Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout: Or: The Speediest Car on the Road

Tom Swift Sr. #5

by Victor Appleton

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Classics, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook, Childrens

150 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1910

About the author

Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...

The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the fifth novel in the original Tom Swift series. It was written by Howard Garis for the Stratemeyer Syndicate and was published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1910 under the house pseudonym Victor Appleton. Tom was a young man who was following in his father's footsteps as an inventor. They live in Shopton, on the shores of Lake Carlopa, along with Mrs. Baggert, their housekeeper. Tom's good friend Ned Newton works at a bank (which figures prominently in the current story), he's very much interested in a young lady named Mary Nestor, and he's frequently in the company of Mr. Damon, an eccentric older man who has the habit of blessing random items like his shoe buttons and stopwatches. There's also an employee named Eradicate Sampson who has a pet mule named Boomerang; an unfortunately racist caricature typical of 1910 fiction. In this story, Tom's working on a new storage battery to power an automobile. I was quite amazed to read the specifications of speed and distance he wants for the car, which is just now becoming attainable. I was surprised that he was using lithium in the battery, too. The story gets a little bogged down in a back-and-forth with his rival, bully and all-around bad guy Andy Foger, and a side-tracked in the necessity to save Ned's bank, but it's a fine, typical early book in the series. I don't think YA fans would relate to it today, but in 1910 I'm sure it was the bee's knees. I read the book in my childhood and appreciated the opportunity to revisit it via this fine Librivox reading.

[Nikky3 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tom Swift and his Electric Runabout! In this adventure our hero enters an electric car race! Will Tom escape the kidnappers? Will he live through his electrocution? Will his girlfriend be there to see him win the race?!?!?
(Seriously though this one was bad)

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

After spending lots of time reading boy books written in the mid to late 1800s, I've finally continued my time travel experience to the early 1900s. The Tom Swift series is one of the earliest books in the Stratemeyer Syndicate (think The Bobbsey Twins Series, Hardy Boys Complete Series Set Books 1-66, and Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew. I grew up reading Nancy Drew and I knew that the books I read were re-written in the 1970s. At one point, I read some of the original Nancy Drew books. I knew about the Stratemeyer Syndicate but had never heard of the Tom Swift books until recently. Unlike the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, Tom Swift is not a detective. He is a teen inventor. He's the son of Barton Swift, who is also an inventor.

In this book, Tom tries to turn his race car into the fastest car. This is written before Henry Ford invented his Model T. The first vehicles were actually electric so it's kind of cool to think about an alternate reality in which gasoline cars never drove the electric car out of production.

Tom was likely modeled off Horatio Alger Jr.'s boy characters. Tom is honest, loyal, and courageous. He gets into frequent spats with the town bully, Andy Foger. Andy is mean and treacherous and lies and steals. In this book, Andy and Andy's father are trying to ruin a bank in which Tom's father and the eccentric Mr. Damon are heavily invested.

[Rhonda Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do like the speculative science in these. It is the best part of the books, especially when looked at from over 100 years later. Electric cars are only just becoming a staple and here they are in 1910 being predicted to be fast, flashy, stable and far better than most gasoline engine cars. Rather amusing to read this and realize just how long ago science became subverted.

The thing that bothers me the most at this point in the series is the fact that Tom has been nearly killed by Andy Foyger, Tom refuses to report him to the police or even to his own friends/family. He puts dangerous attacks off as 'pranks' and bullying. This means that Andy gets no real repercussions for his actions. A single one time action almost killing Tom is one thing, but constant bullying with threats that come close to murder is not acceptable.

That goes hand in hand with him just waving off industrial espionage and attempted murder on the part of others (Mr. Berg). I know that in 1910 it was not as big of a thing as it is now. I also realize that the idea of rival enterprises killing off top scientists was not common, but it still bothers me.

The plot is amusing. The soap opera that is the little New York country town where the Swifts live is cute. And I do like the rose colored glasses of the time, even if the systematic bigotry drives me nuts. All in all, it is a good book. Just one that needs to be read with an eye for when and where it was written. A lot has changed over the years.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally middle of the road (snerk) Tom Swift.

Because this is a formula novel in a long running series there isn't much that is new here. Because it's early in the series his enemies include another teenager. As always, the majority of the chapters pivot around some manufactured, low risk, tension. Oh no, the battery died! Oh no, the car slid into a ditch! Oh no! a fuse blew!

These volumes are very silly, but a lot of fun to read. Yeah, the racism to awful, and the situations ridiculous, but the sense that anything is possible with the right alloy, the right chemical powder is addicting.

What is most amusing about this volume in particular is that Tom was talking about the same problems and solutions with EVs that are current today. Makes you wonder how many more miles he could have attained if he hadn't clad the entire thing in sheet steel.

[Sterling Teaches · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books, it was written over 100 years ago, yet the science and engineering in the book are still problems that we face today especially with electric vehicles. There is dated language, but other than that it is a great book. For a fun project I abridged and edited the book and added supplemental materials (ie worksheets) as though I was using this book as part of an electronics/engineering class. If you are interested in electric vehicles, or engineering it is an easy ready and fun to see what the technology was 100 years ago.

