The Shape Of Things To Come

[scifiohmy]

Has anyone here read 'The Shape of Things to Come?' I'm just starting a Sci-Fi literature class for school and we've been assigned this novel to read over the course of the next two or three weeks. 

[Gregb]

Haven't heard of it. Keep us updated on how it is. Is it new or a classic?

[Buffy]

All H.G. Wells is marvelous. SciFi style has evolved since he and Jules Verne "invented" the genre, so don't go expecting Philip K. Dick or William Gibson....

 

 

I don't suppose any man has ever understood any woman since the beginning of things. You don't understand our imaginations, :phones:

Buffy

[CraigD]

It's a really fun novel, one of my favorite H.G.Wells'.

 

I'm also fond of the1936 movie closely based on it, for which H.G wrote the screenplay.

 

Fun as it is, I think The Shape of Things to Come isn't as good as Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men, which has a similar theme but a much larger scope.

[scifiohmy]

Craig, we'll have to watch that movie after we finish the novel and then I think there's a paper in it somewhere. I downloaded a sample of the novel onto my Kindle but I was disappointed to find that it (the sample) ends about the time the introduction ends, ha. Guess I'll just have to fork over $9.99 if I want to start the book!

[CraigD]

I downloaded a sample of the novel onto my Kindle but I was disappointed to find that it (the sample) ends about the time the introduction ends, ha. Guess I'll just have to fork over $9.99 if I want to start the book!

I'm not sure if you're looking for a copy of The Shape of Things to Come or Last and First Men.  Both are in the public domain and available for free at Project Gutenberg, TSoTtC here, LaFM here, so if you're paying for an ebook of either, you're paying just for the convenience of having available in a nice reader (Kindle, Google Play, etc) and the reader's integrated library.

 

I'm very fond of Project Gutenberg.  Over half of what I've read since about 2001 has been from it.  In addition to being practical reference and recreational reading material sources, It and similar public domain sources can provoke deep thoughts on copyright and the public domain, which I think reaches a highwater mark in Ernst Cline's IMHO amazing 2011 debut novel Ready Player One.  RPO has barely any connection to TSoTtC or LaFM, having in common only that it's a prophetic SF story, but it's my favorite or close to my favorite novels of any time or genre.