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The Lost World

(Professor Challenger #1)

Arthur Conan Doyle

3.93 · Rating details · 57,550 ratings · 2,258 reviews

It's London, 1907. Journalist Edward Malone, rejected by the woman he loves because he is too prosaic, decides to go in search of adventure and fame to prove himself worthy of her. Soon after, he meets Professor George Challenger, a scientist who claims to have discovered a 'lost world' populated by pterodactyls and other prehistoric monsters. ...more

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Paperback, 272 pages

Published January 14th 2003 by Modern Library (first published 1912)

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Feb 19, 2012 Stephen rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, classics-european, lost-my-world, science-fiction, 1900-1929, need-to-buy

Move aside, Sherlock…Sir Arthur has conjured a protagonist who's an even more arrogant assbag than you.

Everyone...the intrepid, the indefatigable, the insufferable Professor G.E. Challenger…

If, like me, you enjoy characters that are gruff, prideful curmudgeonly sorts, than you will have fun with this guy. He is a serious hoot. Trust me.

Physically, Prof. Challenger is a funhouse mirror reflection of Mr. Holmes. Instead of a tall, lanky, clean-shaven gentlemen who calmly condescends to the ...more

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May 25, 2018 Miranda Reads rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, 2018-finer-books-club-reading-chall

Can we start with how this book (written in 1912) was based off of the "Friend Zone" ??

"Poor" Edward Malone confesses his love for a girl but she is not interested. She tries telling him nicely, rudely and all ways in between but he just doesn't get it.

She could but refuse me, and better be a repulsed lover than an accepted brother

So, finally, in a fit to be tied, she makes up some excuse - that he's not adventurous enough for her - that he's not a daring-and-dashing hero. And so, Edwar ...more

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Jan 21, 2019 James Tivendale rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, classics

“If in 100 years I am only known as the man who invented Sherlock Holmes then I will have considered my life a failure.” - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This review will contain minor spoilers. Although Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson, Mycroft Holmes, and Professor James Moriarty are Doyle's most known creations, Professor Challenger, the hot-tempered scientist is another character that many readers will be familiar with. This is the first of the Professor Challenger series and the only one that I ha “If in 100 years I am only known as the man who invented Sherlock Holmes then I will have considered my life a failure.” - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This review will contain minor spoilers. Although Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson, Mycroft Holmes, and Professor James Moriarty are Doyle's most known creations, Professor Challenger, the hot-tempered scientist is another character that many readers will be familiar with. This is the first of the Professor Challenger series and the only one that I had read previously. I started reading religiously in 2012 and The Lost World was one of my favourite stories from my pre-review era. I decided to revisit this exuberant and vivacious science heavy adventure tale that features dinosaurs - and I'm truly glad that I did.

This narrative begins with journalist and international rugby player Edward Dunn Malone as he finally tells the love of his life Gladys about the emotions and feelings that he has been harbouring. Unfortunately, it is soon revealed that she doesn't share the sentiments that Malone has been feeling and therefore he remains in the 'friend-zone.' He just isn't exciting enough. She wants an adventurer, essentially so she can bask in the glory of her partner's deeds. As the archetypal example of a member of the friendzone guild, he doesn't even consider thinking that maybe she is a "bad apple" and not the right woman for him. The antithesis is what he thinks. Malone races down to the office of the Daily Gazette and begs his editor for an exciting, dangerous assignment... war correspondence perhaps? His superior states that there is no task more high risk or hazardous for a reporter than to interview the infamous scientist Professor Challenger.

After an eventful and volatile first meeting between the duo, the emotions cool down and Edward ends up sharing a cigarette with the incredibly intelligent, agog, slightly unorthodox and idiosyncratic scientist. I pictured him as being like an early 20th century Brian Blessed with the presented attitude, extravagance, and description. He divulges information about a potential Lost World which he has visited and the last time he was there, although only for a brief period, he shot a pterodactyl and presents the wing to the journalist. As the next few chapters progress it transpires that a team of three very different individuals will attempt to retrace Challenger's steps to visit this plateau that seems to have ignored the laws of science that the rest of the world's environments have adhered to.

In Sherlock Holmes, the brilliant characters take the concepts from being good to often phenomenal. The same is true here. The trio attempting this escapade (which has been mostly ridiculed by the science community as nothing but fancy and absurd), are Malone, adventurer, and Amazon exploration expert Lord John Roxton, and Challenger disparager and rival Professor Summerlee. They also have Zambo who is described as a "negro Hercules" and he acts as their Amazonian guide.

The beginning of the novel runs at a steady pace as the characters are introduced, foundations are set and the plan is set in motion. It really gets going when the ensemble reaches the infamous plateau. If I had to summarise this tale in a few words it would be "a gripping and rip-roaring adventure." It features suspense, betrayals, surprising revelations, horror, and elements of mystery. Add into the mix a plethora of dinosaurs including Iguanadons, Allosaurus' Plesiosaurus' amongst many other assumed extinct species. Doyle must have done an immense amount of research for The Lost World regarding the science of the Jurassic period and also of his current day. Throughout, the story never comes across as if it was a dull science text. Complex discussions about plants, creatures, and the environment are often humorous as Professor Challenger and Professor Summerlee debate the facts - very rarely agreeing with each other's hypothesis. The players also end up in the middle of a war fought between ape-people and the indigenous tribes of this raised island. The novel also features amazing set pieces that appear as bewildering yet exhilarating for the characters to behold as they were for me to read. There is always the nagging doubt in the back of the ensemble's minds about how on earth they are going to escape the plateau and if they are sitting on one of science's greatest ever discoveries that the world will be oblivious to if they don't succeed and return to London.