[Steve Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Story of resourcefulness.

This story shows how resourceful Tom Swift is. When things go wrong, such as getting stuck in the mud, he has thought through what problems may befall him and has a solution at hand.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

The adventures in the submarine and the air were quite fun, but in this book Tom is ground bound and this makes for a fairly dull book. Much of the story revolves around troubles with a bank and a contrived run to get help in time. Not overly interesting, but at least a fast read.

[Jason Fett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a classic. It is fun to read stories that are made for kids and teenagers over a hundred years ago. Everything from the language to the setting. If one is looking for a trip back in time than give the a read.

[Steven Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

6 out of 10

[Chris Potgieter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! It was really good and i enjoyed all the adventure and mystery

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 1 out of 5]

A YA book that is laden with racism and other disgusting aspects of America when it was great.

[J.K. George]

A friend of mine loaned his new "Victor Appleton" copy of this to me, after buying it new. He loved the entire Tom Swift series as a youth. He is a very bright fellow, and went to MIT after a childhood in Louisiana, so no slouch there!

The book was a joy to read, and to go back to 1910 in terms of word usage and very different cultural and technological norms. The old black gentlemen is right out of Uncle Remus, a "Darky" who speaks in an extreme subservient manner. At age 77, I remember the same mode of speech from my southern Appalachian childhood. However the prescience of the technical direction, the emergence of the early battery-powered automobiles, and the mention of the development of storage battery technology was most interesting. Lead batteries are mentioned, but also Lithium-Oxide as well! In 1910!

The story is terrific, with very good good guys and a ton of very bad bad guys, as well as a sweet, sweet heart. The drama doesn't skip a beat, with robberies, bank competition, automobile driving on early rutted roads, non-stop super-technical-nerdy developments, and the piece de-resistance of a major race based on the emerging technology of electric automobiles! Of course these cars lacked most everything we now take for granted: windows, windshields, radios (oops, radio was not in operation commercially yet), A/C, heaters, etc.

But the read was fun, fun, fun. And action non,non, non stop.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another adventure of Tom Swift with the now recognizable friends and enemies of the earlier books in the series. Mr. Damon and Mr. Sharp help Tom in his work with the electric runabout. He is supported by his father Mr. Swift, their housekeeper Mrs. Baggert, Garret Jackson the elderly engineer, and Eradicate Sampson the man always handy with whitewash. On hand to bedevil Tom are Andy Foger and his pals Sam Snedecker and Pete Bailey. The older generation have their conflict, too. Andy’s father, Mr. Foger, starts a new bank to compete with the old bank where Mr. Swift and Mr. Damon have considerable deposits. It is not a fair competition due to the dirty tricks of Mr. Foger. Tom’s electric car actually has a role in helping keep the old bank afloat. Of course, Mary Nestor, Tom’s love interest, appears in spots in the book and at the end.

This isn’t Shakespeare or Ibsen. It isn’t Hemingway or Faulkner. However, the Tom Swift books have their place in the world of literature. I read them when I was in elementary school, and I am reading them again — the entire series, from first to last. They are an escape from the world around us. The good guys win, and the bad guys lose. I think that we all need to have that experience from time to time.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a huge fan of Tom Swift Jr. since receiving Tom Swift Jr. and the Race to the Moon for Christmas at age 8. Imagine my surprise when I discovered at my grandmother's house some copies of the original Tom Swift from the first couple decades of the 20th century. And the writing style was just the same! Tom was entirely recognizable! And what was cool in 1910? An electric runabout! Ha ha! It thoroughly blew my mind. This website is an amazing guide to the many generations of Tom Swift: http://tomswift.bobfinnan.com/ts1.htm Seems like it would take an extremely nerdy lifetime to consume them all. But it would be great to revisit this book and others in the first ever series, to see how fiction based on technological optimism was a sellable commodity from the very beginning of the 20th century. Also the basic elements of adventure plot are well established in this series. What a wonderful thing.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun from early in the twentieth century as young inventor Tom Swift builds an electrical car to participate in a race of similar cars. Along the way our young hero battles bullies from previous novels who seek revenge, plots to sabotage his creation, and a bank seeking to ruin the one he and his father have thier money invested in. If you've read the previous books, and I have, Appleton's got mastery of his character and knows where's he's going. Not many surprises, but a fun way to kill an hour.

[Mike Vendetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What an exciting book as Tom Swift builds an electric runabout that goes over 100 mi./h, Boyles the bad guys, and gets the girl.

[David Hibberd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Tom Swift Sr. books as a child and again when I got my Kindle in 2010. They are an easy read and enjoyable. It is interesting to see how writing has changed since these books were written.

[Nana]

Good series

[Rich Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Tom Swift novel, again with more pulp adventure aspects than the earlier stories. Still dated, but an enjoyable read!

[Tiffany Tinkham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good old classic young readers book about a young inventor that invents this awesome inventions and then goes on these wild and crazy adventures, sometimes getting into trouble in the process.

[Sparrow12 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into the book, however, once I did I really enjoyed it.