The Lost World (Professor Challenger, #1) in Reading the Classics

May 20, 2025 Henry Avila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle not unusual but in the steaming jungles of South America this is. Four men from Britain searching maybe for an illusion, myth, call it what you like a wild -goose chase possible, probably, however these explorers are looking...no joke for Dinosaurs, dead for 66 millions years...yes you read right , in 1912! The novel isn't the first of these animal epics, Jules Verne's, Journey to the Center of the Earth, way back in 1864, named that just two decades prior in A Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle not unusual but in the steaming jungles of South America this is. Four men from Britain searching maybe for an illusion, myth, call it what you like a wild -goose chase possible, probably, however these explorers are looking...no joke for Dinosaurs, dead for 66 millions years...yes you read right , in 1912! The novel isn't the first of these animal epics, Jules Verne's, Journey to the Center of the Earth, way back in 1864, named that just two decades prior in 1842 by Sir Richard Owens those beasts, I thought this.. Oops. wrong. Nevertheless these creatures were really marine reptiles. Sorry folks back to the subject, our intrepid or gullible gentlemen their trek week by week by boat up the mighty milky brown Amazon River 3o miles wide sometimes, full of poisonous snakes, hostile Indians, strange flying things will be interesting, dangerous even fatal never dull. Then in canoes on a tributary stream getting smaller quickly led by irascible, scary know -it- all professor George Edward Challenger, hot-headed . His skeptical rival also professor Arthur Summerlee a zoologist, Lord John Roxton, what they called then euphemistically a big game -hunter (the term not used today for obvious reason)_and journalist the youngest of group Edward Malone. He's trying to prove however the blanks on maps are disappearing his love isn't for the lady Gladys, adventurous he is, Gladys likes that but things are not quite clear. The endless voyage on waters and frequently walks on the submerged banks, the terrain will cause trouble, some of the inhabitants not friendly both animal and human types, Indians, ape-men whatever. The hazards of fleeing the monsters in these distant , undiscovered country is why the story has become a classic and reading it for second time I can see again this ( reading only) . The alien inaccessible plateau reached by a bit of fortune they think, miracle if not luck, the climbed will always be so very engaging. Volcanoes, thick forests with creepy vibes, sounds unexplained, eerie lakes, underwater bizarre, ghostly fiends unsettles the visitors, good for us but bad for the invaders. Camping under trees, on guard, the men sleeping on filthy grounds with rifles , listen to sounds, any one, the tension rises the smells, thick , constant odors of decay as the sun falls the darkness spreading and the biological kingdom awakes , getting through the night alive is problematical, things hidden can kill and do. Long live the DINOSAURS... ...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Vigdis rated it liked it

Etter å ha blitt fanget i jungelen og flere ganger ha vært farlig nær å bli spist av forskjellige forhistoriske monstre, kaller de hverandre fortsatt "Sir". Lord John Roxton barberer seg forresten to ganger daglig de første ukene av turen, hvem gjør sånt? Og så i jungelen? Hvor fort gror skjegget hans? Det hadde vært interessant med en illustrasjon av skjegglengden etter alle de ukene han har viktigere ting å gjøre enn å barbere seg.

Dette er forresten den generelle holdningen deres til alt de mø ...more

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