"But surely no man had just such a day since the world began."

Simply put, this is one of my favourite stories from when I started reading properly. It will always have a special place in my heart and I'm sure I'll read it again in another seven years. An absolute classic.

James Tivendale ...more

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Sep 26, 2017 Evgeny rated it really liked it

Shelves: adventure

A young reporter Ed Malone was madly in love. The woman he loved told him he would only have a chance with her if he did something really heroic. The most heroic action his editor could think of was to send him to interview Professor Challenger notorious for throwing the reporters out of his house - literally throwing out.
Throw out

Initially poor Malone repeated the previous experience of his colleagues, but he managed to pacify the professor to tell him his story. The main idea was that the guy claimed A young reporter Ed Malone was madly in love. The woman he loved told him he would only have a chance with her if he did something really heroic. The most heroic action his editor could think of was to send him to interview Professor Challenger notorious for throwing the reporters out of his house - literally throwing out.
Throw out

Initially poor Malone repeated the previous experience of his colleagues, but he managed to pacify the professor to tell him his story. The main idea was that the guy claimed he found a a remote place in Amazonian jungle where prehistoric animals (read: dinosaurs) still lived. To make a long story short an expedition was formed to check the location and our reporter realized this might be exactly the opportunity to do the heroics, so he became one of the volunteers.

This book is supposed to be a classic adventure so I will not spoil much when I say that the expedition really found what they were looking for.
Dinosaur

This might be not the first book to use the lost world troupe, but it is most famous. Everything one expects to find in a classic adventure is here: last-minute escapes, mysterious jungle, testosterone overload, people trying to shoot any animal in sight, and just pure undiluted fun perfect for getting out of a book slump caused by reading too many mediocre books in a row.

The first half of the book takes place entirely in London. Usually in such books this is the most boring part, but not here. The character of Professor Challenger alone successfully carried this whole part by himself. This says something about the quality of the way he was written. Then again what did you expect from the creator of Sherlock Holmes? The narrator Malone comes out as a decent character as well, but he is to Professor exactly what Doctor Watson is to his famous friend: lost in the shadow of a great person.
Prof. Challenger

I can also mention political correctness (there is none), racism (if you read the book looking for it, you will find it, but I personally liked the way most non-white people were shown: fearless and loyal), sexism (again there is no "strong" women in here meaning none which can beat the crap out of any dinosaur using her martial arts skill). If you are the type of person who read old books to find something to be offended at, this one can provide you a lot of material. If you keep your mind open never forgetting when the book was written, it really does not have any of the things (as hey saw them in Victorian England) I mentioned above. ...more

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Apr 25, 2018 Jan-Maat added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, fantasy, fiction, short-stories

Silly bad. A surprisingly dull updating of Journey to the centre of the Earth (view spoiler)with extra racism, more dinosaurs, and guns. Surprisingly from the author of Sherlock Holmes, in which the stories although sometimes (always?) somewhat silly and contrived tend to have a certain cleverness to them, one has to wonder when a party of travellers Silly bad. A surprisingly dull updating of Journey to the centre of the Earth (view spoiler)with extra racism, more dinosaurs, and guns. Surprisingly from the author of Sherlock Holmes, in which the stories although sometimes (always?) somewhat silly and contrived tend to have a certain cleverness to them, one has to wonder when a party of travellers in possession of a 150 foot rope find a forty foot chasm uncrossable and indeed start to prepare a hydrogen balloon before other alternatives suggest themselves - precisely a convenient cave system that allows the adventurers to exit the plateau of prehistoric Sussex but not any of the prehistoric creatures, who fortunately I guess suffer from extreme shyness or claustrophobia.

One basic problem is that the premise of the story is a good deal less interesting that one thinks at first - mostly because we may be familiar with many films in which dinosaurs chase people and other exciting things happen like seeing women wearing furry bikinis. However if we imagine the story 'man takes a walk and sees a cat', and then substitute the word cat for dinosaur, perhaps we see the problem that Conan-Doyle faced, it's actually not very interesting. As much as it hurts me down to the fingers which glued together airfix model dinosaurs in childhood, the simple fact of a dinosaur does not have intrinsic interest to sustain a novel even such a short one, or if it has, Conan-Doyle doesn't mange to find it. So the story runs as follows Dinosaurs still exist, no they don't, yes they do, well let's go and have a look and check, assemble a team to do so, arrive see dinosaurs. And then what? Conan-Doyle's response is to introduce the fearsome - Ape-man, the mysterious missing link, and borrow from King Solomon's Mines (actually referenced in story) with full savage versus savage battle action and European with their rifles worshipped as living gods(view spoiler). And it gets worse (or better depending on your point of view). Creatures the characters don't like are described as filthy and their extermination as cleansing. It's incontrovertible, purely a question of hygiene, well the 20th century was just beginning and this mode of thinking had many more miles to go before it reached the end of that road. What is mildly amusing here is that the species who will meet this fate are part of the "Lost World" a treasury of massive scientific value, the scientists characters are however as happy as everybody else to tidy up nature and kill, kill, kill. Native south-American Indians apparently will intrinsically react to Europeans by carrying the European's luggage even if they share no common language or means of communication. 'Half-breeds' are treacherous and unpleasant ie transgressive in every way, while 'pure' Indians are peaceable and obedient. There is a black man employed as a servant, he is loyal 'like a dog', very strong and somewhat stupid, Conan-Doyle calls him 'Zambo' which is as close as you can get to 'Sambo' as possible, the kind of name you dream up with the assistance of your lawyers when trying to avoid copy-write infringement.

