrote the work just before World War II as Hitler was consolidating his power in Germany. Rud, is a baby boy, and later, grew to be a young man who had a remarkable talent of oratory: the gift of gab. He is eventually encouraged to perform public speaking, lecturing and finally, revolutionary speeches. Through this character, Wells creates a p...

„The Brothers – A Story.” Herbert George Wells was a prolific English writer who wrote in a variety of genres, including the novel, politics, history, and social commentary. Wells returned to a literary genre in which he had always excelled: the satire written in the form of an allegory. In a land torn apart by civil war, Bolaris was fiercely loyal to the Strong Men. So when Number Four informed him that Ratzel, leader of the enemy, had been captured, it was naturally a cau...

This story was the first work of fiction in which an explorer traverses time through the use of a man-made device – a time machine – rather than through magic, divine intervention, or a natural phenomenon such as sleep. HG Wells’s „The Chronic Argonauts”, written seven years before his much more famous time travel work, „The Time Machine”. The mysterious Dr. Moses Nebogipfel arrives in a small Welsh town in 1887. The apprehensions of the simple rural folk eventually cause t...

Wells’s treatise on education is set in the region of Camford (Cambridge/Oxford), and tells of a visitor who proves that education can save the world from destruction. The story centres around a Utopian ’ventriloquist’ who subjects human life and in particular its treatment by the University of Camford to sympathetic but quite unsparing scrutiny. At its core, it was a warning to the educational world of imminent war and of its lack of action, as well as an exploration of th...

„The Bulpington of Blup”, a 1932 novel by H. G. Wells, is a character study analyzing the psychological sources of resistance to Wellsian ideology, and was influenced by Wells’s acquaintance with Carl Gustav Jung and his ideas. Theodore Bulpington is a very ordinary man – with a very vivid imagination. Ill at ease with himself, he sees a way to recreate his identity by adding layer upon layer of deception. This he does with such panache that eventually he becomes an imposto...

A soul-corrupting evil invades the remote English village of Cainsmarsh, infesting the minds of the local residents. Dark events are plaguing its people. An elderly woman stiffens in dread at her own shadow; a terrified farmer murders a scarecrow; food prepared by others is eyed with suspicion; family pets are bludgeoned to death; loving couples are devoured by rage and violence. People are becoming suspicious of every move each other makes. Children are coming to school wi...