Tales of Wonder
by Mark Twain 
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Mark Twain's unsettling imagination and passionate curiosity roamed far and wide--racing across microscopic worlds and interstellar voids, leaping ahead to fearful futures, and speculating on dazzling inventions to come. Tales of Wonder features some of the most notable but little-known science fiction available, penned by the famed American humorist and writer. With characteristic wit and acuity, Twain embarks on an epic journey into a drop of water, catches a glimpse of an invisible man, show more reveals a generation-starship-type world in the heart of a drifting iceberg, and imagines futuristic devices of instantaneous communication such as the "phrenophone" and "telelectroscope." Twain pioneered the use of time travel to the past in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. As for the future, he envisioned a radical utopia of absolute suffrage and future histories in which a global theocracy holds sway or a monarchy rules America. This entertaining and absorbing collection of tales reminds us that the former steamboat pilot dreamed about the stars, anticipated and dreaded the future, and above all was continually surprised and enchanted by the world around him. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Tales of the unnatural, supernatural, and scientific from the master of comedy. Twain was interested in scientific discoveries, and these stories, several not collected before, push the boundaries of what was known at the time, and what was possible at the time. While much of it is truly humorous, there are a few of these stories that perhaps should have been left uncollected, as they were not up to the usual quality. Some of them seemed like they might be unfinished, stopping at an odd place where it appeared there would be more to come. And a few of them were a bit hampered by being too wordy and too philosophical for a science fiction piece. Of course, there is plenty of material for the reader who is convinced (or wanting to be show more convinced) that Mark Twain is a racist, as long as they are willing not to actually read what he says, but take individual things out of context without understanding the nature of satire and ironic humor. show less
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2,752+ Works 208,755 Members
Mark Twain was born Samuel L. Clemens in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. He worked as a printer, and then became a steamboat pilot. He traveled throughout the West, writing humorous sketches for newspapers. In 1865, he wrote the short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which was very well received. He then began a show more career as a humorous travel writer and lecturer, publishing The Innocents Abroad in 1869, Roughing It in 1872, and, Gilded Age in 1873, which was co-authored with Charles Dudley Warner. His best-known works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mississippi Writing: Life on the Mississippi, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Mark Twain has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Tales of Wonder
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- Members
- 41
- Popularity
- 715,806
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.38)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 1