The story suddenly with the introduction of diamonds at the end reminded me of How to read Donald Duck - the point of adventures, and the purpose of the rest of the world, is wealth - wealth which only Europeans can profit from - this is the biggest deviation from Verne's Journey to the centre of the earth

Conan Doyle takes exactly the same dynamic of by the book scientist vs the adventurer who prefers practical demonstration, but strips the charm from the relationship and adds to the aggression and violence, adds a bargain basement version of Allan Quartermain and a journalist in the spirit of the times. The journalist is the story's narrator, Conan-Doyle isn't sure how to use him - a couple of chapters are written as though letters sent by him to London, while the rest aren't and there is no communication possible with the Imperial capital so there is simply a continuous narrative. Conan-Doyle adds a lengthly let's get the heroes together sequence - this is rather dull and silly and when the adventurers do reach the dinosaurs they are more lifeless than the displays in the Natural History Museum, no wonder they became extinct.

Verne is a master of incident to impel the story forward, Conan Doyle isn't. Part of the problem is that his heroes are Britons and representatives of the master race and so can't be seen to be inferior, and therefore can't get lost. Even the Irishman is played straight even if he comes across as a bit lazy and uneducated, when he does something uniquely stupid - going for a midnight stroll in dinosaur country when Conan-Doyle's dinosaurs it has been established, are nocturnal hunters - if all works out for the best as - well I don't want to spoil everything - unlike the map added to the text which gives away great chunks of the narrative. Dull Imperialist story, but on the up side: Rule Britannia!

Also reading here Professor Challenger and his wife(view spoiler), one feels with relief how good it is that Sherlock Holmes was celibate (though admittedly we've only Dr Watson's word for it), and coming to think of it it is a bit suspicious how much of his time he spends round with Holmes rather than practising medicine - or does Watson actual earn his money by selling drugs to Holmes? The story shows that Conan-Dolye was a good writer of genre short-stories but struggled with the novel as a form. This one is all one idea - what if prehistoric Sussex existed on a south-American plateau in the present day? But it is an idea which quickly doesn't get very far without the introduction of perfectly horrid ape-men. ...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Jason Koivu rated it liked it

Who doesn't wish dinosaurs weren't still around? Well, maybe not the big bitey ones, but how cool would that be?! Hell, I'd even take the huge, face-ripping ones too if it were an all-or-nothing deal. I figure a little survival of the fittest would do this world good.

Since that's not likely to happen during my lifetime, I'll console myself with movies and books. The Lost World is a good place to be for those of us looking to get lost in a dino world.

This is a forerunner of the what-if history ...more

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Jan 09, 2018 Whispering Stories rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Book Reviewed by Clive on www.whisperingstories.com

After his initial success Conan Doyle spent much of his literary career trying to break free from Sherlock Holmes but public pressure and the need for a good income kept the two inexorably bound. His historical novels found little success but he achieved more with his science fiction adventures of which The Lost World was by far the most successful. And rightly so. This tale of a hidden world is full of action with many mysteries to ponder. Just Book Reviewed by Clive on www.whisperingstories.com

After his initial success Conan Doyle spent much of his literary career trying to break free from Sherlock Holmes but public pressure and the need for a good income kept the two inexorably bound. His historical novels found little success but he achieved more with his science fiction adventures of which The Lost World was by far the most successful. And rightly so. This tale of a hidden world is full of action with many mysteries to ponder. Just imagine the excitement of the readers of Strand Magazine as they waited for the next episode of the story to be published; just what creatures or predicaments would our heroes meet next?

As far as I know Conan Doyle never travelled up the Amazon. He obtained his knowledge from other people’s accounts but his descriptions of the jungle are excellent and help to build the tension before they even reach the site of the lost world.

Despite the age of the book and the language of the time I found it easy to read. Having the story written in the first person helped to maintain the tension and fear.

The principle characters are those one would expect from an action story of that time, the relatively innocent narrator, the two irascible professors and everybody’s favourite, the all-action Lord John Roxton; sportsman, world explorer, British gentleman and all round good egg. The sort of character that we have seen parodied countless times.

I was expecting action and mysterious creatures but my surprise was Conan Doyle’s humour. In particular I found myself laughing out loud at the chapter describing the lecture at the start of the book. To use the vernacular of the time the inaudible chairman was an absolute “hoot”.

For several reasons The Lost World could not be written today. With the benefit of current knowledge it is hard to believe that such a mix of fauna could exist together in such a relatively small space. Also, any modern book would have a balanced mix of gender and race whereas here we have four upper class English male explorers, some Native South American bearers, a loyal “negro” servant and just two very stereotypical female characters with very minor roles.

As is usual for Alma Classics there are a few pages of useful notes to explain some of the references to contemporary persons and literature. The cover has an outline drawing of what must be Lord John in jodhpurs and pith helmet, looking up at pterodactyls flying above.

The book has a lively ending and promised more adventures for the leading characters which Conan Doyle fulfilled with several short stories and another book. The Lost World brightened up a couple of dull post-Christmas days and for sheer “ripping yarn” entertainment I have awarded five stars. ...more

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Sep 20, 2017 Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* rated it liked it

Shelves: 3-star, classics-i-have-finally-conquered, ebook, monsters, movie-havent-seen, unusual-creatures, lendable-kindle, classics, first-in-series, part-of-series

3.5 rating

“So tomorrow we disappear into the unknown. This account I am transmitting down the river by canoe, and it may be our last word to those who are interested in our fate.”

