THE LOST WORLD (OXFORD WORLD S CLASSICS)

The first in Arthur Conan Doyle''s series of books featuring the popular character of Professor Challenger, The Lost World is a classic tale of adventure and discovery. A scientific team embarks on an expedition to a South American plateau, where they find a seemingly impenetrable and dangerous world that has been frozen in time since the age of dinosaurs. The only edition with a critical introduction, this timeless story is sure to excite the modern reader. Forget the Michael Crichton book (and Spielberg movie) that copied the title. This is the original: the terror-adventure tale of The Lost World. Writing not long after dinosaurs first invaded the popular imagination, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spins a yarn about an expedition of two scientists, a big-game hunter, and a journalist (the narrator) to a volcanic plateau high over the vast Amazon rain forest. The bickering of the professors (a type Doyle knew well from his medical training) serves as witty contrast to the wonders of flora and fauna they encounter, building toward a dramatic moonlit chase scene with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. And the character of Professor George E. Challenger is second only to Sherlock Holmes in the outrageous force of his personality: he''s a big man with an even bigger ego, and if you can grit your teeth through his racist behavior toward Native Americans, he''s a lot of fun.