The First Men in the Moon (1901)

The First Men in the Moon (1901)

by H.G. Wells

A British scientist and his neighbor travel to the Moon, where they run afoul of the local Selenites and find themselves on the run for their lives. 

H.G. Wells does an exceptional job of extrapolation on the science of his day. 

H.G. Wells

The lunar ecology is fascinating and poetic: each sundown all the plant life dies and the air falls to the ground like snow. 

Wells betrays his interest in class once again: the Selenites have a society based on that of social insects, with each member possessing specializations necessary to its function, an idea that was no doubt fresher then than it is now.  

The first part of this novel is a rousing adventure, as Wells makes imaginative use of the fact that the Earthlings are virtual supermen in the 1/6 gravity of the Moon. 

No doubt this novel was greatly influential to later adventure writers such as Edgar Rice Burroughs. 

The second part is more thoughtful and subtle, yet perhaps more horrifying, as a man alone among the Selenites strives to prevent their leader from deducing the greedy and expansionist nature of mankind for fear of his life.