The Lost World (Classics of Science Fiction) - Softcover

Conan Doyle, Arthur

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906230145 ISBN 13: 9781906230142

Publisher: Real Reads, 2014

Synopsis

‘Dinosaurs are most certainly not extinct. I have seen them.’ An incredible claim by the eccentric Professor Challenger leads to an expedition deep into the Amazon, where an unlikely group of men find themselves on a journey into unknown dangers. Will they have the skills, strength, intelligence and good fortune to survive? Do dinosaurs really exist on the inaccessible plateau? How did a human skeleton become impaled on a bamboo spike? Can humans survive in a land of such primitive powers? If journalist Edward Malone ever returns home to write his newspaper report, will it be to declare Challenger a madman or a genius?

Real Reads are accessible texts designed to support the literacy development of primary and lower secondary age children while introducing them to the riches of our international literary heritage. Each book is a retelling of a work of great literature from one of the world’s greatest cultures, fitted into a 64-page book, making classic stories, dramas and histories available to intelligent young readers as a bridge to the full texts, to language students wanting access to other cultures, and to adult readers who are unlikely ever to read the original versions.

About this title

Review:

Forget the Michael Crichton book (and Spielberg movie) that copied the title. This is the original: the terror-adventure tale of The Lost World. Writing not long after dinosaurs first invaded the popular imagination, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spins a yarn about an expedition of two scientists, a big-game hunter, and a journalist (the narrator) to a volcanic plateau high over the vast Amazon rain forest. The bickering of the professors (a type Doyle knew well from his medical training) serves as witty contrast to the wonders of flora and fauna they encounter, building toward a dramatic moonlit chase scene with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. And the character of Professor George E. Challenger is second only to Sherlock Holmes in the outrageous force of his personality: he's a big man with an even bigger ego, and if you can grit your teeth through his racist behavior toward Native Americans, he's a lot of fun.

From the Publisher:

6 1.5-hour cassettes

About this edition

• Publisher: Real Reads
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1906230145
• ISBN 13: 9781906230142
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64
• Illustrator: Bennett Felix