H.G. Wells
In addition to his fame as a writer, he was prominent in his lifetime as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. As a futurist, he wrote a number of utopian works and foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television and something resembling the World Wide Web. His science fiction imagined time travel, alien invasion, invisibility and biological engineering before these subjects were common in the genre. Brian Aldiss referred to Wells as the "Shakespeare of science fiction", while Charles Fort called him a "wild talent".: 7
Wells rendered his works convincing by instilling commonplace detail alongside a single extraordinary assumption per work – dubbed "Wells's law" – leading Joseph Conrad to hail him in 1898 with "O Realist of the Fantastic!". His most notable science fiction works include The Time Machine (1895), which was his first novella, The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898), the military science fiction The War in the Air (1907), and the dystopian When the Sleeper Wakes (1910). Novels of social realism such as Kipps (1905) and The History of Mr Polly (1910), which describe lower-middle-class English life, led to the suggestion that he was a worthy successor to Charles Dickens,: 99 but Wells described a range of social strata and even attempted, in Tono-Bungay (1909), a diagnosis of English society as a whole. Wells was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times.
Wells's earliest specialised training was in biology, and his thinking on ethical matters took place in a Darwinian context. He was also an outspoken socialist from a young age, often (but not always, as at the beginning of the First World War) sympathising with pacifist views. In his later years, he wrote less fiction and more works expounding his political and social views, sometimes giving his profession as that of journalist. Wells was a diabetic and co-founded the charity The Diabetic Association (Diabetes UK) in 1934.
Biography from the Wikipedia article H. G. Wells. Licensed under CC-BY-SA. Full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Part of Crew
Recently Updated Shows
Survivor
Eighteen to twenty castaways will compete against each other on Survivor. All castaways will compete to outwit, outplay, outlast and ultimately be crowned Sole Survivor.
The Institute
When 12-year-old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped, he awakens at The Institute, a facility full of children who all got there the same way he did, and who are all possessed of unusual abilities. In a nearby town, haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson has come looking to start a new life, but the peace and quiet won't last, as his story and Luke's are destined to collide.
Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan
Freddy Dodge is no stranger when it comes to gold mining. With nearly 40 years of mining under his belt, he's known around the world as the "Gold Guru" and the person struggling mine owners call when they're striking out. Now he's going on the road to help struggling mine owners to hit the motherlode in Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan. To help him turnaround the operations, Freddy has teamed up with expert mechanic and fellow Gold Rush miner Juan Ibarra. At each location, the mining duo will use their knowledge of geology, prospecting, drilling and testing to get back on the paydirt. But it isn't just running their dirt faster. It's about making the operations better, and more importantly, running cheaper.
The Daily Show
Hosted by a rotating cast of comedy greats, The Daily Show remains the go-to source for provocative satire, insightful interviews and an award-winning team of correspondents and contributors.
