The Lost World

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable adventure novel
Review: "I have wrought my simple plan
If I bring one hour of joy
To the boy who's half a man
or the man who's half a boy".
--Arthur Conan Doyle

Sure, the man has wrought it already with the Sherlock Holmes adventures (specially the short stories, although some of the novels are superb too) and he does it again with professor Challenger's adventures and the quest for a lost world where dinosaurs are still alive.

Sure, the story might be stronger in the last century (oops, sorry, the century before that) because the characters and the storyline have become adventure stereotypes. And besides, for an english reader it must've seemed very likely to find anything in South America, from dinosaurs to an extraterrestial civilization. Besides there's some subtle cultural racism in the story. But, hey, those are not writing flaws, art also gets old. And only the masterpieces as this become remembered classics.

As for the plot, I leave it for you to discover. I wouldn't want to spoil any of the twists. But you'll very likely have a lot of fun. Besides the excitment of the journey I was laughing out loud at some parts, specially with dr. Challenger, the real star of the novel.

That's all, folks!
Excuse my english!

Rating:
Summary: Detective Master
Review: I chose this book because the book title ¡¥THE LOST WORLD¡¦ and the Arthur ¡¥Conan Doyle¡¦. The book has a strange name which encourages me to think ¡Vwhy is it lost and what do the world look like? Also, I knew that the Arthur was a famous person since he had written a famous story called THE ADVENTURE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. His stories are very attractive and have a good plot arrangement. Therefore both of the factors attract me to borrow this book.

The main character is Edward Malone who is a reporter on Daily Gazette newspaper. The story is about a group of scholars and the hero go to South Africa to find a unusual creature from the past. Then they discover many mystery things after their arrival.
The setting is quite good. In the beginning, the writer can raise the mystery by the conversation of Professor Challenger. Then he shows the mystery to us directly when they have arrived. This can create a good atmosphere to the readers. This type of arrangement can greatly increase their attention to continue their reading. This is also the property of a detective story.

I like this book very much. It always keep you thinking what next plot about is. Besides, it provides some lines for readers to guess. Moreover, it is a good example for me to learn how to write a story. The personality of each character is clear. Edward is a good listener and Professor Challenger can elaborate many ideas.

Therefore, I would like to recommend this book to age 11or 11above. It is because the book can encourage them to develop logical thinking which is very important and good for the future.

Rating:
Summary: Doyle and Hecht - a great Duo
Review: This was a great audio book and well worth listening to. Whether or not you like Sherlock Holmes stories (I don't), you will love both this story and the reading of it. Hecht is a marvelous reader.

What I liked best about this story was its inventive science fiction for the time when it was written, and what I loved most about this story was Doyle's use of words themselves. I love how he pictures people and develops their characters.

The plot is spelled out in other reivews, so this review is just to tell you that the tapes themselves are great and the story is great too, (if not a little long and drawn out in some places). But as a reviewer, I must caveat the "great" by adding that I disagree with Doyles' use of the theory of evolution, but if you take that with the grain of salt for a science fiction story, it can pass for what it is - science fiction.

I thoroughly enjoyed the exploits of Professor Challenger, the reporter Malone, Sir John Roxton, and Professor Sommerly. There is a sequel of sorts, "The Poison Belt" which is an entertaining story as well and also read by Hecht(this story is much shorter and a little on the "dark" side). But overall, I wish Doyle wrote more science fiction and less mystery.

This is a good audio book to take with you on a long trip, or to listen to on a daily commute. I nearly missed going inside to work some days because the story got so good in places.

Listen and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Alien Voices Rule!
Review: I highly recommend Alien Voices "The Lost World"! I already have several Alien Voices recordings and I've enjoyed listening to every one of them. I am a big Star Trek fan and it's fun to listen to Trek actors doing something completely different from what they did on their respective shows. Also, the sound effects are highly believable and the actors bring Challenger and the other characters to life as the story unfolds. If you like Sci-Fi, but don't have time to read, I would recommend any of the Alien Voices stories on CD audio or cassette, because they make for great listening anytime!

Rating:
Summary: This was great!
Review: I loved listening to this Alien Voices cd. I first borrowed it at my local library and couldn't stop listening to it! It gives a very 'old radio' feeling (which I also love) and the cast was perfectly done. Though I am also a 'purist' (I always perfer the original story than abridged or amended) those things I quickly ended up letting them go because this was so funny and entertaining! Now I'm looking to see if I can find the actual video of this Alien Voices production. I can't recommend this enough! If you love those 'old radio' broadcasts and love those fun Star Trek characters...this is the one for you!

Rating:
Summary: Another Conan Doyle legacy
Review: Sherlock Holmes was not the first fictional detective but is surely the most famous. "The Lost World" may not have been the first novel of its kind, but as with the incomparable sleuth of 221-B Baker Street, Conan Doyle penned its first memorable novel of the genre; of prehistoric life defying all odds to live on in a virtually inaccessible portion of our planet. How many other writers can claim to have such a profound effect on two different types of literature?
"The Lost World" is a fast-paced and entertaining story of a small expedition to the wilds of the Amazon River Basin and the the dangers the 4 mismatched heroes face from slave traders, the jungle itself, and of course from the prehistoric beasts and ape-men roaming the plateau so dangerous to human habitation. The love interest in this story is negligible but the reader barely notices the absence, as this is an adventure story and not a romance. The main characters are all of a type that would have been familiar to Doyle's Victorian audience, with the egotistical and brilliant Professor Challenger dominating the book. Doyle's humor illustrated within many of Challenger's bombastic pronouncements is a touch that rarely is present in the Sherlock Holmes stories, masterpeices as they are. This is not to say that Lord John Roxton, Professor Summerlee and Edward Malone are pale shadows by comparison - they just don't think they are always right! Warning: Politically correct readers need not bother - Doyle would not get your stamp of approval, but remember he is writing this novel a hundred or so years ago.
Many books, movies and TV shows owe a great deal to Sir Arthur for his authorship of this book, which I certainly recommend for action, storytelling and a glimpse of the Victorian view of the effect of European civilization upon other worlds.

