Lost World — S. Doyle

The Lost World is a novel released in 1912 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle concerning an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals (dinosaurs and other extinct creatures) still survive. It was originally published serially in the popular Strand Magazine and illustrated by New-Zealand-born artist Harry Rountree during the months of Aprilâ€"November 1912. The character of Professor Challenger was introduced in this book. The novel also describes a war between indigenous people and a vicious tribe of ape-like creatures. For no apparent reason I had overlooked reading this book, written by one of my favorite authors. I have only read his Sherlock Holmes series (over and over, I might add) and was pleasantly surprised by The Lost World. Professor Challenger is a ridiculed scientist with a tenacious narcissistic streak a mile wide. A young newsman trying to make a mark for himself by casting in his lot with the professor. Together with a big game hunter and a skeptical scientist (a foil to Challenger) they travel to South America to find a Jurassic plateu hidden in the Amazon. Adventure, dinosaurs, ape men, and a petulant girlfriend all appear in due order. Well worth the read, and holds up well despite the various movie treatments. Now to the illustrations. These are not worth the additional cost. I'm not even sure what they are supposed to be, as most of them seem to have zero relevance to the text and are NOT Doyle's original drawings. They appear to be stylized (read: software manipulated) stock photos as far as I can tell, but the quality is so poor that it is impossible to be certain. On the other hand, the text formatting of this illustrated version is quite good. Very enjoyable read, from a fascinating period of history when adventure could still be found in far away places.