Poison Belt - The Original Classic Edition

While Professor George Edward Challenger, a short, stocky, hirsute bull of a man is physically the complete opposite of Doyles more well known protagonist, Sherlock Holmes, the same cannot be said of his pomposity, arrogance and mental dexterity. In that regard, he could well have been Sherlocks and Mycrofts long lost sibling. As a scientist of the first order, comfortable in his astute, complex analysis of the blurring of Frauenhofers lines in the spectra both of the planets and of the fixed stars, Challenger concluded there had been a fundamental change in the ether that would involve the ultimate welfare of every man, woman, and child upon this planet. In fact, his private prognostications were that the end of the world was at hand and, on the basis of that certainty, he issued a peremptory summons to his friends and colleagues from the lost world expedition - young Edward Malone, the reporter for the Daily Gazette; Professor Summerlee, a fellow scientist; and Lord John Roxton, gentleman adventurer and sportsman - to join him and his beloved wife as witness to the worlds final hours!Having only recently completed Conan Doyles The Lost World, I expected The Poison Belt to be a garment cut of the same cloth - a swashbuckling Victorian adventure tale of the exploits of heroic mens men! Not even close ... instead Doyle served up an optimistic, post-apocalyptic tale of a world given a taste of Armageddon and an unexpected second chance. Doyles philosophical musings, disclosed through the conversations of the last five people to remain on the face of a dying earth, touched upon such tender ideas as love and friendship in the face of death. While Doyle might not have recognized it by the more modern label, his musings even wandered into what a modern cosmological philosopher would label the anthropic principle. A modern reader of The Poison Belt will know that the notion of an all-encompassing ether in the universe has long since been debunked. But that single failing detracted not one whit from the quality of the story. That same modern reader, I expect, will also be unlikely to share Doyles optimism regarding the worlds reaction to a second chance at life. But, for myself, when I finished the story, I smiled and silently prayed that Doyle was right and I was wrong!Enjoy!