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Post by Tripod on Mar 17, 2005 19:34:24 GMT
Did anyone read this book because I haven't. It sounds really cool, it seems to be about a World War in which airplanes are used for the first time. I'd really love to read this book. Tripod
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Post by jeffwaynefan on Mar 17, 2005 20:28:34 GMT
H.G wrote that back in 1906. I have the story but never really gotten around to reading it.
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Post by Gnorn on Mar 17, 2005 22:36:56 GMT
I have an old Dutch copy of the book, including those pictures (and more) but I read it only once about more than 10 years ago, and I can't remember the story.
-Gnorn
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Post by McTodd on Mar 17, 2005 23:06:34 GMT
I first read it as a kid. I really enjoyed it, but then I'm an airship buff so I suppose I would... It's probably the last truly readable piece of sf (or 'scientific romance') HG wrote before he became overly didactic and his novels became distressingly dry. Mainly, this is because he takes the one basic idea - how will the conquest of the air affect warfare and society? - and runs with it, without getting bogged down in how his huge war will pave the way for a new society. Compare it with his next big scientific romance, 'The World Set Free' written in 1914 - here, he posits the discovery of the means to harness atomic power some time in the 1940s, whcih results in an atomic war in the 1950s. The early chapters still contain bravura traces of the early Wells, and the descriptions of the war are incredible. But then all that ends and the rest of the book bogs down in discussions of the fashioning of a new world. Very tedious. Anyway, back to 'The War in the Air'... The 'hero', such as he is, is Bert Smallways, a chirpy little cockney from Bun Hill. In the early chapters, before the World War breaks out, there are strong elements of Wells' comdey-of-the-working-man, that sort of Kippsian larking about. Wells set it ten years ahead, in 1917 - it was serialised in 1907, and published in novel form in 1908. Without giving too much away in case you want to read it, Wells makes some very cogent comments concerning the nature of air warfare which certain people in positions of power today would do well to take note of. The illustrations in the first edition, by A C Michael, were reprinted from the magazine serial, and are really quite magnificent, especially the cover, which depicts the great German zeppelins bombing the US Navy in the Atlantic (although the battleship is very British-looking - Michael was English - and US dreadnoughts were very different in style). A few years ago I was dead chuffed to buy a first edition of the novel (the same as the book in Tripod's photo) for £30! Slightly scruffy, but in pretty good nick - for weeks after that I kept seeing other first editions around London - one was £300 , and it wasn't that much better than mine (certainly not enough to warrant costing tenfold what I paid).
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Post by Bayne on Mar 22, 2005 2:24:08 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]Wow! a 1st ed for 30 pounds I'm yet to see a 1st ed Wells anything for under $200Aud! [/glow]
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Xav
Full Member
Rules are for the obeyance of Fools and the guidance of wise Men
Posts: 119
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Post by Xav on Mar 26, 2005 3:11:23 GMT
I know this one very well. I had the opportunity of buying this particular one (the first post) but missed out for financial reasons (broke). However, I know the story and Bert is a hell of a character, getting himself mixed up with all sorts of dreadful people (including the German Kaiser, who refers to him 'als Ballast!!'). He eventually gets home to Bun Hill and shoots, quite coldly, some sort of of thug who has been messing around with his girl. One can draw all sorts of conclusions from this novel. In common with a few other themes, he suggests that war, universal war, can put such a strain on the capitalist system such that it will collapse. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case....in fact, quite the opposite, as long as the armaments factories are isolated by extreme distance, as in the USA. When someone can knock out Boeing or the Sandia Labs, perhaps things will change. Damn good story, anyhow.
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Post by McTodd on Mar 26, 2005 3:49:30 GMT
It was a common belief before 1914 amongst liberals such as Norman Angel that the world's economies were so enmeshed that a major war would cause such econoomic ruin that a major war could never happen. Of course, Wells similarly believed that the world economy was so fragile that it would be utterly destroyed - he just didn't think it would stop war. Of course, both were wrong. Wells was right in another respect, though. Aerial bombing is all well and good but without the ability to land troops, a combatant can't actually seize and command territory. Shock and awe without enough troops, now there's a lesson... And here's the cover of my copy:
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mabus
Junior Member
Posts: 7
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Post by mabus on Jun 11, 2005 13:50:28 GMT
Could anybody tell me where I could find this book in Australia, preferably somewhere in Melbourne?
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Geis
Full Member
Nice planet. We'll take it.
Posts: 59
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Post by Geis on Jun 17, 2005 13:41:33 GMT
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stuka
Full Member
Posts: 69
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Post by stuka on Jul 14, 2005 16:25:59 GMT
intresting note, when the germans actually started bombing england with their zepplins in WWI, they were a basically an unreliable weapon. when it dropped bombs, they fell way off target, so they were only effective at creating fodder for the british war effort. at first invunrebale, with intorduction of higher flying biplanes and incinderary bullets, came the end of the zepplin's use in warfare. the zepplin would find use as areal transport till the 30's, with the rise of the transalantic airplane and the destruction of the hindenburg.
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