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A Plunge into Space
A Plunge into Space. British Library, Historical Print Editions The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC. The FICTION & PROSE LITERATURE collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. The collection provides readers with a perspective of the world from some of the 18th and 19th century's most talented writers. Written for a range of audiences, these works are a treasure for any curious reader looking to see the world through the eyes of ages past. Beyond the main body of works the collection also includes song-books, comedy, and works of satire. ++++
The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition
++++ British Library
Cromie, Robert;
1890.
240 p. ; 8º.
012631.f.14.
The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition
++++ British Library
Cromie, Robert;
1890.
240 p. ; 8º.
012631.f.14.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1890
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 17, 2012
I got this from Singularity & Co's Save the Scifi kickstarter, as the first (and so far only) reward. The idea is that they'll clear the copyright of out-of-print SF works and turn them into ebooks. This particular one is, presumably, in the public domain, having been published in 1891.
They scan the books and run them through OCR. Now, the thing about OCR is that it needs very, very thorough human proofing afterwards, and this just hasn't received it. In fact, it doesn't seem to have even been thoroughly spellchecked, judging by the words with letters misrecognised as numbers. There are very frequent and obvious OCR errors, most of which are just annoying (because it's easy to see what the word should have been), but some of which are obscure enough that the sentence is turned into nonsense. And for some reason the font is tiny (I had to crank it up two extra notches on my Kindle) and the text is double-spaced. These basic ebook formatting errors, added to the lack of proofreading, don't bode well for the professionalism of future releases. Because of how annoying this makes the book to read, I can't rate it above three stars.
The story itself is surprisingly good for an author from 120 years ago who I've never heard of. It's witty (in a wry 1890s way), it has characters who aren't just there to point to the shiny but actually have conflict and friendship and story going on between them, and the speculation is well done, at least in patches. The civilization of Mars has advanced technology (some of which we would recognise as commonplace today, though it was wild-eyed speculation in the 1890s), gender equality and minimal government, but isn't a pure utopia - it's on the point of beginning a decline because of the lack of challenge, which is a well-observed point. There have been plenty of SF writers since (in fact, there are some still writing today) who have less insight into technological progress, social progress and psychology, who are less amusing and tell a less interesting story.
On the other hand, the technology is very handwavey, and although women have equality on Mars they don't appear to have it in the writer's head yet. The trope of "naive innocent daughter of a scientist who's basically the cause of all the trouble" was to last well into the 1950s, sadly, and this may be one of the earliest examples.
More interesting as a historical curiosity than as a story, but I think it stands up better than other early SF - in some ways, I'd put it above the much better known H.G. Wells story The Time Machine, which is seriously lacking in character development in comparison.
They scan the books and run them through OCR. Now, the thing about OCR is that it needs very, very thorough human proofing afterwards, and this just hasn't received it. In fact, it doesn't seem to have even been thoroughly spellchecked, judging by the words with letters misrecognised as numbers. There are very frequent and obvious OCR errors, most of which are just annoying (because it's easy to see what the word should have been), but some of which are obscure enough that the sentence is turned into nonsense. And for some reason the font is tiny (I had to crank it up two extra notches on my Kindle) and the text is double-spaced. These basic ebook formatting errors, added to the lack of proofreading, don't bode well for the professionalism of future releases. Because of how annoying this makes the book to read, I can't rate it above three stars.
The story itself is surprisingly good for an author from 120 years ago who I've never heard of. It's witty (in a wry 1890s way), it has characters who aren't just there to point to the shiny but actually have conflict and friendship and story going on between them, and the speculation is well done, at least in patches. The civilization of Mars has advanced technology (some of which we would recognise as commonplace today, though it was wild-eyed speculation in the 1890s), gender equality and minimal government, but isn't a pure utopia - it's on the point of beginning a decline because of the lack of challenge, which is a well-observed point. There have been plenty of SF writers since (in fact, there are some still writing today) who have less insight into technological progress, social progress and psychology, who are less amusing and tell a less interesting story.
On the other hand, the technology is very handwavey, and although women have equality on Mars they don't appear to have it in the writer's head yet. The trope of "naive innocent daughter of a scientist who's basically the cause of all the trouble" was to last well into the 1950s, sadly, and this may be one of the earliest examples.