Ironically the first part was better than when the actual adventure started. I think it's because the writer did not indulge in so much descriptive rambling and lengthy pauses during the build-up, which allowed that part of the story to shine triumphantly with humor, quirky characters, and fun motivations.

I loved the ...more

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Sep 16, 2011 kwesi 章英狮 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, arthur-conan-doyle, owned

I don't like to end the book so soon, I really love this book although I expected something gorier like dinosaur killing the whole tribe or cannibals eat human flesh. Still, I did love this book in many ways and as long as I live I'll treasure this book forever. Hey, stop looking to me like that. I can still remember all the things I read from the book. Amen.

The whole journey started when a Gazette Irish journalist named, Malone, went go straight to the house of notorious Professor Challenged cl ...more

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Nov 03, 2008 Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books) rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Fans of lost world/quest adventures

Recommended to Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books) by: Nicolle as a Buddy Read

Shelves: 2011-reading, action-adventure, kindle-book, early-to-mid-twentieth-century, classic, alternate-dimension-or-world, owned-copy, 1st-person-pov, epistolary-narrative, laughed-myself-silly-while-reading

The Lost World is a classic work of action/adventure that has a lively feel that made for a very fun read. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories, has a way of writing an engaging tale. For readers who fear reading books published prior to the later 20th century out of the desire to avoid dry, stale language, I would offer up this book. Although it shows the sentiments, good and bad, for the period in which it was written, the writing tone could easily be as modern as ...more

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May 02, 2018 Charles van Buren rated it it was amazing

One of the two original, popular "dinosaur" novels.

By Charles van Buren on May 2, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

This review of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD is from the Amazon Classics edition, December 5, 2017. Reviews of this edition also appear at the Amazon listing for a different edition published by Amazon Digital Services, March 30, 2011. Appearing under both lisings are multiple reviews of Michael Crichton's THE LOST WORLD. For instance, of the 35 one star reviews One of the two original, popular "dinosaur" novels.

By Charles van Buren on May 2, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

This review of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD is from the Amazon Classics edition, December 5, 2017. Reviews of this edition also appear at the Amazon listing for a different edition published by Amazon Digital Services, March 30, 2011. Appearing under both lisings are multiple reviews of Michael Crichton's THE LOST WORLD. For instance, of the 35 one star reviews listed on, May 1, 2018, 25 are clearly reviews of the Crichton book. Only 2 are clearly reviews of Doyle's novel. I have now discovered that my review and many others of Doyle's book appear under at least one of Amazon's listings for Crichton's book.

Doyle's THE LOST WORLD was originally published as a magazine serial in 1912. It was the second story of modern humans meeting dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals to meet with widespread public appreciation. The first was Jules Verne's 1864, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Doyle's book was followed by Edgar Rice Burroughs' THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, in 1918. Over the following years, Burroughs wrote several more "dinosaur" novels. Doyle, Verne and Burroughs are obviously the main forerunners of Michael Crichton's JURASSIC PARK, books and movies.

Doyle's book has a team of four European explorers trapped on the South American plateau of the lost world. SPOILERS AHEAD: there are dinosaurs chasing humans but not devouring them. With but four explorers, Doyle would have run out of characters. Instead, the book concentrates on the many dangers which confront the explorers, character development, suspense and acrimonious arguments within the scientific community. As one would expect from Arthur Conan Doyle, the novel is well written, but don't expect Sherlock Holmes meets dinosaurs. Several movies and TV programs have been based on the book. Some pretty good and some pretty silly. My favorite is Irwin Allen's 1960 movie with Michael Rennie and Claude Raines. It does not follow the book very closely but Rennie, Raines and Jill St. John make up for a lot of the sometimes silly alterations of the plot. ...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Apatt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics

“He would be a harder, sterner man, not so ready to adapt himself to a silly girl's whim. But, above all, he must be a man who could do, who could act, who could look Death in the face and have no fear of him, a man of great deeds and strange experiences. It is never a man that I should love, but always the glories he had won; for they would be reflected upon me. Think of Richard Burton!”

What? Oh this Richard Burton! I don’t want to post a photo of the explorer Burton (too many pics in this revi ...more

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Jun 24, 2020 Tharindu Dissanayake rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"There’s many a man who never tells his adventures, for he can’t hope to be believed."

I've been a long time fan of the Lost World TV series, and always wanted to get around to reading the book, and got the opportunity at last. I was amazed to see how different the book is, even down to the attributes/ characteristics of characters.

"Brain, character, soul—only as one sees more of life does one understand how distinct is each."

Some might argue that the book is too short, but for me it was the exac ...more

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Dec 22, 2016 Jon Nakapalau rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, favorites, classics, dinosaurs

Almost every 'dinosaurs are alive' movie owes something to this book; a fantastic adventure story for young boys and girls that will make them curious about science and adventure. ...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Shovelmonkey1 rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: plesiosaurs and pterodactyls

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: by an esteemed historic pedigree

Shelves: 1001-books, fantasy-fantastic, read-in-2012, kindle, gentleman-adventurers

WARNING: TERRIBLE LIZARDS CONTAINED WITHIN

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle is the literary equivalent of the plucky and elegant Caudipteryx when placed next to the stomping roaring Tyrannosaurus that represents the Hollywood mega block busters of Jurassic Park and the Lost World. If it doesn't zip along fast enough it might get squashed. But it does zip along quite speedily and has all the pre-requisites needed for a boys-own adventure story.