Rating:
Summary: No Other Recourse
Review: I think I used to own this book, and I'm pretty sure I read it. If not, I saw both of the movie versions, and after reading all of the Holmes books and trying, twice, to read *The White Company*, I'm pretty sure the movies were at least as good as the book. Don't expect *Jurassic Park*; remember Doyle is a guy who was fooled by a couple of pre-adolescents into publishing an essay about "pictures" of "fairies."

Rating:
Summary: A pleasant surprise from a pile of old books!
Review: You know you're reading an old book when "flaccid organ" has nothing to do with sex! And what an enjoyable book this one is. Attracted by the pictures of the dinosaurs on the cover, I finally got around to reading it and recommend it to all lovers of adventure stories. Warning: You may need patience to wade through the wordy descriptions, but it's well worth it for the humorous encounters between the two Professors and the conflicts with the prehistoric world. Yes, Doyle reflects the racism of his day towards Indians and blacks, but readers who see his words as time capsules from an earlier time will not have a problem with them.
My only complaint was that the odd, hopping carnivorous dinosaur is never linked to a dinosaur I am familiar with. Iguanadons, pleisiosaurs and even a stegosaurus are mentioned, but no specific name is given the most dangerous of all. Minor complaint, though.
Grab a copy of this book and enjoy a trip to the wilds of South America's rain forest!

Rating:
Summary: First and one of the best
Review: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created a classic dinosaur adventure story when he wrote The Lost World in 1912. The tale's narrator, Ned Malone is a newspaper reporter who joins an expedition to the wilds of the Amazon to impress his girlfriend. However, he scarcely anticipates the dangers he will confront when the expedition's leader, zoology professor George Challenger takes them to a plateau filled with dinosaurs and ape men.
Doyle's human characters are described much more richly than Michael Crichton's minimally interesting protagonists in Jurassic Park (1990), so the story hinges as much on Challenger's eccentricities as it does on dinosaur attacks or Ned Malone's quest for validation of his masculine bravado. A weakness is the lack of female characters worthy of more than passing note. Ned's fickle and heartless girlfriend makes only brief and displeasing appearances at the beginning and end of the tale. Crichton does no better with females.
Hopp's Dinosaur Wars, published in 2000, does a much better take on genders, giving equal weight to a young male/female pair who brave the dangers of dinosaurs loose in modern-day Montana. It seems that even dinosaur fiction has evolved over the years.

Rating:
Summary: A high-adventure, scientific thriller
Review: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was really a very talented writer, and he had many tales to tell that did not involve the famous Sherlock Holmes. The Lost World is perhaps the best known of his noncanonical stories. He describes a lush, mysterious plateau in the remote Amazonian regions of South America in which creatures thought to have died out eons ago still stalk the earth. Professor Challenger, while possessing some of the confidence and intellect of a Holmes, could not be more different in his passions and boisterous, conceited behavior; it is his contention that a "lost world" does exist. Recruiting a disbelieving zoologist, a famed adventurer, and a fresh, young newspaper man to go with him, the group sets out for the inaccessible reaches of the jungle and manages, after some great effort, to reach the isolated plateau. By an act of treachery by an Indian bearing a grudge against the famed Lord Roxton, their portal of entry is destroyed, leaving them trapped in the mysterious new land they dub Maple White Land after an American who earlier discovered the place but died soon thereafter (but not before encountering Professor Challenger in the Amazon and revealing to him its existence and location). They build a camp and begin investigating the area, quickly discovering unknown forms of plant life and animal life, including dinosaurs and pterodactyls. As if the monstrous reptilian beasts aren't hazard enough for them, they soon find themselves besieged by a vicious race of ape-men, whom they eventually take on in alliance with a separate race of Indians. The newspaperman narrates events in a series of postings he manages to get sent back to London, describing the creatures and their habits. Each man is called upon to distinguish himself through deeds of heroism in order to escape this newly discovered world and return to civilization with the scientific coup of all time.

Conan Doyle's characterizations and descriptions of both man and beast are rich and vibrant. Ironically, the lost world seems much more real than the world of London. The scientific meetings held in front of a number of disbelieving scholars result in great commotions, tempests of defamations and praises, fainting women, and combatant men. When Challenger reveals his proof of the exploits that have been related, untold chaos and zeal follow quickly on the heels of one another. As for the reporter, he made the astounding journey because of a woman--while this part of the story is somewhat silly, it is nevertheless fitting. The woman he loves declares that she can only love a man who has taken great risks and won fame for himself, and this sets our protagonist on as daring an adventure as could be found at any time. It may well be that such compulsions of the heart have led to many great acts and discoveries in history; it is even more probable that such exploits have been rewarded in the predictable way our protagonist's was, the details of which I will endeavor not to disclose here.

All in all, it's a wonderful tale of adventure, cunning, heroics, and scientific achievement. Somewhat surprisingly, there are not that many dinosaurs described in the story. We have a fleeting glimpse of a stegiosaur, but we mostly read of medium-sized dinosaurs such as the "iguanadon." There is no brontosaurus or T-Rex here, which is somewhat disappointing. The jungle action actually centers around the ape-men and Indians, as once again, even amid the prehistoric realm of Jurassic life, we find that humanoids, even of the most primitive type, are the most dangerous, ruthless animals on the earth.