More interesting as a historical curiosity than as a story, but I think it stands up better than other early SF - in some ways, I'd put it above the much better known H.G. Wells story The Time Machine, which is seriously lacking in character development in comparison.
August 6, 2016
Originally published in 1891 in Belfast, the language and oft times now archaic viewpoints require a little leeway when reading this tale.
The bones of the story concern the discovery of a means to travel through space and the subsequent creation and use of a vessel to do so. The story is populated by a small group, hand-picked for adventure: a core of "solid men" (the scientist, explorer and capitalist) and those required to "look on and talk about, write about, paint about, or report about what men of action achieve".
The story cracks off at high speed and doesn't really let up for the first two-fifths of the book. Unfortunately (from my perspective at least) the latter three-fifths are a somewhat plodding, melodramatic and inevitable romantic tragedy with occasional didactic railing against the people and customs external to the colonial United Kingdom thrown in for good measure.
There is a good measure of "futuristic" technology and the beginnings of an interesting foray into the ramifications of living in a high-tech society, but the author suffers an imagination deficit and this dead-ends rather quickly (to be fair, a particularly significant imagination would be required circa-1890 to think up some of the more commonplace post-technology or -singularity of today...but he started out so well).
The version I read included the brief forward by Jules Verne and I think he summed it up best:
"...For myself, I should perhaps, preferred more details, more facts and figures in connection with the stupendous phenomena we encountered. But the pace at which we travelled was not favourable to minute inquiry—one does not reckon the wavelets when one estimates the strengths of the tides..."
I don't think I'd be too likely to recommend this to anyone due to my general dislike of the majority of the book but I'm quite interested in getting a hold of Cromie's 1895 novel The Crack of Doom (and I really should get around to reading all of the Jules Verne back-catalogue that I've inexplicably skipped - with the exception of Around the World in Eighty Days - up to now).
The bones of the story concern the discovery of a means to travel through space and the subsequent creation and use of a vessel to do so. The story is populated by a small group, hand-picked for adventure: a core of "solid men" (the scientist, explorer and capitalist) and those required to "look on and talk about, write about, paint about, or report about what men of action achieve".
The story cracks off at high speed and doesn't really let up for the first two-fifths of the book. Unfortunately (from my perspective at least) the latter three-fifths are a somewhat plodding, melodramatic and inevitable romantic tragedy with occasional didactic railing against the people and customs external to the colonial United Kingdom thrown in for good measure.
There is a good measure of "futuristic" technology and the beginnings of an interesting foray into the ramifications of living in a high-tech society, but the author suffers an imagination deficit and this dead-ends rather quickly (to be fair, a particularly significant imagination would be required circa-1890 to think up some of the more commonplace post-technology or -singularity of today...but he started out so well).
The version I read included the brief forward by Jules Verne and I think he summed it up best:
"...For myself, I should perhaps, preferred more details, more facts and figures in connection with the stupendous phenomena we encountered. But the pace at which we travelled was not favourable to minute inquiry—one does not reckon the wavelets when one estimates the strengths of the tides..."
I don't think I'd be too likely to recommend this to anyone due to my general dislike of the majority of the book but I'm quite interested in getting a hold of Cromie's 1895 novel The Crack of Doom (and I really should get around to reading all of the Jules Verne back-catalogue that I've inexplicably skipped - with the exception of Around the World in Eighty Days - up to now).
June 6, 2012
Singularity & Co rescued their first SF book and delivered it to my e-mail inbox yesterday. I popped it into my Kindle and started reading a 19th century SF novel, A Plunge Into Space by Robert Cromie (with an introduction by Jules Verne).
I wasn't sure if this was a real book, to be honest. Some of the descriptions seemed modern. Some plot points were so brain dead that I questioned how any reasonable person could have ever thought it made even the tiniest sense.
It's of that favorite old SF trope of a genius and a sensible man develop a spacecraft and set off on adventure. It was done better a few years later by HG Wells' "The First Men in the Moon" (which, looking back, was likely inspired by "A Plunge into Space") and even later by E E "Doc" Smith, among many many others, each of whom updated the science, such as it is, for their era.