Specifically boys-own, because there are no ladie WARNING: TERRIBLE LIZARDS CONTAINED WITHIN

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle is the literary equivalent of the plucky and elegant Caudipteryx when placed next to the stomping roaring Tyrannosaurus that represents the Hollywood mega block busters of Jurassic Park and the Lost World. If it doesn't zip along fast enough it might get squashed. But it does zip along quite speedily and has all the pre-requisites needed for a boys-own adventure story.

Specifically boys-own, because there are no ladies to speak of in this early 20th century romp. Well, there is one but she's nothing but a low down strumpet who cruelly breaks the heart of budding journalist and aspiring adventurer, Mr Edward Malone, so we'll not dwell too long on the tainting presence of those with an XX chromosome within these mostly men only pages.

The simian Professor Challenger is soundly mocked by British academe for his belief that he has discovered a lost world in South America. He claims that he has evidence (literally sketchy at best) to prove the existence of the sort of place that would make Darwin weep into his Earl Grey and have Linnaeus pissing in his britches with excitement. Prof Challenger, like so many Profs of my own acquaintance does not take kindly to criticism or disbelievers, so rallies a group of hardy adventurers to strike out for the Amazon basin with the aim of bringing back proof.

The journey is narrated and documented by Edward Malone who, it seems is willing to put up with all manner of aggravation and patronising comments in order to get his front page story.

After a long and winding journey down the Amazon and finding a way onto the prehistoric plateau, disaster strikes and the group become trapped... and then in the tradition of many great foreign exploits and invasions, realise that being decidedly British and having impressive facial hair are not actually the same thing as having food, supplies and a plan. Numerous encounters with prehistoric beasties are fast and fierce although Mr Malone lacks a bit when it comes to descriptive faculties so instead of giant snarling monsters, you would be forgiven for thinking that the group is being pursued by an overly large and bellicose toad. Angry Anura aside, the Amazonian canopy is also sheltering two sub species of humans. Angry ape-men and meek, mild and more evolved homo sapiens type.

Now keep in mind that the explorers are there for King and Country and therefore the most logical thing to do is slaughter the group that seem less advanced and embark upon a programme of what amounts to basic ethnic cleansing. How terribly colonial. Having dispatched what might have been the missing link, without so much as the blink of an eye or an ethnographic study, the victorious Englishmen return home with the proof they need and a front page story guaranteed to knock Scott of the Antarctic off the front pages. In your face Scott. Ok, no one actually says that in the book.

An entertaining and generally quite wholesome read if you can somehow overlook the colonial-ness of the tome. The dinosaurs are not as scary as anything offered up by unholy-wood in recent times but it's fair to say that, even though it's over one hundred years old, this tale still has some bite. ...more

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Aug 22, 2017 Jelena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bigass-real-shelf, classics

I’ve been on an adventure!

And I’m quite glad I read this at an adult age. “The Lost World” is an adventure novel through and through, pure in its quest for new thrills and sensations, a glorious and unadulterated pulp. An old-school fantasy escapade with all its props and décor protruding out of everywhere. And how I loved it for that!

It’s a pretty safe bet that my 12-year-old self would’ve overanalysed it by acting all grown-up and intellectual, nagging at the characters’ implausible actions ...more

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Mar 20, 2008 Werner rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Fans of adventure-oriented science fiction

Shelves: classics, science-fiction, books-i-own

Note, March2, 2016: I've just edited this review to correct a misspelled word.

Like one of my Goodreads friends, I should say at the outset that my review can't add much to the excellent one already written by another friend, Lady Danielle (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... ). But I'll go ahead and share my perspective anyway, for what it's worth. While I did like the book, my rating for it wasn't quite as high as most of my friends gave it (for reasons I'll indicate below). But it's a goo Note, March2, 2016: I've just edited this review to correct a misspelled word.

Like one of my Goodreads friends, I should say at the outset that my review can't add much to the excellent one already written by another friend, Lady Danielle (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... ). But I'll go ahead and share my perspective anyway, for what it's worth. While I did like the book, my rating for it wasn't quite as high as most of my friends gave it (for reasons I'll indicate below). But it's a good adventure yarn, still appealing on that level even 100 years after it was written, and for anyone seriously interested in the roots of modern science fiction, a must-read. The whole SF theme of juxtaposing the prehistoric with the present-day world derives directly from this novel; Doyle continues to be a serious influence on contemporary genre writers like Crichton, and a host of others in between.

Much of the novel's appeal comes from the sheer power and fascination of the concept of being able to directly experience dinosaurs firsthand. In 1912, this idea was completely new; it's less so now, but even so, it retains a lot of its intrinsic excitement. Doyle's treatment mostly builds on this advantage positively; he's a very capable writer in terms of craftsmanship (I don't list him as a favorite for nothing!). His plot is solid and his pacing brisk, with plenty of the jeopardies and challenges that draw readers (including me) to this type of fiction. He peoples the narrative with vividly drawn characters. The most obvious of these is his series character Prof. Challenger, introduced here: too big (physically and in sheer force of personality) to ignore, supremely egotistical, belligerent, and combative, but brilliant, ingenious, and courageous. (Both Doyle's Holmes and Challenger were at least partly based on actual people; the latter on Doyle's medical school professor William Rutherfurd, just as Holmes was on Rutherfurd's colleague Joseph Bell.) But the supporting characters like Lord Roxton and Prof. Summerlee are brought fully to life as well (Roxton is really the most likeable of the group --his character here is vastly different from the arrogant jerk in the very unfaithful made-for-TV movie and series adaptation!). Malone, the narrator and viewpoint character, is less colorful, but he's an Everyman that readers can identify with --and like identifying with, as he proves himself brave and competent in various situations. Being written at a time when literary syntax was no longer as florid and convoluted as it had been in the early and mid-1800s, the prose here is pretty straightforward in style; it won't inhibit any modern reader with a good vocabulary. And the climax of the novel leaves the reader with some of the most arresting mental images I've ever experienced.

