H.G. Wells

Born:
  September 21, 1866
Died:
  August 13, 1946
Main genre:
  Science Fiction

Born Herbert George Wells in Kent, England and called Bertie by his family, Wells had poor health as a child, in fact his parents were often worried that he wouldn't survive his childhood. At the age of 7 he was bedridden for several months with a broken leg. This started his love affair with the written word as he read several books during this time, even some written by Charles Dickens and Washington Irving. As a teen, he was apprenticed to a draper but didn't care for the profession much. Instead, he continued his education with the aid of a scholarship to the Normal School of Science where he studied physics, chemistry, astronomy and biology.

His first novel The Time Machine was published in 1895 and was an instant success. While he is most known for his science fiction works, in his later years his books were more political and covered topics such as history, comedy and England's social strata. He created both Utopian and Dystopian worlds within his literary creations. For close to 50 years, Wells devoted his life to writing and during this time his output was incredible. On average, Wells wrote three books a year for several years.

Wells published a non-fiction book in 1927 most popularly titled Social Anticipations (Wells published this book under several different titles). This collection of predictions has turned out to be quite accurate. Wells predicted economic globalization, the rise of major cities and suburbs, and aspects of future military conflicts. Even though he was a supporter of women's rights, Wells did not foresee the rise of women in the workforce. In 1934 Wells, a diabetic himself, co-founded what is now Diabetes UK, which is the leading charity for people living in the UK with diabetes.

One of the things that I love most about classic science fiction is to see the world through the author's eyes and what their imaginations could create through science. While stories of alien invasions are rampant today, it was almost unheard of in 1898 when Wells wrote War of the Worlds. Time travel is a common theory now, but in Wells' time it was merely a fanciful concept. It was Wells' imagination that built the foundation for modern sci-fi story lines and he will always be known as one of the fathers of science fiction.

This month I plan to read :