In "Plunge", a genius and an explorer develop a method of blocking the gravitational pull of the Earth, and develop a spacecraft that will, with Earth's pull gone, "fall" at great speed toward the next strongest source of gravity... Mars.
So, that's when I wondered if this was meant to be a parody, though the racism inherent in the opening chapters would make this a bit of a stretch. Anyway, ignoring other potential greater gravity sources such as the Moon, the Sun, Venus and Jupiter, they come to Mars and find it a wasteland (yay) with breathable air (oh, boo) and the Martian canals (boo) revealed as semi-permanent roving storms (hmm!). Then they find the Martian civilization, a dreaming, ancient, decadent civilization very similar to Ray Bradbury's imagining in some of his own Martian Chronicles stories.
That's as far as I got.
The book was fine, mostly. There were a number of scanning errors, and I hope Singularity & Co do a better job of proofreading future releases. The selection of the story was meh. The book goes to an ancient world, but not the one intended. The look back to the sensibilities of 19th century England is the real exploration here.
I wasn't sure if this was a real book, to be honest. Some of the descriptions seemed modern. Some plot points were so brain dead that I questioned how any reasonable person could have ever thought it made even the tiniest sense.
It's of that favorite old SF trope of a genius and a sensible man develop a spacecraft and set off on adventure. It was done better a few years later by HG Wells' "The First Men in the Moon" (which, looking back, was likely inspired by "A Plunge into Space") and even later by E E "Doc" Smith, among many many others, each of whom updated the science, such as it is, for their era.
In "Plunge", a genius and an explorer develop a method of blocking the gravitational pull of the Earth, and develop a spacecraft that will, with Earth's pull gone, "fall" at great speed toward the next strongest source of gravity... Mars.
So, that's when I wondered if this was meant to be a parody, though the racism inherent in the opening chapters would make this a bit of a stretch. Anyway, ignoring other potential greater gravity sources such as the Moon, the Sun, Venus and Jupiter, they come to Mars and find it a wasteland (yay) with breathable air (oh, boo) and the Martian canals (boo) revealed as semi-permanent roving storms (hmm!). Then they find the Martian civilization, a dreaming, ancient, decadent civilization very similar to Ray Bradbury's imagining in some of his own Martian Chronicles stories.
That's as far as I got.
The book was fine, mostly. There were a number of scanning errors, and I hope Singularity & Co do a better job of proofreading future releases. The selection of the story was meh. The book goes to an ancient world, but not the one intended. The look back to the sensibilities of 19th century England is the real exploration here.
February 8, 2015
Сам роман — викторианская пошлятина с ирландским уклоном (если предполагалось, что это сатира, она вышла какая-то неубедительная). Компания лучших представителей общества, эдаких пожилых хипстеров, отправляется в стальном шаре на Марс и застает там утопическое стагнирующее общество. Их ничего не удивляет (потому что викторианцы), поэтому что они способны там увидеть и опознать? Вот-вот. Алиса со своими стойкими нравственными убеждениями и неколебимым представлением о реальности была гораздо любопытнее. Начинаешь понимать, почему реакция на викторианскую эпоху продолжается едва ли не по сей день. Времена и нравы тогда были довольно противные.
Пошлости тексту добавляет, я подозреваю, перевод г-жи Павловой — она не только иногда не понимает, о чем идет речь, но и украшает это свое непонимание нескончаемыми «роскошными драпировками» и «певчими птичками», этими тошнотворными виньетками институток и белошвеек, которые потом… нет, не пошли управлять государством, для этого они были слишком глупы, даже большевики это явно понимали, — а составили самую ткань советского бюрократического аппарата (управляют государством в этой стране по-прежнему кухарки, которые, ясное дело, книжек не читают и языкам не обучены). Вот с этими своими наморщенными носиками и узкими лобиками, а также салфеточками, канарейками и кактусами на мониторах (теперь к ним добавились, конечно, котики и портал «адме»). Жаль только, что издатели текст все-таки, по их заверениям, почистили — лучше было бы ВСЕ оставить как было. Читатель бы многое узнал о генетике русского художественного перевода.