For me, though, there were factors that kept the book from being a four-star read. That the science is dated wasn't that big a problem for me; we've explored enough of the earth by now to know that the idea of any surviving Jurassic ecosystem is pretty far-fetched, but in 1912 that wasn't the case. (Though he doesn't name the locality, Doyle actually based his physical setting for the titular Lost World on the then-wholly-unexplored high plateau of Roraima in southern Venezuela.) But the author's uncritical Darwinism is more of a challenge to belief; though one can, I suppose, accept Doyle's "ape-men" (which one character calls "missing links") here much as we accept dragons and unicorns in fantasy. One of my Goodreads friends likes Challenger better than Holmes, but I didn't have the same reaction. Indeed, although Challenger's character fascinates, I can't really say that I like him much at all (in real life, I think he'd drive me up the wall quickly if I had to be much in his company). Lady Danielle, in her review, analyzes the patronizing treatment and negative stereotyping of the only black character in the exploring party, Zambo, and I can't improve on her comments there. I'd add that the treatment of the Hispanic-Indian guide Gomez (he's repeatedly referred to or identified as "half-breed") is equally invidious, or more so; Zambo at least is seen as a sympathetic character, while Gomez is a treacherous, homicidal villain. To be sure, some blacks of that day and now (and some whites) exhibit traits like Zambo's, and no doubt some Hispanic-Indians (like some whites) ARE treacherous, homicidal villains. It's the absence of any balance to those portrayals here that gives the impression that we're being invited to view every real-life black, Hispanic or Indian person that way, a kind of racial stereotyping that comes across as a sour note in the read. The racist attitudes are matched by sexist ones; I can't say that the author's portrayal of women is very favorable. That the exploring party is all male is probably to be expected in any writing from this era, but like Verne in Journey to the Center of the Earth (at least in the translation I read), Doyle uses a conversation between the viewpoint character and his romantic interest at the beginning to pound home the point that adventuring is strictly a male preserve. The lady delivers lines like, "There are heroisms all around us waiting to be done. It's for men to do them, and for women to reserve their love as a reward for such men.... That's what I should like --to be envied for my man," and "It is never a man that I should love, but always the glories that he had won, for they would be reflected upon me.... These are the sort of men that a woman could worship with all her soul and yet be the greater, not the less, on account of her love, honored by all the world as the inspirer of noble deeds." (That choking noise in the background is me gagging.) And finally, there's no strong message here that speaks to any truth about the human condition, nor any ideas that make you seriously think.

The negatives here, though, didn't pull down the positives enough to keep me from liking the book overall. If you can put up with the former, the latter will provide you with some rousing entertainment! ...more

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Dec 28, 2020 Daren rated it really liked it

Shelves: uk-author, brazil, 4-star, fiction, sci-fi, south-america

An enjoyable romp of a story. Published in 1912, set in 1907 it still does pretty well today. Easy to imagine the Britishness of the characters - the larger than life 'Brian-Blessed-esque' professor Challenger, the cool calm and collected Lord John Roxton and more typical aged professor Summerlee, and rounding out the team, Irish rugby-playing Journalist Ed Malone.

While the paleontology is significantly outdated - with almost all its ideas dis-proven since publication, it is still a very enterta ...more

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May 30, 2019 Scott Rhee rated it really liked it

Shelves: british, science-fiction, professor-challenger, classic-literature, action-adventure, victorian-era, dinosaurs

“There are heroisms all round us waiting to be done. It’s for men to do them, and for women to reserve their love as a reward for such men.(p. 4)”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s best-known literary contribution is Sherlock Holmes, the Baker Street detective who now has name recognition in every culture on the planet, with the exception, perhaps, of an occasional South American tribe sequestered in the rainforest that has yet to discover cotton underwear and wi-fi, let alone pulp novels from the late-19 “There are heroisms all round us waiting to be done. It’s for men to do them, and for women to reserve their love as a reward for such men.(p. 4)”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s best-known literary contribution is Sherlock Holmes, the Baker Street detective who now has name recognition in every culture on the planet, with the exception, perhaps, of an occasional South American tribe sequestered in the rainforest that has yet to discover cotton underwear and wi-fi, let alone pulp novels from the late-19th century.

Probably not as well-known is a series of novels (five, to be precise) featuring his protagonist, Professor Challenger, a genius-level but rather ill-tempered scientist who goes on wild adventures that nobody in their right mind (and certainly not the majority of Victorian England) would ever believe.

“The Lost World”, published in 1912, was the first in the series. If it rings a bell, it’s because the book has been made into no less than six films throughout the years, not including sequels. It was also a TV show on TNT in the late-90s, and the title was used by Michael Crichton for the sequel to his best-selling novel “Jurassic Park” as a literary nod to Doyle’s influence.

