I just finished reading The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle (1912). I had a great time reading this adventure story, and felt like a child at times, basking in the wonder of exploration and discovery.

It’s a fun adventure with some memorable characters (and great names; one character is Professor Challenger!). It’s also an interesting window into the time in which it was published and the perspectives it represents. The reader develops a sense of the public’s view of science during the early 20th century, some of the predominant social norms of pre-war England, and even gets a taste of some of the scientific debates of the era (e.g. Bathybius haeckelii).

It reminded me a bit of the slightly later The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and many subsequent stories of undiscovered lands within our own terrestrial world.

“It has been touch and go for our lives…”