Пошлости тексту добавляет, я подозреваю, перевод г-жи Павловой — она не только иногда не понимает, о чем идет речь, но и украшает это свое непонимание нескончаемыми «роскошными драпировками» и «певчими птичками», этими тошнотворными виньетками институток и белошвеек, которые потом… нет, не пошли управлять государством, для этого они были слишком глупы, даже большевики это явно понимали, — а составили самую ткань советского бюрократического аппарата (управляют государством в этой стране по-прежнему кухарки, которые, ясное дело, книжек не читают и языкам не обучены). Вот с этими своими наморщенными носиками и узкими лобиками, а также салфеточками, канарейками и кактусами на мониторах (теперь к ним добавились, конечно, котики и портал «адме»). Жаль только, что издатели текст все-таки, по их заверениям, почистили — лучше было бы ВСЕ оставить как было. Читатель бы многое узнал о генетике русского художественного перевода.
June 11, 2012
Let's start by saying one thing: this book is dated. It was originally published in 1891, and at no point did I mistake it for a newer book. I'm choosing to grade it on a curve, comparing it to other books from the time I've read.
Generally, I enjoyed reading the book. Occasionally it felt derivative and I had to remind myself that it preceded other works it reminded me of. The method of space travel is similar to the Cavorite from "The First Men In The Moon." The habitable Mars filled with nearly-human being in the nadir of their civilization was reminiscent of the John Carter books.
The characters were broad archetypes and caricatures. The situations they were presented with lacked any real drama, until some manufactured drama at the end. That doesn't mean I didn't have fun reading it, but it meant the book was more interesting to read as a slice of genre history, a chance to see where science fiction came from.
Generally, I enjoyed reading the book. Occasionally it felt derivative and I had to remind myself that it preceded other works it reminded me of. The method of space travel is similar to the Cavorite from "The First Men In The Moon." The habitable Mars filled with nearly-human being in the nadir of their civilization was reminiscent of the John Carter books.
The characters were broad archetypes and caricatures. The situations they were presented with lacked any real drama, until some manufactured drama at the end. That doesn't mean I didn't have fun reading it, but it meant the book was more interesting to read as a slice of genre history, a chance to see where science fiction came from.
May 31, 2016
I have heard that Jules Verne critisized H.G.Well's novel 'First Men in the Moon' as "unscientific" due to its use of an anti-gravity maguffin. I find this hard to credit however given his foreword to this book which uses the same idea.
Infact the books are so similar at least in there basic idea, that Cromie accused Wells of plagiarism despite the fact that Cromie was not the first to use such a concept.
Anyway luckily Wells didn't take any more ideas from this as it's pretty bad.
It manages to make travel to another world incredibly boring which i suppose i should be impressed by as that must be hard to do.
Its incredibly verbose but still manages to be as vague as any pulp-fiction when it comes to technology.
While it's social satire is occasionally interesting its romance is clunky and i can't imagine what the author's overall aim was.
Infact the books are so similar at least in there basic idea, that Cromie accused Wells of plagiarism despite the fact that Cromie was not the first to use such a concept.
Anyway luckily Wells didn't take any more ideas from this as it's pretty bad.
It manages to make travel to another world incredibly boring which i suppose i should be impressed by as that must be hard to do.
Its incredibly verbose but still manages to be as vague as any pulp-fiction when it comes to technology.
While it's social satire is occasionally interesting its romance is clunky and i can't imagine what the author's overall aim was.
October 12, 2021
Stereotype. That's the one word that I'd use in describing A Plunge Into Space. Oh, there are mild racial and gender stereotypes but the key thing to understand is that even the characters are stereotypes. Well, maybe caricatures would be a better word.
There's the Scientist Character, the Adventurer Character, the Artist, the Financier, the naive Martian Maiden, etc. They all - more or less - behave according to there assigned role.
Once you get that out of the way and judge the novel on it's own terms it's definitely worthwhile. There's no classic here but there is some decent gaslight science fiction. Written as things were written back then. I've read much worse.
Note: Verne wrote the introduction. It reads a little like Wells and even kinda sorta has its own version of Cavorite. The ending also bears a resemblance to a short story by Tom Godwin.
There's the Scientist Character, the Adventurer Character, the Artist, the Financier, the naive Martian Maiden, etc. They all - more or less - behave according to there assigned role.
