The Shape of Things to Come (1933)

This is one of the best books I've ever read. One thing that impressed me was the interesting idea to narrate it as a story-within-a-story history book written in the future. However, the most interesting aspect of the book is the fact that many of the events that H. G. Wells described in the novel very closely match the way that events really did play out after it was written.

Thinking about how reading this novel has affected me personally, I can say that I've sligthly lost track of which historical events were real and which ones were made up by Wells, since (as noted above) the novel very closely resembles reality. However, reading it definitely improved my English skills (I'm from Sweden).

As a general assessment, I can say that this is a great book, and it's definitely worth reading. ( )

http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301391.txt

This book by H. G. Wells is only a sort of novel. He uses the device of a man having, basically, prophetic visions of the future, to discuss society at length.

The discussion is about the future, and the direction that mankind is taking. Written towards the end of the Depression, this of course influences the writing, as does the likelihood of further world war, also a prediction in the book.

He continues on, as the book is divided into multiple parts, each looking at a different stage.

http://freesf.blogspot.com/2006/11/shape-of-things-to-come-h-g-wells.html ( )

A glimpse of what the future might have been…. Fantasy or prophecy?
It is 1930. Dr. Raven is dead. He has left behind a chronicle of the years 1930-2105, a ""short history of the future"".
A World War rages from 1940-50, exhausting the West and bringing in its wake famine, plague and eco-disaster. In 1968 central London collapses into the Thames. America fragments -- the Declaration of Independence is rescinded, but no legitimate heir of George III can be found. Over all the threat of new war still hangs -- until the scientific and technical elite gather at the Basra Conference and begin to work out a new World Order.

WELLS, A MASTER STORY TELLER YOU WOULD ALMOST THINK THAT IT WAS TRUE ( )