In a nutshell, Professor Challenger has essentially been kicked out of any good standing among the British scientific community for propounding a wild theory that dinosaurs may not have gone extinct but, theoretically, could have survived in pockets throughout the world dependent on certain environmental factors. He not only believes this theory but also believes that he can find proof if given the chance to lead an expedition into uncharted sections of South America.

A skeptical rival scientist, Professor Summerlee, an adventurer named Lord John Roxton, and an intrepid journalist, Edward Malone, decide to take the professor up on his challenge.

The resultant story is a far-fetched but entertaining tall tale of high adventure in the jungles of South America, in which our team of heroes encounters earthquakes, rock-slides, pterodactyls, giant apes, and human tribes that have never encountered British explorers. Oh, and, of course, lots of dinosaurs.

If one can get past all the 19th-century misogyny, racism, and outlandish science that Doyle seems to relish, “The Lost World” is a heap of good harmless fun. To be fair, the racism isn’t as bad as can be found in some of Doyle’s contemporaries, and the science was, actually, quite current for its time. Doyle’s misogyny (as evinced in the quote above) is never adequately tested, though, as there are really no prominent female characters of which to speak. ...more

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Nov 11, 2009 Mike (the Paladin) rated it really liked it

I preferred Challenger to Holmes and dug up all the Challenger stories when I was younger. I agree with the "blurb" forget the newer story by this name and read this one. Great "high adventure" you don't seem to see anymore.

Be aware that this is an older book and like others of its era it is NOT PC. There are words used in the text that were acceptable then and are not acceptable now. If you are aware of this and can read the book without it bothering you then you'll find that the book is well w ...more

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Sep 01, 2011 The Pirate Ghost (Formerly known as the Curmudgeon) rated it really liked it

Shelves: action-adventure, group-read, fantasy, kindle-book, classic, really-good-read, science-fiction

"Just 'cause the Postman ain't been bit lately don't mean the dog forgot how to bite." (B.E.Anthony)

In other words, "just because the book is old, doesn't mean it's not a good read." (Me)

In fact, I'll go a step further and point out that victorian and early 20th century writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs and Arthur Conan Doyle were able to do what famed writers like Micheal Crieghton struggled to do, that is overlay a science based fantasy world atop the mundane and theoretically understandab ...more

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Aug 08, 2020 Aishu Rehman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: most-favourite, ar-conan-doyle

Really an amazing book. I believe that Arthur Conan Doyle was the finest mystery writer of his time, and in my opinion perhaps the best of all time. Not many writers can surpass his mastery and fluidity of the written word combined with a thrilling plot and a vivid imagination. Written over 100 years ago, The Lost World is still a masterpiece today.

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Jun 02, 2016 Tom Quinn rated it really liked it

"...I can see that what I am writing is destined to immortality as a classic of true adventure." - p. 154

OK, OK, you got me! It's pulp fiction rubbish, but what's wrong with that? This one I place squarely in the "Guilty Pleasure" column. After all, an enlightened 21st century reading of the text reveals sexism, racism, colonialism, and every other no-good -ism save Catechism, eh? But for all its retroactive flaws, the narrative still proves to be a dashing adventure, and one which led me to tur ...more

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Feb 11, 2015 Adrian rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, sf-classic, zz-owned-books

Dated but a good read. As long as one does not expect aliens and space battles, this is quite a well written and enjoyable story

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Aug 29, 2011 Dfordoom rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sf-fantasy

The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

As much as I adore the Sherlock Holmes stories it always saddens me that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s other fiction often gets overlooked. He wrote superb historical novels, some great horror short stories (including the one the movie The Mummy was based on, tales of adventure on the high seas and just about every other genre you can think of. And he wrote science fiction. Like The Lost World.

This short novel is not quite my favourite Conan Doyle science fict The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

As much as I adore the Sherlock Holmes stories it always saddens me that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s other fiction often gets overlooked. He wrote superb historical novels, some great horror short stories (including the one the movie The Mummy was based on, tales of adventure on the high seas and just about every other genre you can think of. And he wrote science fiction. Like The Lost World.

This short novel is not quite my favourite Conan Doyle science fiction tale. The Maracot Deep is for my money stranger and more original. But The Lost World, published in 1912, remains the classic story of its type.

A young newspaperman named Malone sets out to impress his girlfriend Gladys by doing something brave and daring. And attempting to interview Professor Challenger certainly requites both courage and daring. The eccentric scientist has a famously violent temper and has put a number of journalists in hospital. And he’s in an even worse mood since he returned from his recent expedition to South America.

Challenger had came back with an extraordinary tale to tell but unfortunately his supporting evidence had been lost on the return journey and his account was met with ridicule and venomous hostility by his many scientific enemies. Surprisingly he takes a liking to young Malone and invites him to a lecture he is giving. When the Professor tells the audience that he had discovered a lost world filled with prehistoric creatures he is greeted with laughter and catcalls. He throws out a challenge to anyone prepared to set out for South America to establish the truth of his story. There are three volunteers - Professor Summerlee (his most bitter scientific adversary), famous big-game hunter and adventurer Lord John Roxton and Malone whose enthusiasm and determination to impress Gladys got the better of him.

And there is indeed a lost world. An immense plateau which seems to have no means of access, but eventually our intrepid explorers find an ingenious way to enter this forgotten land. They find dinosaurs, isolated for millions of years, but other more advanced forms of life has at various later times managed to reach this plateau. There is a primitive human civilisation, and there are apemen.

Other lost world tales have more ingenious and more inventive plots but there are two areas in which Conan Doyle’s story stands supreme. The first is simply Conan Doyle’s skill as a story-teller. The second is characterisation, most importantly in the creation of the extraordinary personage of Professor Challenger. Challenger is not merely eccentric and irascible, he’s violently insane and frighteningly unstable. But he is a genius, and he is immensely entertaining.

The Lost World is a ripping adventure yarn. Recommended. ...more

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Aug 10, 2015 Fabian {Councillor} rated it really liked it

Shelves: year-1910s, adventure, science-fiction, read-2015, ebook, reviewed

Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" focuses on a story about an expedition in the South American Rainforest, leading its four protagonists on a plateau which seems to surround a world believed to be long-gone. Confronted with dinosaurs like pterodactyls, iguanodons or stegosaurus, our main characters have to solve many difficult or even dramatic situations, and it's one enjoyable thing to read it.

"The Lost World" is written from the perspective of Edward Malone - at first as part of a recollec Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" focuses on a story about an expedition in the South American Rainforest, leading its four protagonists on a plateau which seems to surround a world believed to be long-gone. Confronted with dinosaurs like pterodactyls, iguanodons or stegosaurus, our main characters have to solve many difficult or even dramatic situations, and it's one enjoyable thing to read it.

"The Lost World" is written from the perspective of Edward Malone - at first as part of a recollection of the events leading up to the expedition, and later in the form of a notebook Malone wrote in order to portray the events during their expedition.

Doyle's characters are one-dimensional and not very interesting. Edward Malone is something like a doppelganger to John Watson from his Sherlock Holmes novels, while Professor Challenger himself, as entertaining as his arrogance and strenuous attitudes were, felt like a second Sherlock, only beamed into a new profession. The two other main characters, John Roxton (an adventurer who might have been an ancestor to Indiana Jones) and Dr. Summerlee (who was just present to contradict Professor Challenger's opinions) weren't too interesting at all, but it wasn't those characters which made the story so enjoyable.

It was its insight into prehistoric life and the depiction of dangerous expeditions which kept me reading. Doyle didn't give too much of an explanation about why dinosaurs were still living in this forgotten part of the world, but it wasn't what I expected to read, since the story centered around discoverers who were meant to investigate this part of the world, not to question its background. The story probably includes a lot of contradictions to what is known about dinosaurs and their lives today, but it depicts what people knew at the beginning of the twentieth century, and it is framed by an enthralling story which reminds readers of how expeditions in those days have really been: dangerous and unforeseeable.

Minor elements in this story include an unexpected betrayal, the protagonist's own romantic desires as well as an important conflict between two human races, but in the centre of it all, the prehistorical aspects are what brings this story to life. In general, it was a very interesting read, and while it will not be reminded for its characters, the story which includes one of the first views on prehistoric life in literature makes it a true classic. ...more

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Nov 14, 2013 Holly rated it really liked it

What a wonderful novel! This was part of a children's classics set that I've had for years, and I felt something adventure-like, especially after The Thirty-Nine Steps. And it definitely fulfilled my adventure urge!

Very much like Jules Vernes' novels, The Lost World details the exploration of a hidden area in the South American jungle, where somehow the prehistoric dinosaurs and reptiles have survived. Narrated by the journalist Ed Malone, it is honestly a wonderful read

I was sitting at the edge ...more

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Mar 09, 2013 J.G. Keely rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, reviewed, adventure, uk-and-ireland, novel, lost-world

One of the most pleasant aspects about reading adventures like those of Doyle, Wells, Kipling, and Haggard is the particular presence of the characters, their little joys and quarrels and concerns. There's this humorous self-awareness throughout the story that makes the whole thing read as if its being told, given over to the reader in a particular voice.

Certainly, this can be carried too far and made condescending, as with C.S. Lewis, but it goes to show what a winking authorial presence can l ...more

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Aug 21, 2014 Christopher rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, british, fiction, 20th-century

It's a classic tale of adventure and discovery that goes something like this:

I'm a journalist and my girlfriend doesn't want to marry me because apparently I'm not adventurous enough. So I decided to join an expedition with the narcissistic and venomous Professor Challenger to the Amazonian rain forest so that he can prove his (universally dismissed) discovery of a lost world of dinosaurs and so that I can prove my manhood to my beloved.

So we go, along with a couple other adventurers. Holy cow, ...more

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Jan 22, 2020 Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: action-adventure, borrowed-prime-kll-ku, classics, racism, set-in-1900-1919, 4-stars, audiobook, outside-the-usa, fantasy, read-in-2020

Hey, look, it's the original Jurassic Park!

I knew A.C. Doyle wrote more than just Sherlock Holmes, but I rather forgot about it until now, when I saw this available as part of the AmazonClassics line. Narrated brilliantly by Gary Furlong, this story follows Professor Challenger and his band of three as they head to South America to prove the existence of pre-historic animals in the modern age. Told from the POV of journalist Ed Malone as a series of letters/articles, we follow our explorers as ...more

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About Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born the third of ten siblings on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, a talented illustrator, was born in England of Irish descent, and his mother, born Mary Foley, was Irish. They were married in 1855.

Although he is now referred to as "Conan Doyle", the origin of this compound surname (if that is how he meant it to be understood) is u ...more

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Professor Challenger (5 books)

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A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes, #5)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #3)

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Quotes from The Lost World

“There are times, young fellah, when every one of us must make a stand for human right and justice, or you never feel clean again.” — 54 likes

“So tomorrow we disappear into the unknown. This account I am transmitting down the river by canoe, and it may be our last word to those who are interested in our fate.” — 40 likes

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