Once you get that out of the way and judge the novel on it's own terms it's definitely worthwhile. There's no classic here but there is some decent gaslight science fiction. Written as things were written back then. I've read much worse.
Note: Verne wrote the introduction. It reads a little like Wells and even kinda sorta has its own version of Cavorite. The ending also bears a resemblance to a short story by Tom Godwin.
July 3, 2012
The first Singularity & Co book to be re-released from the archives, this story is the precursor of a lot of space-borne fiction.
Sadly, there's a reason that some books slide into obscurity. A Plunge Into Space starts well, but falls apart once our explorers reach Mars. A painfully extended love triangle doesn't help matters. And how can the explorers be bored of the Red Planet and ready to go home in a month?
Rotten characterisation, a thick dose of good ole-fashioned sexism, and a rushed and depressing ending all add up to a read that I can only recommend as a curio for SF fans who really want to see how far the genre has come in a century. Some terrible OCR errors don't help. I hope S&Co can do better on their next edition.
Sadly, there's a reason that some books slide into obscurity. A Plunge Into Space starts well, but falls apart once our explorers reach Mars. A painfully extended love triangle doesn't help matters. And how can the explorers be bored of the Red Planet and ready to go home in a month?
Rotten characterisation, a thick dose of good ole-fashioned sexism, and a rushed and depressing ending all add up to a read that I can only recommend as a curio for SF fans who really want to see how far the genre has come in a century. Some terrible OCR errors don't help. I hope S&Co can do better on their next edition.
February 12, 2019
An interesting old fashioned sci-fi novel, that really suffered once they get to Mars. Sadly that was 3/4 of the novel.
It also could have used some proofreading . I know they scanned it in, but a simple read through should have corrected many of the errors. I get that a few mistakes might get through, but numbers in the middle of a word indicates that little to no editing was done. Hopefully their future novels will be more properly finished.
It also could have used some proofreading . I know they scanned it in, but a simple read through should have corrected many of the errors. I get that a few mistakes might get through, but numbers in the middle of a word indicates that little to no editing was done. Hopefully their future novels will be more properly finished.
March 8, 2013
This book is not meant to be a comedy, but it's absolutely hilarious in its use of outdated tropes (no doubt cutting edge at the time it was written) and Victorian age prejudices regarding class, race, and sex. If you aren't a fan of classic sci-fi, I doubt you'll enjoy it. I am, and I did, but more as a curious historical artefact than as a story in its own right.
February 18, 2013
1/3 adventure, 1/3 victorian sci-fi, 1/3 Martian romance. The romance brings the crew to perdition, and the rest of the book goes with it. It's good to read another (hard to find) early space exploration saga apart from Verne and Wells.
January 5, 2013
Meh. It's intereting if you're into seminal scifi... and I occasionally am. :)
August 18, 2015
Some okay moments and interesting as a piece of history but pretty wretched book.
February 7, 2017
I'm with those people who dont enjoy reading this X)
December 13, 2012
I really, genuinely enjoyed this book. Perhaps because I read it immediately after finishing Romeo and Juliet (yes), the language was refreshing. It's nice to remember that people back then had senses of humor.
So, plot-wise, a Scottish adventurer, an English scientist, an Irish Politician, a wealthy nobleman, a heartsick author, an artist, and a newspaper reporter go to Mars. As a friend said while I was describing it, "Wait, is this a set up to some joke?" And the answer is, well, yes and no.
Step 1: break gravity.
Step 2: float a ball.
Step 3: GO TO MARS.
(to be continued)
So, plot-wise, a Scottish adventurer, an English scientist, an Irish Politician, a wealthy nobleman, a heartsick author, an artist, and a newspaper reporter go to Mars. As a friend said while I was describing it, "Wait, is this a set up to some joke?" And the answer is, well, yes and no.
Step 1: break gravity.
Step 2: float a ball.
Step 3: GO TO MARS.
(to be continued)
August 29, 2012
An enjoyable read from a 'history of the genre' viewpoint than for the actual quality of the story. One several early science fiction stories inspired by Giovanni Schiaparelli's discovery of "canals" on Mars.
December 21, 2012
A very surprising read. Really enjoyed the story.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews